If you get your health guidance from the mainstream media, you’d think the healthiest way to live is to guzzle red wine and drown everything in olive oil.

That’s basically what they’ve told us in recent years. First, it was the “French paradox”–the fact that the French, who generally eat lots of cheese, cream, and butter; drink lots of wine; and smoke like chimneys, are healthier than Americans. Scientists told us it was all in the wine—specifically, in the anthocyanins—the antioxidant flavinoids that gives red grapes their deep color.

Then it was the “Mediterranean diet,” the traditional way of eating in the regions of Italy and Spain, where olive oil is a staple. We learned that olive oil is a good source of essential fatty acids that are processed right out of many Americanized foods.

I’m not discounting the benefits of either of these phyto-chemicals. In fact, in a minute I’ll explain exactly why both are so important to good health. I just question the sources recommended in the headlines. There’s got to be a better way to get these valuable nutrients than guzzling wine and drowning in oil.

As it turns out, there is. I learned about it from HSI panelist Jon Barron. He told me about a single SuperFood from the Amazon, Acai, that, fresh from the tree, can provide over 30 times the amount of anthocyanins as red wine and all the beneficial fatty acids of olive oil in one delicious, all-natural package. And this is just the beginning of Acai’s health benefits. It’s virtually impossible to over-do this food—which is certainly not the case with red wine or olive oil.

With Acai you get the healing power of many phytonutrients in one delicious package. There’s no disputing the health benefits of anthocyanins and essential fatty acids. Both have proven to be powerful nutritional tools in the quest for good health.

Research has shown that plant pigments like anthocyanins are potent antioxidants.

The cardiovascular benefits are the most well known; studies show that anthocyanins can help prevent blood clots, improve blood circulation, relax blood vessels, and prevent arthrosclerosis. But scientists have also uncovered a whole host of other powerful effects from anthocyanins, including antiviral and antiallergenic properties. Some research even suggests that anthocyanins can prevent cancer, by blocking carcinogenesis on a molecular level and encouraging tumor cell death.

Essential fatty acids have proven just as powerful. Oleic acid, a monounsaturated omega-9 acid, and linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated omega-6 acid, help lower LDL, and maintain healthy HDL levels. They also increase the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A, E, D, and K, which are essential to good health. Research has even suggested that oleic acid may prevent against cancer and hypertension.

Olive oil may be the best known sources of these nutrients, but it is certainly not the only one. It’s the pigment in red grapes that gives wine its anthocyanins—and that same pigment can also be found in other red and purple fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries, red cabbage, and purple sweet potatoes. Oleic acid is also present in pecans and seed oils, and linoleic acid is found in peanuts.

However, Acai is one food that delivers it all—plus other healthy nutrients like fiber, phytosterols, and vitamins C and E. For centuries, it’s been a staple for people in Brazil, yet virtually unknown to anyone outside the region—until now.

Discover the health secret of generations of Amazonian Indians.

Acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee), and is the fruit of a palm tree that grows in the rainforests of the Amazon—a tree Brazilians call “The Tree of Life.” About 90 percent of the small, round fruit is its hard, inedible pit—but that’s OK, because it’s the outside skin that holds the treasure. That dark purple skin of the Acai Berry is what contains the anthocyanins.

The natives puree the acai skins, creating a treat that can be served warm as a sauce over fruit or grains or frozen like a sorbet. They’ve been eating acai for centuries, passing down recipes from generation to generation. (The native people have also passed down the story of how acai was discovered.) Because acai fruit itself is perishable, its popularity never spread beyond the region.

SuperFood fights heart disease, cancer, prostate enlargement, and more.

Since then, the news about acai has been steadily spreading—and the evidence of nutritional and health benefits just keep piling up. Consider this: a 100-gram serving of acai contains only 90 calories, just two grams of fat and no cholesterol. Plus, it delivers 3.5 grams of dietary fiber, something we could all use more of in our diets. Improved processing of the fresh fruit is making it possible to preserve more of the fruit’s healthful attributes. Currently, the acai puree provides more anthocyanins than red wine and acai has antioxidant concentrations that well outweigh blueberries.

Subsequent research has shown that in addition to the anthocyanins and essential fatty acids, acai also contains a healthy dose of plant sterols, another class of phyto-chemicals that have been shown to reduce cholesterol, protect the immune system, and relieve prostate enlargement. In fact, it turns out acai is in the same family as saw palmetto, a common herbal treatment for prostate enlargement. And researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro have discovered that acai extract can be used to fight infection, like the parasitic infection schistosomosis which affects 10 million Brazilians each year and the common bacterial infection staphylococcus aureus.

