Avoid Free Radicals

The harmful effects of free radicals have been talked about in avanté guard health circles for nearly 30 years, yet, many people are still unaware that free radicals are a PRIMARY culprit in aging.

Free radicals (atoms with unpaired electrons) damage the molecules of our cells (by stripping away electrons) in a chain reaction of oxidative (electron stealing) damage that continues until antioxidants stop that chain reaction.

We get old because we get damaged at a molecular level and cellular level, molecule by molecule, cell by cell.

A scientific way to look at this process is to think of it as rusting (which is oxidizing). Hence, the current health circle buzzword — antioxidant, meaning to stop oxidizing.

So, whatever oxidizes our cells is bad. A common word for things that oxidize our cells is FREE Radical!

The things that oxidize our body’s molecules include:

• The normal byproducts of energy production in our body with burning sugar doing twice as much damage as burning fat.
• Heavy metals, especially dental metals and cadmium in cigarette smoke.
• Rancid fats.
• Chemical compounds we breathe, eat or drink. This includes chlorine, pesticides, solvents and much more.

We can think of oxidation in terms of oxidative hits, or free radical attacks, kind of like bullets being fired at our cells that cause a chain reaction of destruction until stopped by an antioxidant.

If a bullet (free radical) damages only a cell wall, that is one kind of damage, if it damages cell protoplasm that is another kind, mitochondrial damage is another, and if free radical damages reaches to the DNA of our cells that is the worst kind of damage because DNA damage permanently ages us.

The reason that damage to DNA is so much worse is that DNA contains the genetic code for replacement cells that take the place of old cells every two to five months. The DNA code is extremely complex. Slight changes to it render new cells incapable of functioning optimally. Slight changes to DNA even create cancer.

About two hundred thousand free radical attacks against each and every cell of our body occur every second. Many of these attacks are quickly stopped by the antioxidant armies in our bodies. And since there are five hundred trillion cells in our body and thousands of molecules per cell and since we have extensive antioxidant armies in our bodies, the process of oxidation takes quite a while to alter a majority of our body’s cells significantly. However, obviously, if we could slow down the continuous onslaught of free radical damage, we could live much longer lives and healthier lives.

We need to act now to stop free radical damage by choosing what we eat and otherwise let into our bodies.

Even those of us who fully understand the danger that free radicals represent, often fail to take action to defend ourselves from free radicals. Be assured that free radicals do not stop damaging us just because we have good intentions to do something eventually to stop them. We have to do take action. And, we need to do it now!

The most important of all the ways that we stop free radicals is to avoid them as much as possible. Every free radical we do not allow into our body means that we need fewer antioxidants to protect our cells and molecules from free radical damage. If there is no fox in the hen house then we don’t need a dog to chase away the fox.

The most important ways to avoid free radical damage are to:

1. Supplement your diet with antioxidants... Seven Essentials, Earthing and Glutathione Enhancers are your top antioxidant choices.
2. Eat natural food (which has far less free radical potential) and contains numerous antioxidants and antioxidant components
3. Drink pure, unchlorinated water (chlorine is an oxidant)
4. Breathe fresh, clean air (cigarette smoking is a fundamental violation of an effort to avoid free radicals)
5. Avoid all use of dental metals (except titanium).
6. Take ETS Zeolite daily to remove pesticides and metals daily from your body.
7. Keep our internal systems free of microorganisms and parasites. Use the Eight Day Cleanse once a year to remove these.

Since it is inevitable that free radicals will be created in our bodies and will enter because of the polluted world in which we live, we also need to defend ourselves from free radicals by increasing the numbers of antioxidants in our body. This is the role that optimum nutrition plays. It is also a role of good sleeping patterns, since sleep is the most effective time for our bodies to create antioxidants.

The Free Radical Theory of Aging

The free radical theory of aging states that our bodies “age” or become altered (for the worse) at a molecular level because of contact with corrosive, unstable molecules called free radicals.

According to the free radical theory of aging, the way to STOP free radical damage of our molecules is to ensure that protective antioxidants (free radical neutralizers) are present everywhere in the body.

This bottom line of the free radical theory of aging is that if we could maintain extensive “armies” of antioxidants throughout our bodies, then these antioxidant armies could intercept and stop all free radicals before they did damage to neighboring molecules.  We could thus stop free radicals from aging our bodies.

Practical applications of this theory have pointed scientists to some unusual antioxidants.

Check out our antioxidant links.

Avoidance of Free Radicals

Another important topic regarding the goal of minimizing free radical damage to our cells and molecules is to AVOID FREE RADICALS where possible.

There is much that ought to be done in regard to minimizing free radical exposure. These include:

Avoiding chlorinated water. Water used to bathe or drink or do do laundry should be filtered to remove a major oxidant or free radical called chlorine.

Avoiding deep fried foods. You are better off to not very frequently fry foods in oil, unless you use coconut oil. Coconut oil can handle the high heat without being changed into a free radical.

Avoiding the installation of dental metals in one’s mouth, except titanium. Dental metals, including stainless steel, and especially mercury fillings are extremely powerful free radicals and discussed in their own ‘heavy metal’ section.

Avoiding polluted air. Many free radicals can be breathed into our lungs, including of course, cigarette smoke.