Eat These 7 Foods to Look Younger and Feel Healthy

When I tell people I’m 40 they never believe me.  I get carded to buy lottery tickets or alcohol even if I’m with my kids. Just this summer someone thought I was my 16 year-old’s sister. I credit my good skin and youthful appearance to three things. A healthy diet, good eating habits, and great genes. While you cannot control your gene pool, you can certainly control your diet so that your skin has that vibrant, youthful glow.

I grew up eating real foods and three meals a day. My mom always had a vegetable with our dinner and fruit on our table. We avoided sugary cereals, and we didn’t sweeten anything. As an adult and mom to three, I follow the same routine and lifestyle for my own family.

Don’t worry, though, if you’re just getting started with eating healthier. According to Dr. Christopher Calapai D.O, an Osteopathic Physician board certified in family medicine, and anti-aging medicine, eating certain key foods can help you maintain a youthful appearance to look up to 15 years younger than your actual age. Wow!

These key foods can help improve your skin, digestive tract, and even mood. Poor food choices, on the other hand, can give you everything from pale skin to acne breakouts, body aches, and sluggish energy. Eating healthy also improves your gut health which is an essential part to looking and feeling younger.

So what foods should you eat to look younger and feel better? Read below!

7 Foods to Look Younger and Feel Healthy

1. Eat garlic for smoother skin and to reduce bloating. When we have an overgrowth of candida in the gut we experience things like acne breakouts, bloating, and constipation. Garlic mitigates all of this because it kills candida. Garlic also aids in digestion and immunity. Garlic also has anti-inflammatory properties making it ideal for joint aches. Allicin, which serves as an anti-aging, antifungal benefit to garlic aids in smoothing skin and preventing acne and other skin conditions.
2. Ground Flaxseed will keep you regular and improve skin tone. Responsible for helping food to travel effortlessly and smoothly through the GI tract, flaxseed keeps us regular. Flaxseed also contains cancer fighters called lignans which also ward off heart disease. Flaxseed helps to minimize rashes, skin flare ups and irritation. When you consume flaxseed your skin becomes more even toned and less sensitive. I had a healthy tablespoon to my smoothies which gives them a nutty flavor.
3. Add apple cider vinegar to your water to improve your gut health and give your skin a youthful look. One of the best ways to address any digestive issues is to combine a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a cup of water or in tea and drink it before a meal. It helps your body to break down food. It helps with to prevent indigestion and stomach issues after eating. Anytime you can aid the digestive process you’ll notice glowing skin and a youthful radiance. I use only Bragg Organic ACV from Amazon as it’s always much cheaper there and Bragg  is supposed to be the best for you.
4. Eating celery and drinking celery juice reduces sugar cravings and improves your digestive system.  Another anti-inflammatory and cancer fighter celery also lowers blood pressure and rids us of sugar cravings (and sugar makes the skin sallow and leads to breakouts). The natural salts in celery juice maintain a healthy gut pH. The common recommendation is to drink 16 ounces on an empty stomach and improvements to digestion and physical appearance will be evident within 10 days.
5. Cauliflower improves your mood and reduces eczema and other skin conditions. High in fiber, cauliflower helps the gut maintain healthy microbes. This is important because when microbes or gut flora are out of whack a whole slew of symptoms become evident. These include digestive issues, depression or anxiety, and skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and acne.
6. “Pickled” or fermented foods helps improve your immunity system. Kimchi is delicious and sauerkraut or pickled vegetables can make for a nice topping to a salad or mid-day snack. These fermented foods are packed with good bacteria which balances the microbiome, which is the anchor for our health and immunity.
7. Asparagus keeps your gut healthy. Another “prebiotic” fiber that keeps the gut healthy and balanced is asparagus. You can add garlic to it and broil it in the oven offering a 1 -2 punch of gut friendly foods in one delicious side dish. It’s important to note that people who suffer from stomach pain may not do well with prebiotics in larger amounts. If the gut is already inflamed these foods can cause a flare up.

Thanks to  Dr. Christopher Calapai D.O for his insight on the types of food to eat to help us look younger!  

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