What Foods Should I Eat to Protect My Aging Body?

More and more research is linking healthy aging to food and diet. In the very simplest sense, food is medicine. Food provides the vitamins and nutrients to help your body function efficiently, delays the onset of chronic diseases, and helps the body to heal itself. Conversely, a poor diet, over long periods of time, will result in chronic fatigue, debilitation and disease. If you're trying to look your best and protect your aging body, look no further than your grocery store. Michigan Home Care aids urge all their clients that nutritious food is what a body needs to age gracefully. The sooner you begin to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, green tea, and other antioxidant rich foods, the greater the long term benefit. It is far easier to prevent disease and chronic conditions than it is to reverse them. Healthy foods contain powerful substances known as phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are members of the antioxidant family and they attack "free radicals". Why care about free radicals? It is a well settled scientific fact that free radicals play a role in the onset of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and numerous other chronic and terminal diseases. Our bodies deal with free radicals every day. As we grow older however, the effects of oxidative stress are more likely to stress our bodies. This creates inflammation on the cellular level. A diet rich in antioxidants and other age-defying compounds help our cells protect themselves from the damage caused by free radicals. This, as Michigan Home Health Care clients have shown, helps minimize the impact of aging. Thus, you can help protect yourself against the effects of aging at the cellular level by eating a diet rich in foods that are anti-inflammatory and rich in antioxidants.rnThere are a lot of things that are out of your control. Adopting a diet rich in the foods that help prevent disease and help protect your aging body is within your control. Take control of your life today and seek the nutrition and lifestyle assistance you need from a Michigan Live-In Caregiver. It is generally accepted that adding these foods and beverages to your diet will help reduce the signs of aging: • Lean cuts of meat and poultry – Good quality protein is essential to building lean muscle mass and rebuilding existing muscle. As you grow older, muscle mass is lost. Good quality protein and some resistance training will help slow this process. • Fish. It is recommended that you eat fish at least twice weekly, especially the fatty kind that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. If you hate fish, take flaxseed oil or a fish oil supplement. • Yogurt has probiotics that help add healthy bacteria to the gut. • Fruits and vegetables are an amazing source of antioxidants. To get the most protection eat a wide variety. For maximum benefit try and get at least 7 servings a day. Think that is too much food? Check out serving sizes, they are smaller than you think. • Whole grains provide soluble fiber and contain phytonutrients. • Legumes are packed with nutrients and contain very few calories. • Nuts are a great source of B vitamins and healthy fats. • Water is essential and it cannot be stressed enough that adequate hydration is essential to proper function of all organs in the body.