Sunday, March 18, 2012

How to avoid becoming a zombie, aka why healthy eating is important


We have been told for our entire lives that eating healthy is important. "It's good for you." Yeah.. That's pretty vague. We have no reason to believe "them" because "they" never gave us a real reason.

So, allow me: Eating healthy is more than simply "good for you." It's actually amazingly important. And here is why...

If you DON'T eat healthy, your cells turn into Zombie cells. And they will slowly destroy your body with profound efficacy . I guarantee you already have a few Zombie cells. DON'T LET THEM MULTIPLY!!

WHY you want to eat healthy and what that means...

First, a concept I want to share... we don't eat food for 'us', and when I say 'us' I mean our mind that says it is Claire that hates washing silverware, loves her dog, and wonders where that awesome purple cardigan went 7 years ago. I'm not talking about 'oooh I want Mexican!'.. We eat food for our cells, to create energy to sustain life. Really, it is that simple.

Here is the catch. Depending on what we eat, we get more or less energy.

Behold! Science!! (Don't get bored, I'm getting to the zombies.)

When we eat food, our body and organs go through a flurry of biochemical reactions in order to create energy. In humans, that energy is called ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate. You can now forget that. Just like in high school biology.) The ATP is stored for later use so that our cells can create new cell walls, and proteins and anti-bodies.. Basically ATP will be used to build everything that keeps us alive and in good health, on a cellular level. (Which really, is all we've got..)

I now would like to introduce to you the mighty mitochondria. He's one of the parts of a cell. That is who builds and stores ATP. Cells that require more ATP to function, they have more mitochondria... Brain cells have LOTS of mitochondria because they need to do Lots of things using a ton of energy.

Food.

So, we eat it and it turns into ATP. In the mitochondria. The mitochondria are like little furnaces, it is an energy machine. Whether you put chocolate cake and a big mac or 12 servings of steamed vegetables and fruit salad, it is going to use the same amount of energy.

One meal will create a lot of ATP. One will create very little. (I will let you guess which meal accompanies what ATP output.)

They will both use the same amount of work. There is product and there is waste. If there is less product there is more waste. The un-useable garbage.

This un-useable garbage has an adorable name.

Free Radicals. The tiny anarchists in the body.

If there is only a little bit of waste (aka, free radicals), the cells can get rid of it easily. It is just a couple flies buzzing about, swat swat... But if there is a lot of waste, this is a problem. The cells can't get rid of it fast enough and soon destruction ensues. Free radicals are like parasites and will latch onto whatever part of the cell they can to stay.
The closest part of the cell is the mitochondria. Which means that guy ain't gonna be makin anymore ATP. Nearby is the nucleus, which is the part of the cell that holds DNA, its the part of the cell that knows what it's program is, what it is doing, where it should be, and how long it should exist.
When free radicals screw with the nucleus (which it can do directly, or through the mitochondria), thats when things get bad. Zombie bad.

ZOMBIES!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!! and some more science.

Each cell has an expiration date. All cells die, more are made. Its an important part of the health of the body. So when a free radical messes with the nucleus, the cell forgets to die,.. It becomes, and I am not kidding you, an Immortal Cell.

It lives forever. And grows at the expense of everything else. We also call this Cancer.

I kind of hope you just got the chills.

Bad food = free radicals = zombie cells = Cancer

So. What can we do to combat the free radicals and stop the zombie war happening inside of us??

Eat good food, duh.

ZOMBIE CELLS HATE COLORFUL FOODS

The body's defense against free radicals is 'intracellular antioxidants.' With a lot of antioxidants in the mitochondria the free radicals are neutralized easily (swat swat, remember?)
The richest source of antioxidents are in deeply colored veggies and fruits. Purple, orange, yellow, red, green.. they all have different roles for the mitochondria, which is why eating a big variety of many colors every day equates to GOOD FOOD!

Also, this good food helps the mitochondria to remove toxins from our blood stream- so all the medications we take, the (ahem) booze and recreational drugs we injest, the pesticides and herbicide residues in our food: GOOD FOOD helps to flush that stuff out! The more good we put in, the easier it is for our body to push the bad out.

We have all had a life-time exposure to this crap. All of the not-quite-real/made-in-factory food we have eaten.. its FILLED with free radicals waitin to happen..

So, let us begin now.

It has been shown in study after study that the more antioxidants we take in, the lower the risk of degenerative diseases, eye diseases, mental-emotional health issues, autoimmune issues, and of course, cancer.

I am trying to eat 9 cups of multi-colored fruits and vegetables a day. I think I am getting, on average, 5. I will continue to work my way up.

The easiest way for me to do it is a breakfast smoothie with fruit and vegetables in it. I use organic frozen veggies/fruits, the next richest in nutrients next to the just-picked goods.

I also am putting a tablespoon of liquid chlorophyll into a little cup of blueberry juice every morning.
Another easy way is to saute up some kale or chard or spinach, 3 cups raw turns into a serving very quickly once cooked down.

Now you know why your veggies are good for you.. Next time you realize you didnt eat anything "good for you" that day, imagine your cells making zombie noises, and go hook up your mitochondria. It will be so terribly grateful.