Prolonging your life isn't about swallowing an herbal supplement or vitamin for a few months. If you want to stay young, you have to make a long-term commitment to eating right. Tipping the balance toward more nutrient-rich foods while you're still young can go a long way toward keeping you healthier longer. Sure, you've heard it before, probably from your mother when she urged you to eat more greens and fewer slices of pepperoni pizza. A study in the August 2000 issue of the journal Circulation shows that Mom had a point.
Young people can prematurely age, too.
In fact, researchers found cholesterol deposits in the arteries of teenagers and young adults. Indeed, the effects of aging start sooner than you might think. We age along a continuum, rather than all of a sudden, says Robert Russell, MD, professor of medicine and nutrition at Tufts University in Boston. That means that the foods you may or may not be eating could be laying the foundation for your health, or lack of it, during your senior years. Of course, eating well is a difficult choice with the ever-present temptations of fast food and junk food.