How to oxygenate and rejuvenate your cells

There are situations that take our breath away, whether they catch us and we feel that they do not leave us space and that time is eating us up, or whether they surprise us or impress us, and in both cases the expression is usually used “I lack oxygen.”

Oxygen leads us to think about the air we breathe, about natural spaces, about feeling good, enjoying time and freedom. However, when we experience periods of fatigue, constipation, muscle pain, chronic illnesses, stress or anxiety, or symptoms of premature aging appear, we hardly remember oxygen.

Oxygen is an essential nutrient

We can go weeks without eating, days without drinking, but a few minutes without breathing. Oxygen is essential for life and each breath provides the body with this oxygen. necessary ingredient to carry out endless biochemical reactions that maintain life. Therefore, along with the water we drink and the nutrients in the food we eat, it is considered an essential nutrient.

While the trees and plants produce it, the animals and we ourselves consume it, which reminds us that Vegetables are our best allies to maintain health and how important it is to take care of the natural lungs of mother earth to preserve the whole of life of all organisms.

But oxygen can also be harmful and make us sick and old, particularly when ROS accumulates, reactive oxygen species (from English Reactive Oxidative Species), among which are free radicals that are produced during the oxygen oxidation process and to which a harmful role for the organism has been attributed, which has contributed to oxygen having these two faces at “angel” and “devil” mode.

The key is in the mitochondria

If we imagine a gelatin capsule, like any supplement or medication, cylindrical with rounded edges, well, that’s what mitochondria are like, the organelles found inside all cells and that They are the power plants of the body.

Mitochondria are specialized in producing the energy that cells need to function and stay healthy, and for this they have all the metabolic machinery to obtain it from water, oxygen and nutrients from the food we eat, and finally it runs out. stored in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

The “energy coin”, which is how ATP is known, acts as if it were a battery with energy easily usable by all cells (brain, heart, muscles, skin…). When the necessary energy currencies are available to carry out all the functions of the organism, we feel more vital, energetic and healthier.

How to avoid rust

Avoid the accumulation of ROS, As are the free radicals that are produced during the production of energy in the mitochondria, it is key to maintaining the health of the cells and the whole organism. Free radicals, although they are usually treated as harmful, also have beneficial functions, such as participating in the body’s defense processes and stimulating antioxidant biological mechanisms, on which they act by regulating them within certain limits and thus avoiding stress. oxidative.

Consume regularly processed, high-glycemic, and inflammatory foods produces an excess of ROS as free radicals that damage mitochondria.Eat dinner just before going to sleep forces the mitochondria to work, to generate energy that is not going to be used, and free radicals and waste that are not going to be released and that are going to accumulate in the cell. Tobacco smoke, pollution , exposure to herbicides, pests and insecticides, irritating and toxic cleaning products, plastics, natural radiation such as ultraviolet radiation, and artificial electromagnetic radiation such as wireless technology, are exogenous sources generating ROS that end up compromising the health of the mitochondria. chronic stress it becomes a source of production of free radicals, it becomes difficult to manage the oxidation-antioxidation balance and excess free radicals accumulate. In addition, it affects sleep patterns, how and what we eat, weakens defenses, and is behind many health disorders.

Chronic and degenerative ailments due to dysfunction of mitochondria

Listlessness, tiredness, fatigue, weakness, migraines, malabsorption of food, constipation, vomiting, diabetes, increased tendency to infections, muscle pain, cramps, nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, vascular disease , disorders of the liver, the reproductive system or cancer, may be due to mitochondrial dysfunction, explains the doctor Isabel Belaustegui, specialist in pathological anatomy and founder of the Vida Potential health platform.

In addition, there are other diseases due to a congenital alteration of mitochondrial DNA. In fact, Dr. Belaustegui points out that mitochondrial dysfunction It is the leading cause of degenerative disorders in our society, and that taking care of them is key to maintaining the balance of health.

More nutrients with antioxidant power

There are habits that favor generation of new mitochondria (myogenesis) and the ability to recycle or autophagy (called mitophagy) eliminating damaged, aged or malfunctioning mitochondria, and favoring the elimination of toxins derived from mitochondrial metabolism.

What we eat, the environment, genetics or psychosocial aspects are risk factors, that is, they can generate reactive oxygen species and consequently break the oxidant-antioxidant balance.

A diet rich in foods with antioxidants is the key to caring for mitochondria protecting them against an excess of free radicals. Among the foods richest in antioxidants, those with abundant doses of:

Vitamin E, in sunflower oil, corn oil, wheat germ, hazelnuts and almonds.Vitamin C, of citrus fruits, persimmons, kiwis and raw vegetables such as peppers, parsley or cabbage.Vitamin A, only present as such in foods of animal origin. In vegetables it is found as provitamin A, in the form of beta-carotene, which is abundant in carrots, apricots, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli or melon.carotenes, pigments from the beta-carotene family that are not converted to vitamin A but are antioxidants, such as lycopene from tomatoes and watermelon, and lutein and zeaxanthin, found in green vegetables, peas, leeks, blueberries, broccoli, and egg yolk of egg.

Other nutrients participate in the antioxidant function and complete a diet that is beneficial for mitochondrial health:

B vitamins, They are found in green leafy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.healthy fats present in avocado, extra virgin olive oil, olives, coconut, organic butter and ghee.protein, such as those that provide eggs and legumes.

Plus we can enhance the manufacture of endogenous antioxidants, those produced by the body itself.

How to generate more endogenous antioxidants

Every day we manufacture thousands of endogenous antioxidants to counteract the damage caused by excess free radicals. Some habits enhance this internal production:

glutathione It is the body’s master antioxidant, which in addition to protecting cells from free radicals by neutralizing them, safeguards them against carcinogenic agents, collaborates with the immune system and participates in numerous metabolic reactions. Caloric restriction through intermittent fasting increases glutathione production. Also foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids (in fish, flax seeds or walnuts), resveratrol from black grapes, cocoa, blueberries and pistachios, sulforaphane from broccoli, epicatechin from green tea and turmeric curcumin.coenzyme Q10 participates in the generation of ATP, in addition to acting as an antioxidant. It is found in avocados, berries, grapefruit, broccoli, cauliflower, nuts, seeds, and olive oil.

How to oxygenate cells without damaging them

Leading a lifestyle that minimizes the toxic stress produced in cells by excess free radicals, that helps to eliminate toxins and waste from metabolism, and that stimulates the production of endogenous antioxidants, in addition to dietary ones, is the secret to oxygenate cells without damaging them.