Aging Well, Inflammation and Oxidation 101

Who wants to age well, and live a disease-free life?

Well, don’t raise your hands all at once! In a perfect world, everyone would age well and rid themselves of the ailments that chronic disease brings with it. Of course that scenario seems a little too ideal to be possible, but guess what? It IS attainable with proper knowledge and choices.

If you want to age well and wave goodbye to chronic disease, then you need to focus on two words--inflammation and oxidation.

Inflammation: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

You might ask, what exactly is inflammation? In basic terms, inflammation is your body’s way of defending itself against anything it deems harmful, protecting itself from further insult or injury, and cleaning up debris left behind after an injury. Signs of normal, healthy inflammation include, but are not limited to; pain, swelling, redness and warmth.

Healthy and normal inflammation occurs around an injury and goes away when it’s job is done. Chronic and/or widespread inflammation is very problematic and leads to disease. This form of inflammation is linked to most chronic conditions including numerous autoimmune disorders. In some cases, inflammation can keep your body stuck in vicious cycles keeping sick people sick. More serious signs of chronic inflammation can be linked to brain fog, leaky blood-brain barrier, anxiousness, poor stress response, digestive complaints, joint or muscle aches and pains, damage to tissue and nerves and decrease or loss of function.

Oxidation

Oxidation happens when an atom or a compound loses an electron. When something is oxidized, its properties change. For example, think of a piece of fruit going brown or metal rusting. Those are examples of oxidation. This also occurs with some powerful household cleaners that quickly breakdown stains. We like it when oxidation breaks down our messes, but not when it breaks down our insides.

Eating antioxidants can help prevent oxidative stress and keep your cells and enzymes working well. Inflammation and oxidation are essential factors to consider if you want to age well and live disease-free into old age, as most major diseases stem from these two processes.