Health

What is Oxidative Stress?

The term oxidative stress is used to refer to a condition in the body where the production of free radicals is greater than the body’s ability to neutralize them.

This means an abundance of free radicals causing chain reactions of destruction throughout the body. In fact, oxidative stress is linked to many all-too-common diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Sickle-Cell Disease. A free radical is a molecule containing atoms that are unstable because they have unpaired electrons. Figure 1 illustrates how a free radical differs from a normal, stable molecule (simplified, of course).

In our quest to eat only the types of foods we believe will improve our overall wellness, my wife and I have found it particularly difficult to handle snacking. Many will say that if you are eating meals properly, there should be no need for snacking.

From a nutritional standpoint, I’m completely on board with that statement. But I also like to eat. And sometimes, I’m in a hurry.

I need snacks.

So we started out buying some snacks that we felt were reasonably healthy and conformed to our nutrition goals. We have really enjoyed LÄRABARs. They are relatively tasty (considering what you’re eating) and they’re made out of only things that Carly and I want to eat.

The only problem is that they’re stupid expensive. We believe that nutrition is so important that you should be willing to spend money on it. But there’s no reason to spend more money than is necessary. So we decided to see if we could create the LÄRABAR experience with our own ingredients.

[Read more…] about Homemade LÄRABARs