Aging is a natural part of life, and there’s no escaping it. There’s no magical cure to keep you looking 20 forever, but there are things we can do to help “age gracefully”. While a good skincare regime is important, what we put in our bodies is just as vital in anti-aging so these anti-aging foods will not only keep you looking youthful, but feeling youthful too!
A large amount of the reason some foods are considered “anti-aging foods” is because they’re high in anti-oxidants. The aging process is accelerated by free-radical damage. What this means is environmental damage such as drinking smoking, eating fast food, moving, and even just life in general causes unpaired electrons to damage the body and DNA to try find electrons to pair with. Antioxidants neutralise free radicals, which is what makes these foods anti-aging foods.
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Six Healthy Anti-Aging Foods You Can Eat Every Day
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is an amazing food; it’s good for mood, cramps, and has anti-aging properties.
Cocoa has one of the highest amounts of antioxidants avaialble when compared to other foods, so to reap the benefits of this, opt for dark chocolate that’s at least 70% cocoa. Dark chocolate can even somewhat protect skin from UV damage (but regardless of your diet, make sure to wear SPF every day!). Dark chocolate can even help the skin look plumper by increasing circulation and helps it retain moisture.
I consider this one of my favourite anti-aging foods to eat everyday, because it’s healthy but is also a sweet treat!
To skip the sugar in many dark chocolate bars, you can also buy raw cocoa powder or cocoa nibs to sprinkle into smoothies.
Ideas for incorporating it into your diet: make a smoothie with cocoa powder, sprinkle raw cocoa nibs over oats, enjoy by itself, or make-chocolate covered strawberries.
CBD oil
I’m a big fan of CBD oil, it’s great for soothing anxiety, helping aid sleep, and has many associated health benefits.
Since it’s risen in popularity, CBD has become a popular skincare ingredient, but the benefits are not just from topical use. CBD is a great source of anti-oxidants too which gives makes it multinational if you’re already using it for health reasons.
How to incorporate it into your diet: CBD oil can be taken in drops under the tongue, but if you don’t like that then you can add a few drops to your tea and coffee, buy CBD chocolate, or CBD capsules.
Matcha
Matcha green tea is regularly cited as one of the healthiest teas in the world. So what’s the difference between green tea and matcha tea? They both come form the same plant, the Camellia Sinensis, but matcha is a ground up version of the leaf so you’re consuming the whole leaf with matcha whereas you get a smaller amount with green tea. Both are very healthy and a good source of anti-oxidants, but matcha wins out.
I’m a big fan of the matcha tea from the Natural Health Market.
How to incorporate matcha into your diet: if you don’t like matcha tea, you can add some matcha powder to a smoothie, or try matcha goodies.
Tomato
Tomatoes are another anti-aging food for glowing skin. Tomatoes don’t just contain lots of antioxidants, but also carotenoids. Carotenoids are plant-based compounds that can help protect the skin against sun damage. They’re also a source of vitamin C which is one of the most popular ingredients and aspects of natural beauty tips. As one of your 5-aday, there’s no downside to eating this healthy anti-aging food every day!
How to add more tomatoes to your diet: slice into a sandwich or salad, enjoy tomato soup, make some vegan pizza with tomato puree.
Garlic
Garlic is a super spice! Not only is garlic an anti-aging food because it contains anti-oxidants but it can also be incorporated into your lifestyle for natural beauty tips. Due to the presence of allicin, garlic is anti-bacterial, antifungal, anti-septic and anti-viral, which means that it can help clear up acne. Garlic can be used as a topical skin treatment, but you also benefit from having it in your diet.
How to incorporate more garlic into your diet: have spagetti, add it to a pasta dish or a Thai curry.
Berries
Mixed berries are more healthy anti-aging foods you can eat everyday to add to this list. Darker berries tend to have the most anti-oxidants, which includes blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants etc Berries are also a good source of vitamin C which a very popular ingredient when it comes to natural beauty tips. Vitamin C helps to brighten skin, even skintone, and can improve elasticity.
Other sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, and limes.
How to incorporate more berries into your diet: make a smoothie, add them to cereal or oats, enjoy alone as a healthy snack.
The Bottom Line
“Unhealthy” practices like eating junk food, smoking, and drinking too much and too often can all accelerate the aging process, so the most important of these natural beauty tips is to lead a healthy lifestyle. If you eat well and stay active (but remember, life’s too short not to treat youself!), you’ll be glowing from the inside out. The best art about these healthy anti-aging foods to eat every day is that they’re all packed with nutritional value, and should be a regular part of your body regardless of if you care about aging “gracefully” or not. You should also wear SPF everyday, and have a good skincare regime to keep your skin moisturized and happy!
These healthy anti-aging foods can help you look brighter and ward off premature signs of aging but bear in mind that aging is a natural fact of life; you won’t look 20 forever, but you’ll be glowing with these natural beauty tips. There’s nothing “wrong” with looking your age or “looking old”! There’s a lot of pressure on women, in particular, to look ageless forever but remember, but I would argue that looking healthy and glowing is more important than being wrinkle-free! If you eat well and take care of yourself, with luck you’ll be feeling younger too, after all; age is just a number.