Five Most Aging Foods.

A good balanced diet includes a range of different vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. These all work towards keeping our body healthy. If however you consume refined, convenience foods, these will have a detrimental effect on your health and well-being, as well as increase premature aging.

Here are the top five foods to look out for:

1. Sugar

We all know sugar is the main contributor to lots of health issues, from weight, diabetes, oral health and more. Getting the balance is key in order to reduce the four ageing processes of acidification, inflammation, slow digestion and hormonal imbalance. Sugar slows down the body’s regeneration process, therefore, speeding up the ageing process. Sugar side effects also include lack of muscle tone, mood swings, when sugar levels drop and peak, as well as the imbalance of your skin. Simple changes to natural unrefined sugars include honey, carrots, nuts, agave, tomatoes and beetroot.

2. Salt

Our bodies need salt but the type of sale you consume is massively important. We all know that natural ingredients are better than refined, as mentioned above with sugar, salt can be obtained in its purest form such as Himalayan crystal salt. Mass produced table and cooking salt is empty of the essential trace minerals that make natural salts so beneficial. Try to reduce your processed foods to a minimum, use natural salt instead of refined salt and see the difference. Natural salts help bone strength, digestion, and blood sugar health which all contribute to reducing the visible signs of aging.

3. Dairy products

Cow’s milk has been in the press a lot in recent years. With the popularity of alternative natural milks, such as almond, rice, oat and soya now available almost everywhere, this is the easiest of the five aging foods to swap. Cow’s milk contributes to the aging process by slowing down your digestion, increases aching joints, asthma and eczema symptoms, diabetes and even osteoporosis. To balance your intake of cow’s milk you can swap for any of the alternative milks including goats milk. Alternatively you can increase your diet with alkalising foods such as green vegetables, nuts, beans and a daily shot of our organic wheatgrass. If you love cheese but want to reduce this, try buffalo mozzarella or goats cheese as an alternative.

4. Red Meat

Meat consumption is a controversial topic at present. Red meats are linked with heart disease and increasing cancer among other major illnesses. Therefore reduce your diet of red meat to a more healthy option. Organic chicken, turkey, lamb, fish and tofu would benefit you greatly. Meat increases all five aging processes; therefore if you can reduce this saturated fat ingredient you will see and feel the benefits in your body. Meat is one of the highest acid forming foods, loaded with saturated fats. Try swapping meat for other protein rich foods such as eggs, grains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds. Wheatgrass is high in amino acids so a daily wheatgrass juice will also give you the protein your body needs.

5. Saturated fats

Processed foods such as cakes, biscuits, ready-made meals, takeaways, fast and fried foods all contain high levels of saturated fat. This is the bad fat in our diet. Fats are needed in our bodies, however a fluid fat is what helps the vitamins and minerals absorb into our body. Too many saturated fats in our diet will cause inflammation, hormonal imbalance, skin problems, allergies, PMT and osteoporosis. Healthy unsaturated fats include oils from fish, avocados, nuts, flax seeds, and cold pressed oils used for cooking and dressings. By making this small change, you can reduce your risk of high cholesterol, coronary heart disease and depression and increase your energy levels and clearer skin.

Moving to a healthy diet is much more than the 5 tips above, however these hidden gremlins may just help you slow down the aging process, increase your energy and give you that all healthy glow that we deserve.

If you would like to try adding wheatgrass to your diet, why not check out our recipes on our Facebook page for some inspiration.