Nutrition and Aging

Nutrition and Aging

Other than protection from the sun one of the most effective ways of reducing our age-defining wrinkles is with proper nutrition. And it’s important to note that aging goes beyond our skin, it also references our internal organs and hormone regulation which affects our mood, memory, vitality and libido!

I was about to you use another stock photo of a healthy couple cutting up some fruit and veggies fort this article but then I thought why not include an image of the 4 beauties from Sex & The City?!

I’m not intending to target this article just to women, but these 4 ladies have definitely aged amazingly well and regardless of their sex, I’m 100% positive that their diet consists of some of the most healthy foods and supplements you can find. The reason?

Aging occurs when the body’s cells die faster than new cells are generated, and improper nutrition aids this unfortunate process as well as increasing our chances of cancer, diabetes and a number of other chronic diseases.

In addition to this, when we have a poor diet our body produces a large quantity of free radicals (highly reactive oxygen molecules) and these free radicals break down our healthy cells and boost the speed at which we age.

So what specific foods, vitamins and minerals should we all be including in our diets to prevent aging as much as possible?

Foods that Prevents Aging: Berries

As mentioned above, free radicals are our worst enemy when it comes to aging, so one way to counteract these chemical reactions is to consume foods that are high in antioxidants. Berries are full of phytonutrients called flavonoids which are some of the most potent antioxidants we can get.

By now you probably have heard of some of the super-berries which are especially high in these nutrients, these are Acai Berries, Goji Berries and blueberries. The fresher the better, but lucky for you you can also get the goodness of all these berries in a juice drink like Natrol Acai. I’ve tried this super-antioxidant juice and it tastes absolutely amazing, great to put into a whey protein fruit smoothie shake!

Foods that Prevents Aging: Green Tea

Green tea is especially high in the polyphenol antioxidant known as EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), and this specific compound is one of the most powerful antioxidants for human cells which are exposed to damaging free radicals. To take this further, researchers are currently investigating the use of green tea’s EGCG in treatment of many disorders including cancer!

Pretty fascinating and I’m not sure why you wouldn’t you want to include as much green tea in your diet as possible right? (For those who really dislike green tea or just want to make sure they get the most out the goodness of green tea, you can try a green tea extract like Irwin Naturals Green Tea Fat Metabolizer.

Foods that Prevents Aging: Fish Oil

You might have heard about Omega 3’s helping you control your cholesterol levels (especially lowering LDL’s), but these essential fatty acids are also vital to your immune system and proper brain functioning, all factors in how we age internally.

Although flaxseeds are a good source of Omega 3’s, recent research does indeed indicate that fish oil is a better source since flaxseed has a greater chance of going rancid by the time you get it in your home and in turn losing its effectiveness. But what about fish oil?

Fish oil we get from farmed fish (most commonly found in grocery stores) is not as beneficial as deep ocean wild fish which are also less polluted (and have been found to have less trace toxins such as mercury). So if you can, definitely go with fresh wild fish for the best quality Omega 3’s, and if that is not possible then you can also supplement with Omega 3’s which are derived from deep ocean fish such as NOW Ultra Omega-3 (at under $15 for 180 capsules it’s quite an affordable supplement to include in your daily diet)

Nutrition and Aging Conclusion:

Proper nutrition goes hand in hand with regular exercise and relaxation to make sure you decrease the negative effects of aging as much as possible. Celebrities such as the Sex & the City ladies are obviously quite aware of this and it’s time that we all make a conscious decision to make good nutrition a must-have part of our lives.

Berries, green tea and fish should be a staple part of your diet regardless of whether you are male or female and not only will you stay younger but we will also be able to train harder in your workouts and keep lower body fat and greater muscle tone.

Have any thoughts you’d like to add to this article on nutrition and aging? What else do you do to make sure you stay young and age gracefully? Please leave a comment below…