Feel & Look Younger This Year

Resolve to Step Up Your Anti-aging Efforts in 2013

If 2013 is your year to look better, feel younger, and be healthier, overhauling your diet might be in order. A healthy diet is the closest thing we have to a ticket to longevity – not to mention a better life right now. We simply are what we eat, and today’s scientific research supports that our diet holds sway over our ability to prevent age-related issues, including illness, disease, and overall wellness.

Is health and longevity on your plate this year? It should be. Now is the perfect time to reset the clock on your health. Resolve to make your diet work for you, not against you, in the coming year.

Is Your Diet Aging You?

It could be. The health of your brain, the vitality of your skin, and your chances of experiencing chronic illness are directly influenced by what you put on your plate. When your intake of sugars, fats, and processed foods begins to overtake your intake fruits and vegetables, it means your diet has deteriorated. As a result, you may be putting yourself at risk for what you most want to avoid as you age.

Your Diet Affects Your Brain

Without a healthy brain, let’s face it, the rest just doesn’t matter. But having a diet of prevention now can help keep your brain healthy and nimble later. Eating for brain health is part of a fundamental strategy to help reverse the aging process. Here’s why: a diet rich in anthocyanin-rich foods has been shown to reverse memory loss and slow cognitive decline. In fact, new research into cognitive health such as the Nurse’s Study shows that eating anthocyanin-rich foods can affect intellectual performance, memory, and brain performance related to aging. And, dietary antioxidants have been shown to protect against inflammation, and inflammation is thought to be a leading factor in brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

Your Diet Affects Your Skin

What we show the world on the outside reflects our inside – that couldn’t be truer when it comes to our skin. Our cells are engaged in a battle against free radicals everyday. Oxidative stress is associated with cancer, heart disease and other diseases of aging. It’s also evident on our outermost layers of cells – free radical damage is the reason the sun and our environment leads to wrinkles and a dull complexion. High antioxidant foods help us in the fight against free radicals and act as anti-aging agents. Dietary antioxidants such as anthocyanins, flavonoids found in the skin pigments of some foods like the deeply-colored wild blueberry, have the ability to neutralize free radicals and help prevent cell damage, and that includes our aging epidermis, an external hallmark of our maturity.

Your Diet Affects Your Risk of Chronic Illness

Can we avoid the chronic illness that plagues us as we age? Some nutrition experts believe we can, and scientists continue to make efforts to isolate the compounds that act on our bodies to prevent aging and disease. What we already know, however, is that natural compounds found in fruits and vegetables can help us prevent chronic illness and promote healthy aging. Aging is often characterized by diseases that are the result of low grade chronic inflammation that occurs inside the body and causes heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and even arthritis. Eating antioxidant-rich foods daily has been shown to minimize oxidative strain inside the body, which is connected to chronic illnesses and aging.

 

Resolve to Age Better in 2013

Here are three simple steps you can take to make 2013 your best year yet in health and anti-aging efforts.

1. Get Your 5 Cups 

Reaching (or even closing in on) your recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables will get you closer to your goal of healthy aging. This year, resolve to start eating a diet that combats age-related health risks by eating at a variety of colorful fruits and veggies and filling half your plate with them at every meal. According to the USDA dietary guidelines, that’s 2 cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables, on average, for a total of 5 cups every day. By getting your recommended cups per day, you’ll also get the added benefit of edging out less-than-healthy foods that are aging you too quickly. (That’s two resolutions for the price on one!)

2. Load Up on Berries

Look to berries if you are aiming to make the most of your anti-aging efforts. Why berries? Berries are notorious for their powerful antioxidant benefits thanks to phytonutrients, which aid the process of neutralizing free radicals and are found in high concentrations in berries’ colorful skin. Berries have also been shown to have “synergy” with other foods and to help ameliorate the adverse effects of a meal that occurs with absorption. Wild blueberries in particular top the list of high-phyto berries. (They are also high in fiber and contribute to glycemic control.) If slowing the aging process is your resolution, “bathe your meal in berries” says superfood guru Steven Pratt – whether it’s breakfast, salads, entrees or desserts – you’ll be arming yourself against inflammation and the diseases of aging.

3. Be Antioxidant Savvy

In the quest to age well, make sure you know what foods provide the most powerful source of antioxidants. Deep pigments and colorful skin is often nature’s tip-off that a food has beneficial compounds. By knowing the amount of antioxidants in certain foods, you can get the biggest antioxidant bang from your dietary buck.

You can determine the antioxidant capacity of different fruits and vegetables by knowing their ORAC score. Find a list on the United States Department of Agriculture or by checking OracValues.com, and use your knowledge to start buying foods that promote disease prevention. Shop the produce section or the freezer section for fruits and vegetables – that’s where you’ll find the healthiest foods. And those are the ones you’ll want on your plate every day. Then, even while the calendar keeps moving forward, you’ll know you’re making efforts to turn back the clock.