It seems there’s no end to the Acai miracle fruit’s health benefits.

1. Produce

Piling your plate with fruits and vegetables is a no-brainer when it comes to weight loss — they’re low in calories, high in nutrients, and filling — but the latest studies show that certain ones can provide surprising anti-aging benefits.

There’s buzz about blueberries, for instance, for their memory-boosting potential. But berries of all hues are antioxidant-rich, reports Navindra P. Seeram, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy in Kingston. That means they combat free radicals, molecules that can cause widespread cell damage and are linked to chronic inflammation. Unlike the inflammation that occurs when you sprain an ankle or strain a muscle, the type that contributes to aging is persistent, and thought to be at the root of most chronic diseases, from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes to Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Berries’ beauty bonus: They’re chock-full of vitamin C, another potent antioxidant that may help keep your complexion looking smooth by fighting those pesky (skin-damaging) free radicals.

To keep your vision sharp, set your sights on spinach and other dark leafy greens. These veggies are prime sources of lutein and zeaxanthin, plant pigments that protect your eyes from the harmful effects of ultraviolet light. Leafy greens are also rich in vitamin K, a nutrient that plays a role in reducing bone loss and preventing fractures.

2. Protein (Try these One-Dish Dinners)

This key dietary component becomes even more critical starting in the 40s, when muscle mass begins to decline by up to 1 percent a year. That drop slows metabolism, which makes the pounds pile on more easily. The double whammy consequence: Added weight puts your health at risk, and down the road, diminished muscle mass can throw off your balance (upping chances of a fall), sap your strength, and even threaten your ability to recover from an illness or accident.

To hang on to your metabolism-boosting muscle — and keep you feeling full after meals (another protein plus) — experts recommend eating plenty of skinless chicken and turkey breast, lean beef and pork, eggs, beans, and seafood. And don’t forget protein-rich dairy: Minerals (primarily calcium, phosphorus, and potassium) in fat-free milk and yogurt as well as low-fat cheeses help to keep blood pressure healthy, pudge in check, and bones strong. News flash: Calcium can’t build bone if you’re not getting enough protein, and current recommendations — about five ounces a day for a 145-pound woman — are too low, says Robert P. Heaney, M.D., professor of medicine at Creighton University in Omaha. Our Anti-Aging Meal Plan provides about 11 ounces of protein daily.

Another reason to spoon up some yogurt: Eating at least 1/4 cup every day led to a 60 percent lower risk of gum disease and a 50 percent lower risk of tooth loss in a Japanese study published in the Journal of Periodontology. The effect is thought to be linked to the probiotics in yogurt, but not in most other dairy.

3. Omega-3-Rich Fish

Fatty acids in seafood help quench the flames of chronic inflammation. In addition, “there’s very good new data suggesting that omega-3 fats from fish act on an area of the brain that leads to improved mood and attitude among healthy people,” says Artemis P. Simopoulos, M.D., author of The Omega Diet. These improvements in outlook lead to feeling healthier and more vigorous, she explains. The omega-3s in fatty fish like salmon and tuna have the most potent anti-inflammatory effects. But it’s smart to consume omega-3s from plant sources, like walnuts and flaxseed, too — especially if you’re not fond of fish.

We just bought this juicer on Amazon, using the $25 discount and the free shipping. Made it the best price on the internet when we bought it first of December 2005. Before commenting on the juicer, let me tell you what we used before this juicer arrived.

Click on the image:

We have a top of the line Green Power juicer. If you know juicers, you know this is one of the best. We’ve been juicing with it on a daily basis for 10 years and it is still going strong. It has a high juice yield (dry pulp), can juice grasses and greens efficiently (wheatgrass, parsley, spinach etc.), and low temperatures and rpm minimize oxidation so juice lasts a long time. Other advantages are claimed, but these are the biggest for us.

A well-known downside to twin-screw type juicers like the Green Power is that it takes quite a bit of force to push items like carrots into the juicer, because there is no cutting blade action, just the gripping/squeezing action of the twin screws. Frankly, after 10 years of pushing hard on this thing, we’ve gotten tired of it, even though it makes great juice. We also don’t like the 1.5″ square opening which requires us to cut up apples and large carrots before feeding them. Cleanup isn’t too bad, but not great either. I decided to buy a juicer that would make good juice in reasonably high yields but with emphasis on speed and ease of use. My intent was that this juicer would complement but not replace the Green Power.

