Eating fruits, vegetables, protein and healthy fats will not only improve your overall health but will help you look age gracefully. . Eating fruits and vegetables in a rainbow of vibrant colors ensures we get a variety of phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and also helps us maintain a healthy weight. To keep a youthful glow, additional things to consider would be collagen, water intake, sugar intake, healthy fats, antioxidants and gut health. Lets discuss some tips and foods to add to your diet to  look younger!

Collagen

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It is found in your bones, muscles, skin, and tendons. Collagen helps make the skin elastic.  It also plays a role in joint and bone health. In the skin, collagen provides strength and elasticity. With age, we do not have as much collagen and what we have becomes thinner and weaker.

Besides the skin, collagen has been proven to have many different effects on the body. Adding more collagen to your body provides a variety of health benefits. It can help with joint pain, bone loss, muscle mass, heart health, and help keep you looking younger. You can also add some collagen rich foods to your diet to help you age gracefully such as bone broth, chicken, eggs and fish.

Currently, many people take a collagen supplement for weight loss or maintenance as collagen can help increases our metabolism. These supplements can also help keep us feeling fuller for longer so possibly reducing eating or snacking.

Drink water

Water keeps your body hydrated and functioning properly, but water also helps maintain your skin’s elasticity. You can prevent wrinkles and fine lines from forming as quickly, by drinking about ½ your body weight in ounces of water a day. You can also add water to your body by eating foods with high water content such as watermelon and cucumbers!

Drinking more water will also keep your collagen hydrated.   Fully hydrated skin will appear fuller or plump which will smooth out some wrinkles making them look less noticeable. Another benefit of drinking lots of water is to help flush out toxins in your body which can also affect the appearance of your skin.

Lower your sugar intake

We love sugar! It tastes good and can be addictive. What you might not know is that your sugar intake can affect the firmness of your skin. Eating sugar or lots of carbohydrates which turn into sugar, can lead to collagen damage. This can contribute to wrinkles and sagging skin. An easy way to use your diet to look younger is to avoid sugary foods and maintain steady blood sugar levels.

Add healthy fats to your diet

Key elements in a diet to  look younger are essential fatty acids like omega-3s and omega-6s. These are the building blocks of healthy cell membranes. These healthy fats also help produce the skin’s natural oil barrier, which is important to keeping skin hydrated, plumper, and younger looking. Omega -3 fats can also help with redness and acne by reducing inflammation.  Omega-3 fats are found in fatty fish like salmon and plant sources such as chia seeds and walnuts. Omega-6 fats are found in soybeans, nuts and seeds, meat, poultry fish and eggs.

Antioxidants and Vitamin C

Think of an apple that has been cut open and exposed to the air. After some time exposed to oxygen, the white flesh of the apple turns brown. I like to think of adding antioxidants to my diet as protecting my body’s insides and skin from being “turned brown” like an apple.

Antioxidants help the skin repair itself. Inflammation reduces the skin’s ability to renew itself. When antioxidants reduce inflammation, the skin can repair itself and correct visible damage. Antioxidants can also remove free radicals from the body which can then damage cells and make you more susceptible to illness.

Adding antioxidants to your diet is simple! Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, and even cocoa. As a bonus, fruits, vegetables and whole grains high in antioxidants are also typically high in fiber which also help your gut health.

Some antioxidants, like vitamin C, can also stimulate collagen production. Eating foods high in vitamin C  can help regenerate skin cells, reduce wrinkles and fight against the ultraviolet aging of your skin when exposed to sunlight.

A vitamin C serum can also help protect your skin from aging. Add this into your skin routine to help with hydration, brightening, reducing the appearance of discolouration and to help promote collagen production.

Gut Health

The gut microbiome is the bacteria found in your intestines that influences your overall health, especially your skin.  A healthy gut can prevent and heal illnesses in the digestive tract, immune system, cardiovascular system and even support a good mood.  An unhealthy gut can not only affect many parts of your health but can change the appearance of your skin, increase inflammation, and contribute to skin conditions such as eczema and rosacea.

A great way to improve gut health is to have a balanced diet including lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and wholegrains. Fiber rich foods feed the healthy bacteria in your gut, promotes proper digestion and elimination.

Adding probiotic-rich or fermented foods, as well as taking a supplement containing probiotic and prebiotics can help you look better and feel better by improving your gut health.

Adding more fruits and veggies to your diet to look younger

Your mother was right when she told you to eat your fruits and vegetables. Not only do they help with weight loss, preventing diseases and fueling your body, but they will help you stay looking young.