Healthy Aging Research 

Scientists around the world are studying the ways in which natural compounds found in the foods we eat can help combat disease and promote health aging. For an in-depth look at hundreds of health-related blueberry studies, visit the Wild Blueberry Association Research Library™.

Dr. Daniel Nadeau Has an Important Health Message

The Diabetes Expert Explains How Food Choices Lead to Big Changes  

There aren’t a lot of people who believe in the power of healthy living as much as Daniel Nadeau, M.D. One reason? He’s seen it. As a clinician, in his work with patients, as Medical Director of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Associates of Maine’s York Hospital, and as an expert on the subject of diabetes, Nadeau has witnessed how simple choices can change – and save – a person’s life.

Nadeau often shares his expertise about the rise in lifestyle-related diabetes in local and national media. Here in Maine, he said, 3% of Maine population may have diabetes and not know it. “There are so many people that are heavy and getting a heavier. It’s a major problem,” he told Wild About Health. “If someone is obese, their risk of developing diabetes is twenty- to fortyfold higher.” For many of his patients, their diagnosis is a wake-up call.

Recently he saw a patient – a man in his mid-30s – who had developed Type 2 diabetes that was out of control. The man lived a sedentary life in a sedentary job, and he made all the wrong food choices, eating a daily diet of burgers and fries – in other words, standard American fare. He was facing grave consequences if he didn’t change.

Talking to Nadeau got the message across. His patient started eating healthy and exercising. He dropped 35 pounds, and his blood sugars returned to normal. “He has a new lease on life,” said Nadeau. “When you make real change, you make real differences.”

Quieting the Storm Within

As a kid growing up in Fort Kent, Maine, Nadeau ate a typical diet heavy on meat and dairy. But it wasn’t long before he developed an atypical interest in health and wellness. In high school, he opened “Nadeau’s Natural Food”, a health food store that he ran all through college. He read all the books he sold, and his thinking about food began to change. “One week I read Adelle Davis, the next week I read Sugar Blues, the next week I read Macrobiotics, another week I read Ann Wigmore and about the Raw Foodists. Every week I had a different diet.” The more he read, the more his diet shifted. Even today, his approach to food is drawn from what he learned back then.

One of the missing elements of his food education was the story of color. Until he wrote The Color Code: A Revolutionary Eating Plan to Optimum Health with James Joseph in 2002, the powerful role of incorporating color into the diet was not on even the most informed consumer’s radar. The Color Code directly influenced efforts such as the 5-A-Day program, which encouraged people to get five servings of fruits and vegetables (that recommendation has now changed to 8-10 servings) and helped consumers understand the important nutritive benefits of pigmented foods.

Plants, which live in a sea of destructive ultraviolet light, depend on pigments to protect themselves from solar irradiation and the inflammation that would result from their exposure. When we eat those pigments, we pass on the protective elements to our bodies, reducing inflammatory markers and protecting ourselves from chronic disease, including Alzheimer’s and brain disease, joint disease, risk of myocardial infraction, and diabetes, among other inflammatory conditions. According to Nadeau, “If we can reduce the inflammation in our bodies by eating fruits and vegetables, we are not only protecting ourselves from these conditions, but we are protecting ourselves from aging itself.”

That brings us back to the issues of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes in America today. People with diabetes have more Alzheimer’s, more cancer, more vascular disease, increased inflammation, and accelerated aging that leads to complications of the kidneys, nerves, eyes and many other parts of our bodies. People with diabetes have a threefold increased risk of having a heart attack as well – the same risk as someone who has already had a heart attack.

Much of one’s risk of Type 2 diabetes depends on their being overweight. When we’re overweight, our body releases more free fatty acids and our insulin doesn’t work as effectively. Not only are we capable of changing this, said Nadeau, but we can change it on day-to-day basis based on the choices we make about food and exercise. People with diabetes are contending with a body that is full of inflammation, and by making different food choices, they can begin, he said, to “quiet the storm within.”

Rethinking Diet

While he doesn’t evangelize, Nadeau believes veganism can be one way to quiet that storm. As a vegan, Nadeau said his diet is naturally more diverse. “As opposed to having a hamburger and fries one night and macaroni and cheese the next, you are tending to pull in all these different brightly colored fruits and vegetables. You tend to cook different things and you tend to explore more,” he said. He favors veganism for those facing dire health circumstances due to diabetes not just because the diet is healthy, but because it presents a new way to approach food to people struggling with change. A vegan diet enables them to truly rethink what they eat at a time in their life when change is critical.

“People don’t realize in terms of preventing and treating the chronic diseases we face that the benefit really comes from plants,” said Nadeau. While veganism eliminates dairy and red meat, two things he recommends avoiding, reliance on plants is its most important characteristic. Even just a move toward incorporating more plant foods is a good start, he said. For some, that may mean making vegan choices a few days a week, or trying to eat vegan two out of three meals a day.

