The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. - Lucille Ball

    Actually Lucille is right about the eating slowly but I can't vouch for the lying of one's age. People are now resorting to all kinds of surgeries and beauty products just to appear younger.

    The following statistics come from a 2005 American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery News Release:

    The most sought after surgical procedure was the liposuction. About 455,489 women did a liposuction in 2005 and I'm sure the number is much higher now. About 3,294,782 in the USA alone did a botox to make them much more beautiful.

    Increasing one's life span can actually be achieved without any procedures. Here are 5 "secret foods" to increase your life expectancy:

    The following foods have anti-aging properties and can prevent your cells from aging prematurely.

    1. Spinach

    Spinach is loaded with nutrients like vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin C. Popeye took the spinach to boost his strength but he was actually protecting himself against diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, colon cancer, arthritis. Among its many health benefits, Spinach improves your eyesight and your mental capabilities. Cooked spinach is an excellent source of iron, a mineral that is particularly important for menstruating women, who are more at risk for iron deficiency. Boosting iron stores with spinach is a good idea, especially because, in comparison to red meat, a well-known source of iron, spinach provides iron for a lot less calories and is totally fat-free.

    2. Tofu

    Termed as the \"elixir of longevity\" of the japanese, Tofu is a highly nutritious, protein-rich food that is made from the curds of soybean milk. It contains a lot of tryptophan, manganese, iron, protein and selenium. Tofu, made of soy, is a powerhouse of protein. 4 ounces of tofu provides 9.2 grams of protein, that\'s 18.3% of the daily value for protein, and it comes virtually free of saturated fat (less than 1 gram), and at a cost of only 86 calories. Most types of tofu are enriched with calcium and thus, prevents osteporosis. Selenium is needed for the proper function of the antioxidant system, which works to reduce the levels of damaging cells in the body.

    3. Blueberry

    Everybody by now knows that blueberry is a powerfood. But do you know why? Actually blueberry is not a powerfood but an antioxidant powerhouse. As described above, antioxidants help prevent the destruction of cells in our body that can lead to cataracts, glaucoma, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, peptic ulcers, heart disease and cancer. In addition to that, Data reported in a study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology indicates that eating 3 or more servings of fruit per day may lower your risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, by 36%, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily. In laboratory animal studies, researchers have found that blueberries help protect the brain from oxidative stress and may reduce the effects of age-related conditions such as Alzheimer\'s disease or dementia. Researchers found that diets rich in blueberries significantly improved both the learning capacity and motor skills of aging animals, making them mentally equivalent to much younger ones.

    4. Avocado

    The avocado is colloquially known as the Alligator Pear, reflecting its shape and the leather-like appearance of its skin. Avocado contains a monounsaturated fat known as oleic acid. Monounsaturated fat actually lowers cholesterol level in our body. One cup of avocado has 23% of the Daily Value for folate, a nutrient important for heart health. Avocados are a good source of potassium, a mineral that helps regulate blood pressure. Adequate intake of potassium can help to guard against circulatory diseases, like high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Association has authorized a health claim that states: \"Diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.\"

    5. Garlic

    Garlic is a popular food known for its culinary properties but relatively unknown for its health benefits. Garlic acts as an anti-coagulant in the blood, which reduces the risk of strokes, and also increases survival time in cancer patients by helping to destroy cancerous cells. In order to maximize the health benefits of garlic, it is suggested to wait 15 minutes between peeling and cooking garlic to allow the enzymatic reaction to occur to retain some health benefits of garlic.

    保持年輕的秘訣：活得實(shí)在、吃得慢、對自己年齡保密。——路西爾球

    我贊成路西球認(rèn)為吃得慢能夠保持年輕這一觀點(diǎn)，但我不敢保證對自己年齡保密也同樣奏效。現(xiàn)在人們都熱衷于各種外科手術(shù)和美容產(chǎn)品，目的只在于使自己變得更年輕。

    2005年《美國社會美容整形外科新聞》發(fā)布會上指出：各種手術(shù)中，抽脂是最受歡迎的。2005年就有大約455,489人抽了脂，而現(xiàn)在的數(shù)字肯定會更高。此外，僅在美國大約就有3,294,782人做了肉毒桿菌來使自己變得更美麗。

