We all know we need vitamins, but how do they function in our bodies? Our bodies need a variety of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals to keep us feeling good.  One of these key vitamins is vitamin E.  This vitamin is good for your overall health, but is especially good in relation to healthy skin.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant. Antioxidants fight the effects of free radicals.  Free radicals are produced from the environment through pollution, smoking, the foods we eat, the chemicals we ingest, and the simple process of aging.  

Antioxidants neutralize these free radicals before they can do damage.  This is especially important because free radicals can wreak havoc on your body, and are responsible for causing conditions like heart disease and cancer.

You can get vitamin E in lotions and cream for direct contact with the skin. It is good for treating scars, stretch marks, and helping keep a good moisture balance in the skin all year round, especially in the winter.

Supplements give you concentrated Vitamin E to benefit the entire body.  Vitamin E is also found in foods like nuts, seeds, wheat germ and vegetable oils.  The best form of vitamin E to get is alpha-tocopherol in its alcohol form, and not as acetate.

The best source for vitamin E is food.  Be careful here, though.  Processed foods can cause the loss of vitamin and minerals including vitamin E.  You should eat foods in their natural form with as little processing as possible for maximum benefit.

Why is vitamin E so important to the body?  For one, it is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning that it can incorporate itself into the cellular wall, not get washed out of the body like B vitamins can (they are water soluble).

Vitamin E protects body cells from breakdown and thus the breakdown of other body tissues.  It also protects vitamin A while it does its job in the body.

Continued in Part II.

What Glutamine Supplements can do for your fitness

The higher the amount of protein found in the foods you consume, the more glutamine you will be consuming. If you are concerned about not consuming enough glutamine, most quality whey-protein supplements or shakes include supplemental glutamine. The same goes for many of the quality meal-replacement products. They contain on average two grams of glutamine in every serving.

Any athletes participating in sports requiring strength, speed, and/or endurance (such as hockey players, football players, bike racers, and skiers), normally use glutamine to assist them in increasing or maintaining muscle mass, especially during periods of intense training. Any extreme-endurance athletes like marathon runners also benefit from glutamine supplements, since it has the potential to assist in the reduction of muscle-tissue breakdown while supporting the immune system during potential periods of trauma or stress. Glutamine may potentially prove to be beneficial any time the body deals with increased amounts of stress.

Research has shown that supplementing with glutamine a white, chalky, odorless, slightly sweet powder could help us maximize muscle growth while increasing fat loss. Glutamine could in fact increase levels of growth hormone, which could lead to a greater level of muscle gain or fat loss. In one particular study it has been shown how just two grams of glutamine can cause a significant increase in the levels of the growth-hormone.

By simply ensuring you consume an adequate amount of glutamine in your diet, you are protecting your muscles from breakdown, as well as keeping you immune system in check. It’s a simple way to keep your health in check, especially if you are someone who tends to be extremely involved in various sports and activities.

Glutamine is a naturally occurring amino acid which is produced in abundance by the human body. It is also one of the few to actually cross over the blood-brain barrier. It can be found circulating via the blood stream, as well as stored in skeletal muscles. However, if the body is not getting enough glutamine to supply the rest of the body, it will steal it from the muscles stock. Glutamine then becomes what is considered as conditionally essential.

During periods of stress, including extreme exercise, glutamine is literally torn away from the muscles. This weakening can cause muscle wasting while also lowering your immune function. This results in the need to replenish the depleted amounts following exercise, as well as prior to bedtime.

There are many positive uses for glutamine. Not only is it used by athletes and body builders after intense training sessions, but there are several medical uses as well. Over the past fifteen years or so there has been extensive study on the usefulness of glutamine in the treatment of serious illnesses, burns, trauma, wound healing in post-operative patients, as well as cancer and the side-effects of its treatment.

Glutamine can be abundantly found in the proteins of both animals and plants. Some of the dietary sources of glutamine include poultry, beef and pork, cottage and ricotta cheeses, milk and yogurt. The vegetables with fairly high levels of glutamine are raw spinach, parsley and cabbage.