Adopting a healthy diet in the face of fast food conglomerates and limited options for vegans when it comes to eating out is definitely challenging. “But veganism is something that still has some cachet,”  Nadeau said. “I don’t believe it has reached its peak in terms of interest.” He blames the Atkins craze for setting the world of healthful eating back dramatically and considers the country to be in “recovery mode” from the phenomenon. Whether it is because of health, the animal world, or climate change, he believes it is a time of increased awareness of the consequences of our food choices and that more and more people are beginning to eat with consciousness.

Toward a Healthier Meal

“I ask people to take each meal at a time and look at what they are going to eat,” said Nadeau. “Ask yourself, is this the healthiest way I can eat this meal?” His dietary convictions weave through the books he currently has in development. One focuses on diabetes, another on raising healthy kids, and another on healthy living and weight loss. One secret weapon he gives patients is the wild blueberry smoothie. “Most people like berries, and they don’t have a hard time incorporating a smoothie for breakfast. They end up loving it, and they find it doesn’t spike their blood sugars. It’s a great way to start the day.” (His own smoothie recipe, shown in the sidebar, doesn’t skimp – it contains a full 2 cups of wild blueberries.) Wild blueberry smoothies also provide excellent synergy. By combining different antioxidant foods, he says, it creates a synergistic relationship that makes the foods even more powerful than they would be if they were eaten alone: “Combining berries with something green, with raw cocoa and with turmeric, another amazing antioxidant, you are protecting yourself before you walk out the door.”

Hear Dr. Nadeau on the Power of Blue:


Nadeau recommends a diet generally high in blueberries especially for patients with diabetes. Wild blueberries are low in calories and low in carbs, and for those with kidney problems, often associated with diabetes, blueberries are a good choice because they have moderate levels of potassium. 

For those who eat meat, he advises eating more fish, turkey and chicken, and avoiding sugar, white flour, beef, cheese and ice cream, while focusing on whole grains and legumes in addition to fruits and veggies. He also recommends eating more raw foods. “Blueberries are gong to be better for you if you have them raw or frozen, as in a blueberry smoothie, than they are if they are cooked,” he said. His ideal way to eat food is to allow the cells to release glutens through brief exposure to heat for maximum nutritional absorption – for example, spinach that instead of being cooked merely “kisses” a hot grill.

While forgoing comfort foods is simply out of the question for some, when people begin to connect with the idea of healthy eating, Nadeau witnesses remarkable transformations in terms of their body weight, blood sugar control, and how they feel, just like his 30-year old patient. Are the rest of us embracing this important connection between our choices and our health? “People need to hear from somebody,” he said. “They realize the connection when they get done talking to me.”


Find recipes such as Blueberry-Pineapple Parfait from The Color Code at wildblueberries.com.

He Said, She Said: Is Eating Any Type of Fruit & Vegetable Good For Health?

By many accounts, the American diet is in crisis. Our plates and portions are oversized, and our fat, sugar, and salt intake is stratospheric. Only a few of us, it seems, are getting the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables – as low as 11% according to some studies.

But the more we know about the benefits of fruits and vegetables, the more inspired we are to change our habits. Fruits and veggies hold the nutritive power to lower cancer risk and decrease our chances of getting diabetes. They contribute to a healthy heart and brain and help us maintain our weight. Eating fruits and vegetables has a positive effect on almost every organ in the body by helping to preserve their function, prevent disease, and allow us to live longer, better quality lives.

Many of us are making efforts to get our recommended servings. These efforts can leave us wondering: is that salad at dinner really providing the nutrients we need? Does the tomato sauce in a pasta dinner mean we’ve logged a serving? Is it better to grab a bowl of wild blueberries or a carrot? That orange or that potato? The more we improve our eating habits, the more we want to know how important our fruit and veggie choices are, and if eating any serving is better than none at all.

He and She weigh in on the question, and provide their evidence.

Q: Does it matter what fruits and vegetables we eat as long as we eat them? 

He: No. Getting the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables will provide important health benefits no matter what those fruits and vegetables are. Here’s why: 

Reason #1. It is recommended we eat a wide variety of fruit and veggies that span the color spectrum. The more fruits and vegetables, the lower the risk of developing heart disease, some cancers, and lower there risk of diabetes and weight related illnesses, end of story. The USDA Food Plate specifies no types of fruits and vegetables. Even the Mediterranean diet, for instance, touted for its dietary excellence, emphasizes not specific kinds of fruits or vegetables, but that more are eaten, and eaten with with lots of olive oil, nuts and plenty of fish.

Reason #2. When we fill up on fruits and vegetables, they take the place of less healthy foods. For most Americans, eliminating high calorie foods, sugary snacks, fast foods, and processed foods in favor nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables is the key to better health. Whenever we are making the choice to eat any fruit or vegetable, we are eating a whole, natural food, not a processed one, and that means better health and more powerful disease prevention, period.

