You want to stay looking young and gorgeous for as long as possible, but all that anti-ageing wellness seems like a lot of bother, doesn’t it? People inject their faces with botox, slather themselves with expensive creams and even undergo surgery in their quest for youth – surely there’s a better way than that? Some people turn to dietary wellness to delay ageing, but that still means you have to bother with oily fish and broccoli that you don’t really like. Fortunately, there are some anti-ageing foods that you actually want to eat.
Dark chocolate – Let’s start with the good stuff, shall we? Although you may feel guilty for munching away, dark chocolate is actually hugely beneficial to your wellbeing. As it is made of cacao, dark chocolate contains more antioxidants than almost any other food, being a rich source of polyphenols like catechin, epicatechin and procyanidins. These antioxidants work to open your blood vessels and protect your nerves from injury and inflammation.
Red wine – If sitting around with the girls and sharing a bar of Bourneville isn’t enough to help you look younger, get out your wine glasses. Red wine contains a compound called resveratrol which activates the genes in your body that slow cellular ageing. A wealth of evidence has shown that the resveratrol in red wine stimulates your body’s production of SIRT1. This is a serum which blocks diseases by speeding up your cell’s energy production centres, known as the mitrochondria. Made with the dark skin and seeds of grapes, red wine is also heart healthy because it contains high levels of polyphenols.
Yoghurt – While it may not be quite as exciting as red wine or dark chocolate, yoghurt is still a yummy food that delays the signs of ageing. Yoghurt’s rich levels of calcium help to guard your wellbeing against osteoporosis – a disease in which your bones become brittle and are more likely to fracture. Plus, yoghurt contains the good bacteria that help to maintain the health of your gut and reduce your chances of age-related intestinal illness. That’s only if you eat yoghurt; if you apply it to your skin, yoghurt fights acne, works as a moisturiser, prevents premature ageing, relieves your sunburn and reduces discolouration. This is because yoghurt contains lactic acid, which dissolves dead skin and tightens pores.