How To Plan An Anti Aging Diet

Anti-aging can be attained if you know how to plan an anti-aging diet full of healthy nutrients and foods to help you live a longer, healthier life. Anti-aging doesn’t mean you won’t get wrinkles, because skin aging depends on your exposure to the sun and your genetics. It does mean by eating healthy you can help boost your immune system to ward off health problems.

Things you will need in your refrigerator and cupboards to eat healthy are:

• Fish
• Fruits and Vegetables
• Whole Grain Foods
• Legumes
• Yogurt
• Nuts

1.  What are phytonutrients? Phytonutrients are antioxidants that help rid your system of free radicals that can accumulate and cause the onset of illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s Disease. Here are examples of foods with various phytonutrients to add to your anti-aging diet.

• Allyl Sulfides – garlic, shallots, and onions
• Quercetin – tea, grapes, broccoli, leafy greens, cranberries and more
• Limonene – lemons and noni
• Lutein – spinach, kale, mangos and winter squash
• Catechin – green tea
• Chlorophyll – leafy greens, spirulina, chloella and barley grass
• Sulphoraphane – broccoli and broccoli sprouts
• Lycopene – tomatoes, watermelon, papaya, guava and pink grapefruit
• Ellagic acid – grapes, strawberries, raspberries, and pomegranates

2.  There are three categories all foods fall into. All foods are either pro-inflammatory, neutral, or anti-inflammatory. In an anti-aging diet it is important to limit pro-inflammatory foods such as trans-fat, sugars, and starches.

3.  Include mostly anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods in your anti-aging diet. There are a host of foods to choose from for your anti-aging diet which are healthy and contain anti-inflammatories and antioxidants, such as:

• Fish – eat twice weekly to get your Omega-3 fatty acids;
• Fruits and Vegetables – eat five servings per day and make your plate colorful;
• Whole Grains – eat three servings a day to get fiber and help lower cholesterol;
• Legumes – eat three to four times per week as they are full of antioxidants;
• Yogurt -  eat daily as one of your three servings of dairy to help kill bacteria in the intestine;
• Nuts – full of B vitamins but eat in small portions because they are high in calories;
• Water– drink at least three to four glasses of water, along with other liquids daily.

4.  Superfoods. Try to include some of these superfoods in your anti-aging diet each week. They will add more nutrients for an even healthier diet.

• Acai
• Garlic, chives or onions
• Barley
• Wheatgrass
• Buckwheat
• Beans and lentils
• Hot peppers
• Nuts and seeds
• Sprouts
• Yogurt and kefir.

5.  Live an anti-aging lifestyle. An anti-aging lifestyle simply means getting plenty of sleep and exercise, no tobacco, using sunscreen, and, most of all, eating healthy foods. Other things you can do are avoid stress, hormones, and ultraviolet lights. Here’s to a long, healthy life!

Tips: Eat a diet rich in antoxidants and anti-inflammatory foods. Colorful fruits and vegetables are really good for you. Smoking and sun are two things to avoid for better health.