Longevity Series – Get Your Antioxidants

What is the secret to being happy and healthy and 100? So far we have looked at three of the nine pillars of longevity including natural movement, eating until 80% and eating more plants. But it turns out there is one specific nutrient that deserves its own pillar... antioxidants.

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Episode Resources

Welcome back to The Nick Broadhurst Show, I’m your host, Nick Broadhurst. You can check out all of my music on Spotify. And you can also check out all of my work, including all these podcast episodes, all my music, my music videos, everything I do at www.iamnickbroadhurst.com.

And that song you were listening to is a song, actually a remix of my very first single; little lover. It’s a remix by the artist Etherglow, who also collaborated on my most recent single; open wide. And you can check that out at iamnickbroadhurst.com/littlelover.

So before we get started, I really encourage you to listen to this longevity series in order, starting at iamnickbroadhurst.com/40 and that’s going to give you an overview of why I’m doing this series, and what the blue zones of the world are all about, because I will reference the blue zones but I won’t keep explaining what they are in every single episode. But so far we’ve covered episode 41 which was Move Naturally, 42 which was Eat Until 80%, 43 which was Eat More Plants, that’s one episode I’m very, really, really proud of.

And today is episode number 44, and it’s called: Get Your Antioxidants. And in the blue zones, there is a common link which makes up one of the nine pillars of longevity, and that is drinking wine. I bet you weren’t expecting that one.

Now drinking wine daily is actually recommended in The Blue Zones book. And I’m not going to debate the benefits of wine here, but I think there does in this particular pillar need to be some tweaks to make this work for most of us who live in the modern world with additional environmental toxic stress such as EMF, blue light exposure in our homes, work stress, I mean we have a lot of stress in the modern world and I just want to pose the question that perhaps drinking alcohol every day is an added load that maybe our livers could do without? What do you think?

And if you are going to drink wine, of course, moderation is key; it’s more of a treat. And in the blue zones, it’s not commercial wine. No, this is homemade, organic preservative free, natural wild fermentation wine. And it’s very hard to say that about the majority of wines that you can buy.

Unless we look to a company that’s done all the screening and quality control for us, and there is a company that exists that’s actually done this, it’s called Dry Farm Wines, and they only sell lab tested, sugar free, low sulphite, low alcohol micro toxin, mold-free, no additives, Dry Farmed Organic or biodynamic wines that only use hand-harvested wild native yeast. They’re fermented in small productions and they’re gluten-free. I mean how awesome is that; a company actually exists that has done this work for you, I just think that’s unbelievable.

And if you’re in a country where you can’t order Dry Farm Wines, then look to a local biodynamic wine that’s been made with a lot of love like my very good friend, Peter Windrim

at Krinklewood Vineyard who makes stunning wine. I’m so, so proud of his work, he’s just the epitome of loving what you do and pouring love into your craft.

So let’s look at why wine has been so beneficial in these cultures, and I believe it boils down to a few key elements. Number 1 is undoubtedly antioxidants, 100%. Number 2 would be relaxation, and number 3 would be socializing.

So let’s look at element 1; antioxidants which I want to focus this episode on, and I totally agree; antioxidants are pretty epic when it comes to being healthy and happy at 100. But let’s look at a part of the antioxidants called polyphenols. They’re a type of antioxidant, and polyphenols are a natural chemical compound that provides protection to the plants and fruit from their own environmental stress, and these same chemical compounds are also really helpful for us humans as well. And they help protect against the effects of aging and oxidative stress.

They can neutralize free radicals in the body; they reduce inflammation, and may even slow the growth of tumours and even the onset of disease caused by inflammation. Because when you’re having healthy diet that has lots of antioxidants in them, then you’re stopping that inflammation before it occurs of course. And there are lots of things that cause inflammation so we have to be responsible and make sure we’re doing all the other things in our life to protect ourselves from accumulating too much inflammation in our bodies.

“But, alright, hang on Broadhurst. Can’t I just pop an antioxidant supplement each day?” Well, yeah, you can. But getting our nutrients as part of the complex, the complete plant matrix with all the synergistic natural compounds in-tact is by far superior. And you’ve probably all heard the saying, “Too much of a good thing,” etcetera?

Well, it’s the same for antioxidants, it’s not just a case of pumping your body with antioxidants and there’s been somewhat of an obsession around numbers, the ORAC system for example which rates the number of—the antioxidant rating in foods, and so clove for example has the highest antioxidant ORAC count. So can’t we go and just smash clove oil?

Well, no, because too much of a good thing, and too many antioxidants, right? We consume antioxidants to combat oxidative stress which happens when you have too many free radicals in your body, and not enough antioxidants to neutralize them. And these free radicals can cause damage to your cells which over time turns into oxidative stress. So when you overdose on any one antioxidant while trying to prevent oxidative stress, those antioxidants themselves become reactive, which is what we fear from the free radicals; so we’re creating the same problem.

