20 Anti Aging Foods That Reverse Aging Instantly

What if the real secret to staying young was never hidden in a laboratory, a cosmetic counter, or a pharmacy, but sitting quietly in your kitchen, in foods people have eaten for thousands of years, on an island in southern Japan, in the mountain villages of Sardinia, on a small Greek island in the Aegean. People routinely live into their 90s and past 100, still gardening, still walking the hills, still sharp enough to beat you at cards. And when researchers went looking for their secret, they didn't find a miracle pill, they found a way of eating. Most people think aging is something that just happens to you, but the science of the last 30 years tells a very different story. Aging is driven by processes, chronic inflammation, oxidative damage, stiffening blood vessels, a struggling gut, a slowing brain, and specific foods work directly on every one of them. Some start changing your blood chemistry within hours of your first meal. Today, I'm going to show you 20 of them that will change the way you look at your plate forever. Stick around, because number 13 was so treasured by the Inca that they called it the mother of all grains, and it's so nutritionally complete that NASA studied it as food for astronauts on long space missions. And number 20 is a drink Buddhist monks have relied on for over a thousand years. And when researchers followed more than 40,000 people for over a decade, what they found was hard to ignore. If you want ancestral wisdom backed by modern science every week, hit that subscribe button right now. All right, let's get into it. Here are 20 anti-aging foods that will help turn back the clock, ranked from powerful to absolutely life-changing. 1. Blueberries The star berry. Let's start with a small fruit carrying an enormous story. Long before blueberries came in plastic clamshells, indigenous peoples of North America gathered them wild across the forests and bogs of the continent. Some called them star berries, because the blossom end of each berry forms a perfect five-pointed star. They were eaten fresh in summer, sun-dried for winter, pounded into dried meat for travel, and brewed into medicinal teas. Not a garnish. Survival food and medicine. Here's what modern science says. That deep blue color comes from anthocyanins, among the most powerful antioxidants in the plant kingdom. Every day, your cells produce unstable molecules called free radicals that damage membranes, proteins, and DNA. That oxidative damage is one of the core engines of aging. Anthocyanins help neutralize it. And they do something even more remarkable. They reach the brain. In the Nurses' Health Study, which followed more than 16,000 women, those who ate the most blueberries and strawberries delayed their cognitive aging by up to two and a half years. Another clinical trial found that one cup of blueberries a day improved blood vessel function and reduced arterial stiffness in adults at risk of heart disease. Stiff arteries are one of the clearest markers of an aging body. Blueberries help keep them flexible. The traditional use made modern. One cup a day, fresh in summer, frozen the rest of the year. Freezing preserves the anthocyanins beautifully. And small wild blueberries carry even more than cultivated ones. The ancestors dried them for winter. You can simply open your freezer. Same wisdom. Easier harvest. Two. Extra virgin olive oil. The liquid gold of long life. If one food sits at the center of the world's healthiest diet, this is it. For more than 6,000 years, Mediterranean people have pressed olives into oil and poured it over everything. The ancient Greeks called it liquid gold. Olympic champions were crowned with olive branches and rewarded with jars of oil. And the people who ate the most of it, on islands like Crete and Ikaria, became some of the longest-lived people ever studied. Extra virgin olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats that support healthy cholesterol. But the real magic is in its polyphenols. The most famous is oleocanthal, which works on the same inflammatory pathway as ibuprofen. That peppery tickle in the back of your throat when you taste fresh, high-quality olive oil? That's oleocanthal. Some people even cough from it. That cough is the sign of real medicine. In Spain's landmark PREDIMMED trial, adults at high cardiovascular risk who followed a Mediterranean diet, supplemented with extra virgin olive oil, had roughly 30% fewer heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths than those on a reduced-fat diet. Olive oil polyphenols also protect LDL cholesterol from oxidation, one of the first steps in the hardening of arteries. But here's the important word, extra virgin. Refined oil loses most of these polyphenols. Look for a harvest date, dark glass, and that peppery bite. Two tablespoons a day over vegetables, beans, and salads, and for gentle cooking. The ancient Mediterranean didn't measure it. They poured it. And they lived. 