Well, after doing a lot of research and reading the reviews here and elsewhere, I decided to buy the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite. The most attractive claims for this juicer were the fast juicing speed, relatively easy cleanup, and the widemouth (3″ round) opening. The stainless steel exterior was also a plus, as the Green Power’s white plastic parts became stained long ago (vegetable juices can do that!).

The biggest concern with this juicer was the limited warranty period (1-3 years) compared to other juicers in its class (which go as high as 15 years). Phone discussion with a vendor indicated concerns about the lifetime of the motor, though his experience was not with the Elite, which has a new, more powerful motor. I also had some concerns about how efficiently it would extract juice compared to our Green Power, how it would work on spinach and other leafy vegetables, and whether the juice would stay fresh as long.

Though I’d have preferred a better warranty, I decided the features were attractive enough to try it. It is a lot of money to throw away if it fails just after the warranty. But if the ease of juicing was as good as claimed, it would almost be worth it!

The new juicer arrived a few days ago. It was simple to put together. The instructions were clearly written. After washing the parts in the dishwasher (yes, they are dishwasher proof), my wife and I proceeded to make one of our standards, carrot-apple-celery. Boy, were we blown away! This juicer met our expectations and more!

Our apples were large, so we had to quarter them despite the 3″ opening. However, in the Green Power we have to cut them into 9 pieces, requiring 4 knife cuts instead of 2 for the Juice Fountain. The apples fed into the juicer easily and very rapidly. Apples feed into the Green Power without too much force, but can be hard to feed because of the pulp they generate (you make apple sauce in the screw feed area and it backs up the chute). We usually use Granny Smiths to minimize that problem on the Green Power, but the Juice Fountain had no problem at all, so I tried some Galas and they also fed in beautifully. In the Green Power, you have to alternate carrots with soft fruits to avoid stalling the screw conveying action; there was no such need with the Juice Fountain. For ease of feeding pulp-producing or juicy fruits and vegetables, I give the Juice Fountain an “A+” compared to the Green Power a “C”.

We then fed in the celery. In the Green Power, celery strings wrap around the end of the screws and plug the end plug. The cutting/centrifugal juicing mechanism of the Juice Fountain eliminates such issues completely. The celery fed in very easily and produced plenty of juice. In the Green Power, celery that is small or somewhat old (limp) can be hard to feed into the chute since the stalks don’t feed into the screw that easily and the plastic crammer tends to jam them in the chute rather than push them into the screws. In the Juice Fountain, celery of all sizes, including tips and leaves, fed in easily. For ease of handling fibrous vegetables or long, flexible vegetables, I give the Juice Fountain an A+ and the Green Power a B.

Already by this time I knew the Juice Fountain really does make juice fast! I couldn’t wait to try the carrots. We put them in whole (minus the cut off tops) and for smaller ones, in bunches of 2 or 3. They just zipped into the juicer! The instruction manual says that juice yield is higher if you feed them slowly, so we didn’t push the limits of feed speed, but suffice it to say, it was MUCH faster than the Green Power, on the order of just a few seconds. Furthermore, there was almost no force required to push the carrots in, a welcome change from the 2-handed, “lean your body weight into it” effort required on the Green Power. What a delight this was! For speed of juicing, we give the Juice Fountain an A+ and the Green Power a C. For ease of feeding, we give the Juice Fountain an A+ and the Green Power a D.

We were having so much fun we grabbed more carrots and shoved them in, and then disaster happened! With the juicer still outputting juice, the juice container (pitcher) overflowed and bright orange carrot juice poured out over the countertops and down the face of our painted white cabinets, staining them orange. We were having so much fun juicing, and it was happening so quickly compared to the Green Power, that we didn’t realize how much juice we had made in so short a time! Had we been using the Green Power, we’d just be getting started. Oh well. We hit the well-marked red STOP button on the front of the juicer, then sponged up the mess, using 409 cleaner to get the orange stains off the cabinets. The stainless steel Juice Fountain Elite cleaned up easily.

We emptied the pitcher and then finished our juicing, making mental note to remember how rapidly this thing produces juice and to not exceed the pitcher’s MAX level marking in the future.

