Top 3 benefits of Vitamin C

Vitamin C is the supplement that I make sure never to run out of.  I depend on it everyday to keep myself healthy and free of all the nasty colds/flus that are going around.  I think most people out there know that vitamin C is good for us, but what exactly are the benefits?

1. Antioxidant – Vit C acts as an antioxidant. It fights free radicals in the body.  This helps protect our cells from damage, both internally and externally, which in turn helps protect against cancer or other diseases.

2. Boosts the immune system – Vit C helps the body fight off anything that tries to attack the system.  It can help stop colds/flus, or if you’ve already got a bug, it helps make the symptoms go away much more quickly.  I’ve even heard that by taking vitamin C before being exposed to smoke,  you can help your body fight off whatever damage the smoke might cause.

3. Collagen – Vit C is an important part of collagen production (you know, the stuff that we lose as we get older which makes us look years beyond our real age!)  Therefore, by taking vitamin c, we are helping our skin stay plump and young looking. We also help our skin heal faster after wounds or surgery.

Where do we get Vitamin C?

Humans do not produce vitamin C (unlike other mammals) so we need to get it both through diet and supplements.  We all know citrus fruits, like oranges, have vitamin C, but where else can we get it?

In fact, many fruits and vegetables have vitamin C, but some of the top choices are:

Strawberries, Red Peppers, Broccoli, Tomatoes, Spinach, Kiwi, and the number 1 choice is Acerola Cherries

How much Vitamin C should I take?

I know the recommended daily allowance (RDA) in the US is 60mg per day, but I don’t think that is nearly enough!  I take 250mg per day in a supplement, plus whatever I’m getting from my food.  If I’m feeling a cold coming on, I take about 1000mg per day.   The thing about vitamin C is that whatever your body doesn’t use, it gets rid of.

I actually met a nutritionist once who said that he takes 1000mg every hour if he is feeling a cold coming on!  And he did that every hour until he knew the germs were flushed from his body.

It is important to keep up your water intake, as I’ve found vitamin C to be dehydrating in large doses.

Should I supplement?

I think supplementation is a decision for each individual person, however, with many of our fruits and vegetables traveling long distances before they actually reach our plates, you just can’t depend on your diet to give you all of the essential vitamins and minerals.  I’ve been a vitamin taker forever, so I highly recommend it.

With vitamin C, it does deteriorate fairly quickly after a fruit/vegetable has been harvested.  So…I say, yes, supplement!  As always, though, make sure to find a good quality, natural supplement.  There are many out there that are purely chemical based, so try to avoid this.

Check out a few brands here:  www.nutritionsupplements4u.com.

To your health,

Kimberly

White Tea – a good choice?

If you are a tea drinker, surely you’ve had black teas, maybe herbal teas (peppermint, ftuit, etc), but have you tried White Tea?  Have you heard of White Tea?

I thought it sounded a bit strange…kind of like white chocolate, which I’m not really a fan of.   But, it does have some great qualities.

White tea gets its name from the silvery white hairs on the buds.  White tea buds are picked in the early spring and care is taken to pick the best leaves and buds for the tea production.  Picking is prohibited during inclement weather.

There are several white tea varieties, each of a different quality.  The best is Silver Needle.  Other types include White Peony, Long Life Eyebrow and Tribute Eyebrow.  The process to create white tea involves much less processing than either black or green tea so it maintains more of its health benefit.  Drinking a daily cup or two of white tea is said to be filled with life-preserving antioxidants.  Also, the tea has a naturally sweeter taste than the other types.

One of the reasons that people drink green tea is its antioxidant properties and its contributions to weight loss.  White tea is filled with many kinds of antioxidants like catechins and flavonoids, so why not try it out instead of your normal green tea tomorrow?

Antioxidants are crucial in our fight against free radicals, which are produced from pollution, exposure to the sun, the foods we eat and chemicals.  They attack healthy cells and cause premature aging as well as diseases like cancer.  Antioxidants surround free radicals and neutralize them before they can do any more damage to your body.

White tea uses these antioxidant properties to promote health in the body.  For one, the flavonoids in white tea work to prevent the growth of cancerous cells.  Antioxidants boost the immune system so that invading viruses, bacteria and other organisms are defeated by immune system cells.

White tea antioxidants also protect the heart and circulatory system.  They lower cholesterol levels and prevent hypertension (high blood pressure).  A heart that has to pump harder to move blood throughout the body is at increased risk for heart attacks.

Catechins help by lowering the level of bad LDL cholesterol; they eliminate the formation of hard cholesterol plaques which narrow blood vessels and lead to blood clots.  Strokes are a possible result of blood clots that break off and travel through the body and lodge in a vessel in the brain.

In keeping with its high level of antioxidants, white tea contains minerals that help build healthy bones and teeth.  Both of these are important as we age.  Women can develop brittle bones during menopause.  Finally, there is less caffeine in white tea which is good for everyone.

If you are drinking coffee, a switch to white tea may be in order!

To your heatlh,

Kimberly