John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

A few weeks ago we looked at the power of flavonoid antioxidants to improve our health. Without exaggeration, I have seen thousands of people improve their health by adding these potent antioxidants by changing their foods and having appropriate well-formulated supplements. Today I want to take a step back and look at free radicals and antioxidants by way of an analogy. Like all analogies, it eventually breaks down, but it makes a point.

Imagine a dance floor with several couples ballroom dancing in perfect timing. Not only does each couple dance with timing, grace and precision, but all the couples are perfectly choreographed and the result is something special.
Then an unwanted gate crasher arrives with wild eyes, poorly dressed and very much out of place. He makes his way to the nearest couple and shoves the bloke out and takes over. Not only does he disrupt this couple, his actions disrupt other couples and soon the beautiful scene descends into chaos.

Everything is soon restored, however, when a constable turns up by grabbing the gatecrasher by the scruff of the neck and throws him out. The constable then leaves, but stays on guard outside to prevent a recurrence. In the story, the gatecrasher is a free radical and the constable an antioxidant.

Our cells are the sites of converting energy from food to the energy we need to live. In doing so, toxic by-products called free radicals are formed. Free radicals are molecules that have unpaired electrons. This makes them very reactive because they want to balance their electrons and the only way they can is to steal them of perfectly good molecules. If left unchecked, they can set off a chain reaction that can bring a huge amount of damage to cell structures. Excess free radical damage is central to most diseases and the very aging process.

This is where well-formulated antioxidant supplements can really help. I generally start with a multi-antioxidant that is also a multi vitamin and multi mineral. This ensures you get all the main antioxidant groups. To this I often add specialist antioxidant formulas for a booster for a few months. If you are unsure what to do give me a call and we can help put you on the right path.

To contact John phone 0800 423 559 or 07 578 9051 or visit www.abundant.co.nz