Good Nutrition is vital especially if you workout!

When we workout it is so important to have the nutrients from healthy food running through our bodies to counteract the free radical damage that we are in addition putting our bodies through while working out.

Exercise and bodybuilding can greatly increase free radicals! Not the news we want to hear, I know. Working out is supposed to make you more fit. and it does if you are eating a healthy diet that provides lots of antioxidants to counteract the free radicals.

The problem is that any process that produces stress and increases the intake of oxygen can lead to an increase in free radicals. As you know...working out is stressful and greatly increase's our oxygen intake.

When I was younger, before I knew better, I thought because I "worked out", I could eat anything I wanted because I just burned all of those calories and worked my cardiovascular system to the max. But in actuality going for that all-you-can-eat buffet afterwards and packing it all back on with all of the wrong foods could of hurt me more than any of us realize.

I once heard Mitra Ray (bio-chemist) say during one of her lectures "that if we are not putting adequate nutrition in our bodies from healthy foods than we have no business working out and that we are doing more damage than good to our bodies".

This made absolute sense to me. Our bodies has to draw the right amount of nutrients from our bodies to counteract the effects of those free radicals So how do we prepare our bodies to do that?

Eat foods with high antioxidants levels, Fruits and vegetables contain the most antioxidants. The problem is that after we we process fruits and vegetables many of the antioxidants are removed. So, even eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables can not guarantee you will get enough antioxidants...still it is the best place to start.

The best way to fight free radicals is with a collection of antioxidants. There is not one single antioxidant that is most effective. In order to be effective there must be a team of antioxidants all working together. When you supplement with a team of antioxidants you will find that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Please realize that the damage we are doing to our bodies during a workout without the proper nutrients may not be evident right away, but over the years you will reap what you sowed, so protect, protect!

Our body produces certain antioxidants to combat free radicals, but many of the necessary antioxidants must come from our diet. Understand that while taking antioxidants from the source (whole food) will help you now, it also has very real long term benefits.

Working out increases the number of free radicals in the body. These free radicals can leave you feeling sore, weak and more prone to injury and sickness after an intense workout. You may notice that your endurance starts to drop off and you have a harder time recovering from a tough workout. You may also get sick more than you did before you started working out. These are all signs that free radicals have shifted the balance in your body to a state of oxidative stress.

By taking an antioxidant supplement directly after a workout you can help reduce the oxidative stress on your body. By reducing the free radicals you are putting your body into a more balanced state.

As with almost everything in our body... it is all about achieving the proper balance. We don't want to eliminate free radicals entirely, we just need to keep them in check. The key to this are antioxidants.

If you are looking for an excellent highly researched antioxidant - then you should read about Juice Plus+. Juice Plus+ is full of all the fantastic antioxidant's from whole food (fruits, vegetables, and berries) plus it is the #1 researched whole food supplement in the world.

Yours in Health,
Robin