Are ANTIOXIDANTS Really As Good For You As They Say?

Are antioxidants good or bad for you I'm gonna explain both sides of the issue

coming right up am Dr. Ekberg with Wellness For Life and if you'd like to

truly master health by understanding how the body really works make sure you

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an antioxidant and the other question is what is an oxidant well oxidation has to

do with oxygen the reason that we breathe in oxygen is

that we use oxygen we use oxygen to make energy so even though oxygen is used for

energy and it's a good thing oxidation also can produce something

called free radicals and if we have an excess of free radicals they can kind of

start a chain reaction like a downward tailspin where things get out of control

and we can have a lot of cellular damage but just because an antioxidant can

offset some of that free radical damage doesn't mean that we should just

indiscriminately start gobbling up tons and tons of antioxidants because when

oxygen is involved with oxidation to make energy for us the antioxidants are

actually opposing that function so by taking too much antioxidants we can

actually slow down the energy production and some of the chronic fatigue or some

of the fatigue issues that people have can actually be caused from taking too

many antioxidants slowing down your energy production so like always the

body has thought of this and there is one antioxidant above all it's called

glutathione and your body makes it from 3 amino acids but the one amino acid

that is in short supply most of the time is called cysteine

and cysteine comes in a number of different foods

it is a sulfur containing amino acid so if you get a list of foods that are

sulfur containing then you are supplying that amino acid and you're setting

yourself up to make glutathione which is your body's number-one antioxidant so

the foods richest in sulfur rich amino acids are all the meats the beef and the

pork and the lamb and fish and shellfish and dairy and cheese and so forth but

there's also a lot of vegetables things like red bell pepper and garlic and

onion go look up a list there's tons and tons of foods find some that you like

and eat plenty of sulfur rich foods and you will have plenty of substrate to

make glutathione so does that mean we never have to take extra antioxidants

well it kind of depends it depends on your lifestyle it depends on where you

live if you live someplace where you're exposed to tremendous amounts of

toxicity if you live somewhere where there's a lot of pollution if you work

with chemicals if you are a smoker then you are producing more free radicals

than the average person and you may want to look at adding some extra antioxidant

support for yourself just don't overdo it because then you shut down your

energy production so one of the simplest and best antioxidants to take is a score

Bukh acid also often mistaken for vitamin C vitamin C and ascorbic acid

are not the same thing the ascorbic acid is the antioxidant component of the

vitamin C complex so you're not doing yourself a favor necessarily thinking

you're getting tons of vitamin C by taking huge amounts of the score big

acid but if you're looking for some extra antioxidant support then you might

benefit from taking an extra 500 or 4,000 milligrams a day so remember that

oxidation is not a bad thing and antioxidants are not necessarily a good

thing it's all about balance oxidation is what gives us the energy antioxidants

while protecting us from free radicals can also offset that energy production

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thanks for listening