Diet Tips to Stay Young

See what Women's Health says about eating for health.... What do you think about the meals at the end? Are they a good idea?

6 Youth-Preserving Diet Tips

Article from Women's Health

Food does much more than satisfy your taste buds and silence your growling belly—the right eats can help you look great, feel fantastic, and stay sexy for decades to come. Eat to stay young by following these five commandments of long-lasting health and beauty.

Shop for color

Antioxidants are those chemicals in foods that give tomatoes their bright red sheen, broccoli that lush green color, and eggplant its deep purple skin. More important, they're the compounds that keep lines from creeping onto your face and cholesterol from clogging your arteries. And they take the prize when it comes to stiff-arming the aging process. These nutritional superheroes neutralize cell-damaging free radicals, which have been linked to everything from wrinkles and age spots to cancer and heart disease. "In addition to staving off the visible signs of getting older, antioxidants can go as far as to actually reverse age-related cell damage," says Bonnie Taub-Dix, R. D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. What's more, research also points to a compelling connection between eating foods that are loaded with antioxidants and living a longer, healthier life.

Because different antioxidants tackle different aging concerns, your best bet is to get a variety of them. The easiest way to accomplish that is to eat fruits and vegetables of many colors, as each hue signifies a separate health benefit. For example, the antioxidants in berries help maintain cognitive and motor functioning, those found in pomegranates have been found to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and broccoli and brussels sprouts contain compounds that help prevent breast cancer.

Fatten up

Monounsaturated fats found in olive oil, fish, nuts, and seeds have been shown to lower the risk of a host of age-related diseases: arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and even Alzheimer's. So if you still have an aversion to the F word, it's time to get over it. Your appearance will benefit, too: The more omega-3's (mostly found in fatty fish like wild salmon) you consume, the more you reduce your risk of age-related skin damage.

Sip red wine

Drink one glass of red vino (preferably with a meal, so your body absorbs it more slowly) four to five days a week. The habit has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack, diabetes, and other life-threatening illnesses. Part of the credit goes to the alcohol, which helps soothe inflamed arteries, but red wine—especially pinot noir—is also full of flavonoids, another class of powerful antioxidants that come from the skin of red grapes. Not a big wine fan? Pour yourself a glass of Concord grape juice.

Drink green tea

Packed with potent antioxidants called catechins, green tea may be the single best age-defying substance you can put in your mug. Sipping just one cup a day will decrease your chances of developing high blood pressure by 46 percent; drink more and you'll reduce your risk by 65 percent. What's the best of the best? A study in the Journal of Food Science discovered that of the 77 U. S. brands tested, Stash Darjeeling organic green tea is the winner, delivering 100 catechins per gram.

Eat less

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have discovered that women who stayed closest throughout adulthood to what they weighed at 18 had a 66 percent lower risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and gallstones than women who had put on 11 to 22 pounds by middle age.

Unfortunately, as you age it gets harder to keep those extra pounds off. "If you keep the physical activity and the food the same, you will put on a pound or two per year," says Walter Willett, Ph. D., chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the lead researchers of the study. Despite your best efforts, a hormone that helps maintain muscle mass is depleted as you get older; that's why the scale still creeps up, even when you do the same kick-ass workout you were doing five years ago.

The other half of the equation is to put less on your plate: Studies have shown that rats following a calorie-restricted diet live 30 percent longer than rats that eat normally. Reducing the amount you eat may help you live longer and prevent the problems related to extra weight—heart disease, high blood pressure, physical limitations—that are also associated with getting older. Low-cal living also keeps you away from the dangers of yo-yo dieting, especially the skin stretching that can make you look years older (think jowls—definitely not cute). Of course, noshing on less doesn't mean depriving yourself of delicious foods. So eat right and stay young!

Your stay-young meal plan

This mix-and-match menu will slow down your body's clock.

Here's an easy-to-follow meal plan that combines all the laws of eating to stave off the aging process: colorful fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, red wine and green tea, and whole grains. And because research shows that reducing calories by 25 percent has impressive anti-aging benefits, this diet contains around 1,700 calories a day—about a quarter fewer calories than the average requirement for an active 30-year-old woman. Each day, simply choose a meal or snack from each category, and you're done!

Breakfast
8 oz fat-free plain yogurt mixed with 1/2 c raspberries; 8 oz green tea

1 slice toasted whole-grain bread with 2 Tbsp peanut butter (or other nut butter, like almond); 3/4 c strawberries

>3/4 c high-fiber cereal with 1 c fat-free milk and 1/2 banana


Snacks (two a day)
6 oz (or a 100-calorie pack) low-fat popcorn sprinkled with 2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

A mini-sandwich: 1 slice whole-grain bread with 1 oz low-fat cheese and 1 tsp mustard; 3/4 c blueberries

3 graham crackers with 2 Tbsp low-fat whipped cream cheese and 1/4 c berries of your choice

1 Tbsp peanut butter on 2 whole-grain crackers; 8 oz raspberry iced tea


Lunch
A salad of 2 c mixed greens, 1/4 c tomatoes, 1/4 c carrots, 1/4 c red cabbage, 1/3 c chickpeas, 1/3 c red beans, 1/3 c edamame, and 1 oz slivered almonds, tossed with 1 Tbsp olive oil and as much red-wine or balsamic vinegar as you'd like; 1 plum; 8 oz sparkling water mixed with 1/4 c pomegranate juice and a twist of lime

A sandwich made with 2 oz white turkey, 3 spinach leaves, 2 slices tomato, and 1 Tbsp mustard on 2 slices whole-grain bread; 1 c red grapes; 8 oz green tea

4-egg-white omelet made with 5 spinach leaves, 1/2 c diced red peppers, and 1 slice low-fat cheese; a small whole-wheat pita; 3/4 c grape tomatoes mixed with 1/4 c diced avocado; 3/4 c blackberries


Dinner
3 oz grilled wild Alaskan salmon; 1 c brussels sprouts and 1/2 c sliced beets sauteed in 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil; 1 small baked sweet potato; 1 glass red wine

5 oz grilled albacore tuna; 1/2 c whole-wheat pasta tossed with 1/2 c broccoli and garlic to taste sauteed in 1 tsp olive oil; salad of 1 c red-leaf lettuce and 1/4 c shredded fresh beets topped with 1 Tbsp chopped pecans and 1 Tbsp dried cranberries and tossed with 1 tsp olive oil; 1/2 pink grapefruit; 1 glass red wine

Veggie burger on a whole-wheat bun; 1/3 c brown rice; 1/3 c beans; 1 c sauteed yellow and green squash; a salad of 1 c mesclun, 1/4 c shredded carrots, 1 Tbsp chopped walnuts, and 1/2 c diced apple; 1 glass red wine

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