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Anti-aging 101, the best natural agents for anti-aging and cancer prevention

Many people are starting to become very health and body-conscious because of the many different health issues erupting in the medical setting today. Because of the changing environment, there are many environmental concerns and foods in our diet that can actually hasten aging and/or even cause cancer! However, scientists and doctors have found new ways to prevent these from happening with the use of certain antioxidants such as acai berry, CLA and green tea. These antioxidants are healthy substances that are able to prevent some of the harmful environmental factors and processes that damage DNA and cells and lead to aging and cancer.

Cancer or tumorigenesis is the mutation of DNA into harmful cancer cells or the formation of tumors that divert blood and nutrient supply from healthy tissues in order to feed themselves. This may be caused by a number of factors from your external environment. Certain high frequency radiation, like radon from uranium-rich soil, ionizing radiation (IR) from x-ray machines and ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, are also major reasons for cancer. Other health risks are smoking, ingestion of carbonaceous materials, excessive use of certain drugs and alcohol, psychological stress, cellular phone use, asbestos exposure, electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure, and nuclear facility exposure. Therefore, a particular lifestyle decision, such as taking in antioxidants, can help prevent these things from happening and even help in anti aging.

After the peak of the body’s development and growth in the mid-20s, the human body begins the process of aging as it normally transitions from the various stages of human development. In this process though, the body starts to decline in function in its latter stages, especially without preventive measures such as a healthy diet and exercise. Aging can be caused primarily by pollution in your environment or exposure to infectious diseases. It is normal for the biological system to create oxidants or free radicals which react with other cells and destroy them. Anti aging products include antioxidants that could effectively cleanse the system from harmful oxidants taken in from the environment through breathing, eating or other biological processes (e.g. absorbtion of harmful rays).

One of the most well known antioxidant-rich compounds is a acai berry – a fruit harvested from the acai palm tree, which has been found to contain health-promoting nutrients because of their concentration of anthocyanin. It helps to counteract oxidants from destroying connective tissue and to repair damaged proteins in the walls of blood vessels. This definitely helps the process of anti aging and, at the same time, helps to fight diseases like cancer.

However, there are more superior antioxidants for better anti aging and for combating cancer. CLA or conjugated linoleic acid, which naturally occurs in meat, has been found to inhibit tumor growth by as much as fifty percent and helps one lose weight by detoxifying the system of fat cells by breaking them down. Green tea has been studied to inhibit the ability of tumors to elicit capillary growth that direct blood and nutrients to the cancer cells. It also has the ability to boost the metabolic rate by thirty percent, allowing more fats to get burned. CLA and green tea are the best anti aging supplements.

Its important to note that the best defense against harmful free radicals is avoidance. Staying away from known sources such as cigarret smoke, drugs, harmful radiation etc is the best way to avoid the deleterious effects of harmdul free radicals. At the same time maintaining a healthy diet combined with daily exercise ensures that your body is able to keep its stores of naturally occuring antioxidants high. Beyond this, supplementing with powerful antioxidant such as CLA or green tea gives you the best chance at preventing damage to your DNA, cells and the health risks rthat accompany free radicals.

Weight loss can be difficult, thats for sure, but like anything else – the more you know, the easier it is. Once you understand the basics, you’ll make constant steady progress, stay fit, make you look great and help you feel fabulous. The basics of being fit and fab are all about keeping your metabolism going strong. It is definitely a challenge to lose fat and maintain a healthy and trim body, but there are a lot of easy exercises and fun activities that you can engage in and a lot of supplements you can take for you to keep your metabolism running fast and steady.

It’s really important to build muscles and strength train regularly because this can maintain a high metabolic rate when trying to lose fat. If you lose muscle tissue instead of body fat, your fat burning capacity will decrease. The more calories you will burn, the more you use your muscles. Walking and high intensity interval training can burn can burn fat significantly than sleeping or watching TV. Exercising frequently, especially in the morning, also speeds up your metabolism and can still burn your calories even after the session. This is why it is advisable to take in calories post-exercise. You can try having interval training as often as possible. This will only take only about ten minutes and greatly improves fitness and metabolic levels. Mental exercises are also very important in keeping your whole body healthy. Avoid stress through relaxing activities such as yoga, tai chi or even writing.