Reason #3. In the future, a simple saliva test will determine our susceptibility to certain diseases, and it will be affordable and accessible to everyone. We’ll understand then how certain hereditary risk factors can be counteracted by specific food choices. However, today, most of us simply don’t know which nutrients will promote a desirable gene reaction. Until we know more about our genetic makeup, we can’t be sure of how to target the best fruit and veggie Rx for our personal health, and getting our servings and eating widely across the color spectrum is the best advice.

Reason #4. Focusing on good foods, bad foods, and better foods is simply counterproductive. Any and all foods can be part of a healthy diet. They key to good nutrition is balance and moderation, with a focus on portion control. What’s more, there are virtually no unhealthy fruits or vegetables. As long as they are not processed, fried, or interfere with medications, allergies or other conditions, all are good for you. Enjoy!

She: Yes. Making smart nutritional choices about which fruits and vegetables you eat is vital to good health. Here’s why:

Reason #1. Some foods are just better than others when it comes to disease prevention, and if you are eating for good health, why not eat the best? For instance, targeting high-antioxidant, deeply colored foods will help with prevention as we age more effectively than less colorful, lower antioxidant fruits and vegetables. Eating nutrient dense, high antioxidant foods like wild blueberries has been found to combat free radicals and prevent diseases aging, some types of cancer, and heart disease. This fruit has also been found to improve cognitive function. If you have disease prevention in mind, says EmpowHer, and you’re reaching for an apple or orange for breakfast, you may want to reach for blueberries or strawberries instead.

Reason #2. As He pointed out, we must eat variety, and the best fruit and veggie choices are those that span the color spectrum, including rich greens, deep blues, bright oranges and reds. Making a conscious decision  to “eat across the rainbow” is important for food in general, and especially fruits and vegetables. And while we may agree on that, the fact is, focusing on broad fruit and vegetable servings without digging deeper into nutritional quality can lead to deficits and less effective disease prevention. Not making an effort to eat specific types of fruits and vegetables that provide the highest nutritional value can lead to eating only those we love or are used to, or those that stretch the budget more effectively. That can often mean missing out on valuable nutrients, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and vitamins that are crucial to our health. That tomato sauce has valuable lycopene, but that’s just a piece of the puzzle. Those potatoes are potassium-rich and full of vitamins, but their value can be negated by portion size and preparation.

Reason #3. One reason to choose your fruits and veggies carefully is that high Glycemic Index foods should be eaten in moderation (or paired with other things that have a low GI.) The Glycemic Index ranks foods according to its effect on blood glucose levels, and some fruits and vegetables may score higher on the GI scale. For optimum health, especially for those people with diabetes and weight concerns, we must understand glycemic measurements, obtain a list of foods and their Glycemic Index scores, and eat accordingly.

Reason #4. For some dried fruit, fruit juices, or fruits with additives, the nutritional benefits are outweighed by high calorie or sugar content. The truth is, not all fruits and vegetables are created equal, and weighing your food choices carefully  –  even when it comes to fruits and vegetables –  makes good, healthy sense.

* * *

Did You Know? Antioxidants combat inflammation in the body which prevents diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s, and provide major anti-aging and disease preventing benefits.Wild blueberries top the list of health promoting properties over most other fruits. Read the latest news about how blueberries, especially wild blueberries, protect the body.


Are you filling up on the healthiest foods? See what superfoods will change your life.  

From Stress to Bliss

An Interview with The Slim, Calm, Sexy Diet Author Keri Glassman – & New Video!

Keri Glassman says she was born to do exactly what she is doing today. Even in seventh grade, the author and founder of Nutritious Life™ had nutrition on her mind. “My childhood friend tells me she remembers me being in science class and saying, ‘My body is craving vitamin E, I am going to eat almonds!’” recalls Glassman. “Barf! Was I that dorky?” It was a youthful dorkiness that turned into a life passion – not for dieting, but for being good to her body. And it led her down a path of helping others do the same.

Today, in her private practice in New York City, she works with five other Registered Dietitians to preach the Nutritious Life™ mantra, an approach to diet and wellness that considers the whole body. She is also a recognizable face on TV, a contributing editor for Women’s Health magazine, and the author of three books. The latest is The Slim Calm Sexy Diet (Rodale 2012) a whole body diet strategy with a three-prong focus – losing weight, feeling good, and conquering stress, a feat that in Glassman’s hands seems remarkably achievable.

A New Role for Weight Loss

One of the messages of The Slim Calm Sexy Diet is that weight loss doesn’t have to be a diet’s central focus. Instead, it is a “side effect” of other good choices such as reduced stress, balanced hormones, and increased activity. It’s a message Glassman says people are just beginning to receive. “Most people focus on diet, diet, and diet to lose unwanted pounds. And, sometimes, diet and exercise,” she says. “But, often they don’t put enough emphasis on the importance of sleep, managing stress, or simply being properly hydrated.”

