We all hear about artificial ways to stay young and healthy by use of elixirs and creams. The truth of the matter is that the body does everything it can to preserve itself naturally, and there is something that researchers have found to be the most effective tool in our goal to live longer and in better health. It’s called Glutathione.
Glutathione (GSH) is a peptide consisting of three key amino acids L-cysteine, L-glutamic acid, and glycine and every cell in our bodies produces it to protect cells from oxidative stress and free radical damage. The actual ways in how we age are directly correlated to the amount of GSH in our bodies, since glutathione levels typically decrease in time, resulting in increased susceptibility to metabolic stress. Those who have higher glutathione levels tend to have a higher metabolism, essential to maintaining a healthy immune system.
The added benefits to a healthy GSH level include:
- Healthy T-cell function
- Helps the liver detoxify fat
- Protects you from oxidative damage
- Helps digest proteins
- Reduced inflammation in the body
- Detoxification of methylglyoxal (a natural toxin by-product of metabolism)
Normally glutathione is recycled in the body, but this can stop completely when toxicity becomes overwhelming. A poor diet, pollution, medications, stress, trauma, and infections will all reduce the level of GSH in your body and speed up the aging process.
The best way to keep your GSH at optimal levels is to combine your diet with supplements.
Sulfuric foods are a main way to gather toxins like mercury and other heavy metals, acting like a natural fly paper and collecting them before expelling them through waste.
Here are the main dietary boosts to GSH:
- Almonds
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Beef liver
- Beets
- Black eyed peas
- Bok Choy
- Brazil nuts
- Broccoli
- Brussel Sprouts
- Butternut squash
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Chicken
- Collard Greens
- Eggs
- Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
- Grapefruit
- Grass-fed beef
- Green peppers
- Guava
- Halibut, cooked
- Kale
- Kiwi
- Lentils
- Mustard greens
- Olive oil
- Oranges
- Pinto beans
- Radish
- Red peppers
- Sardines
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- Sunflower seeds
- Sweet Potato
- Trout
- Turkey
- Turnip
- Watercress
- Yellow fin tuna
The best supplements for higher GSH Levels:
- Biotin
- Milk Thistle
- N-acetyl cysteine (NAC).
- Selenium
- Vitamins B6, B9, B12, C & E
- Whey Protein
- α-Lipoic Acid
Regular exercise can also stimulate glutathione production. It helps with workouts because raised glutathione levels decrease muscle damage, reduce recovery time, increase strength and endurance and shifts your metabolism from fat production to muscle development.
Your doctor can help find the right combination of diet and supplementation that’s right for you and help find the real fountain of youth within your own body.
