14 Jan Glutathione: The Most Potent Antioxidant In Your Body
Glutathione isn’t talked about very often, but it is a key component to maintaining health and wellness. Many researchers have found direct links between glutathione and health, but doctors often don’t realize how much this antioxidant impacts your health.
If you are looking for a way to prevent illness and disease, slow the ageing process, and boost your overall health, then you need to understand how glutathione works in your body.
Glutathione: What is it?
Your body is able to produce a simple molecule which is known as glutathione, and it is a combination of glutamine, glycine, and cysteine. When these three amino acids are combined, they can help to get rid of toxins, heavy metals, and free radicals that are present within your body.
Typically, the body is able to recycle the use of glutathione, but the functionality decreases when the body is overloaded with toxins. GSTM1 function is an essential gene that assists the process of creating and recycling glutathione, and many sick people are missing this important gene.
Glutathione provides the building blocks that your body needs to avoid disease and illness, and it is an integral part of getting rid of waste and toxins. If you want to achieve peak physical and mental function, then you need good levels of glutathione.
Why is Glutathione so Beneficial?
As a strong detoxifier, glutathione helps to get rid of harmful compounds that build up in the body. The exposure to stress, ageing, radiation, trauma, infections, medications, toxins, pollutants, and a poor diet are all factors that can cause damage in your body. These factors deplete the glutathione that is available within your body, leading to cell damage because of oxidative stress. When the liver is loaded down from these factors, it can’t function properly to detoxify the harmful elements that might be present in your body.
Glutathione helps to strengthen the immune system, and it supports the functions of the major detoxifying organs within your body. So, if you are suffering from toxic overload, then it is important that you are proactive in order to boost your glutathione levels.
How to Boost Glutathione Levels
Here are a few steps that you can follow if you want to improve your health by boosting your glutathione levels:
- Boost vitamin intake. Certain vitamins can help to improve glutathione levels, and you might consider adding these supplements into your daily routine: vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, alpha-lipoic acid, and n-acetyl-cysteine.
- Use whey protein that is bioactive. Whey protein is a great source of amino acids, and glutathione consists of three specific amino acids. In order to get the benefits from the protein powder, you need to make sure that it is “bioactive,” which means that it is produced from low-heat processed, non-denatured protein.
- Eat foods that are rich in sulphur. Good food sources include onions and garlic, as well as any type of cruciferous vegetables: watercress, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, kale, and broccoli.
- Exercise consistently. When you exercise, your glutathione levels are boosted. Exercise is very beneficial because it helps to improve the antioxidant defences within the body, boosts detoxification and it strengthens the immune system. The best type of exercise that you can do is short high-intensity exercises that you can do in less than 20 minutes. You really don’t need to spend much more than 30 minutes total if you’re doing the right kind of exercise at the right intensity. Of course, going for long low-intensity activities like walking and hiking are also very helpful as well. But if you want to really maximize your body’s ability to produce glutathione, it’s best to combine it with short high-intensity exercises…preferably using weights. Don’t worry you don’t need to use heavy weights, but it should be just challenging enough to give your body the stimulus it needs to boost your anti-oxidant production.
If you’re feeling run down and suffer from frequent colds and lack of energy, you may be suffering from a glutathione deficiency. You can be tested for the deficiency, but if you don’t want to go through the testing process then you can simply start following some of the tips that are listed above. Since glutathione helps to reduce inflammation and boost your immune system, it won’t hurt to follow these healthy living tips, because they will help to improve your overall health and wellness.
I’d like to thank my wonderful client, Sandy Kruse Registered – Holistic Nutritionist for recommending glutathione to me. You can find her on Instagram at @sandyknutrition to learn more about living a balanced life.