In order to lose fat more effectively, you also have to remember that you should not reduce your calorie level too much. With too few food intakes, you can increase your appetite to an unhealthy level and start eating too much after your starvation diet. Avoid skipping meals and spread out calorie intake into four to five well-balanced snacks and meals for the day. It is very important to keep within your recommended calorie range and still keep the capacity of burning stored fat and have energy for your daily activities, too. Also, do not deprive yourself of sleep as studies show that this may slow down your metabolism as well.

There are also a lot of supplements that can help you lose fat. CLA or conjugated linoleic acid is a group of essential fatty acids that enhances metabolism by allowing lipids to be used as energy and reducing blood sugar. Research shows that CLA can help boost lean body mass, especially in the abdomen. Green tea with its antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC) activates brown adipose tissue (BAT) to participate in a heat-generating metabolic process called thermogenesis. This heat induces loss of appetite and increases fat and calorie-burning, slows down release of carbohydrates, stops sudden rising blood-insulin levels, and lowers cholesterol. L-dopa is a mood stabilizer or enhancer that controls emotional or stress eating. This can also stimulate the secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), which increases lean muscles and decreases fats as well. You can lose fat and lose pounds immediately with these helpful tips and get that dream body you’ve always been aspiring for.

To begin a diet without understanding where you are now and what steps will take you where you want to be is a plan – but it’s a plan to fail.  Instead, make a plan to succeed by defining where you are, what your goal is and what must be done in the areas of diet, exercise and health to reach your goal.

Any of us who have dieted know that the best intentions can be overcome by the first hunger pang.   We know it’s easier to think about exercise while sitting in our favorite chair.   We know that depriving our bodies of the nutrients it needs leads to fatigue and weakness and gives us an excuse to quit dieting.

Plan your diet by making a schedule for meals, defining an exercise program suited to you and add an excellent weight loss supplement that will support your health as you pursue your goals.   You will increase the likelihood of success drastically by spending a bit of time building a diet plan to suit your taste and your lifestyle.

Be realistic about where you are right now.   Begin by calculating your body mass index (BMI). Try these free weight loss tools courtesy of Liporidex.com. Lowering your BMI can have a significant impact on your life by decreasing risk of disease and improving overall health.   The BMI measurement may be incorrect if you have a high concentration of lean muscle.   Accuracy may also be affects for those at the extreme range of ages.  Use this handy BMI chart provided to track your weight loss progress.

Other calculators are provided to:
-    Determine the caloric requirement that will help you lose weight, gain weight or maintain the weight when you reach your goal.
-    Design an exercise regimen based on caloric expenditure by activity
-    Access a database of foods and calories per serving to plan your meals

Choose your diet supplement carefully.   If you buy weight loss diet pills that leave you jittery you are at risk for nervous eating.   Choose a top weight loss supplement that targets the unique problems you face when dieting but also provides natural support for your overall health and well being.

As you create your diet plan, choose a date to start that will allow you time to clear your kitchen of foods that are not helpful and fill the refrigerator with fresh, healthy foods.  Outline a plan for exercise that is practical and will fit in with your schedule.  It does no good to have an ambitious workout plan if you have to skip it due to time constraints.

Set milestones for your progress.   Sometimes you will exceed your own expectations but if you fall short one week, just make adjustments and keep going.

Your end goal is to lose weight in a way that leaves you looking and feeling great.   With healthy food choices, regular exercise that suits you and the top weight loss supplement taken daily, you will feel better, look better and be able to continue your new healthy lifestyle long after your diet days are over.

The best plan for weight loss is one that focuses on your overall goal.   You can lose excess pounds with a combination approach; that is one that successfully combines a healthy diet and a top weight loss supplement.  By adding a regular exercise program to the mix you will achieve much more than simple weight loss.

It turns a diet into a lifestyle with food choices to reduce weight, a routine to tone and firm muscle adding the best diet supplement allows you to increase your overall health and get some extra muscle tone, fat and overall weight  loss.

It is not unusual for breathing to become labored during periods of intense exercise.   It’s a common part of cardio exercise and we expect to be breathing heavily or even gasping for breath at the end of our morning run.

Our lungs are automated wonders, expelling a used breath and expanding to inhale as needed.   Respiratory muscles in the chest also expand and contract to adjust to the changing size of our expanding and contracting lungs and these same muscle groups also control posture.

