Anti-Aging Foods

18 Foods That Make Your Skin Glow

Top skin creams average about $400 an ounce (and you thought gas was expensive!), yet most offer little proof that they do half of what they promise. Want to save a bundle and improve your skin? Load your shopping cart with nutrients that research has shown to have skin-hydrating, sun-protecting, and even wrinkle-preventing powers, says Manhattan dermatologist Amy Wechsler, MD. Here’s her grocery list of best foods for your skin.

Firm and Bright

You’re probably up to your eyebrows (Botoxed or not) with hearing “eat more fruits and vegetables.” But if you have yet to take that advice to heart, maybe knowing that they prevent wrinkles will do the trick. The colorful pigments that produce bright orange and red also refill antioxidant levels in your skin.

The skin doc’s 3 top picks: SWEET POTATOES, TOMATOES, CANTALOUPE

What they do: Replenish your skin’s supply of antioxidants, so they're ready to scarf up free radicals whenever they make an appearance. Free rads are highly reactive oxygen molecules that damage cells and contribute to just about everything that can go wrong with skin, from dryness to crinkles.

Fresh and Juicy

Your body can’t store much wrinkle-fighting vitamin C, so you need to keep your supplies stocked. The easiest, simplest way: Have some citrus every day.

The skin doc’s 4 top picks: ORANGES, LEMONS, LIMES, GRAPEFRUIT

Actually, ounce for ounce, oranges are the top citrus C source but you can only eat so many, right? For variety, make lemonade, squeeze limes on melon, add grapefruit to salad, and instead of drinking soda, fizz up OJ with sparkling water. It all adds up.

What they do: Keep skin’s vitamin C levels high. While C’s a nifty antioxidant, that’s not the key reason it’s here. It helps keeps collagen -- the supportive protein fibers that stop skin from sagging -- strong and resilient. (Flimsy collagen means lines and wrinkles.) Since collagen breakdown really picks up in your mid-30s, eat citrus early and often to head off aging.

Smoothing and Soothing

There’s a particularly potent antioxidant known as EGCG that does all kinds of good things for skin. The best place to find it? True teas: black, green, or white (not herbal). Brew a teapot full every morning, so that sipping four to six cups throughout the day is a no-brainer.

The skin doc’s #1 pick: GREEN TEA

While all true teas contain EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), the various types of green tea have the most. Wechsler’s personal favorite is hojicha green tea (available at http://www.adagio.com/). “The roasting process that turns this green tea a brownish color also lowers its caffeine content,” she says -- handy if you’re caffeine sensitive or it’s one of those days when you do not need another stimulant.

What it does: Gives your skin a healthy dose of EGCG, which is a great multi-tasker. EGCG puts a damper on inflammatory chemicals involved in acne and sun-related skin aging; it also helps prevent skin cancer; and it has a lion-tamer effect on tumor cells. What’s more, green tea contains L-theanine, a de-tensing amino acid -- and anything you can do to staunch the flow of the stress hormone cortisol helps keep collagen fibers intact.

Green and Leafy

Certain dark leafy greens, whether they’re fresh, frozen, raw, or steamed, really deliver on vitamin A, one of the most skin-essential vitamins going.

The skin doc’s 3 top picks: SPINACH, TURNIP GREENS, BROCCOLI

What they do: Deliver a hefty supply of vitamin A, which supports skin cell turnover, the process that keeps cell growth and development humming along flawlessly. Without enough A, skin becomes dry, tough, and scaly.

Fisherman’s Faves

Several cold-water catches give your skin a double benefit: age-fighting omega-3 fatty acids plus the restorative powers of protein.

The skin doc’s 7 top picks: SALMON, TROUT, TUNA, ATLANTIC MACKEREL, SARDINES, PACIFIC HERRING, MOST SHELLFISH

Just don’t, uh, go overboard. As good as omega-3s are for skin (and the rest of you, too), worries about the amount of mercury in many fish mean it’s smart to limit seafood to two meals a week. That’s a must for women who are or might become pregnant or are nursing, and for young children, too. (Go here for the government’s fish guidelines.)

What they do: Omega-3s fight inflammation, now considered one of the top skin-agers, and they also help protect against sunburn, enhancing the effects of your SPF sunscreen. Protein is required to build and repair skin cells and to make enzymes and hormones that help keep it glowing.

Fill your weekly grocery cart with all of the above foods and you won’t just look younger, you’ll be younger. Eating at least 1 serving of fish a week and getting the right amount of antioxidants through diet or supplements lower your biological age. In fact, the antioxidants alone can make your real age to 6 years younger.

