How to Stay Looking Young and Feeling Younger, Fitter and Healthier for Longer.

If you want to stay looking and feeling younger for longer and let’s face it who doesn’t want to look and feel just that little bit younger, then you need to include plenty of antioxidants in your daily diet.

Antioxidants can help keep your body younger and help to protect your body against infections and many of the conditions that can see us prematurely aged and old before our time. If you want to stay young for longer and then grow old gracefully and healthily, with glowing skin, an alert mind and bright eyes then make sure that you include lots of antioxidant-rich foods in your diet.

The major antioxidants are vitamins C, E and A and the mineral Selenium. These things can be found in a variety of great tasting foods, so including them in your diet should be easy and tasty.

Of course, other factors can also age the face and body including stress, smoking, lack of sleep, excessive alcohol consumption, not enough exercise and environmental factors such as pollution. Current thinking seems to suggest that if you want to stay looking younger for longer then you need to follow some, if not all, of the following advice.

If you smoke try your hardest to give up.There are a vast majority of aids out there to help you quit smoking, from patches to pills, to good old fashioned willpower. Your GP can help you too. As can your family and friends. Perhaps one of the best incentives, apart from the health issue, is money. Smoking costs a LOT of money, why not try putting the money you would have spent on smoking into a jar. At the end of the month add it up, you might be shocked by just how much money not smoking has saved you.

Don’t drink too much alcohol.Try switching to a low alcohol version of your favourite tipple, or have a soft drink instead, drink a glass of water for every alcoholic drink that you have. Not only will you cut down on the amount of booze you consume but you might find that you lose a little weight too which is also a good way to stay fit and healthy. A glass of red wine can be good for you, as it contains resveratrol, an anti-inflammatory that can help prevent heart disease and other conditions like Rheumatoid arthritis. Red wine consumption, in moderation, has also been linked to cancer prevention and anti ageing, so a glass every so often can do you more good than harm.

Exercise. Try to go for a walk every day, walk upstairs instead of taking the elevator, go for a swim, take a bike ride, use a couple of large cans as weights and work those arms. There are plenty of ways to become more active that don’t involve spending a lot of money or the use of expensive, special equipment.

Make time every day to de-stress.Something as simple as a hot bubble bath can help you unwind, or take up yoga and de-stress and exercise at the same time. Try resting on the bed with your eyes closed and imagine all the little things that have been annoying you all day, imagine gathering them all up and locking them in a box. Sometimes all you need to help you relax is to watch your favourite show on the tv. Find something that works for you and set aside a few minutes each day to fit it in.

Avoid excessive exposure to the sun and always wear a high factor sunscreen. Think of the sun as a giant source of radiation, which it is, that might just make you stop and think next time you lay down to sunbathe. You wouldn’t sit down in front of a microwave, would you? So why expose yourself to something just as harmful. Limit the amount of time you spend in the sun and your skin will look a lot more youthful. Twenty minutes in the sun is enough time to get your daily dose of vitamin D, the best time to get this exposure is mid-morning or mid-afternoon.

Never sunbath in the middle of the day, the sun is just too strong at that time. Don't forget to always use a high factor sunscreen on your hands every time you go outside. Nothing ages a person more than old hands. Use the same beauty regime and products on your hands that you use on your face. Wear gloves in the winter to protect them from cold and wind that can lead to premature ageing.

Include foods rich in antioxidants in your diet.

The big four antioxidants are:-

1.) Vitamin E.

Vitamin E helps to protect your cells against photo-ageing. That is long-term damage from exposure to the sun. Foods that are rich in vitamin E include tomatoes, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, avocados, blackberries and good old-fashioned oatmeal.

2.)Vitamin C.

Vitamin C helps to protect cells and helps the body absorb iron from other foods. Foods rich in vitamin C include kiwi fruit, oranges, lemons, strawberries, blackcurrants, mangoes, sweet potato, sprouts, peppers and broccoli.

3.)Vitamin A.

Vitamin A is important for healthy skin and eyes. Foods rich in vitamin A include oily fish such as mackerel, offal such as liver and kidneys, eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, spinach, carrots and broccoli.

4.) Selenium.

Selenium is helpful in keeping the thyroid healthy. Foods rich in Selenium include fish, meat, eggs, nuts and bread especially whole wheat or seeded bread.

Other useful foods include peaches, apples, onionsand cranberries. Try to include a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables in your daily diet, you can even blitz them in a blender and drink them.Bright coloured foods are best. Follow a healthy diet, limit alcohol consumption, give up smoking, exercise and stay out of the sun and you should lead a longer, healthier more youthful life. And don't forget about your daily dose of vitamin D, best acquired from limited exposure to the sun wearing sunscreen.

Follow these simple rules and you too can stay looking and feeling younger and healthier for longer.