Lemonade Cleanse Nabs Rampaging Free Radicals

Next time you walk across a college campus, nab a pre-med major and ask the question: “What is the gatekeeper class for your major?” you need to know.  Your captive pre-med major will tell you the students who get the best marks in the advanced biochemistry class will determine who continues advancing toward a medical degree and who must seriously reconsider a career in auto mechanics. 

“What is the most difficult part of that biochemistry class?” you urgently inquire.  Your hostage, shaking his or her head sadly, will confess, “The oxidation reaction is everything in advanced bio-chemistry.  Oxidation makes “bleach” bleach, nails rust, avocados turn brown, fish stink, and human cells die.  If you cannot manipulate all the formulae for the oxidation reaction, you cannot become a physician.  It’s that important,” your frazzled soon-to-be physician will sound genuinely terrified. 

“And what does the oxidation reaction have to do with lemonade diets?” you finally will pin her down. 

“OMG!” your wriggling free biochemist will sigh, “The oxidation reaction is the biggest target for all the stuff in that tasty lemon maple syrup elixir,” she will shake her curls, “because the most potent chemicals in the mix are anti-oxidants.  They slow or interrupt oxidation reactions that cause cell mutations, and they round-up ‘free radicals’ before they can ravage healthy cells and alter their DNA.”

“Wow,” you cannot help your amazement.  “Who knew?”  And, walking away from this intense exchange a sadder and wiser version of your self, you will wonder, “What does all of that mean in plain English?”

Your pre-med major laid the foundation for your understanding of why the lemonade cleanse works so well, but her quick summary requires some ordinary language elaboration.  Among all the elements on the periodic table, oxygen ranks as both our best friend and our most bitter enemy.  When oxygen meets living cells, it oxidizes them, changing or killing them, thus when wounded skin oxidizes, it heals—the exception that proves the rule; generally when cells oxidize, they die.  When you exfoliate your tender skin, you wash away all the oxidized cells, revealing the brand new ones underneath.  Inside your body, although your blood carries away oxidized cells for filtration and elimination, approximately 2% of the dead cells evade blood’s capture, turning to “free radicals.”  Your lemonade cleanse supplies your body with the posse that rounds up desperately roving free radicals.

Oxidation breaks down cells into their molecular constituents.  Free radicals rampage through your system because oxidation left them chemically deficient—they lack an essential molecular bond, and they viciously attack healthy cells, stealing essential molecules without regard for the ravages they wreak.  In a brutal free radical attack, a cell’s death is preferable to injury, because your body can expel and replace dead cells; an injured cell, however, rapidly mutates and reproduces.  In fact, mutant cells reproduce much quicker and more prolifically than healthy cells, causing disease.

Anti-oxidant chemicals, the ones loaded in your lemonade cleanse, attract and neutralize free radicals, so that your immune system can eliminate them just as it eliminates all other threats to your health.  Both the lemon in your cleansing formula and the green tea have exceptionally high concentrations of antioxidants, especially if you squeezed your juice from a fresh lemon and brewed your green tea directly from the leaves.  Just as importantly, because of their twists and folds, your intestines have greater surface area than any other bodily organ; therefore, they have more exposed cells vulnerable to free radical invasion.  Introducing heavily concentrated antioxidants directly into your digestive system, your lemonade cleanser stops free radicals where they are most likely to do serious damage.