For example, Glassman says the most common reason people are sluggish in the afternoon is due to dehydration, and she recommends starting each day with a drink of water with lemon. She is strong in her conviction that simple changes in things like water intake and sleep habits can make a significant difference in our health. “When you sleep well, your hormones are in a better place to help you lose weight,” she says. “The same goes for when you manage stress. By focusing on these other life factors, a person begins to feel a whole lot better and lose weight.”

Author Keri Glassman

“I Can Eat Blueberries!”

While fruits and veggies are crucial to living the slim, calm, sexy life, limitations are not. In a recent Nutritious Life newsletter, Glassman writes that her number one chill-out indulgence is a margarita with guacamole and chips. It may not sound like the musings of the author of a popular diet book, but it fits perfectly with Glassman’s philosophy of what she calls “eating empowered, not deprived”. She strives for stress-free living, including plenty of time for pampering (treats provide emotional and physical benefits) and for eating things she loves. Recipes like Raspberry Ricotta French Toast, which shows up in The Slim Calm Sexy Diet, sound indulgent, and they are. But as with all the recipes in the book, the ingredients are nutrient dense, so they are also flavorful, satisfying, and functional. The French Toast is made with multigrain bread, chopped pecans, honey, eggs, and cinnamon – all foods that provide body benefits.

An important principle of eating to be slim, calm, and sexy is changing our relationship with food: ending the on-and-off dieting and making eating a conscious, harmonious, enjoyable experience. Glassman knows first-hand about the starving/overeating roller coaster. Her struggle was with just 15 pounds, but it was enough to blow up into a war. “It made me mental,” she says. But gaining control of yo-yo dieting created a calm that in turn empowered her to remain in control of all her eating. Her own epiphany was a moment in which her negative mantra of “I can’t eat the cake,” turned into the more affirming, “I can eat blueberries!” and her quest to eat plenty of delicious, indulgent foods while maintaining health turned into a mission.

One of the ideas that threads through The Slim Calm Sexy Diet is that being hungry only contributes daily stress, which increases stress hormones responsible for weight gain, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, among other health problems. The book includes healthy tips, weekly workout plans and easy-to-prepare recipes that use nutrient-dense foods that help steer the reader toward mind and body bliss and keep us calm, slim, and inspired to turn on the sexy. Calm foods include berries, for example, because they are rich in vitamin C and combat stress by lowering blood pressure levels and cortisol levels. Slim foods include those that deliver fiber for few calories, such as artichokes, or that increase “burn” like chilis, and sexy foods include those that increase fertility (peaches) and boost libido (watermelon).

Accessible Science 

Glassman, a certified nutritionist, has always supported her diet recommendations with solid scientific evidence. “When you understand the science behind why blueberries are good for your heart health, your mind, and your skin, you are more motivated to want to eat blueberries and guess what? Weight loss also follows,” she says. The O2 Diet, (Rodale Books 2010) her previous book, an antioxidant-based diet that turns research into something accessible and easy to implement.

The O2 program acknowledges the importance of antioxidants in health and disease prevention. Because antioxidants protect against free radicals, they are crucial in preventing forms of cancer, heart disease, and symptoms of aging. Glassman uses the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale for the basis of the program. ORAC is the measurement of antioxidant protection provided by foods, and it’s an important measurement to keep in mind when it comes to making healthy food decisions. It’s also one that can sometimes elude consumers as they shop for foods at the grocery store. Glassman says the easiest way to start increasing the ORAC scores of the foods in our diet is to start with some simple changes. First, she advises ramping up veggie and fruit intake, focusing on healthy fats, and switching to only whole grains. Next, she advises focusing on the darkest, most colorful veggies and fruits. With these small steps, she says, we’ll automatically be getting more antioxidants, and our ORAC quotient will climb.

Keri on Access Hollywood: Indulge in sweets to slim this summer!

Slim, Calm, Sexy Wild Blueberries

Wild blueberries not only serve as an excellent “calm” food due to their influence on the brain, they are an indispensible part of Glassman’s vision of the balanced life. (See the video of Keri Glassman discussing Slim Calm Sexy with a Fox News affiliate in Michigan.) Wild blueberries provide the high antioxidant content that is the key to health and disease prevention, and Glassman also likes them because they are loaded with fiber, which aids digestive health and keeps us full. “And of course, because they just taste so good!” she says. Her favorite combination is wild blueberries in a kale salad with pine nuts or mixed into a side dish of quinoa, which offers powerful flavor, satisfaction, and nutrition.

As part of a diet plan for achieving slim, calm, sexiness, wild blueberries figure prominently in Glassman’s recommended three meals and two snacks per day. For breakfast she recommends wild blueberries combined with protein-rich cottage cheese. She also recommends revisiting wild blues in the afternoon as a wonderful way to indulge mid-day. There’s no need to limit yourself to just a sprinkle – instead, she recommends eating blues by the spoonful, layered between yogurt in a parfait dish and topped with a bit of chocolate.

