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December 2017

What are FREE RADICALS?

Educational Information, Healing Procedure, Make Choices, Spirit for Healing December 21, 2017

 

Free radicals are not new in nature. They have been around for millions of years along with vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids (EFAs), and protective anti-oxidants found naturally in food. A free radical is an atom or molecular fragment with an unpaired electron. It is very unstable, highly reactive particle, because it hates to be alone and like to be paired. Therefore, it will draw an electron from wherever it can, including other molecules pair in the body, causing them to change structure. These molecules then become free radicals creating a chain reaction with millions of molecules being affected in nanoseconds.

Endogenous (from inside the body) Sources of Free radicals:

Free radicals are intermediates of the normal chemical reactions taking place in the body, including oxidative reactions to produce the energy that our cells require for detoxification, nutritional assimilation, and more. Our body’s immune system also produces free radicals which it uses to kill bacteria, viruses and fungi. If the immune system becomes chronically over-activated by chronic inflammation such as allergies and major operations, there is an extra burden of free radicals in the body.

While those oxidative reactions and immune responses are vital and absolutely necessary, unpaired electrons involved in oxidation can damage molecules in cells and tissues. And this becomes free radical stress, also known as oxidative stress in the body which leads abnormal, toxic, and biologically unsuitable substances to cause degenerative health conditions such as cancer.

Also, it is so important to mention about emotional stress. Emotional stress significantly increases the release of hormones (epinephrine/norepinephrine/cortisone) which in excess act like free radicals creates bio-chemical changes and damages the cells and tissues.

Exogenous (from outside the body) Sources of Free radicals:

  • Preservatives and other chemicals in food
  • Pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic hormones in non-organic food
  • Alcohol and smoking
  • Prescription drugs
  • Pollution
  • Radiation and microwave
  • Toxic metals like mercury, aluminum, and lead
  • Trans and hydrogenated fats

 

Luckily, our body is so incredible that it uses antioxidants like Vitamin C, E, A, selenium, CoQ10, as well as enzymes that contain minerals like zinc, manganese, and copper to neutralize free radical toxicity.

How Free radicals become “Bad” guys?

As I mentioned above, free radicals are produced from our body’s biological reactions besides exogenous sources and they can’t cause cell destruction when protective antioxidants are present in the body.

But in this fast-paced modern society, nutritional deficiencies are on the rise, especially vitamins and minerals (antioxidants!).

We eat packaged foods that are highly processed (often with chemicals), heated with high temperature in vegetable oils, and exposed to the light and oxygen. Those are perfect candidates for free radical damages in the body. There is no doubt that free radicals cause degenerative health conditions but the root cause for this is the nutritional deficiencies. By addressing the deficiencies, we could tame the free radical stress.

When I was working in a health food store, people asked me if it was really beneficial to take Omega-3. They were informed by Mr. “google” or some doctors didn’t know much about the benefit of Omega-3 that they cause the free radical damages rather doing the good.

YES. Omega-3s (and Omega-6s) are very sensitive to light, heat and oxygen (I have written about fats here.). Special care needs to be taken in processing, packaging, and storing rich in EFAs in order to avoid free radicals damages. However, to set such conditions costs labour and time. As a result, the necessary care is not usually taken.

Some haters (or just got a job writing about health and wellness) focus on this fact that scares readers without proving the solution to it. I think it is so important to intake Omega-3 either from food or nutritional supplements if you are dealing with asthma, eczema and other health conditions chronically. If you are scared of free radicals from processing the EFAs, eat more whole foods that can protect the cells with antioxidants.

It is so twisted if you are eating highly processed packaged foods and scared of free radical damages from bottled EFAs that could protect your cells. But only if your body has vitamins and minerals that assimilate the fat and act as antioxidants. Again, those have to come from whole foods or nutritional supplements.

Nature does its best to protect our body. Our job is to listen and take action.

References:

Organic restaurants are safe and healthy choice when going out for food?

Make Choices, Spirit for Healing December 21, 2017

 

When we are just about to enter the healing journey, eating out isn’t the first one to cut out of your life, because we have our social lives to keep. So we start suggesting friends to go to restaurants that serve more vegetables, gluten free, vegan/vegetarian options, and better yet they are either partially or completely organic. As far as I know, most of those restaurants support local farmers. That’s great! We feel less guilty eating fries if they are made in “healthy” restaurants.

Are they really healthy?

I have worked in different restaurants such as a bar, oyster house, and vegan/vegetarians’ over the years as a cook. And I have never found any restaurants that satisfy my way of eating when it comes to the way those restaurants make food, and ingredients and the way they are combined in a dish.

First of all, you don’t know what you are about to eat is really fresh. The food prep is usually done at least a day or two ago. If restaurants were slow on those days, they could be sitting in a fridge for days. Vegetable are exposed to oxygen and lights after being cut into pieces. Nutrients will be lost quickly, especially when they were pre-cooked.

Secondly, I like to mention about kitchen equipments. Among the restaurants I had worked in the past, some restaurants used teflon frying pans and aluminum pots besides stainless steel or cast iron ones. How about dishwasher they use? Do you think they use chemical free dish soap? Unfortunately, they don’t. That’s so rare to find places completely chemical free. Once dishes are washed with soap full of chemicals, they stays as they dry out. And you will be eating your food with toxic chemicals on the plates.

Lastly, yet most importantly, the biggest concern of mine is the oil. Especially, the vegetable oils such as canola oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, avocado oil, and other vegetable oils. I have written more about oils here.

The word free radicals has been well-known since a lot of scientists and doctors confirmed that they were responsible for the health crisis and degenerative diseases.  They are created from our body’s natural metabolism but the problem here I want to talk about is the way we consume oils is hugely contributing the free radical toxicity in the body.

When oils are heated, exposed to light or air, they change the chemical structure and become active as unpaired electron in the structure tries to pair up with other electron. This unpaired electron acts like a knife in the body damages the tissues and organs. This is so called free radical damages in the body.

Some oils such as coconut oil, palm oil, butter, ghee, and refined oils like high oleic sunflower oil, or high oleic safflower oil are more stable in the heat. But ideally all oils should not be heated especially when we are healing from degenerative conditions.

Restaurants consume so much oil a day so that they have to buy oils in huge bulks which usually come in plastics. When they are used for cooking, usually they are heated in high temperature.

Everybody has their own unique healing abilities. And there are differences how fast you degenerate your health or heal from health conditions. Because we all have weaknesses and strengths in different tissues and organs. So we can’t really compare with others who could be eating McDonald’s for years and they could be having no problems at all (or not paying attention to their health. Usually they are on medications masking what really is happening to their body.).

I come back to the question “How bad you want your health back?”. We can’t force anyone to do what they should do.    It’s always up to us whether we want to commit to our health.

Love in food that we are eating!

I also believe in healing property of the food we are eating. When we make food our own with love and healing energy, the food become more nutritious and will be assimilated optimally in the body.

If a cook in a restaurant had a bad day and making your food with anger, or is having a super busy moment and making your food with the pressure, your food could be burnt (which is carcinogenic) and carries on the stress as its energy.

Especially, when you are willing to reverse the health condition, take time to make your food with prayer and good healing energy.

That’s probably what you would be doing if you are trying to impress someone who you really like.                                     So why don’t you for yourself? (This is SELF-LOVE!)