3. Salmon. The fish that feeds your cells. For thousands of years, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest built their culture around one fish. Every year, the salmon returned upriver. And every year, the people gathered to catch, smoke, and dry them, and to honor them in ceremony. The salmon was the food that carried whole nations through long, dark northern winters. And they were eating one of the most anti-aging foods on the planet. Salmon is one of the richest sources of the omega-3 fats, EPA and DHA, which your body can't make on its own. DHA is a major building block of your brain and the retina of your eyes. EPA is a powerful regulator of inflammation. And chronic, low-grade inflammation, what researchers now call inflammaging, is one of the central drivers of aging. Here's where it gets fascinating. At the end of every chromosome is a protective cap called a telomere. Each time a cell divides, those caps shorten. And short telomeres are a biological hallmark of aging. In a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, heart patients with the highest blood levels of omega-3s showed the slowest telomere shortening over five years. Salmon also provides high-quality protein for aging muscles, vitamin D, selenium, and astaxanthin, the antioxidant that gives it that red-orange color. The traditional use. Two servings of fatty fish a week. Exactly what heart health guidelines recommend. Cook it gently. Bake it low. Poach it or grill it simply with lemon and herbs. Wild-caught when you can. The people of the Northwest knew the river was bringing them life. They were right. Four. Walnuts. The brain in a shell crack, open a walnut and look at it. Two wrinkled halves, folded like the hemispheres of a human brain. Ancient healers noticed, and under an old idea called the doctrine of signatures, they believed foods resembling a body part were meant to heal it. The Romans called walnuts Jupiter's acorn, the nut of the king of the gods, which is where the scientific name juglans comes from. The ancients were closer to the truth than they knew. Walnuts are the only common tree nut that's an excellent source of ALA, the plant form of omega-3. They're rich in polyphenols, fiber, and compounds called elegitannins, which your gut bacteria transform into anti-inflammatory compounds called urolithins. Keep that word in mind. It's coming back later in this video. In the two-year walnuts and healthy aging study, older adults who ate walnuts daily lowered their LDL cholesterol compared to those who didn't. In the PREDIME trial, the group eating a Mediterranean diet with extra nuts, largely walnuts, also saw significantly fewer cardiovascular events, and population studies consistently link regular nut eating to lower all-cause mortality. The traditional use? About one ounce a day, roughly 14 halves, on oatmeal, in salads, or straight from the shell. Store them in the fridge or freezer so those delicate omega-3 fats don't go rancid. The ancient healers looked at a walnut and saw a brain. Modern science looked closer and saw brain food. Kale isn't a trendy superfood. It's one of the oldest cultivated greens on Earth. The Greeks and Romans grew it, and through the Middle Ages, it was one of Europe's most common vegetables because it survived frost, poor soil, and hard winters when almost nothing else would. In Scotland, the kitchen garden was so dominated by it that it was simply called the kale yard. Kale kept peasants alive through the hungriest months of the year. Those peasants were eating one of the most nutrient-dense foods ever measured. Kale is loaded with lutein and zeaxanthin, pigments that concentrate in the back of your eye and act like internal sunglasses, filtering damaging blue light. Higher levels are associated with a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss as we get older. Kale is also one of the richest sources of vitamin K on the planet. Vitamin K activates proteins that help direct calcium into your bones and keep it out of your arteries, and arterial calcification is a hallmark of an aging heart. On top of that, kale provides vitamin C for collagen, folate for cell repair, and glucosinolates, the same protective family found in broccoli. The traditional use made better. Massage it, tear the leaves, add olive oil and a pinch of salt, and rub for a minute until they soften. That oil matters because carotenoids are fat-soluble and your body absorbs far more of them with fat. Or cook it into soups the way the Scots did and grow it. It's one of the hardiest crops you'll ever plant, and a frost actually makes it sweeter. Spinach began in ancient Persia, traveled the trade routes to China and across the Arab world, and by the 12th century, Arab agricultural writers had crowned it the prince of vegetables. By the time it reached the rest of Europe, spinach had become a symbol of strength. Popeye didn't invent that idea, he inherited it. Here's what makes spinach extraordinary for aging. It's one of the richest dietary sources of nitrates, which your body converts into nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes and widens blood vessels. Studies show nitrate-rich vegetables can lower blood pressure within a few hours of eating them. As we age, nitric oxide production declines, and blood vessels