We are most familiar with the lines and loss of tautness in the skin, but there are a number of other things going on with our bodies, as we get older. Pain increases with the onset of arthritis. Aging brings with it a loss of energy and a weakened immune system. According to Dr. Nicholas Perricone MD, if you want to fight aging you should do so from the outside in. Aging is an entire body process.
If you want to wage a successful assault on aging, you must launch a systematic attack on a diverse set of ailments. At least there are nutritional measures you can take to assist in your efforts. Supplements provide some help in this battle. However, a healthy diet is really the best weapon in your arsenal when fighting aging. Exercise is major component as well, but in order to have the energy to exercise, it is important to eat well. Which vitamins, elements or other ingredients are essential to effectively wage the aging battle?
Omega 3: The Good Oil
Omega-3 fights depression and reduces inflammation. Most commonly found in fish oil, which is made into a pill for the supplement-lovers. For the cooks out there, fish oil is a common seasoning in Asian cuisine. Buy a bottle, and try to add a squirt to your frying pan or walk when stir frying veggies, noodles, or marinating chicken or tofu. Fish that are high in Omega 3 include cod, tuna and halibut.
If you are environmentally cautious and leery of fish-consumption that contributes to the depopulation of the oceans, check out the Seafood Watch to check which version of these fish is safe for your area of the country or world. If you do not eat meat whatsoever, then make certain flax seed is a part of your diet. Flax seed is one of the few grains that have a high component of Omega 3.
Keep Skin Looking Young with Vitamins E and C:
Vitamins E and C help your skin stay young and healthy. Vitamin E directly protects your skin from ultra violet radiation. Vitamin C helps your skin repair itself, inside out. Together these vitamins assist your body in defending itself. Vitamin E is present in nuts, greens, blueberries and papaya. However, the assortment of high-content foods makes it difficult to obtain the ideal amount of vitamin E in a balanced diet. Though this is partially influenced by where you live, and your access to fresh and diverse foods on an annual basis rather than merely a seasonal one. However there are a variety of vitamin supplements available to help you attain this goal.
Fight Low Energy with B12 and Magnesium
Vitamin B12 is found in meat--poultry and fish, as well as in soy. Magnesium is found in leafy greens, nuts, peas, whole grains and soy. So a mixture of soy and whole grains would be a good recommendation for your arsenal. Remember, soy is also a source of estrogen. If you want the effectiveness of hormones without the relatively higher and less natural estrogen birth control pills or hormone supplements, soy is a good option. But variety is ideal, so include whole grains. If your heredity puts you at risk for breast cancer, make certain that your portions of soy are relatively small and that you find alternative sources of magnesium.
Add Age-Fighting Nutrients to Smoothies
Smoothies are the easiest and most convenient way to boost the age-fighting nutrients in your diet. Look for raw fruit and vegetable smoothie recipes that will maximize your intake of the water-soluble vitamins B and C. Increase your magnesium consumption by using soy milk as a smoothie base and follow it up with green smoothie recipes that call for baby spinach. To increase the amount of Omega-3 in your diet, you can add flax seeds to smoothies. Be certain to include your vitamin requirements when choosing your foods for the week, and your cabinet-stocking materials will help you maintain a healthy diet and fight aging. Keep supplements on hand, because these can help you gain your needed vitamins and minerals without the effort of extensive and cautious meal planning. Not everyone has the time to put such thought into their diet. If you can, however, get as many of your needed nutrients in your food and beverage choices, such as raw smoothies, to stay healthy at any age.
Just as moderate exercise and dietary adjustments improve overall health, these lifestyle modifications can also help post-menopausal women maintain better bone mass for a longer period of time. Although not all women are destined to have osteoporosis, which is a weakening of the bones that leaves a person susceptible to fractures, all women can improve their bone health by making some simple changes.
Exercise for Positive Bone Mass Results
Exercising is good for post-menopausal women and can actually slow the progression of bone loss. However, it is the weight-bearing activities that provide the biggest advantage. Brisk walking is therapeutic on many levels, and it is also a beneficial weight bearing exercise. Unlike other exercises it is far easier to adjust your intensity and speed according to your fitness level. The slow, deliberate movements in Tai Chi can help women slow down the rate of bone loss as they age. A recent study showed that women who practiced this ancient Chinese art lost bone at a rate that was 3 ½ times slower than those who did not participate in Tai Chi exercises. Results were evident on bone mineral density tests.
Habits can be Bad to the Bone
Lifestyle decisions that involve less-than-healthy habits can compromise bone health, especially in women who are more than 50 years of age. Some lifestyle choices should be moderated and others should be abandoned all together in the interest of healthy post retirement years.
Alcohol may also interfere with the body’s normal bone metabolism by disrupting the molecular passageways in this process. Women should limit consumption to one glass of wine, beer or mixed drink a day and men should drink no more than two alcoholic beverages a day. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, the lack of exercise can have detrimental affects on many aspects of health, including your bones. Making the decision to get up and move at least 30 minutes each day can make a big difference in mental and physical health. Watch the caffeine intake, too, because it can interfere with the body’s ability to absorb calcium. Try switching to decaffeinated coffee or choose tea with little or no caffeine. According to WebMD, the act of smoking floods the body with free radicals. These molecules completely overwhelm the body’s ability to protect against them and attack organs and cells that are instrumental in maintaining healthy bones. Depression and even the popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) doctors so frequently prescribe to treat depression may be making bone health worse for the women who are more than 50 years of age. Some studies have indicated a link between osteoporosis and depression. Although studies have identified that a link exists between osteoporosis and depression, it is unclear which factors actually lead directly to the development of brittle bones. Eating disorders leave a person of any age deficient in vital nutrients that help protect bones. Post-menopausal women who are underweight are more susceptible to bone fractures and breaks from falls and other accidents.