What about noise during juicing? Many have suggested that the Juice Fountain is noisy. My wife and I didn’t find it so at all. We have a flour mill that sounds like a jet plane! We have a Vitamix blender that makes a racket (on highest speed). By comparison, this juicer is quiet. Not as quiet as the Green Power, but not at all annoying. For noise, we’d give the Juice Fountain a B and the Green Power an A, with a Vitamix blender a D and our grain mill an F (requiring ear plugs).

Now for the taste test. The defrother on the pitcher seems to work OK. The juice was excellent, not oxidized tasting in comparison to juice from the Green Power. In fact, maybe it was my imagination, but I think it tasted fresher. The Green Power may use lower speed and incorporate less air, but because it takes so long to make the juice, by the time you are finished, the first part of the batch may be 20 minutes old. With the Juice Fountain, it may be just a couple minutes old. For taste, I give the Juice Fountain an A+, the Green Power an A.

We dislike pulp in our vegetable juices. With the Green Power, the amount of pulp in the juice is not bad, but we still have to strain it through a wire screen strainer to get pulp-free juice. With carrot-Granny Smith apple-celery, a quart of juice will leave at least 2-3 tablespoons of pulp in the strainer. By contrast, the Juice Fountain juice was virtually pulp-free. We didn’t bother straining it, there was so little. This is great, since wire screens tend to plug and back-up, and are a pain to keep clean. Yet another time saver for both juice production and clean-up! For pulp-free juice, Juice Fountain merits an A+ and Green Power gets a B.

OK. What about juicing efficiency? I don’t have any hard numbers on this, but the pulp felt about as dry as that from the Green Power. That suggests that the efficiency was similar. The Green Power is claimed to have one of the highest extraction efficiencies of any juicer on the market, short of the Walker or other press-type juicers. That seems to be a fair claim. However, actual practice may vary. The dryness of pulp in the Green Power is controlled by how far you screw in the end plug, which creates back pressure and controls the pulp flow rate. If you screw it all the way in, you get very dry pulp. However, the juicer feeds poorly, and if you have anything like apples you’ll just backup the pulp into the chute and the screw won’t be able to generate enough pumping pressure to overcome the backpressure of the plug. Thus, in practice, we kept the end plug of our Green Power screwed out about a half turn. This resulted in better screw feed action but somewhat wetter pulp. Some Green Power users will push the pulp through a second time to get higher yields, but we didn’t bother. By comparison, the Juice Fountain seems to make pulp of similar dryness to what we were getting on the Green Power, but without having to mess with optimum end plug settings, screw backups, or feeding pulp through a second time. Thus, I give both Green Power and Juice Fountain an A for efficiency, but the Juice Fountain gets there more easily. Perhaps in the future I’ll do a more quantitative comparison.

Cleanup was a breeze. I just rinsed all the top parts off and put them in a drying rack or the dishwasher. The wire mesh and cutting blades were easily cleaned with the supplied brush. I found cleanup easier and faster than with the Green Power. The Green Power has mostly plastic parts, and these are stained with vegetable juice stains which don’t disappear with any of the manufacturer’s recommended treatments. I anticipate no such problems from the Juice Fountain’s stainless steel parts. The plastic on the Juice Fountain is not in places where stains are expected to build up (the pulp container or pitcher). The elimination of wire screen straining further eased cleanup. For ease and speed of cleanup, I give the Juice Fountain an “A” and the Green Power a “B”.

A few comments on durability. One drawback of many product reviews on Amazon is the limited experience of reviewers with the equipment. Don’t you just love those reviews that read, “I just bought Product XYZ and used it for a week and it is fabulous!!!”? I wish we had more reviews from longterm users. Thus, I wasn’t going to write a review on this juicer until I’d used it at least for several months. However, I was so impressed by this juicer I just had to write now! I felt like I already had enough hard facts to compare with a top-of-the-line competitor that some of you would appreciate reading my comparisons.

