What are free radicals and what can we do to combat them

In our daily lives we all have cleansing routines but are our routines actually working to combat the right things? A Lot of the problems we face with skin care are actually down to a thing called a free radical, this term gets thrown around quite frequently in our community but for a good reason.

Free radicals cause a variety of vices to our skin by breaking down the collagen which we need to maintain in order to have healthy and glowing skin. These rogue molecules by breaking down this collagen cause our skins to develop harsh blemishes such as wrinkling, dark lines and spots as well as causing the skin to sag. Collagen is essential to skin care as this protein keeps the skin elasticated reducing the chance for wrinkles to form, it also is essential to joint health.

What can we do to negate their effects and how do we deter them?

Certain minerals, essences and spices  have the ability to help reinforce our collagen levels and to help detract the free radicals. Including the following tips in your lifestyle will help to maintain your collagen and to fight the free radials:

• Having the right diet will help your skin immensely in the long term and will help you to feel great about your skin and yourself. Foods such as cereals, pulses, vegetables and choosing fish over meat will help to fight the free radicals in your system and will deter them.

• On the topic of diet, surprisingly chocolate and red wine has the ability to help fight the radicals, of course the key to developing great health is everything in moderation, but there is no reason to feel guilty of a Friday night chocolate and wine night as you will know that you are deterring the free radicals and helping your skin.

• Vitamin C is a great way to help maintain collagen within your body, it is also vital to the production of it, so citrus fruits and supplements are a great way to help your body produce the collagen which in turn will help your skin to look fresher.

• Cilantro also known as Coriander leaf is a spice which is a great source of vitamin C, it also contains linolenic acid which has been studied to have powerful anti-aging properties.

• Zinc much like Vitamin C is vital in the production of collagen, so products with this mineral will help you to maintain and build up your collagen levels to fight the effects of the free radicals, zinc is also great for reducing dry skin build up and fighting dandruff. It also helps to rejuvenate your skin and leave it looking smooth and glowing.  

Looking after your skin is vital to feeling great about yourself and is central to self care and the way you look at yourself, so to maintain it we should be looking for ways to neutralise the things which aim to destroy it, and one of these things is free radicals as I’ve discussed, with a healthy diet and using nutrients on your skin which help to either produce or maintain the collagen this will aim to fight these molecules.