Breathing is a two part process.  Respiration brings oxygen into the lungs while circulation disperses the oxygen throughout the body to where it is needed.  Circulation of the oxygen is possible due to the respiratory muscles such as the diaphragm, the abdominals, and the intercostal muscles.  The oxygen we inhale doesn’t provide energy but unlocks energy stores in food we’ve eaten. It basically helps fuel the process by which units of biological energy (ATP) are released from caloric stores (carbs, proteins, lipids)

Alveoli in the lungs allow oxygen to be taken up by the body and only oxygen which reaches the alveoli is utilized when we breathe.  Only oxygen that reaches the alveoli can be utilized by our body.  This is demonstrated by the physical response of someone who is taking very shallow, rapid breaths during a panic attack.   The person may black out from lack of oxygen.   The persons is feeling the lack of oxygen but the lack is caused by shallow breathing where oxygen is not reaching the alveoli of the lungs.

This is why adequate respiration and ventilation – deep breathing are very important. Your lungs a have a certain amount of volume – called “dead space” that is not involved in gas transfer. Instead these areas are primarily conduits; larger pipes that transport gasses to the alveoli. Because a small part of each breath is used to move gas through these conduits(bronchi) rapid shallow breathing will decrease the volume of gas brought to the alveoli. Fortunately Oxygen transport is a relatively quick process. It is CO2 transport from the blood (carried as lactic acid) that takes longer and is thus – more sensitive to decreased ventilation and gas exchange duration. Even without lactic acid build up, simply hypoventilating will lead to a build up of CO2 and actually have the same effect of increasing lactic acids in your body from sustained muscle work!! (cardio, weight etc)

Yes breathing, and more importantly – how we breathe is very important. The concentration of oxygen in your body is a balance of the supply of oxygen to the alveoli for circulation and the amount of oxygen your body is demanding.  When you are at rest, the balance is easily maintained but when you exercise your body demands more oxygen which requires more breaths per minute to supply sufficient levels of oxygen to the lungs.  During exercise, deeper breaths turn into faster breaths and eventually the exertion will leave you gasping for oxygen as your body expends more oxygen than it is able to take in.

Lactic acid is an alpha hydroxyl acid (AHA) produced in our bodies and is also referred to as milk acid.  If you feel the burn during an exercise, you can thank lactic acid for that.

Exercise causes sugar to be broken down producing energy for the muscles.  This breakdown of sugar yields carbon dioxide and water in the end if you are getting all the oxygen you need.

Strenuous exercise may cause a deficit in oxygen and result in lactic acid being produced and accumulating in your muscles.  Through a complex chemical process, lactic acid builds up in muscles during vigorous exercise.  Muscles may contract more efficiently when lactic acid is present and this is why athletes like to feel the burn during exercise.   To them, it signifies their muscle is being worked to capacity.

When lactic acid buildup makes your muscle begin to hurt, you breathe faster and usually slow down to allow your body to catch up with the oxygen it craves.   As the depleted oxygen is restored (returning to normal breathing), the lactic acid converts to carbon dioxide and water that are expelled as you breathe.

It is lactic acid buildup during intense exercise that provides need for allowing muscle groups to rest and recover on alternate days.   Your muscles may be sore the day after you exercise and this is due to lactic acid buildup.   Resting for a day or two allows the lactic acid to dissipate and the muscle to recover.

If you are worried about your weight, or even just concerned about your BMI, you are certainly not alone.  Recent surveys have shown that over seventy percent of Americans are struggling with their weight.

One question that has been posed time and again still has researchers puzzled.  What is it that causes our population to have such a widespread problem with achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight, and how can it be overcome?

There are many pieces to this perplexing problem.   DNA can certainly play a part in an individual’s metabolism – if your ancestors struggled with weight loss, chances are high that you will, also.  Recent research has focused on the process of Mutagenesis, or changing the structure of DNA to assist individuals who have the genetic markers for inherited obesity and the associated problems that come with it.  Is it possible to change the body’s code for the better?  Scientists are hard at work to find the answer.  In the meantime, there are real breakthroughs that can help break the cycle of persistent weight loss and weight gain that such a large percentage of the population battles.

Some of the best tools for weight loss involve simple knowledge about how the body works and what to do to optimize the body’s energy balance.  One thing you can do is use a BMR Calculator to evaluate your body’s basic caloric need.  A Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator (BMR Calculator) uses information you provide to determine how many calories you would need to maintain your current weight even if you did nothing all day.  The second tool is knowledge about your BMI (Body Mass Index).   Using a BMI Calculator, you can determine the fat to lean ratio that makes up your body.  Standard BMI Calculators can help you to determine whether you are underweight, at a healthy weight for your height, if you are overweight, or if you are obese.  The knowledge you can gain from using these two important tools is enough to get you started down the path of healthy weight loss.