Nevertheless, the big question on this machine is the limited warranty. I’m hoping that durability won’t prove to be the Achille’s heel of this machine. Discussions with vendors suggest that the motor is the critical part that may fail, so I’ll be watching it, hoping that it outlasts the warranty, and that the new, more powerful motor in the Elite will prove durable. Warranties aren’t everything, though. The Green Power had a 5 year warranty. The motor is robust and going strong after 10 years of almost daily use. However, the plastic parts on the Green Power seem inadequately designed for the high stresses placed on them in an extrusion device. We saw stress-cracking of the front piece within the first few years (which we eventually had to replace when the cracks propagated to the failure point). Stress-cracking is also visible in the main screw housing. Other plastic failures include partial separation of the feed crammer halves (so that pulp gets stuck inside the hollow crammer), chipping of the hopper tray so that it doesn’t seat snugly, breakage of the plastic cross-piece on the base that the pitcher tray fits over, and stress-fracture leading to failure of one of the plastic knurled knobs used to tighten the chamber assembly.

By contrast, the Juice Fountain’s stainless steel bowl assembly shouldn’t fail unless I severely dent it. The wire screen/cutting assembly will probably need periodic replacement, I’m guessing. The housing lid and feed chute are plastic (looks like polycarbonate) and may eventually chip if dropped, but look stronger than the highly mineral filled plastic of the Green Power. The pitcher is plastic, which some people would not like as much as the glass of the Green Power, but at least it won’t break as easily (we had to replace our Green Power pitcher once). If you prefer glass, you could use a glass container instead on the Juice Fountain without a problem except increase risk of splashing and no defoamer. Overall, I think the housing of the Juice Fountain will hold up very well compared to the Green Power. Thus, the only big question mark for me is the motor, and I am hoping that the short warranty is not a reflection of issues in that department. Stay tuned.

The other issue is the ability to juice grasses and leafy greens. I am planning to keep the Green Power because I don’t expect this juicer to do a great job on those. We often don’t include those in our juices, however, so it will be worth it to have this extra juicer for the many times when we don’t need the other capabilities. I expect it to juice spinach OK, but probably not with as good an efficiency. However, I will withhold comments until I can do quantitative tests, which I may report later.

CONCLUSION– I love this juicer. It is every bit as fast as the manufacturer claims. It is easy to use and clean up. It makes great tasting juice at high yields. It compares very favorably with a more expensive, top-of-the-line Green Power juicer. The biggest concern is the limited warranty, but I’m having so much fun with this juicer that I would probably buy another one even if it failed just after the warranty period.

The above comparisons are somewhat “apples vs. oranges”. It might be more fair to compare this to other centrifugal juicers. Some of the advantages in ease-of-use would pertain to other centrifugal juicers when compared to the Green Power. But I think the 3″ mouth, the high rpm, and the stainless steel housing are worth considering. I can’t compare to other centrifugal juicers, but the Juice Fountain does compare very well with the top notch Green Power juicer.

This juicer saves so much time and effort, I will probably suffer any juicing inefficiencies that may arise with spinach and such rather than bother with the Green Power. I’ll probably put the Green Power on a high shelf and pull it down only when doing grasses, which I rarely use.

Sorry about the length of this review, but hopefully you’ll find the comparisons helpful.

Why Snacks?
Most of us are used to eating three times a day, but it is much healthier to eat smaller meals more frequently -f ive small meals a day, for instance. Eating in this way delivers a steady stream of nutrients, blood sugar, and energy to your body throughout the day and is also much less taxing on the digestive and metabolic systems. And when you eat more small meals throughout the day, you will most likely avoid the pitfalls of overindulging at your next meal and may actually consume fewer total calories for the day.

Keep healthy “grab-and-go” snacks on hand all the time to avoid the tempting lure of high-calorie snacks. Here are my top five snack choices:

1. Nuts and Seeds Keep You Young
Healthy and appetizing, nuts and seeds are absolutely the best snack of the bunch. Helping yourself to a handful of nuts and seeds every day can improve circulation and muscle tone.
And nuts and seeds are especially full of arginine, an amino acid that helps to combat heart disease, impotence, infertility, and high blood pressure, and it also facilitates the healing process. Additionally, arginine can stimulate the pituitary gland at the base of the brain.
The pituitary releases growth hormones, which begin to decline quickly in humans after age 35. This means that after 35, your hormones start to plunge and you experience some aging symptoms. The skin loses elasticity, the muscle loses mass and strength, the lean body tissue decreases, fertility and virility decrease, and other signs of aging start to set in.
Many nuts and seeds are rich sources of vitamin E, lignants and omega-3 fatty acids, which protect you from heart disease and also from the ravages of aging.

Almonds, pine nuts, sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, peanuts, and pistachios: mix them in any combination and enjoy! Keep in mind that there are more nutrients in the raw form than roasted. Make sure that the nuts and seeds are fresh and not old and rancid.

