Best Foods For Living A Long Productive Life
To stave off death by a few extra years, or maybe even a few centuries, a balanced diet is the key. Balanced diet is a diet that contains all important nutrients and vitamins. Besides that, exercise is important too, and getting rid of our bad habits. It is not just a diet, but more of a healthy lifestyle. So, in order to get all our important nutrients and vitamins and to live longer, these are the best foods you can choose.
1. Nuts
In the first study of its kind, eating nuts, including peanuts, has been linked to fewer deaths across ethnic groups, even for people who had metabolic conditions such as obesity or diabetes, drank alcohol or were smokers.
Eating nuts, particularly peanuts given their general affordability, may be considered a cost-effective way to improve cardiovascular health. Nuts in particular contain fiber, which helps lower LDL cholesterol, and supply ample vitamin E, all of which keep your arteries in good shape and free of plaque buildup.
2. Spicy food
Firing up the flavors in your foods can help you to have a longer life. Consuming spicy foods frequently may be linked to a highly lower risk of early dying, according to a new study.
However, more research is needed to confirm that, experts say. The researchers found that the people in the study who consumed spicy foods 1-2 days a week were 10 % less likely to die, compared with those people who consumed spicy foods less than once in a week, according to that research.
And even more, the people in the study who ate spicy foods 3 or more days a week were 14 % less likely to die during the research, compared with those who consume spicy foods less than once a week.
3. Kale
Kale is really hard to beat when it comes to the number of nutrients it has and a great choice for those wanting to enjoy a healthy balanced diet.
Kale is a great source of vitamins C, K, and A, as well as useful amounts of phytochemicals, manganese and copper, which are believed to help against many types of cancer. Our body uses vitamin K to activate the variety of proteins, including proteins needed for development of our bones, as well as lung and heart cell growth. It also provides beneficial copper, a mineral very important for our metabolism. Because kale contains so much different nutrients it really plays a very important role as part of a healthy balanced diet and longer life.
4. Grapes
Grapes, one of the most known and widely consumed fruits in the world, are high in phytochemicals. Consuming grapes makes our life longer and reduces risk of chronic diseases, including some cancer types and cardiovascular disease.
Grapes have strong antioxidant activity, suppressing platelet aggregation and inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, while also can lower our cholesterol. Grapes contain a variety of phytochemicals, such as phenolic acids, stilbenes, anthocyaninsm and proanthocyanidins, which all powerful antioxidants.Grapes do not tend to highly elevate your blood sugar when eaten, or increase your insulin levels. Because high insulin levels cause insulin resistance, choosing foods with a low insulin response rate, such as grapes, can help in preventing you from developing the insulin resistance characteristic of Type 2 diabetes. So with all these benefits, grapes can definitely make your life much longer and better.
5. Berries
These fruits are packed with antioxidants, known to boost immunity and prevent many of life-threatening disease. They can make our life longer and make our aging process gracefully as well.
A study from Harvard University found that at least 1 serving of blueberries or 2 servings of strawberries each week may reduce the risk of cognitive decline in older adults. What make berries so special is their high levels of phytochemicals, which contain natural nutrients that help protect cells from damage. Because they are not very sweet and contain fiber, berries can use that in a diabetic diet as a serving of fruit. Berries are one of the most disease-preventive foods on the planet. Choose brightly colored berries and best eat them within a day or so to get as many of these benefits as possible.
6. Garlic
Since time immemorial, garlic has been recognized as a plant that can make our life heartier and longer. In almost all the cultures is has been used for its medicinal properties as well as for culinary uses.
This wonderful herbal plant has many health promoting phyto-nutrient substances that have proven benefits against various infections, coronary artery diseases, and many other health problems. Garlic is a rich in minerals and vitamins that are essential for our optimum health. The bulbs are one of the richest sources of zinc, magnesium, potassium, iron, calcium, manganese and selenium. Selenium is a mineral that keeps your heart healthy, and is an important factor for antioxidant enzymes within our body. Iron is required for red blood cell formation.
7. Olive oil
As tasty as it is healthy, this monounsaturated “good fat” oil is well known for its longevity and heart-health benefits.
The health benefits effects of olive oil are besides its high content of monounsaturated fatty acids, is its high percentage of antioxidative substances. A few studies have proved that olive oil provides protection against heart disease with controlling LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol levels while in the same time raising HDL or the ‘good’ cholesterol levels. This naturally produced olive oil has the largest amount of monounsaturated fats, among all vegetables oils.
When buying olive oil you should buy a high quality extra virgin oil, that is made from extracting first pressing of the olives, and without using any chemicals or heat (a cold press) , and has no ‘off’ taste, truly has extra virgin status.
8. Avocado
Consume more foods that help keep our heart healthy, such as avocados to improve our odds of a long life. Avocados can make lower our LDL ‘bad cholesterol and raise HDL ‘good’ levels.
In the same time they can help your body in absorbing heart-healthy nutrients like beta-carotene and lycopene. Avocados are also packed with omega-3 fatty acids and natural vitamin E, which are both great for our brain. Avocado contains healthy fats that are good for you, with one cup of sliced avocado providing you with 33% of your daily recommendation for fat. Many of important vitamins are fat soluble, meaning they actually need fat to be absorbed into our body. These vitamins are vitamin E, K, and D, so adding avocado to any veggie meal will help you to get all the vitamins you can.
9. Sprouted beans and lentils
Legumes have always been a very important part of the human diet for many centuries .Lentils and other types of beans have been and still are until today the best protein sources.
A few different methods of preparation have been created to make their digestion easy and so maximize their nutritional value. One method is to germinate legume seeds and turn them into bean sprouts manually. Around 35% of the calories that come from lentils for example, come from its protein content. The health benefits of lentils are: a healthy heart, diabetes control, high protein content, improved digestion, control of cancer, weight loss, a solution for anemia, and better electrolytic activity because of potassium. It is great for pregnant women, helps in maintaining a healthy nervous system and prevents atherosclerosis.
10. Fish
Salmon, tuna, and other oily fish can help people to live longer, studies have shown, because their omega-3 fatty acids are helping in fighting dangerous inflammation that can damage your DNA.
The health benefits of dietary omega-3s are blunted when the foods that are high in the omega-6 fatty acids that have most vegetable oils like soy, canola, corn or safflower, and the packaged and restaurant foods that contain these oils. Instead, rather use oils relatively low in omega-6 fats, like extra virgin olive oil, macadamia nut oil, and special ‘hi-oleic’ sunflower oil. As for the our longer and healthier lives, study from the University of Hawaii found that people who consumed most baked or boiled fish, as opposed to salted, fried or dried, reduced their risk of disease related deaths by 23% compared to those who ate the least.
originally posted by happydieter.net
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