It is important to feed your body properly while losing weight.  When you decrease the amount of calories that you are taking in, it is essential to use high quality nutritional supplements to ensure that your body’s vitamin and mineral needs are met.  If the body is not receiving quality nutrition, it will fight to retain fat – again, that tricky DNA comes into play.  Centuries of struggle to find adequate nutrition have programmed our genetic codes to be thrifty and store fat.  Taking a quality supplement along with plenty of water can help to speed weight loss and restore balance to your body.

Healthy exercise is also important for weight loss.  Remember that if you have not exercised in a long time, you should start out slowly and work your way up to a more active lifestyle.  A high quality weight loss supplement can help you with exercise as well, giving you more stamina and helping your body’s cells to convert more easily.  Fat cells will shrink rapidly and muscle cells will show increased growth as long as they are fed properly – cells need micronutrients to operate efficiently.   So, remember that a body is a sum of parts and DNA is ultimately the key.  Until the mysteries are solved, a BMR Calculator, knowledge about your BMI, and a healthy diet and exercise plan paired with supportive supplementation remain the best tools for healthy weight loss.

Every day we get up, stretch, and then flop back down on our beds, groaning as we fumble for the snooze alarm. We work too hard. We eat poor foods. We smoke. We drink. And we never get enough fresh air, sunshine and exercise. Exercise has benefits even if we do it in the house, even if we do it while watching television. Hey, you could be exercising right now while you are reading this article.

For every argument, excuse, or whine that you have against exercise, I am here to argue and debate the other side. You cannot beat me, so you might as well smile and lace up those sneakers, because I am going to tell you why daily exercise is exactly what you need.

Benefit Number One:  Increased Energy

You know that groan, fumble, snooze, grumble, fumble, panic, and race thing you do every day before work? What if you had more energy every day? What if you were able to stretch, rub your eyes and then actually haul yourself out of bed, get dressed and go to work without the beat the clock drama? Daily exercise gets your body going and not just while you are doing it. Your body will eventually learn to love the feeling of exercise and to literally crave it.

Benefit Number Two: Increased Metabolism

Your body is like a car. If you leave a car sitting for a long period of time, it will stop working even when you want it to. If you do not make your metabolism work, it will slow down and you will start to gain weight. Daily exercise burns up calories (the amount will vary depending on what you do and how long you do it) and gets your metabolism revved up. The harder your metabolism works, the more fat you burn. And, if your exercise includes weight resistance training, you add muscle. Muscle burns fat around the clock; the more muscle you add, the more fat you burn.

Benefit Number Three: You Will Sleep Better

Daily exercise will get your physical self in proper order, but it will also relieve some of your daily stresses. Stress is one of the main reasons that most people do not get enough, restful sleep and why they are tired and cranky in the mornings. Exercise your way out of some of that stress and you may find yourself sleeping better.

Benefit Number Four: You Will Feel Better

Exercise releases endorphins in your body which are the feel-good hormones. You will start to feel happy just thinking about exercise, especially if you find an exercise that you actually enjoy. Do not do something that you hate because it is the latest thing or because some skinny-butt model swears by it. Do it because it makes you feel good, because you can’t wait to go for your run, or hit the yoga mat, or because running Zeke the Golden Retriever through the park is the highlight of your day.

What is metabolism? It is the process by which our body burns calories for fuel. We should also be aware that certain food calories are broken down in different ways, but once they make it to their lowest common denominator it may not matter what the exact source of those calories really was. The process by which foods are broken down, and the rate at which this happens may influence how much calories is burned and how much is stored. For now, the focus will be on carbohydrate metabolism and why understanding the basic action can help you to lose weight.

Whenever we eat or drink something, our body must use energy to process the nutrients. In the case of carbohydrates, the actual amount left over after processing is 90% of the total calories. We burn about 10% of the carbohydrate calories just by digesting them. Our body takes the carbohydrates and breaks them down to a simple compound called glucose. The body is in a constant battle to maintain the delicate balance of all of its systems including its blood glucose level. This balance, also known as homeostasis, can be interrupted and thrown-off, by overeating and by extreme dieting. In most cases, the body is aiming for blood glucose numbers in the range of 70–110 mg/dL.