stiffen. Spinach helps put some of that back. Then, there's the brain. A Rush University study followed nearly a thousand older adults for about five years. Those who ate just one serving of leafy greens a day had a rate of cognitive decline equivalent to being about 11 years younger than those who ate little or none. 11 years from a daily serving of greens. Researchers pointed to folate, vitamin K, lutein, and nitrates, all abundant in spinach, along with magnesium, which many adults don't get enough of. The traditional use, a big handful raw in salads, or wilted into soups, eggs, and stews. Light cooking makes its carotenoids more available and reduces its oxalates. One practical note, spinach and kale are very high in vitamin K, so if you take a blood thinner like warfarin, keep your intake consistent and talk with your doctor. For everyone else, eat your greens. The prince earned his crown. Seven, broccoli. The little sprout with a secret weapon. The name broccoli comes from the Italian for little sprouts. For centuries, it was a regional specialty in Italy, bred from wild cabbage along the Mediterranean coast, and Italian immigrants carried it to America in their seed packets. Today, it's everywhere, but most people eating it have no idea what it's doing inside their cells. Broccoli contains glucoraphanin. On its own, it does very little, but when you chop or chew broccoli, a plant enzyme called myrosinase converts it into sulforaphane, one of the most studied protective compounds in nutrition science. Sulforaphane activates a pathway called NRF2, a master switch for your body's own antioxidant and detox defenses. Instead of acting as an antioxidant itself, it tells your cells to build their own. In a clinical trial in the Qidong region of China, one of the country's most polluted areas, people who drank a broccoli sprout beverage excreted significantly more benzene, a cancer-causing air pollutant, than those who didn't. Broccoli also delivers fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, and carotenoids, and cruciferous vegetables are consistently linked to better cardiovascular health. Here's the trick most people never learn. Heat destroys myrosinase, so broccoli boiled straight from the cutting board loses much of its benefit. The fix is called hack and hold. Chop it and let it sit about 40 minutes before cooking, or sprinkle a pinch of mustard powder on cooked broccoli, since mustard carries the same enzyme. And to go all in, grow broccoli sprouts on your counter. They're far richer in glucoraphanin than the mature plant, and ready in under a week. Tomatoes. The fruit Europe was afraid of. The tomato was domesticated in Mesoamerica, where the Aztecs called it tomatl. When the Spanish brought it to Europe, many people refused to eat it. It belonged to the nightshade family, cousin to deadly plants, and for generations, much of northern Europe grew it only as an ornamental curiosity. It took the Italians to show the world what it had been missing. What it had been missing was lycopene. Tomatoes are one of the richest common sources of this red carotenoid, a powerful antioxidant that concentrates in your skin, blood, and prostate. And unlike most vegetables, tomatoes get more powerful when cooked. Heat breaks down cell walls and releases lycopene in a form your body absorbs far more easily. And olive oil boosts absorption even further. Grandma's slow-simmered sauce wasn't just delicious, it was a lycopene delivery system. Here's where tomatoes get truly interesting for aging. In a study in the British Journal of Dermatology, people who ate tomato paste with olive oil daily for 12 weeks showed measurably greater protection against sunburn than a control group. Sun damage is the biggest driver of visible skin aging. Tomatoes aren't a replacement for sun protection, but they're an extra layer of defense from the inside. Higher lycopene intake is also linked to better heart health and lower prostate cancer risk in population studies. The traditional use? Sauces, soups, and stews cooked with olive oil and fresh tomatoes in summer salads. Tomato paste is one of the most concentrated lycopene sources you can buy, and it costs almost nothing. The fruit Europe feared turned out to be one of your skin's best friends. 9. Avocado The Aztec butter. Long before avocado toast, the peoples of Mesoamerica were cultivating avocado trees, a practice stretching back thousands of years. The Aztecs called the fruit aguacatl, and it was a prized source of rich, filling fat in a diet that had very little of it. Later, some Europeans called it the butter of the poor. That butter is one of the smartest foods you can eat as you age. Avocados are rich in the same heart-friendly, monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. They're loaded with fiber and carry more potassium per gram than a banana. And potassium is critical for keeping blood pressure in check as blood vessels age. They also provide vitamin E, B vitamins, lutein, and zeaxanthin. But here's the most fascinating thing about avocado. It makes everything else on your plate more powerful. Remember, carotenoids in kale, spinach, and