You hear
the word antioxidant a lot when people talk about health. But what exactly are
antioxidants and how can they help with weight loss?
The way
your body burns fuel is very similar to the way a fire in a fire place burns.
There needs to be fuel and oxygen for the fire to start and to continue
burning. Once the fire has died out, there is ash and soot left behind in the
fireplace. In our bodies, fuel and oxygen are needed to produce the energy we
need and once the process is done, there is residue left over, just like in the
fire place. This residue is known by the name of oxidants. And just like soot
in the fireplace, if oxidants aren’t cleaned up, the result can be disastrous.
A healthy
body is capable of cleaning up the normal load of oxidants. It does this by
using antioxidants which clean the reside from the body and prevent from
becoming an irritant and damaging other nearby cells. However, when we eat a
lot junk food, don’t exercise, don’t drink enough water and live with an
elevated level of stress consistently, the body is unable to remove the
oxidants as efficiently as it should. If the body is overwhelmed with the
oxidant level on a daily basis, then cells and tissues within the body start to
deteriorate, setting up the environment for shortened cell life, lowered immune
system functions, and general rapid aging of the entire body.
Being
overweight generates a low but persistent level of inflammation in the body
which adds to already unmanageable levels of oxidant activity. Your body is in
a state of disrepair and cannot fix itself properly. That means losing weight
is even harder because your body sees it as another form of stress.
There is a
way to combat oxidative stress – certain foods have the ability to stop the
corrosive oxidative effect and thus are called antioxidants. These foods – most
of them fruits – excel at sweeping up
the residue as well as stopping the chain of deterioration oxidants create.
Making sure to include at least two cups of the following foods in your diet
every day will go a long way in lowering the stress level of your body,
allowing to heal and to release fat as it improves it fuel burning
capabilities.
Those foods
are:
*
blueberries
*
strawberries
* prunes
*
blackberries
* red
delicious apples
* Granny
Smith apples
* plums
*
raspberries
* sweet
cherries
* black,
red kidney, or pinto beans
Eat and
enjoy the weight loss!