2. An Apple a Day for Heart Health
There are many reasons to eat an apple - or two or three - every day. One study discovered that subjects who ate five apples or more a week had a healthier lung function than those who ate no apples.
And scientists have confirmed that apples also contribute to a healthy heart. Thanks to the fruit’s rich pectin content, eating two to three apples per day leads to decreased cholesterol levels. Pectin also helps prevent colon cancer, one of the top causes of death in adults over age sixty.

3. Bring On the Berries
In season again, berries are bursting with antioxidants. The enticing red, purple, and blue skins of berries contain bioflavonoids, antioxidant compounds that reduce free radical damage.
These flavonoids are more potent antioxidants than vitamins C and E, and they also help to reduce inflammation - more effectively even than aspirin!

• Blueberries are your best pick because not only do they have the highest level of antioxidant activity, but they also possess powerful neuroprotective properties that shield brain cells from damage , helping to slow down the age-related onset of memory loss, Alzheimer’s, and senility.

• Cherries also contain these beneficial anthocyanin compounds, which stimulate your pancreas to produce insulin. In fact, Chinese researchers have observed that cherries help keep diabetics healthy. These compounds also protect you against cancer, arthritis, and heart disease because they lower cholesterol.

4. Avocado: Packed with Nutrients
Among the many antioxidant nutrients, glutathione is known as the “master antioxidant.” This naturally occurring compound, found in avocados (as well as asparagus, walnuts, and fish), is made up of the three amino acids glycine, glutamic acid, and cysteine. Glutathione regulates immune cells, protects against cancer, and assists in detoxifying.
A deficiency in glutathione can play a part in diabetes, liver disease, heart disease, low sperm count, and premature aging. Avocados are also a source of L-cysteine, which helps protect your body from the harmful effects of pollution, chemicals, radiation, alcohol, and smoke. L-cysteine may also help boost immunity, protect you from heart disease, and build muscle. It is also useful for combating inflammation and encouraging healthy hair and nail growth.

Pair your avocado with whole-grain crackers or whole-grain crisp breads for a fiber-rich tasty treat.

5. Apricots for Anti-Aging
One of the staple foods of the famously long-lived centenarians in the Hunza valley of the Himalayas is the apricot. Research has discovered that apricots have the highest levels and widest variety of carotenoids of any food.
Carotenoids are antioxidants that help prevent heart disease, reduce “bad cholesterol” levels, and protect against cancer.

I hope you find the ways to nourish your body with healthy snacks! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

Everyone would love to live to a ripe old age, but not if it means looking and feeling like an over-ripe old vegetable. We need to understand that though getting older is inevitable, getting decrepit is not.

Here are a few secrets that will have you looking forward to your 100th birthday!

Tai Chi: An Exercise in Anti-aging
Tai chi, the choreographed meditative exercises that have been a healing art in China for thousands of years, is practiced by over 100 million people worldwide and owes its popularity to a simple fact - it’s enjoyable and it makes you stronger.

Recent studies confirm that when practiced regularly - 30 minutes, three times a week - it has numerous health benefits including: increased energy, decreased stress, an immunity boost against viruses, lowered blood pressure, better cognitive functioning, increased joint mobility, an improved cholesterol profile, relief from fibromyalgia symptoms, and even a better night’s sleep.

It also increases leg muscle strength and provides better balance and posture. Perhaps the best part is that tai chi is a gentle exercise that can be performed by anyone at any age. Click here to find out more about tai chi.

Centenarians I have met also take advantage of other rejuvenation techniques the Chinese have known for thousands of years - like acupuncture, acupressure, and energy healing - that increase energy, promote health, and balance the body and the mind.

Diet: The Cornerstone of Longevity
It is no surprise that diet is an essential factor to health and longevity. So what should you be eating? In my studies, I found that the centenarians of two reputed “longevity capitals” - Okinawa, Japan, and Rugao County, a rural community four hours north of Shanghai - shared a nearly identical diet.

These long-lifers eat mostly fish, vegetables, mushrooms, seaweed, corn, and buckwheat - and virtually no meat. Scientists have confirmed the health benefits of a diet high in fish and vegetables and low in animal products. These centenarians are living examples, as they suffer from very little heart and liver disease and have negligible rates of cancer and degenerative diseases.
Environ-Mentality
When it comes to longevity, environment is half of the equation. From the verdant valleys of Ecuador to the rugged mountains of Armenia to the pristine foothills of the Himalayas, centenarians live in environments that exhibit the same characteristics: clean air, good water, low stress, close communities, and unspoiled nature.