Now your body already makes lots of antioxidants on its own, and quite a number are created as a response to physical exertion, and it’s just one way that our body rewards us for working out. So if you’re pumping individual antioxidants into your system with supplements, they will donate electrons to the free radicals you’re making by exercising, which are what tell your body, “Hey body, make some antioxidants.” So the lesson here is; free radicals are not always a bad thing, and can even be a good thing, and wiping them out on mass may not be in your best interest.

So how do we moderate? And the easiest way to do this is to get them from whole foods, and yes, you might want to have the occasional glass of wine as I said, moderation is key, but instead of drinking wine every day, I’m going to suggest one food group in particular that tastes fricking amazing and can deliver loads of polyphenols and other amazing nutrients, while at the same time hydrating your body. Doesn’t that sound good?

And this food group is: berries. Wild blueberries are my favorite as they have so much more fiber, and fiber for us listeners is a damn good thing my friend. And our freezer, if you go and look at it right now, our freezer is always stacked full of bags of berries. We’re very fortunate in Australia we have Viking I think the brand is, and they’re hand-picked wild berries from somewhere in Europe, I’ve forgotten where. Such an amazing company, and as I mentioned in episode number 43; Eat More Plants; one way to get loads of nutrient dense berries and fiber into your diet is smoothies. I’m a huge fan of smoothies.

And this morning I had a smoothie that was two liters in total, but I drank it very, very slowly over two hours. This is basically time released, easy to digest nutrition that hydrates my body. In there I had two cups of berries, a handful of fresh mint, a handful of romaine lettuce, some coconut oil, hemp protein, I have a tablespoon of what’s called a daily fruit and vegetable blend by Equilibrium so that my body is exposed to a range of fruits and veggies every day to prevent developing any allergies by eating too much of one thing, and I actually this time experimented with putting in half a cup of oats that I had soaked overnight and then cooked and added to the smoothie.

Now, everything in this smoothie is easy to digest, which is extra important in the morning when your digestive fire, your agni, is still waking up; it’s the weakest time for you digestion, your agni.

Now, that what works for me, and remember; bio-individuality, I spoke about this in the previous episode number 43; Eat More Plants, and I’m proud of that episode because it’s murky water, it’s such murky water, you know, diet? And I think I handled that with as much grace as possible so that it caters for every single person no matter what your preference is, but bio-individuality, and I am a Vata Pitta body type, an Ectomorph.

And if you don’t know what that means, check out my Ayurveda series which starts at iamnickbroadhurst.com/21. And I need carbs; I need lots of carbs. But I also want it to be easy to digest; I want my body to be hydrated and this smoothie concept gets it all done for me in one go; I get all the polyphenols, antioxidants I could need every single day, which is amazing.

And I do believe the smoothie is one thing I can recommend you trying as a quick way to get your day started and get all that nutrition into you. I’m super hesitant on recommending anything to be honest because we’re all so different, but I think a smoothie is a pretty safe way to go, you know? And as I said, there’s more on that in episode number 43; Eat More Plants.

And in a nutshell, here’s a summary; it’s my belief that getting at least one to two cups of berries in per day, preferably two honestly, can be really amazing for all of us. Like, amazing. And if you have any sensitivity to berries, then work on getting to the root cause of that, that sensitivity, rather than just putting up with it and missing out on the benefits of this beautiful berry.

As for the other two elements; relaxation and socializing, well they’re pretty obvious, right? And they will be covered in more depth in this series as they each make up their own pillar, which is amazing.

So again, thank you for being here. Do you know how amazing you are? Do you know how grateful I am that you are listening to this episode right now? Honestly, you rock my world, I fricking love you. And you can get all the show notes for today’s episode at iamnickbroadhurst.com/44 and I’ll link to everything that I mentioned in today’s show.

And don’t forget; make sure you hit the subscribe button on your podcast app, and that way you’ll make sure you don’t miss out on any of the episodes in this longevity series, and all my future episodes as well.

So thank you again for being here, I love you heaps, please head into iTunes and leave me a 5-star review because the more people who leave reviews, the more that iTunes thinks that this podcast is cool, and the more they feature it, and the more people see it, the more people hear it, and that’s all I want is for this information to find the ears that are ready to hear it; it’s that simple.

I’m not here to sell anything, I’m not here to preach anything, I’m here just to share all the things that I’ve learned and still yet to learn, and most need to learn. So thank you again, please share this podcast episode with someone that you love, and on your social media platform. And make sure you tag me @IAmNickBroadhurst so I can see your social media share and I can respond say hello.

And today, remember; look up, see the beauty around you, see the beauty within you, be gentle with yourself. Be love, try a beautiful big berry smoothie, see how it feels. But as always, listen to your intuition, it’s so important; it’s the most important thing. And have a beautiful day, I love you heaps. Ciao!

I would love to hear from you, so please tag me @IAmNickBroadhurst on social media, and use the hashtag #TheNickBroadhurstShow, or leave me a comment below (I read every single one!). And if you could take a minute to leave me a 5 star review on iTunes I would be very grateful.

P.S. Always listen to your intuition (and your doctor or practitioner) before trying any new health practice.

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