As a twenty-year fitness enthusiast, I am well aware of the importance of exercise in maintaining a healthy body. However, it has taken me four decades to learn that good nutrition is just as important in the overall health equation.

Consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and healthy fat helps maintain body weight, stabilize blood sugar levels, and provide essential nutrients. Healthy carbohydrates--- fruits, vegetables, and whole grains--- provide the body’s preferred source of fuel for activity and fiber for intestinal health.

But perhaps the most important contribution of dietary fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is the rich source of antioxidants they provide. Antioxidants are vitamins, minerals, and enzymes which protect the body from the relentless attack of microscopic bandits called free radicals.

Free radicals are unstable molecules which have lost an electron. Functioning like a car with a flat tire, free radicals constantly seek to stabilize themselves. They do this by stealing electrons from surrounding healthy cells. This process breaks down cells’ outer wall, ushering in infection, DNA damage, and even cancerous mutations.

Since free radicals are produced from processes which are impossible to avoid ---pollution, cigarette smoke, stress, sunlight, and even respiration--- protection must be present inside our cells. Cellular antioxidants provide this protection by offering their electrons to scavenging free radicals, acting as bodyguards for healthy cells.

Although our diets provide the best source of antioxidants, most Americans fall short of the recommended 9 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Most of us consume only 1-2 daily servings (including French fries, ketchup, and iceberg lettuce).

To compensate, the American Medical Association recommends vitamin/mineral supplements for all adults. However, not all vitamins are created equal. There are significant differences in the quality, bioavailability, and absorption rate of vitamin supplements. Since the FDA does not regulate the nutritional industry, consumers must work harder to protect themselves.

An effective way to determine the quality of a vitamin supplement is to measure whether the most-difficult-to-absorb molecules have made their way from the gastrointestinal tract into the cell. Antioxidants provide this benchmark since they are fat-soluble and do not readily disperse in the watery environment of the gut. Instead they clump together and create larger molecules that cannot slide through the cell wall.

In the past the only way to measure cellular antioxidant levels was through a blood test. A new technology (Pharmanex Biophotonic Scanner) has revolutionized this process, making it possible to non-invasively read cellular antioxidant levels by a laser hand scan in two minutes. This allows health-conscious individuals to regularly monitor their cell health and determine whether their diet and supplements are providing optimal immune protection.

Maximize your health by using 21st century technology to validate what your mother already knew: eat your fruits and vegetables, take your vitamins, and go out and play.

To determine scan locations for the Biophotonic Scanner, go to www.bellbodies.com