What Are Phytochemicals and Antioxidants?

What Are Phytochemicals and Antioxidants?
by Valerie Olmsted

'antioxidants' has become so popular in the anti-aging movement.

The major antioxidant produced by our own bodies is glutathione. We take other
antioxidants (vitamins B, C, E, etc) to recycle the glutathione. In order to recycle the
glutathione the vitamin C and other antioxidants will actually accept the free radial
itself-kind of like a relay runner handing off the baton to the next runner. Maybe the
fire brigade is a better illustration, as the antioxidant's purpose is to quench free
radicals: the fire is the free radical, the water is the antioxidant, and the firemen are
the auxiliary antioxidants that replenish the water.

Phytochemicals are made by plants as waste products (that's right, it's plant poop)
and are classed into the following families: flavinoids, isoflavones (like
phytoestrogens), isothiocyanates, monoterpenes, organosulfur compounds,
saponins, and capsaicinoids. These are general antioxidants, cancer-preventers,
anti-stiffening agents (for cell membranes), immune boosters, anti-cholesterol,
glycemic agents, anti-inflammatories, analgesics, and ANTI-APOPTOSIS. Good health
has to do with getting a variety of all these phytochemicals, not so much in
overdosing on certain ones (although vitamin C is fairly safe to do so).

I bet you remember your grandma (or someone elderly) telling you to eat your fruit
everyday, as in: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Well, the anti-oxidant
properties of fruits and vegetables are what keep the body functioning properly. I
guess if you wanted to get gross about it, you could say that the poop of plants
helps humans to poop but that wouldn't exactly be correct...it's usually the fiber of
the plant that helps with that. and it's the sugars that stimulate the peristaltic action
of the intestines. At any rate, we need those phytochemicals for everything that
happens in the body, because they are vitamins, precursors, enzymes, hormones,
etc. Phytochemicals are involved in so many processes it is absolutely mind-boggling.
Who thought up this amazing system? It's enough to make one plunk one's buttocks
down upon a cushioned seat for a long contemplative moment or two.

©2010 Dr.Valerie Olmsted All Rights Reserved

About The Author

Dr. Valerie Olmsted is an author, naturopathic physician, metaphysician, internet
entrepreneur, artist, speaker, and lover of life. Traveling with the Quantum Vortex
Experience, she has helped thousands of people reach the inner connection they are
seeking and has contributed to the discoveries of manifestation practices via
quantum physics applications.

Contact: Dr.Valerie Olmsted
2370 W. SR 89A
Ste.11-#121
Sedona, AZ 86336
928-257-3290

It seems like everywhere you look
these days the word 'antioxidant' is
being touted as absolutely the best
thing to make us younger looking and
more vital. But what are these
things? Antioxidants are a class of
phytochemicals and vitamins;
phytochemicals come from plants
(phyto=plant). Antioxidants stop free
radical oxidative processes (aging).
Rust on metal is due to oxidation; the
same thing happens inside our cells.
When cells age enough, they die, in a
process called apoptosis, which is
triggered by certain changes of aging.
This is why the subject of

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remedies and before making any drastic changes to your diet or exercise program.