Take a tip from these centenarians and drink only clean, filtered water. Connect with your community in a positive way. Find every way you can to bring nature into your life, from planting more trees in your area to more plants in your home.

Avoid the environmental factors that are damaging to our wellbeing and know what to look out for. Just a few things to avoid include xenoestrogens, which are present just about everywhere, pesticides used on vegetables, hormones injected into meats and poultry, phthalates leaching from plastic bottles, and dioxins from bleached paper products. You can avoid these chemical compounds if you buy organic foods and use glass containers and unbleached paper products.

Keep it Simple!
Centenarians’ lifestyles are simple. The centenarians I have known lead active lives and get plenty of rest. They are dedicated lifelong learners and avid travelers. Enjoy your years and you will have many more years to enjoy!

I hope these suggestions further your longevity goals! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

A few weeks ago I was using my flat iron and when I looked in the mirror to admire my ’do, I discovered my first gray hair (gasp!). It was the first time I was visibly confronted with the reality that, surprise, I will age, and I’m not 18 anymore no matter how good I feel.

I already have the exercise part down, so on my quest for a fountain of youth I’m paying more attention to research on how to eat to age healthfully. The best information I’ve found? 7 anti-aging super foods and recipes to enjoy them in, from Peter Jaret’s James Beard Foundation award-winning article in EatingWell Magazine, “The Search for the Anti-Aging Diet.”

Read on to find out more about the 7 foods to keep you young:

Chocolate
The Kuna people of the San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, have a rate of heart disease that is nine times less than that of mainland Panamanians. The reason? The Kuna drink plenty of a beverage made with generous proportions of cocoa, which is unusually rich in flavanols that help preserve the healthy function of blood vessels. Maintaining youthful blood vessels lowers risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia.

Blueberries
In a landmark study published in 1999, researchers at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging fed rats blueberry extract for a period of time that in “rat lives” is equivalent to 10 human years. These rats outperformed rats fed regular chow on tests of balance and coordination when they reached old age. Compounds in blueberries (and other berries) mitigate inflammation and oxidative damage, which are associated with age-related deficits in memory and motor function. Eat more blueberries with healthy blueberry recipes.

Fish
Thirty years ago, researchers began to study why the native Inuits of Alaska were remarkably free of heart disease. The reason, scientists now think, is the extraordinary amount of fish they consume. Fish is an abundant source of omega-3 fats, which help prevent cholesterol buildup in arteries and protect against abnormal heart rhythms. Eat some tonight with a healthy fish recipe.

Nuts
Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) show that those who eat nuts gain, on average, an extra two and a half years. Nuts are rich sources of unsaturated fats, so they offer benefits similar to those associated with olive oil. They’re also concentrated sources of vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals, including antioxidants.

Wine
Drinking alcohol in moderation protects against heart disease, diabetes and age-related memory loss. Any kind of alcoholic beverage seems to provide such benefits, but red wine has been the focus of much of the research. Red wine contains resveratrol, a compound that likely contributes to its benefits-and, according to animal studies, may activate genes that slow cellular aging.

Olive Oil
Four decades ago, researchers from the Seven Countries Study concluded that the monounsaturated fats in olive oil were largely responsible for the low rates of heart disease and cancer on the Greek island of Crete. Now we know that olive oil also contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that may help prevent age-related diseases.

Yogurt
In the 1970s, Soviet Georgia was rumored to have more centenarians per capita than any other country. Reports at the time claimed that the secret of their long lives was yogurt, a food ubiquitous in their diets. While the age-defying powers of yogurt never have been proved directly, yogurt is rich in calcium, which helps stave off osteoporosis and contains “good bacteria” that help maintain gut health and diminish the incidence of age-related intestinal illness.

In the 1970s, Soviet Georgia was rumored to have more centenarians per capita than any other country. Reports at the time claimed that the secret of their long lives was yogurt, a food ubiquitous in their diets. While the age-defying powers of yogurt never have been proved directly, yogurt is rich in calcium, which helps stave off osteoporosis and contains “good bacteria” that help maintain gut health and diminish the incidence of age-related intestinal illness.