By Anna Ruth

Are you familiar with the Free Radical Theory of Aging? It has nothing to do with politics and is one of the most widely accepted theories around right now to explain the process of cellular and system degeneration. It’s about how your body acquires and produces unstable molecules called free radicals. Because nature seems to abhor instability, a molecule that is missing an electron will steal it from a nearby molecule, or atom.  This creates a new free radical or oxy-radical which in turn steals from another neighbor. If left unchecked, this process can create damage that begins at a cellular level and as these damaged cells accumulate, the systems that they are a part of start to break down.

Antioxidants are nature’s answer to free radicals. Antioxidants are molecules that can donate an electron to a free radical without becoming unstable themselves. They halt the chain reaction and prevent the damage.

You only need to look at the face of a 60 year old sun-worshipper to see how cellular damage ages us. We can see the skin, but we don’t see the accumulated damage to the liver or the heart or the brain. Meanwhile, arteries get clogged with cellular debris and joints become swollen with chronic inflammation- of damaged cells, all directly caused by free radicals.

So where do they come from? There are two main sources of free radicals – one source is the outside environment – think of pollution and cigarette smoke and the host of toxic substances that we inflict on our bodies. And then on the other hand there are the free radicals that are made by our own bodies.

We produce free radicals through four different mechanisms.

To create energy we use oxygen as fuel and generally convert it to water. But, like many other processes in nature the fuel doesn’t always burn as cleanly as we would like, resulting in damaged versions of the oxygen molecule.

Our body uses some oxidants to fight chronic infections, bacteria and parasites. Unfortunately, in the process other cells in our body are exposed and vulnerable to the free radicals. We fight fire with fire and sometimes manage to burn ourselves in the process. We also produce hydrogen peroxide- another free radical version of oxygen – when we metabolize some fatty acids.

Our bodies produce free radicals in millions of and millions of cells and do it almost constantly. Luckily we also have the ability to produce the remedy in the form of powerful free radical scavengers like CoEnzymeQ10 and Glutathione.

In an effort to combat the external sources of oxidants – like drugs, pesticides, cigarette smoke and other foreign and toxic chemicals our bodies creates an enzyme called Cytochrome P450. However, in calling up this necessary enzyme, we create a by-product, free radicals. The toxins damage us on their own, and we damage ourselves to fight them. It ages us.

If you’re interested in helping your body combat the damaging effects of free radicals, you need to support your supply of antioxidants. Some antioxidants, like Vitamins C and E can be supplemented and you simply cannot – in my opinion overestimate the importance of a good diet. Other antioxidants like Glutathione cannot be supplied as a supplement although you can nourish your body with the precursors -raw materials- to produce it yourself.

Anna Ruth writes about why MAXGXL is different from a glutathione supplement and a better alternative to helping boost your levels Glutathione the Master antioxidant

If you’re ever looking for a better way to relax go into a  garden.  Even now when I have my crazy junior bonsai nursery growing down the side and a wide collection of pots and bags with tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers, squash and herbs, its still the most peaceful place in my world.

And even though I’m trying to develop a product -  urban hydro gardens and bring them to market and I’m still fine tuning the prototypes and starting to juggle the numbers.  Sitting ( or standing) around plants that I’m growing is the most soul easing place in the world.  I sincerely believe that anyone who loves to grow plants gets the same feeling.  It can be stretched a little out of shape now and then, when the slugs are eating holes in my pepper leaves and the earwigs are treating my romaine lettuce like a high rise condo.

It makes me wonder if people with other passions get the same sense of peace or if maybe this is just something special that’s given to people who love to ( or is that need to? ) grow things.

One of the (not completely ) answered questions for my summer vegetables in containers project was picking the best ones to grow.  I was looking for a combination of decent yields for the work and – I guess you’d call it -functionality.  I wanted vegetables that could be eaten immediately or could be preserved or could provide a sustained yield for a long time.

I also couldn’t choose all that many, because like the people I’m doing this for I’m pressed for time and space. Finally I wanted to work with plants that would let me test some different container styles – particularly for the soil less containers where I want to be able to check out larger single plant pots, smaller individual plants set into a pipe garden configuration and also I wanted to check out a “broadcast” planter box.  I want to check into cut and come again salad greens so I wanted the most surface area I could acommodate in the space.

Here’s the list so far- Cherry tomatoes, beans, acorn squash, picking cucumbers, lettuce varieties (loose leaf) and hot peppers.  If the hot peppers seem like a strange addition – all I can say is that they can be dried and held for a long time, I like the taste of hot peppers and I happen to really like the look of them too.

Although I’m kinda late getting off the ground, if I can I’ll try and also get some snow peas added into the mix and that will probably be it.

The seeds are sprouting – I dont’ have any pots and I haven’t built the hydroponic planters yet … got to get this in gear!

You want your backyard to look unique, and there are a number of things you can do to achieve this look. You can plant certain flowers, add unique lawn furniture, add a birdbath, and put down nice looking patio bricks. One thing that few people think of, though, is adding a bird feeder to the look. One of the most interesting and exotic looking bird feeders is an African bird house bird feeder. It looks so different from other feeders. It looks like an African hut with an ornamental roof made out of wheat or rye over a “house” of corn. Birds can come visit this unique home and stay for a meal—the entire bird house is made out of edible food, including Japanese millet, proso millet, sunflower seeds, corn, wheat, rye, canola seeds, popcorn, oat groats, and dried orange and apple slices. The entire this is fourteen inches tall and almost five inches across, large enough for several birds to eat at once.

Looking for more outdoor garden lights? If you want to add something to your table that works both as a center piece and as a light source, check out these bonsai lantern garden lights. These cute little square Japanese style garden lights add a very unique look to your garden table. These lights look great along with other Asian style items like paper lanterns. They’re simple in design, yet they put off a good amount of light and may be all you need for your table. The bonsai lantern lights also feature a sturdy metal ring on top so you can hang them above your table as well as use them as center pieces. In addition to making a great item for your own garden, these bonsai garden lights also work great as gifts. If you don’t like the look of paper lanterns, want a lantern that’s a bit sturdier, or just want something that’s a little bit different, check out the bonsai lantern garden lights.