    其實(shí)，要延長一個人的壽命不需要任何外在的方法。這里將介紹5種“神密食品”，讓你延長預(yù)期壽命。

    1． 菠菜

    菠菜富含維生素K、維生素A、維生素C、葉酸、錳、鎂和鐵。水手說他利用菠菜來增強(qiáng)自己的力量，但實(shí)際上他是為了抵抗諸如骨質(zhì)疏松癥，心臟病，結(jié)腸癌，關(guān)節(jié)炎等的疾病。在其眾多的益處中，菠菜還能改善你的視力、提高你的智力。再者，煮熟的菠菜還是鐵吸收的一個很好的來源，對于經(jīng)期婦女尤為重要，因?yàn)樵陆?jīng)期間，婦女更容易缺鐵。利用菠菜提高體內(nèi)鐵的含量不失為一個很好的方法，特別是與生肉——一種眾所周知的鐵源相比，菠菜提供的熱量少得多，而且完全不含脂肪。

    2．豆腐

    被日本人稱作“長生不老藥”的豆腐由豆?jié){凝乳制成，高營養(yǎng)、含有大量色氨酸、錳、鐵、硒和蛋白質(zhì)。豆腐，大豆制成品，蛋白質(zhì)含量極其豐富，僅4盎司的豆腐就能提供9.2克蛋白質(zhì)，占蛋白質(zhì)日攝入量的18.3%，而且?guī)缀醪缓�飽和脂肪酸（少�?克），熱量低，僅提供86卡路里熱量。大多數(shù)類型的豆腐富含鈣，因此可以防止骨質(zhì)疏松癥。硒對人體抗氧化系統(tǒng)某些系統(tǒng)有用處，抗氧化系統(tǒng)能夠降低破壞人體細(xì)胞的程度。

    3．藍(lán)莓

    現(xiàn)在，眾所周知，藍(lán)莓是一種功能食品。但你知道為什么嗎？事實(shí)上，藍(lán)莓并不是一種功能食品，而是一種抗氧化食品。就像描述的一樣，抗氧化劑有助于防止體內(nèi)細(xì)胞的損壞，以避免白內(nèi)障，青光眼，靜脈曲張，痔瘡，胃潰瘍，心臟病和癌癥等疾病的發(fā)生。此外，《眼科學(xué)檔案》發(fā)布的一個研究中也有數(shù)據(jù)表明：每天吃3份或更多的水果可以降低一種導(dǎo)致老年人失明的主要疾病——年齡相關(guān)性黃斑變性發(fā)生的風(fēng)險。在實(shí)驗(yàn)動物研究中，研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)：藍(lán)莓有助于降低大腦氧化壓力，減少與年齡有關(guān)的如阿爾茨海默氏癥或癡呆等疾病的影響。研究者還發(fā)現(xiàn)：富含藍(lán)莓的飲食能顯著地提高年長者的學(xué)習(xí)能力和運(yùn)動技能，使他們在精神上等同于年輕。

    4． 鱷梨

    鱷梨，人們一般叫成鱷魚梨，它的形狀和果皮極像鱷魚。鱷梨中含有一種不飽和脂肪酸——油酸，能夠用來降低體內(nèi)膽固醇的含量。一杯鱷梨就占葉酸日攝入量的23%，葉酸對于心血管健康是一種重要的營養(yǎng)。同時，鱷梨也是很好的鉀源，可以調(diào)節(jié)血壓。攝取足夠的鉀有助于防止循環(huán)系統(tǒng)疾病，如：高血壓、心臟病或中風(fēng)。事實(shí)上，美國食品和藥物協(xié)會已經(jīng)認(rèn)可了一份健康聲稱，當(dāng)中指出：“足鉀低鈉的飲食可以降低高血壓和中風(fēng)的患病風(fēng)險。”

    5． 大蒜

    人們知道大蒜能夠作為烹飪材料，卻不清楚它對人體健康有什么好處。大蒜作為一種抗凝血食物，好處多多，不僅能夠降低中風(fēng)的風(fēng)險，同時也有助于破壞癌細(xì)胞，增加癌癥患者的存活時間。要充分發(fā)揮大蒜的作用，建議人們在剝和煮大蒜之間持續(xù)15分鐘，以允許有足夠的時間發(fā)生酶促反應(yīng)來保留大蒜中對人體健康有益的成分。