Whenever we eat or drink anything, our body releases hormones that help to digest and process the foods and beverages. Of these hormones, insulin is like the mother hen. It attempts to usher all of the sugar molecules into storage tanks. The body also releases glucagon that is like an older sibling. It tries to break the sugar molecules out of the storage tanks so that they can be burned for food. Glucagon will also try to hide the sugar by turning it into glycogen and stashing it in the muscles and in the liver. If there is no immediate need for the energy, the remaining calories will be stored either in the glycogen tanks to be burned off at another time or in the fat cells where it will be kept as body fat.

Certain foods upset the delicate balance and produce a huge tidal wave of insulin. These insulin spikes can then lead to faster, easier fat storage as the body starts to resist the insulin’s efforts. Insulin resistance is the inability or resistance of the muscles or liver cells to store glycogen. As a result of this resistance, even more insulin will be released. When more insulin is released, the body is more likely to store fat.

Total insulin released is usually equal to the total amount of blood glucose. However, the higher the initial flood of carbohydrates, the longer that the insulin will be at elevated levels. Again, the more insulin that is released into the blood stream, the more likely you are to have at least some body fat storage. It is better to eat foods that do not cause insulin spikes or at least those that cause smaller insulin spikes. It is also wise to eat smaller, more frequent meals.

If you are worried about your weight, or even just concerned about your BMI, you are certainly not alone.  Recent surveys have shown that over seventy percent of Americans are struggling with their weight.

One question that has been posed time and again still has researchers puzzled.  What is it that causes our population to have such a widespread problem with achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight, and how can it be overcome?

There are many pieces to this perplexing problem.   DNA can certainly play a part in an individual’s metabolism – if your ancestors struggled with weight loss, chances are high that you will, also.  Recent research has focused on the process of Mutagenesis, or changing the structure of DNA to assist individuals who have the genetic markers for inherited obesity and the associated problems that come with it.  Is it possible to change the body’s code for the better?  Scientists are hard at work to find the answer.  In the meantime, there are real breakthroughs that can help break the cycle of persistent weight loss and weight gain that such a large percentage of the population battles.

Some of the best tools for weight loss involve simple knowledge about how the body works and what to do to optimize the body’s energy balance.  One thing you can do is use a BMR Calculator to evaluate your body’s basic caloric need.  A Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator (BMR Calculator) uses information you provide to determine how many calories you would need to maintain your current weight even if you did nothing all day.  The second tool is knowledge about your BMI (Body Mass Index).   Using a BMI Calculator, you can determine the fat to lean ratio that makes up your body.  Standard BMI Calculators can help you to determine whether you are underweight, at a healthy weight for your height, if you are overweight, or if you are obese.  The knowledge you can gain from using these two important tools is enough to get you started down the path of healthy weight loss.

It is important to feed your body properly while losing weight.  When you decrease the amount of calories that you are taking in, it is essential to use high quality nutritional supplements to ensure that your body’s vitamin and mineral needs are met.  If the body is not receiving quality nutrition, it will fight to retain fat – again, that tricky DNA comes into play.  Centuries of struggle to find adequate nutrition have programmed our genetic codes to be thrifty and store fat.  Taking a quality supplement along with plenty of water can help to speed weight loss and restore balance to your body.

Healthy exercise is also important for weight loss.  Remember that if you have not exercised in a long time, you should start out slowly and work your way up to a more active lifestyle.  A high quality weight loss supplement can help you with exercise as well, giving you more stamina and helping your body’s cells to convert more easily.  Fat cells will shrink rapidly and muscle cells will show increased growth as long as they are fed properly – cells need micronutrients to operate efficiently.   So, remember that a body is a sum of parts and DNA is ultimately the key.  Until the mysteries are solved, a BMR Calculator, knowledge about your BMI, and a healthy diet and exercise plan paired with supportive supplementation remain the best tools for healthy weight loss.

To begin a diet without understanding where you are now and what steps will take you where you want to be is a plan – but it’s a plan to fail.  Instead, make a plan to succeed by defining where you are, what your goal is and what must be done in the areas of diet, exercise and health to reach your goal.

Any of us who have dieted know that the best intentions can be overcome by the first hunger pang.   We know it’s easier to think about exercise while sitting in our favorite chair.   We know that depriving our bodies of the nutrients it needs leads to fatigue and weakness and gives us an excuse to quit dieting.