5 Healthiest Anti-Aging Snacks
Dr. Maoshing Ni

Snacking often gets a bad rap, but if you make intelligent choices about what you eat, you can actually benefit your health and longevity. Read on to find out how!

Why Snacks?

Most of us are used to eating three times a day, but it is much healthier to eat smaller meals more frequently -f ive small meals a day, for instance. Eating in this way delivers a steady stream of nutrients, blood sugar, and energy to your body throughout the day and is also much less taxing on the digestive and metabolic systems.

And when you eat more small meals throughout the day, you will most likely avoid the pitfalls of overindulging at your next meals and may actually consume fewer total calories for the day. Keep healthy "grab-and-go" snacks on hand all the time to avoid the tempting lure of high-calorie snacks. Here are my top five snack choices:

1. Nuts and Seeds

Keep You Young Healthy and appetizing, nuts and seeds are absolutely the best snack of the bunch. Helping yourself to a handful of nuts and seeds every day can improve circulation and muscle tone.

And nuts and seeds are especially full of arginine, an amino acid that helps to combat heart disease, impotence, infertility, and high blood pressure, and it also facilitates the healing process. Additionally, arginine can stimulate the pituitary gland at the base of the brain.

The pituitary releases growth hormones, which begin to decline quickly in humans after age 35. This means that after 35, your hormones start to plunge and you experience some aging symptoms. The skin loses elasticity, the muscle loses mass and strength, the lean body tissue decreases, fertility and virility decrease, and other signs of aging start to set in.

Many nuts and seeds are rich sources of vitamin E, lignants and omega-3 fatty acids, which protect you from heart disease and also from the ravages of aging.Almonds, pine nuts, sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, peanuts, and pistachios: mix them in any combination and enjoy! Keep in mind that there are more nutrients in the raw form than roasted. Make sure that the nuts and seeds are fresh and not old and rancid.

2. An Apple a Day for Heart Health

There are many reasons to eat an apple - or two or three - every day. One study discovered that subjects who ate five apples or more a week had a healthier lung function than those who ate no apples.

And scientists have confirmed that apples also contribute to a healthy heart. Thanks to the fruit's rich pectin content, eating two to three apples per day leads to decreased cholesterol levels. Pectin also helps prevent colon cancer, one of the top causes of death in adults over age sixty.

3. Bring On the Berries

In season again, berries are bursting with antioxidants. The enticing red, purple, and blue skins of berries contain bioflavonoids, antioxidant compounds that reduce free radical damage.

These flavonoids are more potent antioxidants than vitamins C and E, and they also help to reduce inflammation - more effectively even than aspirin!

• Blueberries are your best pick because not only do they have the highest level of antioxidant activity, but they also possess powerful neuroprotective properties that shield brain cells from damage , helping to slow down the age-related onset of memory loss, Alzheimer's, and senility.

• Cherries also contain these beneficial anthocyanin compounds, which stimulate your pancreas to produce insulin. In fact, Chinese researchers have observed that cherries help keep diabetics healthy. These compounds also protect you against cancer, arthritis, and heart disease because they lower cholesterol.To learn more about the health benefits of berries, click here.

4. Avocado

Packed with NutrientsAmong the many antioxidant nutrients, glutathione is known as the "master antioxidant." This naturally occurring compound, found in avocados (as well as asparagus, walnuts, and fish), is made up of the three amino acids glycine, glutamic acid, and cysteine. Glutathione regulates immune cells, protects against cancer, and assists in detoxifying.
A deficiency in glutathione can play a part in diabetes, liver disease, heart disease, low sperm count, and premature aging. Avocados are also a source of L-cysteine, which helps protect your body from the harmful effects of pollution, chemicals, radiation, alcohol, and smoke. L-cysteine may also help boost immunity, protect you from heart disease, and build muscle. It is also useful for combating inflammation and encouraging healthy hair and nail growth. Pair your avocado with whole-grain crackers or whole-grain crisp breads for a fiber-rich tasty treat.

5. Apricots for Anti-Aging

One of the staple foods of the famously long-lived centenarians in the Hunza valley of the Himalayas is the apricot. Research has discovered that apricots have the highest levels and widest variety of carotenoids of any food.

Carotenoids are antioxidants that help prevent heart disease, reduce "bad cholesterol" levels, and protect against cancer. I hope you find the ways to nourish your body with healthy snacks! I invite you to visit often an share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!