Try to add at least one fruit or vegetable to each meal. Often this is hard for people who enjoy cereal or toast for breakfast. I enjoy a chia pudding with fruit each morning. This gives me protein, fiber and a serving of fruit. A smoothie is also a great option.

Make your snacks count. Plan some snacks to take to work or eat when you are hungry. Have a handful of nuts with an apple. This will keep you full and give you fiber and a fruit. Humous and veggies, yogurt and fruit, celery and pb or a smoothie are all great options. Choosing cookies and granola bars not only  are a minute on the lips and a lifetime on the hips but will increase your sugar intake.

When planning your lunch and dinner, half your plate should be veggies. When cooking vegetables as sides, try roasting a medley so you do not get bored of a half a plate of one thing. Add a salad to your meal, add veggies to soups and casseroles. There is nothing worse then eating the same thing over and over so try different recipes and ideas. In the summer, there are lots of recipes for dinner salads. Add some fatty fish like salmon into your week to get those omega 3’s!

The more you eat healthy foods, the more you crave them. Sound like a trick but it is true. Try to commit to adding some fruits and veggies back into your diet for 2 weeks and see. Your taste buds rejuvenate every 2 weeks!  With a change in how you see food and some new taste buds, you might find your cravings change.

I would love to hear your tips and tricks to adding healthy foods to your diet to help you look younger! If you would like more information on the supplements I use, please message me here.

So I have 2 very picky eaters. When I mean picky, I mean from birth. Neither of them would eat fruit or veggie purees or baby food. Life can get very stressful when you can not feed your baby. Kids can not survive on cheerios and plain pasta. My hellions would not even eat cookies or cake. I am the only mom at a birthday party yelling “just eat the cake!!!!”

About 10 years ago, 2 books came out about hiding vegetables in meals. I will reference them below and. One was written by Jerry Seinfeld’s wife. In both, there are recipes for all meals, desserts and snacks. This is where I learned to hide fruits and vegetables in meals.  Now, this also works on husbands or even just helps us moms get in our servings of fruits and vegetables. I call it Sneaky Vegetable Hiding.

Essentially there are 2 steps.

1. Cook and puree fruits and veggies and freeze in ice cube trays. It takes very little time and you can store it for whenever you need it. I blend them in a Magic Bullet until very smooth.
2. Add the thawed puree to whatever you can!

Fruit:

It is pretty easy to hide fruit in things such as pancakes, muffins, oatmeal and cookies. One of the best suggestions was Breakfast Ice cream. You can use any fruit but bananas was easiest. You freeze ripe, peeled bananas in chunks and in the morning, blend it with a tbsp of yogurt and you get a frozen banana puree that has the consistency of ice cream. You can do strawberries, blueberries, what ever fruit you like. My daughter still eats very poorly. I add protein powder for some added punch.

Cauliflower:

Cauliflower is an easy one to hide because it is white and almost tasteless. You can hide cauliflower puree in tuna salad and many sauces but my favourite is in mac and cheese. It works best in homemade sauces.

Butternut Squash:

I LOVE butternut squash because it is sweet and creamy. My favourite was to make plain pasta and add butter, butternut puree and Parmesan cheese. You can also add butternut squash puree to a quiche or souffle. Sounds bad, I know but it tastes good.

Sweet Potato or Yam

These sweet little jems are my favourite because they are like a dessert. I always add a couple sweet potato cubes and a carrot cube to my spaghetti sauce. It tastes good and it helps make the sauce less acidic. If you are baking and add cinnamon, they are hidden even better. I add sweet potatoes or pumpkin to pancakes, french toast or oatmeal. I even make hot chocolate with milk and chocolate syrup, I add some sweet potato and cinnamon. As long as you drink it fairly quickly, they will not notice. I add it to coffee with pumpkin spices for a pumpkin spice latte…for a treat for me

Avocados:

The avocado “pudding” was really popular for a while. You blend avocados with cacao powder and sometimes coconut milk or melted chocolate. There are many recipes online. It is pretty good but remember they are high in calories.! I add avocados to my boiled eggs instead of mayo in egg salad. Now this makes them slightly green so I suggest reading green eggs and ham before eating..

Zucchini can add a creamy flavour. You can add this to meatballs or hamburgers

I only successfully hid spinach in pita pizza’s. I would put a thin layer under the pizza sauce. The trick is to make sure it is covered by lots of sauce and toppings

Last but not least is onions. Sometimes onions taste really good in a dish but your kids hate looking at the slimy little devils. The other night I was making butter chicken and so I sautéed some onions and then pureed them for the sauce. No one ever knew.

If you would like more ways to trick your kids, check out these books