If being slimmer, calmer, and sexier sounds like a recipe for a great summer, Glassman offers the incentive of losing up to 20 pounds on her diet the first six weeks. But the promise of a new relationship with food extends to all seasons. After understanding how food can put your life in blissful balance, you may never find that twenty pounds again. Instead, you can look forward to a sexier, calmer, if smaller, you.

You can learn about Keri Glassman’s book, or find out more about her philosophy of healthy eating and living at NutritiousLife.com

Find out More about The Slim Calm Sexy Diet at Women’s Health Magazine.

Three Keys to Anti-aging You Should Know About

How Nutrition Can Unlock the Door to Age-Related Disease Prevention

The more we know about the aging-nutrition connection, the more theory becomes immutable fact: “Dietary choices are critical to delaying the onset of aging and age-related diseases, and the sooner you start, the greater the benefit,” says Susan Moores, RD, of the American Dietetic Association. Not only is nutrition our secret weapon when it comes aging, the opposite is also true – what we eat can cause aging. So, if you are still searching for the fountain of youth, stop the exploring and start eating, because the jury is in: we can use food to speed aging, or to slow it. The choice is on your plate.

In fact, some experts assert that the disease and deterioration that we often consider the natural process of aging is not natural at all, and is, in fact, completely preventable. While aging may not be entirely preventable through nutrition – there are other environmental or biological factors at work – nutrition is clearly a major key to the prevention of the signs of aging and age-related disease.

How does this magical fountain of youth operate? Nutrition works at a cellular level, where the aging process originates. Deep in the cells of our bodies three factors are at work – they overlap and interact with each other, but they are all at the core of preventing – or hastening – the aging process.

The Anti-aging Keys

1. Inflammation

Anti-aging is synonymous with anti-inflammation. Chronic inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related diseases, and controlling it could be the key to delaying the aging process.

Inflammation is an immune reaction on the cellular level. It is our body’s natural defense – the result of a reaction to environmental toxins, irritation, and infection. In a sort of biological conundrum, inflammation protects our bodies and deteriorates it as well. It is the root cause of many chronic and common diseases of aging, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

The good news is that researchers have found that diet has a significant effect on inflammation. It can minimize inflammation and as a result, delay the aging process. Colorful fruits and vegetables, omega-3 and low glycemic foods, for instance, have been named as part of an anti-inflammation diet. Some diets can cause inflammation, too, essentially producing an immune system that is out of control and putting aging in high gear. We could call it the Aging Diet – one characterized by high-carb, low-protein foods, refined sugar and polyunsaturated fats.

2. Oxidation

Inflammation is caused by free radical damage, and the well-known evils of free radicals are due to oxidation. Simply stated, oxidation occurs when the body produces by-products, referred to as oxygen free radicals. The result is a kind of rusting of the body, and when this rusting is applied to humans and not iron, it results in aging and diseases such a cancer. Free radicals are produced inside our bodies, and occur as a result of food, environmental pollutions and everyday things like air, water and sun. As we age, we become more susceptible to the long-term effects of oxidative stress (or too many free radicals) and inflammation on the cellular level. As E.R. Stadtman, a NIH researcher explains, “Aging is a disease. The human life span simply reflects the level of free radical oxidative damage that accumulates in cells. When enough damage accumulates, cells can’t survive properly anymore and they just give up.”

How do we defeat the aging evil of oxidative stress? That’s where antioxidants (think anti-oxidation) come in. The antioxidants eliminate the damage that free radicals cause in our bodies. Some foods are high in antioxidant content and some contain powerful substances called phytonutrients that some believe are capable of unlocking the key to longevity. Phytonutrients are members of the antioxidant family, and are responsible for ridding the body of free radicals, and as a result, slowing the rusting, or the aging, process. That’s one of the reasons that a diet of high antioxidant foods is your first defense against aging.

3. Blood Flow

Blood flow is key #3, and is affected by inflammation and oxidation. Blood vessels are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress and inflammation, and keeping them healthy cannot be understated when it comes to preventing age-related disease. Blood flow to the heart protects the heart muscle from damage, and prevents restricted blood vessels, which helps the brain, and every organ in the body.

Low blood flow is a major factor in aging; its relationship to aging and its diseases are permanently intertwined. Enter nutrition to change the equation. According to Steve Pratt, author of Superfoods Rx, some foods lower inflammatory markers, cause basal dilation and lower blood pressure and improve blood flow. They work on the capillary level to keep microcirculation working well, and that affects the heart, the brain and eyes and prevents the diseases of aging that attacks them.

Anti-aging Targets: Brain, Heart & Eyes

Maintaining our brain, heart, and eyes top the list for those concerned about preserving health and youthfulness as they age. If these things are healthy, chances are, you’re healthy, too. Perhaps it’s not surprising that usually, these three body parts work in tandem and are subject to the same forces – inflammation, oxidation and blood flow.