Smoothie Ingredients for Bone Health
Phytoestrogens through tofu, alfalfa and soy products can be added to smoothies. Recent research has shown that hormone replacement therapy can be dangerous to women because it has been shown to increase incidents of blood clots, strokes and heart attacks. Nonetheless, adding naturally occurring estrogen to the diet can improve bone health and, for some, reduce those pesky hot flashes and night sweats. You can get calcium and Vitamin D by using fortified dairy milk or yogurt as a base ingredient in your raw fruit and vegetable smoothies. In order for calcium to be absorbed, Vitamin D is required. Both ingredients help keep bones strong. Although there is conflicting information about the efficacy of Vitamin K as it relates to healthy bone mass, leafy green vegetables are a good source of this nutrient. Most people who have adequate diets will get enough Vitamin K through food. However, green smoothies, especially those made with kale or spinach, are one way to assure that you get a good helping of Vitamin K as well as other key nutrients for overall health. Medical science has not yet discovered how to reverse bone loss or how to keep bone loss from occurring in the first place. However, there are positive steps that each individual can take to keep bones in good shape before and after retirement. Healthy habits, moderate weight-bearing exercise and proper amounts of calcium, Vitamin D and Vitamin K work together to help post-menopausal women maintain bone mass longer.
The right nutrients or supplements in the correct quantities can go a long way toward helping you maintain a youthful appearance. Although many people often quip that age is just a number, there is a growing awareness of the positive steps that can be taken to stave off some of the affect aging has on our bodies. Smoothies that help you maintain a weight that is right for your build and height while increasing your daily quota of raw fruits and vegetables can protect your health as you age.
Maintain a Healthy Weight
The biggest factors involved in maintaining a healthy weight are diet and exercise. If you are dieting to get down to your ideal weight, there will be some dietary changes you will want to make to keep the weight under control.
Look for low-calorie smoothie recipes and stock up on your favorite ingredients. When we run out of smoothie components, there is more of a tendency to reach for a less-healthy alternative to fill the hunger gap.
Find moderate, weight-bearing exercises that you enjoy. The only way to ensure that you get enough exercise is to make it an experience you look forward to instead of dreading. Then arrange your daily routine so that you can comfortably add at least 30 minutes of exercise.
Latest Advice: Nine Servings of Fruit and Veggies a Day
Today’s governmental guidelines in the US emphasize fruit and vegetables more than protein from meat. In fact, the latest advice is that an individual needs four servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables each day. If you try to meet these guidelines strictly through meals, you may find it difficult to consume that much unless you are on a vegetarian or vegan diet.
The alternative is to add two or three low-calorie smoothies to your daily diet can take care of the majority of these requirements. Then you can eat regular meals as planned, with an eye toward limiting the servings of beef and other meats.
What is Reversterol and How Can it Help?
Reversterol is an ingredient found originally in grape skins that has demonstrated ability in clinical trials to improve skin elasticity, prevent cell degradation, and may promote youth. Much reversterol is found in red wine, and with the popularity of this ingredient, supplements emerged. However, the supplements are not incorporated well into the body, so they do not provide the same benefits we might see from moderate red wine consumption. While individuals who are not drinking red wine are encouraged by doctors to try eating grapes or drinking red or purple grape juice, neither of these options are confirmed as being as affective as red wine. Still, other options not officially explored are other fruits and foods that naturally contain this substance. Peanuts, blueberries and cranberries contain reversterol. However, no studies documenting the effectiveness of reversterol in these foods could be located.
If you want to try obtaining reverterol from foods not yet tested for their anti-aging properties, concentrate on smoothies that include these ingredients. No smoothie will be as affective as drinking red wine in moderation -- 10oz a day for men and 5 oz a day for women, based on weight averages -- but if you are on medication that prohibits alcohol consumption, this might be something to try. Remember, there are no guarantees that this will work, even if a Google search would lead you to believe reversterol is some miracle drug. We don’t know enough about its properties to understand how it promotes benefits.
Warnings aside, you can focus on grape, cranberries, and blueberry smoothies that will help maximize your non-alcoholic reversterol intake.
Cran-Grape
Grape Juice Cranberry Juice Ice Plain Yogurt Honey ½ cup seedless grapes---with skins
CranBlueBerry
100% Cran-Blueberry Juice Vanilla Yogurt ½ cup frozen blueberries 1 banana
Apple Grape:
100% Grape Juice Vanilla Yogurt ½ grapes ¼ cup diced apple 1 banana
Grape BlueBerry
100% Grape-Blueberry juice 1 banana ½ cup seedless grapes--with skin ½ cup blueberry ice non-fat milk
Grapefruit
8oz Grape Juice ½ a grape fruit ½ cup grapes 1 tablespoon honey ½ cup blueberries (frozen) ¼ cup yogurt 8oz nonfat milk
Berry Me Up:
¼ cup frozen strawberries ¼ cup frozen blue
If you maintain a healthy weight and increase the raw fruits and vegetables in your diet, you will have a good start toward keeping your body healthy into retirement years. If you choose to add reversterol to your smoothies, grapes and berries are the best sources. While smoothies cannot directly slow the aging process, the ingredients you choose and the lifestyle decisions you make will help you to age in a healthy way.
The right nutrients or supplements in the correct quantities can go a long way toward helping you maintain a youthful appearance. Although many people often quip that age is just a number, there is a growing awareness of the positive steps that can be taken to stave off some of the affect aging has on our bodies. Smoothies that help you maintain a weight that is right for your build and height while increasing your daily quota of raw fruits and vegetables can protect your health as you age.