By Dr. Jones | February 18, 2022 1 Comment

What causes inflammation?

We all want to look and feel younger and more alive.

One of the things that you need to address, not only in disease prevention but also anti-aging, is cellular inflammation and something called oxidative stress.

So what does that mean and how do I address cellular inflammation and oxidative stress? Well it’s something that I work on with all my health participants, however, I wanted to share with you some cutting edge information around what you can do to really maximize your performance through being able to learn what causes inflammation and how to reduce it. 

This is a personal topic for me because when I was dealing with attention deficit disorder, dyslexia and chronic fatigue, inflammation was the underlying cause of my challenges the whole time. Yet it took me over 8 years of trying different medications, supplements and solutions before I started getting results. I had to learn what causes inflammation and then what I could do to heal my body. 

Inflammation was what also drove my eczema and athlete’s foot. The same underlying cause of all of my health challenges. The problem was, most doctors were simply treating the symptoms with drugs or supplements and not addressing the removal of the various factors that drive cellular inflammation. One of the main reasons why entrepreneurs and executives work with me is because I help to remove the factors that cause inflammation.

So let’s dive in with what I mean by inflammation & start to learn what causes inflammation. 

What is inflammation & why is it an issue for your body?

There are two types of inflammation that may occur within your body. The first type is the inflammation most people are aware of. It’s the response of your body to trauma so it might be a swollen ankle or other heat, pain, redness or swelling associated with an event or injury. The other type of inflammation is cellular inflammation and this often goes unnoticed, as it is often asymptomatic. But if it is there it is slowly causing damage to your cells which leads to chronic disease and dysfunction within your body.

There are several different factors that drive inflammation within our bodies, and it’s different for everyone.

So what causes inflammation in your cells?

Another word for inflammation is oxidative stress. For over 40 years now, oxidative stress has been increasingly recognized as one of the major contributing factors to the aging and disease process. Oxidative stress is what happens when your body does not have enough antioxidants to neutralize free radicals and toxic elements within your body. You see your body is constantly using oxygen as it produces energy and a by-product of these reactions are highly reactive molecules known as free radicals. Free radicals interact with your cells and cause damage to the proteins, membranes and DNA within your cells.

To prevent oxidative stress occurring, your body produces antioxidants to neutralize free radicals. You can also get extra antioxidants to help in this process from your diet.

Although this is a naturally occurring process within your body there are many factors in today’s environment and commonly eaten foods that contribute to increased amounts of oxidative stress in your body. These include:

• Toxins and chemicals found in processed foods
• Hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans fats
• Air & water pollution
• Dehydration
• Refined sugar & alcohol
• Chemical cleaning supplies and personal care products
• Stress
• Artificial food colors, flavors and preservatives
• Smoking & Sitting (which is the new smoking)
• Being Sedentary
• Excessive exercise
•  Certain medications and/or treatments

Oxidative stress & chronic inflammation are some of the leading causes of disease and dysfunction in your body and can also be the cause of low energy, brain fog, joint pain and a range of other symptoms.

How do antioxidants work against free radicals and oxidative stress

Well the body naturally produces antioxidant enzymes and molecules such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione. These neutralize free radicals so they cannot cause damage to your cells. Although external sources of antioxidants from your diet are extremely important to increase your defence against free radicals, the most effect antioxidants are those produced by your own body.

How can these help you become superhuman? They boost your immunity, remove toxins from your body, optimize brain function, help to turn disease genes “off”, protect the DNA and promote anti-aging.

If you can boost your immune system, purge your body of toxins and maximize brain and body function, imagine what your productivity could be like?

Imagine the level of energy you would have?

By boosting these natural antioxidant enzymes and molecules within your body, you can access higher levels of health and productivity then you’ve ever experienced before. This is how I overcame many of my own health challenges from my skin issues and energy levels to my decreased ability to focus. These natural factors help to squelch free-radicals within the body.

How to skyrocket superoxide dismutase by 34%, catalase by 53% and glutathione by 300% in just 1 month…

Although the benefits of external sources of antioxidants are well documented in the scientific literature there is now more and more science looking at ways you can improve your own body’s production of antioxidants.

Scientists have been researching a protein within each cell called Nrf2 that helps to regulate the expression of a set of antioxidant and detoxifying genes within your body. So once activated Nrf2 kick-starts the production of your bodies most important antioxidants, which provides far better protection against free radicals than most external sources.

This is like saying, if you’ve got a fire in your house, I can build a permanent road that will flood your house with qualified fire fighters, carpenters and interior decorators to overcome damage and maintain the cleanest, safest and most “designer” looking home possible.

From my research the most effective way to upregulate this protein and turn on these antioxidant genes is through supplementation.

Taking certain supplements can help activate Nrf2 and the dietary supplement Protandim, a potent composition of Nrf2 activators has been shown to decrease oxidative stress by 40% in just 30 days. When your body is assisted in creating Nrf2 studies have shown increases in superoxide dismutase by 34%, catalase by 53% and Glutathione by 300%.

Protandim contains all whole food natural plant ingredients such as turmeric extract, green tea extract, ashwagandha, bacopa extract and milk thistle extract and is the supplement I use for my family and recommend for my health participants to reduce oxidative stress as well as improve digestive function and reduce anxiety and stress related symptoms.

Want to learn more?

The video below is of a crossfit trainer testing Protandim. It’s fascinating as it actually shows you slides of cells repairing. Towards the end he mentions the “heavy metals” that the increased  “Glutathione levels” which helps to detox your body, because Glutathione is a “sticky” molecule and can pass the blood brain barrier! (Glutathione..it’s a sticky molecule that draws all of the bad things in your body towards it!) Protandim increases glutathione levels 300%!

Working to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in your body is one of the most important things you can do for your health and well-being and to really access high performance. Although there are many diet and lifestyle changes you can make to really help these supplements, products such as Protandim just help you take it to the next level. You can click HERE to find out more about Protandim or if you want to schedule in a time to discuss your health goals in more detail than click HERE to schedule in an appointment with me so we can talk more specifically about your situation.

NOTE: I do my best to source products directly from manufacturers. Protandum has been patented and exclusively delivered through a direct sales company. Every once in awhile a product comes along like this product that I still have to promote even though it’s not through the channels that I feel most comfortable promoting through. I wanted you to know that in full disclosure.

Protandum is one of the supplements that you should be taking each and every month. They’ve shown that going off of it for one month brings your antioxidant levels back to where they were before taking the supplement.

More information and research is to come, but I thought you’d appreciate knowing about it!

 

To find out more about your health and whether a customized approach is the way to go for you, take our free High Performance Quiz. Click below!

 

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