Brain. Isolating Alzheimer’s disease is one step toward achieving the ideal: anti-aging. If we can preserve brain function, along with body function, we can delay the aging process.

Researchers have discovered that one of the risk factors of deteriorating brain function appears to be how the body handles glucose. Studies of the genetic code of those with Alzheimer’s disease appear to suggest it is connected to cholesterol metabolism. Also, high antioxidant foods possess anti-inflammatory benefit to the brain, which researchers have found increases cell signaling pathways. We know nutrients are a contributor in combating oxidative stress, and oxidative stress is a major cause of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Heart. Thanks again to the anti-inflammatory effect of some foods, good nutrition can have a major impact on aging by preserving the function of one of our most important organs, the heart. By decreasing inflammation in the arteries surrounding the heart, we can keep the heart functioning longer and better. Nutrients in some foods that are high in antioxidants protect the heart muscle from damage by acting as anti-inflammatory agents. Nutrition reduces cholesterol levels and by reducing build-up, which helps prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke. And, many studies into the compounds of fruits like wild blueberries indicate supplements can help regulate blood pressure and combat atherosclerosis.

Vision. According to an interesting new study, anthocyanins from blueberries may protect critical eye tissue from premature aging and light-induced damage. The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, indicates that cells treated with blueberry extract improved the viability of cells exposed to light which experienced premature aging.  The conclusion of the author of the study was that “blueberries, or other kinds of fruits that are rich in anthocyanins, have the potential to prevent age-related macular degeneration and other retinal diseases related to RPE cells.”

Such examples of the vision-nutrition connection is part of a major boon in research into the benefits of dietary prevention when it comes to aging and diseases of aging. Researchers continue to find links between nutrition and healthy eyes. Studies indicate the vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables slow the progress of age-related vision loss, and while the exact nutrients and in what combinations is still unknown, researchers have concluded that the big three keys – anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation and blood flow, are at the heart of maintaining vision. Because some foods with anthocyanins, for instance, work on the capillary level to keep microcirculation working well, that has a positive affect on eyes, tired eyes, and vision diseases that occur with age.

Open the door to anti-aging. Still exploring, Ponce de Leon? Try exploring your kitchen instead. When you use nutrition to decrease inflammation, decrease oxidation, and enhance your blood flow, the aging brain, heart, and eyes will have a new lease on long, disease-free life.

Read about how foods can accelerate the aging process.

Watch the video from The Canadian called Anti-Aging linked to Blueberries and Salmon.

Read about the research into the benefits of wild blueberries, a top anti-aging food.

Mediterranean for Dummies: Understanding A Diet’s Baffling Benefits

It really doesn’t matter whether you are focused on heart health, cancer prevention, weight loss, or just maintaining good health. You can’t ignore the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. Just when we think the research-backed rationale for going Mediterranean is old news, something puts it back on the radar. It’s just a fact of healthy life: making the eating habits of many of the 16 countries that border the Mediterranean Sea the basis of your nutritional goals is a smart move.

The Benefits

  • It helps prevent diabetes. Recently, a large study published by the renown British Medical Journal showed that healthy people who followed a Mediterranean diet had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
  • It contributes to weight loss. Another recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that a restricted-calorie Mediterranean diet could be even more effective for weight loss than a low-fat diet.
  • It’s never too late. Late adoption of the Mediterranean lifestyle can increase longevity and reduce the risk of chronic disease for the elderly as well as other segments of the population.
  • It has been linked to stroke prevention.
  • It offers huge heart health benefits. The diet provides thousands of micronutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, including the essential elements that go to work on preventing heart disease.
  • It’s more than a two-fer. The diet has also been found to help protect against cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, and the risk of Parkinson’s, among other conditions.
  • It cannot be replaced by a supplement.
  • It can offset bad genes.
  • It can increase your lifespan. On the Greek island of Crete, Cretans live longer than any other populations in the world. In studies of those closer to home, longevity was a byproduct for those on the diet in addition to disease prevention.

The X Factor

There are mounting health benefits to going Mediterranean, but there’s also something mysterious about this diet. There’s an X factor involved in the diets of those living overseas that we can’t seem to replicate by simply eating olive oil, or consuming lots of fruits and veggies. Making those efforts is a great start, of course, but it doesn’t mean automatic health.

For example, The New England Journal of Medicine has shown that it may not be the olive oil itself, but the interaction or synergy between all the foods that leads to the health benefits. When foods interact, they can provide benefits that are more than the sum of their parts, and that could be part of the Mediterranean mystique.

Also, eating in Mediterranean countries seems to be synonymous with leisurely dining, taking pleasure in the experience of eating, and savoring meals – another factor that defies quantifying. The residents of these countries generally enjoy food; it is at the center of conviviality. Ever had a meal with a table full of French diners? Prepare to stay a while, sample many dishes, and when you do finally leave the table, don’t be surprised if there is food left behind on the plates.

