Anti-aging and Food

You Are Going to Get Old

Let's just get this out of the way right now: you are going to get old. A lot of people are in deep denial about this. Getting old is scary and we don’t want to do it. Now, you can just face this fact and decide to deal with it gracefully, or you can be that 45-year-old guy who hangs out at the coffee shop wearing his baseball cap backwards and dressing like the 18-year-olds who serve the coffee. We know that keeping your body young and healthy is more about what goes into your body and less about what you wear. That is where anti-aging foods come into play.

Antioxidants: the Anti-aging Agent

What are antioxidants? They are dietary substances and nutrients that either slow or prevent the oxidative process. By doing so, they prevent or repair damage done to your cells. It has also been thought that they improve immune function and can help lower the risk of infection and cancer.

Release the Free Radicals

How do they work? That’s a really good question. We have to first look at oxygen and how it affects the body. As your body burns oxygen, it produces free radicals. A free radical is an unstable molecule with a missing electron. Free radicals can cause damage to your cells, tissues, and even your DNA. To see oxidation in action, cut an apple or a potato and watch as it turns brown.

The same thing happens in your body as the free radicals oxidize your cells, stealing the missing electron from the body’s cells so it can become stable. Good for the free radical, not good for you. This can lead to cell dysfunction and eventually to health problems that are generally associated with aging, such as cancer, heart disease, cataracts, and diabetes.

The big three vitamins that fight the free radicals are beta carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Each has it own job to do and they function in different but similar ways. Beta-carotene and vitamin E are both fat-soluble and are absorbed by the lipids and fat tissues of your body. Vitamin C is water-soluble and will be effective in removing the free radicals from the fluids in your body. It is generally thought that they function by giving one of their own electrons to the free radicals, either neutralizing them or releasing them so they can be flushed from the body as waste product.

Water, Water, Everywhere

We are told time and again to drink at least eight glasses of water each day. That’s a lot of water, but it really is needed. If you are trying to flush the free radicals from your body, you will need the water to do so. If water doesn’t appeal to you, you can also drink tea (which contains antioxidants), fresh fruit or vegetable juice, or even eat Jell-O. Fresh watermelon or oranges are also a good source of fluids to help your body stay properly hydrated.

Look, There on Your Plate, it’s SUPER FOOD

The best connection between anti-aging and food are foods called "super foods." Super foods are foods that have a high ORAC, which stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity. The higher the ORAC score, the better that food is as an antioxidant.

Anti-aging and Food

Anti-aging and food options come in all shapes and colors. It is best to try to get as many fruits and vegetables on your plate as you can. Berries, especially the dark berries like blueberries, blackberries, black grapes, and the like are very high in antioxidants. Cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and brussels sprouts are particularly good for you and you should try to get a serving or two of them every day. Garlic has also been shown to prevent heart disease and eating a clove of it a day is very beneficial. The more colorful your plate the more healthful your meal.