Plan your diet by making a schedule for meals, defining an exercise program suited to you and add an excellent weight loss supplement that will support your health as you pursue your goals.   You will increase the likelihood of success drastically by spending a bit of time building a diet plan to suit your taste and your lifestyle.

Be realistic about where you are right now.   Begin by calculating your body mass index (BMI). Try these free weight loss tools courtesy of Liporidex.com. Lowering your BMI can have a significant impact on your life by decreasing risk of disease and improving overall health. The BMI measurement may be incorrect if you have a high concentration of lean muscle. Accuracy may also be affects for those at the extreme range of ages. Use this handy BMI chart provided to track your weight loss progress.

Other calculators are provided to:

-       Determine the caloric requirement that will help you lose weight, gain weight or maintain the weight when you reach your goal.

-       Design an exercise regimen based on caloric expenditure by activity

-       Access a database of foods and calories per serving to plan your meals

Choose your diet supplement carefully.   If you buy weight loss diet pills that leave you jittery you are at risk for nervous eating.   Choose a top weight loss supplement that targets the unique problems you face when dieting but also provides natural support for your overall health and well being.

As you create your diet plan, choose a date to start that will allow you time to clear your kitchen of foods that are not helpful and fill the refrigerator with fresh, healthy foods.  Outline a plan for exercise that is practical and will fit in with your schedule.  It does no good to have an ambitious workout plan if you have to skip it due to time constraints.

Set milestones for your progress.   Sometimes you will exceed your own expectations but if you fall short one week, just make adjustments and keep going.

Your end goal is to lose weight in a way that leaves you looking and feeling great.   With healthy food choices, regular exercise that suits you and the top weight loss supplement taken daily, you will feel better, look better and be able to continue your new healthy lifestyle long after your diet days are over.

The experts, who decide what we are and are not eating for good health this year, agree (for once) that eating a diet that incorporates all of the colors of the rainbow has the most health advantages. Now, before you trot off to the candy machine to get a bag of colorful fruit flavored candy and call it a day, what they are referring to are fruits and vegetables.

If you are eating for health, for weight loss, or preferably for both; you should definitely pay attention to this advice. Eating at least one item of every color will ensure that you get all of the vital vitamins and nutrients that you need, especially the all important antioxidants.

Antioxidants are important in the ever growing battle against free radicals. Both antioxidants and free radicals are found naturally in our own bodies; the problem is that we may not always produce enough of them for a beneficial balance.

Free radicals are harmful byproducts that are created by our body’s own systems, like the ashes after a big fire. Highly unstable and dangerous, free radicals roam around the body trying to steal electrons from other cells. This electron theft causes cell damage and in some cases cell death. Slowing and preventing this damage is the main goal of the antioxidants. Poor food choices and bad habits can cause the free radicals to grow and develop out of control.

Free radicals that are found in the heart and blood vessels can cause especially devastating damage making it harder for the heart to work correctly. Free radicals can increase LDL cholesterol, which is particularly dangerous news. Antioxidants like vitamins A, C and E can help by protecting the heart against these free radical assaults.

Vitamin A is made by the body from beta carotene which can be found in the deep orange and dark green items in the produce section. Food sources include: sweet potatoes, carrots, apricots, and spinach. Vitamin A, unlike many other nutrients is stored in your body fat, so if you miss a day of these foods, you will still have some on hand.

Vitamin C, on the other hand is not stored in the body, so you need to have a daily dose of it for it to be beneficial. Vitamin C’s food sources include: oranges, tomatoes, cantaloupe, grapefruit and broccoli. These foods help to fight free radical damage and lower cholesterol, and may also help to lower blood pressure. Finally, vitamin C keeps small blood vessels from becoming stiff and brittle.

Vitamin E works its magic by preventing the formation of foam cells that can gum up and clog the arteries. Free radicals start the chain reaction by attacking LDL cholesterol. Your body joins the fracas next by activating the immune system. The white blood cells released by the immune system and the cholesterol then form the foam cells. Vitamin E acts as a “de-foamer” preventing this from happening. Good food sources for Vitamin E are: olive oil, canola oil, wheat germ, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and sunflower seeds. There are also many other compounds that have great antioxidant properties. Some of the most effective and potent are actually CLA and green tea!