Finally, another baffling feature of this diet is that “diet” is really a misnomer. There is no real Mediterranean diet, after all – the diet itself is a dietary pattern that includes eating less animal protein, eating few saturated fats, having lots of fruits and vegetables, and integrating the keystones listed below.

Clearly, those who live in proximity to this famed sea are not just eating the right foods, they are also living a different lifestyle than many Americans. Is it that they are less sedentary? Probably. Is it that they have a different relationship with food? Perhaps. The point is, we cannot seem to fully replicate the phenomenon of the magical region of the Mediterranean in other geographical areas.

Nevertheless, following the keystones of this diet has a clear health benefit.

The Keystones

  • Monounsaturated fats. The most popular MS is olive oil (which does double duty by replacing butter), but other unsung heroes of monounsaturated fats are avocado, fish, and canola oils. They are anti-inflammatory, fight disease at the cellular level, and have been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol and oxidative stress. But be warned: no two-handed pouring a la the TV chefs. Passion for EVOO does not mean losing the measuring spoon.
  • Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods.
  • Limiting red meat. Mediterranean dieters max out on red meat at just a few times a month.  Fish and poultry makes an appearance at least twice a week, but even these proteins are eaten in moderation in favor of things like veggies, grains and legumes.
  • Drinking red wine. Much has been made of the red wine element of this diet as well as red wine’s benefit for the heart, but wine consumption may be part of the X factor. It is generally done in moderation – 5 ounces a day for women and no more than 10 ounces for men – as part of enjoying a meal and may be part of the synergy that is a feature of Mediterranean meals.
  • Fruits and vegetables. Plants are the cornerstone of this diet. Consider that Greeks eat an average of nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. If you are not Greek (or you are Greek but live in, say, Altoona) shoot for at least 10 – and yes, they can be small.
  • Nuts. While nuts are high in calories (and restraint is difficult), in moderation they provide good fats, protein, fiber, antioxidants, and are fantastic for heart health. They are not, incidentally, honey-roasted, dry roasted, salted or covered in chocolate or sugar. Natural peanut butter and tahini are great options, too.
  • Replacing refined flour products with whole grain bread, cereal, and pasta.
  • Minimally processed, fresh, and preferably local foods. A hallmark of the Mediterranean lifestyle is by sticking by these three tenants. Sure, calorie for calorie and nutrient for nutrient, setting off to the Farmer’s Market can seem trivial, but it contributes to a lifestyle that values real food and its origins, and the rest will follow.

Get Smart

The jury is in on the benefits of Mediterranean. It’s true that no one can replicate the diet’s inscrutable power when it comes to good health and longevity, but experts and nutritionists agree, you can’t win if you don’t play.

Here’s some fun ways to get in the game from WebMD:

Fig Kebabs on Mixed Greens

Mediterranean Magic Popcorn

Lentil Bulgur Pilaf With Squash

Caramelized Onion and White Bean Flatbread

The Mediterranean Diet & Stroke Connection: Incentive to Get Your Fruits & Veggies?

A new study out of Columbia University Medical Center reveals that adhering to the Mediterranean diet may help seniors avoid strokes, and ultimately dementia. A Mediterranean-like diet can lead to reduced strokes in the part of the brain that leads to reduced cognitive function in later years, according to the study. The Mediterranean diet focuses on eating whole grains and fruits and vegetables, and has been popular over the years for some of its delicious essentials, such as fresh food, seafood, olive oil, nuts – even wine.

This new connection to the Mediterranean diet to neurological disorders is good news, but whether or not we couch eating low fat foods of high nutritional value in “diet” terms, the need for getting fruits and veggies is crucial at a time when their absence in the American diet is clear. Fruit and vegetable consumption has always been low, but today, some nutritionists consider the current climate a “perfect storm” against good nutrition. The nutritional data indicate only 33% of Americans eat the recommended servings of fruit, and 27% eat the recommended amount of vegetables. And, these are benchmarks that should be attainable. They are not, for instance, for every person to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables. In fact, national objectives require 75% of Americans to eat only two or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables – and no state has met this requirement.

There is no reason not to eat healthy food. What we eat is directly related to diseases of aging like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and some cancers. Plus, a poor diet will show up in energy levels, concentration, poor dental health and susceptibility to viruses and infections. However, fast food availability and advertising for highly processed, low nutrient foods has contributed to this perfect nutritional storm and has led to skyrocketing rates of obesity, which aggravates every disease of aging.

Will the latest news of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet do anything toward turning the raging tides? Anything that puts the focus on the needs of fruits and veggies in the diet is a positive step. But it will take efforts toward affordability, availability and education to calm the gale-force winds of this nutritional storm.

Take the poll below and see where you stand when it comes to getting your fruits and veggies. Then, go to Fruits and Veggies Matter to find out how many fruits and vegetables your body needs.