Hello again. Well the Christmas festivities are over and we are now into a new year. I am sure most of us will have eaten and drunk to excess and made the usual New Year resolutions to change our diets, drink less etc, only to have fallen by the wayside before the end of January……
But what are we truly doing to our bodies? We read daily in the media of the damage caused by overeating, especially the foods that are really bad for us, as well as the effect over- dinking is having on our bodies.
More and more people are now being diagnosed with life threatening illnesses, and especially more than ever the younger generation is becoming obese. Do we really understand what we are doing to our bodies and do we understand what happens to the food and drink we consume? Do we really care? I truly hope we do. Because we only get one chance at life this is not a dress rehearsal.
We can help ourselves so much by ensuring our bodies are performing correctly and are working on an optimum basis. Would you buy a car and not carry out maintenance? It is the same with our bodies. Yes, you may say you have heard it all before. I do not want to talk about going on a diet but what our diet should be in order for us to lead healthy and full lives.
Last year I wrote several articles on diet and nutrition and I would like to continue this year with, I hope, valuable information that will help us all..
Free Radicals are a main concern for our health, it is a complex subject and below I have given a quick and hopefully understandable explanation on them.
Free Radical: it is an atom or group of Atoms that contain at least one impaired electron. Electrons are negatively charged particles that usually occur in pairs, forming a chemically stable arrangement. If an electron is unimpaired another atom or molecule can easily bond with it, causing a chemical reaction. Because they join so readily with other compounds, free radicals can effect dramatic changes in the body, and they can cause a lot of oxidative damage. Each free radical may exist for only a tiny fraction of a second, but the damage it leaves behind can be irreversible, particularly damage to heart muscle cells, nerve cells, and certain immune system sensor cells.
Free radicals are responsible for the ageing process. A topic close to most peoples! hearts. So what can we do to minimise their effects on our bodies? In the next issue I am going to write about antioxidants the true adversary of the free radical and where they come from, how they can combat the ageing process and help to return our bodies back to health.
Your feedback from any of the articles that have I have written over the past few months would be greatly appreciated so please contact me on jeanlaguita@hotmail.com
