More Tips on Staying Young
Staying Young is Just Another Meal Away
Healthy foods to stay young? Of course, you’ve heard it before, probably when mom insisted to eat more apples and less burger even when you thought you were too young to age.
Indeed, mom was right. You’ll never know when you’ll start to age until you notice some crumpling and folding on your skin. Premature aging might just be a sleep away. And you never want to see that happen.
But it’s never too late. You can delay aging now by changing some items on your plates, and it’s just another meal away.
You Are What You Eat
The food and all other things that you take or don’t are laying the groundwork for your health and your appearance as well. For example, a person who has a pretty huge room for french fries and beef patties in his stomach may suffer more diseases and may not look age-appropriate. A person deficient in unsaturated fats, on the other hand, may have dry, flaky skin, and eventually look older than he actually is.
According to Samantha Heller, MS, RD, a clinical nutritionist at NYU Medical Center in New York City, what you eat becomes the outer fabric of your body. And the healthier that you put in your mouth, the better you will look.
Sure, you don’t wanna look like French fries, or do you? Then, what should your next meal include?
High- fiber foods
Whole grains, cereals, black beans, apples, and pears are just some of the foods that are rich in fiber. Fiber found in these foods moves quickly and relatively easily through your digestive tract keeping bowel movements regular. Thereby preventing constipation,-one of the problems that aging people commonly encounter.
Fish, walnut, and flax seed oil
These foods are among the best sources of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA). EFA especially the omega-3 fatty acids regulate the fluidity or softness of the cell membranes, thus making your cell membranes healthy and hold more moisture. So that means younger looking skin.
Deficiency is visible in a hardening of the skin, as with dry skin and acne. And to those who are living in colder climates, you need more EFA for membrane fluidity.
Fruits and vegetables
Antioxidants from fruits and vegetables fight off free radicals, the byproducts of the body’s everyday processes that damage DNA, cells, and tissues. The antioxidants and other phytochemicals lessens the chances of damage to he body’s cells. And because you are guarding your cells from premature damage, you are also protecting yourself from premature aging.
Whole-grain cereals, organ meats, chicken, egg yolk, and garlic.
Selenium, found in these foods, plays a key role in making the skin healthy. It is a sulfur-like mineral that lessens the oxidative damage of skin cells. It also helps in regulating the thyroid hormone and helps prevent hypertension, cancer, and stroke. Selenium is often added to antioxidant vitamins.
If you think looking younger is difficult, there’s not much to worry. The easiest move you can make is to include more fruits, vegetables, fish, and whole grains to your daily menu. Control yourself from eating foods stuffed with much cholesterol, sodium, and calories. What you get is a healthier body and a younger-looking you.
Well, if you think it’s too early to look old, better think twice. It just doesn’t feel good to be called older than you really are.
And if you think you’re too old to look young, you’re never right. You can stop aging right at your plate, and even prove that “looks can be deceiving.”
Staying Young - the Japanese Way
The Land of the Rising Sun outweighs all other countries with regards to the proportion of the elderly. About 22% of the population in Japan is 65 or older. It has been estimated that by 2020, the ratio of the elderly to the children will be approximately 3 to 1. The Japanese are, in fact, the most long-lived people on this planet. With that said, Nihon jins must have placed a fountain of youth in their backyard. Well, at the dining table perhaps.
Healthy food
Despite the competitive lifestyle that they have, they still are among the healthiest people in the world- ‘coz after a hard work is a healthy meal. It is well-known that a Japanese meal is one of the healthiest among regional diets. Meals include the kind of foods that Japanese eat everyday to stay slim, healthy, and youthful while epitomizing a successful, on-the-go lifestyle.
The Japanese have the pleasure of eating nutritious and satisfying foods without guilt, getting, fat, and looking old. Every day they eat at least seven servings of vegetables, including sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens, seaweed, onions, and bean sprouts; at least two servings of anti-oxidant rich fruits; and two or more servings of soy foods. The Japanese also sip several cups of tea every day. They eat a serving of fish, consumed at more than 150 pounds in a year. Who would look old with that kind of meal?
Less Disease
A research of double Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling pointed out that almost all diseases and the body’s ability to fight them can be directly or indirectly linked to what humans eat or not. Statistics about the Japanese and other nationalities can prove this right.
Only six in 100, 000 Japanese women acquire breast cancer. That’s about 20 times less than the British women.
96% fewer Japanese men have coronary heart disease than the British male populace. (Breast cancer and heart diseases can be attributed to eating lots of fatty foods.)
Statistics show that Japanese have less Western diseases like diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart diseases, atherosclerosis, etc.
These are truths about the relationship between diet and disease in Japan.
Foods to Stay Young
A Japanese diet is the amazing secret of the locals to stay young and become vigorous. Many nationalities even notice that Japanese women in their forties still look like they are in their twenties. Well, you may not need your anti-aging creams, just a discovery of the Japanese fountain of youth.
The Meal
The sticky, short-grained rice is the main carbohydrate food in Japan. But Japanese eat as much fish that are rich in fatty acids which provide a greater amount of calories for most. Another main source of carbohydrates for the Japanese is the noodles, a quick, easy, and healthy snack.
Consumption of brain foods like eggs and seaweeds is also great. Egg consumption in Japan, in the form of omelets, custards, and soups, is higher than in America (40lbs to 34 lbs). Seaweed used in soups and sushi provides a good amount of iodine that is very important for normal functioning of the thyroid gland, which is, in turn, vital for optimal brain function.
The Japanese are also fond of eating magic potatoes which have natural anti-aging, life-enhancing components.
Tofu is also a distinguishing feature in the Japanese diet. Tofu is one of the best sources of protein with anti-cancer and health-boosting benefits.
Contrary to the usual belief, the Japanese have great consumption of milk. They even consume an average of 180 pounds per year.
Fruits are the popular dessert in Japan. In general, Japanese people don’t like sweet desserts.
In addition, most Japanese shun fast, processed, and junk foods.
Madonna’s Secret
Aside from her active lifestyle, Madonna, who still looks young and hip in her 50’s, shared that she eats Japanese food most of the time. In fact, everywhere she goes, a Japanese chef is sure to cook healthy cuisine for her.