tomatoes need fat to be absorbed. In an Ohio State University study, adding avocado to a salad increased absorption of carotenoids like lycopene and beta-carotene by several times compared to the same salad without it. Avocado isn't just a food. It's a multiplier. The traditional use, sliced over salads, mashed with lime, salt, and garlic into guacamole the way it's been made for centuries, or spread on whole grain toast. Half an avocado a day is a practical goal. The Aztecs called it a treasure. They had no idea they were eating the key that unlocks nearly every vegetable on this list. 10. Lentils The first crop of civilization. When the first farmers of the ancient Near East began planting seeds, lentils were among the very first crops they domesticated more than 9,000 years ago. Lentils fed the builders of early cities, ancient armies, and working people across the Mediterranean, Egypt, and India for millennia. Cheap, filling, and storable for years. Quite literally, one of the foods that made civilization possible. And maybe one of the foods that makes a long life possible. A cooked cup of lentils delivers around 18 grams of plant protein, more than 15 grams of fiber, and a big share of your daily folate, iron, and potassium. Folate is essential for DNA repair and for keeping homocysteine in check, an amino acid linked to heart disease and cognitive decline when it runs high. Lentils also have a remarkably low glycemic index. They release energy slowly without the blood sugar spikes that over years drive insulin resistance and accelerate aging. Researchers have even observed a second meal effect. Eating lentils at one meal can improve your blood sugar response at the next meal, hours later. The traditional use, slow simmered with onions, garlic, cumin, and coriander, finished with olive oil. The way they've been cooked for thousands of years. Red lentils need no soaking and cook in about 20 minutes. 9,000 years later, the first crop of civilization is still one of the best. 11, beans. The food of the longest lived people on earth. When researchers studied the places where people lived the longest, the regions known as the blue zones, they were looking for a common thread. Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy, Ikaria, Greece, the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, Loma Linda, California. Very different cultures on different continents, but almost all of them ate beans. Black beans in Costa Rica, fava beans, and chickpeas in Sardinia and Ikaria. Soybeans in Okinawa. That's not a coincidence. An international study called food habits in later life followed older adults in Japan, Sweden, Greece, and Australia. And legumes stood out as one of the most protective foods of all. For every 20 grams of legumes eaten daily, about two tablespoons, the risk of death during the study dropped by roughly seven to eight percent. Why are beans so powerful? Start with fiber. Your gut bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids, like beauty rate, which feeds the cells lining your colon, strengthens your gut barrier, and helps calm inflammation throughout the body. Beans also provide steady plant protein, potassium, magnesium, folate, and antioxidant polyphenols concentrated in their colorful skins. The traditional use, a half cup or more daily, the blue zones way. Soak dried beans overnight, and cook them slowly with onion, garlic, and herbs, which makes them easier to digest. Canned beans, rinsed well, are a perfectly good shortcut. If beans give you trouble, start small. Your gut bacteria adapt. The longest-lived people on earth weren't eating exotic superfoods. They were eating a humble pot of beans. 12. Oats. The grain of Scottish strength. In the 18th century, Samuel Johnson famously defined oats as a grain, which in England is given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people. The Scots had a legendary reply. That's why England is known for its fine horses, and Scotland for its fine men. For centuries, oats were the backbone of the Scottish diet. Porridge in the morning, oatcakes through the day, oats in a pouch for travelers and soldiers. Those Scots were eating one of the most proven heart-protective foods in existence. Oats contain a soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which forms a thick gel in your gut that binds cholesterol-rich bile acids and carries them out of your body. The evidence is so strong, the FDA allows oat products to carry a heart health claim. About 3 grams of beta-glucan a day meaningfully lowers LDL cholesterol, and that same gel slows sugar absorption, keeping blood glucose steadier. But oats hold another secret. They contain unique antioxidants called aveninthromides, found almost nowhere else in the food supply. Aveninthromides have anti-inflammatory and anti-itch properties, which is exactly why colloidal oatmeal has soothed, irritated aging skin for generations. What calms your skin on the outside is working on inflammation from the inside too. The traditional use, steel-cut or old-fashioned rolled oats, cooked slowly into porridge. Skip the sugary instant packets. Top your bowl with blueberries, walnuts, and a spoonful of Greek yogurt, and you've just put four foods from this list in one breakfast. The Scots were right. Oats build strong people. 