How's the brain? Have I bombarded you with too much info yet? I hope not but sometimes its difficult to find that balance between the techy info and keeping it simple.
My focus is to provide you with useful information so on with the education bit....
Nutrition’s Double Edged Sword
You know how it is.....Walk into any supplement store or read just about any health and fitness magazine and you will be bombarded with messages about the health promoting, weight loss enhancing, life extending power of antioxidants. The story of antioxidants, flying around your body neutralizing disease-promoting free radicals and oxidized molecules is an attractive one, but it isn’t really that simple.
Benefits
So why do we need antioxidants in the first place?
Well balance is important in your body. Antioxidants help provide balance by neutralizing oxidized molecules. Oxidation occurs in your body naturally but at an excelled rate due to stress, exercise, inadequate sleep, and a poor diet.
Dangers
For a long time the message was, the more antioxidants the better. However, research has shown that too many antioxidants can be a bad thing. A little stress and oxidation in your life is good and allowing your body to fight it by itself, is a natural part of your body keeping its “edge”.
For example, exercise produces free radicals. They are generated as part of the process when your muscles are broken down (as they naturally are during exercise). These free radicals actually stimulate your body to begin rebuilding your muscle so it can come back stronger than before. Taking in high levels of antioxidants after exercise might actually hinder muscle growth and recovery!
The term antioxidants is very broad and there are many different types of antioxidants that have different functions and benefits. Let’s look at two that can specifically help improve exercise performance, weight loss, and overall health
Flavonols
Foods that are high in flavonols include: dark chocolate, apples, and tea.
The flavonols in dark chocolate can help improve the health of your blood vessels and may be able to decrease the rate in which you lose brain function as you age.
Apples are antioxidant powerhouses with a large amount of their antioxidants being in their skin. The antioxidants in apples can help fight cancer, heart disease, asthma, and diabetes. An apple a day may truly keep the doctor away!
Green tea contains one of the most famous antioxidants, EGCG. EGCG can upregulate the processes in your body that burn fat, upwards of 17%! People who drink green tea also have lower risks of many cancers. Researchers attribute most of this decrease in risk to EGCG.
Anthocyanins
Easy for you to say...sounds like something my gran put on her feet!!
Anthocyanins are another extremely popular group of antioxidants with powerful health effects. Anthocyanins are found in dark red and purple foods like blueberries, pomegranates, and cherries.
Blueberries are well known for their antioxidant prowess which can help with brain, eye, and blood vessel health. Wild blueberries have 2x the antioxidants. Perfect if you are controlling calories but don’t want to sacrifice the antioxidants.
Pomegranates have recently made their antioxidant status as part of modern culture. Unfortunately the benefits of pomegranates have been overstated, as they won’t save your life. But, they will improve blood vessel health and help prevent excessive stickiness of the platelets in your blood.
Cherries have anthocyanins and have been shown to be strong enough to inhibit key enzymes in the body that regulate inflammation and inflammatory pain. There is even some research to suggest that cherries may even be able to help fight jet lag!
To Supplement Or Not To Supplement?
If you eat a well-rounded diet, there is probably no need to supplement with additional antioxidants. In certain cases, if you are looking to elicit a specific effect, then supplementing may be a solution so you get enough of a certain antioxidant in the right dose.
In the end it really does depend on your current health, location, stress levels, everyday diet and exercise....so we're back to my favourite word.....moderation!
Now don't be taking this as an excuse to eat loads of dark chocolate and drink wine!!
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