Eat Yourself Younger

Home & Real Estate: In addition to a healthy diet, Dr. Nicholas Perricone [, the author of “The Perricone Promise: Look Younger, Live Longer in Three Easy Steps,”] offers this grocery list of 10 anti-aging foods:

1. Acai Fruit: Find it in juice form in health food and gourmet stores.
2. Allium Family of Foods:
   Garlic, onions, leeks, scallions, chives, and shallots help the liver eliminate toxins and carcinogens.
3. Barley:
   High in fiber, barley helps metabolize fats, cholesterol, and carbohydrates. Eat it as a breakfast cereal, add it to soups and stews, or use it as a rice substitute.
4. Green Foods:
   These include wheat and barley grasses that you can purchase in powder, tablet, or juice form. They offer more nutrients than green leafy vegetables and help lower your cholesterol and blood pressure and boost your immune response.
5. Buckwheat Seed and Grain:
   It’s loaded with protein, high in amino acid, stabilizes blood sugar, and reduces hypertension.
6. Beans and Lentils:
   In addition to lentils, the best beans are kidney, black, navy, pinto, chickpeas, soybeans, and peas. They’re loaded with antioxidants, folic acid, and potassium.
7. Hot Peppers:
   Bell peppers and chili peppers have twice the vitamin C as citrus fruit and burn fat.
8. Nuts and Seeds:
   Eat a handful of nuts every day–be it walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia, or pistachio. They’re packed with omega 3 fats, which are great for your heart. Be sure to choose raw and unsalted.
9. Sprouts:
   High in protein and vitamin C, sprouts are a tasty addition to many dishes.
10. Yogurt and Kefir:
    Both of these cultured foods contain healthful bacteria that aid immune function. In addition, the calcium helps burn fat. Here’s a recipe idea: Use them as a base for a smoothie.

Other tips:

• Coffee can elevate your levels of cortisol and insulin, which can lead to weight gain. Substitute green tea for coffee. If you do nothing else differently, you’ll lose 10 pounds in six weeks, says Perricone.
• Hydrate! Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day for good health and beautiful skin.
• Spice up your food: Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, oregano, basil, thyme, cayenne, and every spice and herb you can think of are stellar anti-aging foods.