13. Quinoa The mother of all grains. Here we are at number 13, the one I teased at the beginning. High in the Andes, at altitudes where most crops simply fail, the Inca grew a small seed they considered sacred. They called it Chisayamama, the mother of all grains. According to tradition, the Inca emperor himself planted the first seeds of the season with a golden tool. Quinoa sustained armies marching across the mountains and fed an empire stretching thousands of miles. Here's what makes it remarkable. Quinoa isn't technically a grain. It's the seed of a plant related to spinach and beets. And unlike almost every other plant food, it's a complete protein. Containing all nine essential amino acids your body can't make on its own. That's rare in the plant world. And it's exactly why, in the 1990s, NASA scientists studied quinoa as a potential crop for long-duration space missions. They were looking for a food that could do almost everything. For aging bodies, that protein matters enormously. After about age 30, we slowly start losing muscle mass. And that loss accelerates each decade. Muscle is balance, blood sugar control, and independence as we get older. Quinoa gives you about 8 grams of complete protein per cooked cup, plus fiber, magnesium, iron, and antioxidant flavonoids like quercetin. It's naturally gluten-free and digests slowly for steady energy. The traditional use? Rinse it first. Quinoa is coated in bitter compounds called saponins. The plants defense against birds, and a good rinse removes them. Cook one part quinoa to two parts water for about 15 minutes. Use it in salads, bowls, and soups. Or simmer it in milk as breakfast porridge. The Inca called it the mother of all grains. After everything we know now, it's hard to argue. Plain Greek yogurt. The Nobel Prize food. In the early 1900s, a Russian scientist named Ali Mechnikov, who had just won the Nobel Prize for his work on the immune system, became fascinated by a mystery. Bulgarian peasants seemed to live unusually long lives, and they ate fermented milk every day. Mechnikov believed the beneficial bacteria in that milk were fighting harmful microbes in the gut and slowing aging. He drank soured milk daily himself, and his ideas helped launch the science of probiotics. A century later, science is proving he was onto something. In a Stanford University study, people who ate a diet high in fermented foods like yogurt for 10 weeks saw greater gut microbiome diversity and lower inflammatory markers, including interleukin 6, a signal closely tied to aging and chronic disease. But Greek yogurt brings something just as important. Protein. Because it's strained. It holds roughly twice the protein of regular yogurt, often 15 to 20 grams per serving. Remember that muscle loss after 30? Protein is the raw material to fight it, and older adults actually need more protein than younger people to maintain the same muscle. Greek yogurt also delivers calcium for bones, plus vitamin B12, which gets harder to absorb as we age. Here's the important word. Plain. Flavored yogurts can carry as much sugar as dessert. Buy plain, look for live and active cultures on the label, and sweeten it yourself with berries, a drizzle of raw honey, or chopped nuts. Mechnikov was watching Bulgarian peasants a century ago. He was watching the future of anti-aging science. 15. Sardines. The little fish named after a blue zone. Here's a detail most people never notice. The sardine is named after Sardinia, the Mediterranean island, where these small silver fish were once caught in enormous numbers. And Sardinia is home to one of the original blue zones, with one of the highest concentrations of men, over 100 ever recorded. For centuries, fishing families there ate these fish grilled whole over coals, salted, and preserved in oil. Sardines may be the most underrated food on this entire list. Like salmon, they're rich in the omega-3s, EPA, and DHA. But because they're small, and eat plankton, rather than other fish, they accumulate far less mercury than big predators, like tuna and swordfish. That makes them one of the cleanest omega-3 sources you can eat. And they deliver so much more. Sardines are one of the few natural food sources of vitamin D, which many older adults lack, and which is critical for bones, muscles, and immunity. They're loaded with vitamin B12 and selenium. And when you eat canned sardines with their soft, edible bones, you get calcium rivaling a glass of milk. Omega-3s, vitamin D, and calcium in one small tin. For aging bones, that's close to perfect. The traditional use, canned sardines in olive oil, mashed onto whole grain toast with lemon, black pepper, and herbs, or tossed into pasta with garlic and tomatoes. They're inexpensive, last for years in your pantry, and need no cooking. If sardines have never been your thing, try a quality brand, packed in olive oil, before you decide. The little fish, named after a longevity island, might just add years to yours. 16. Almonds The first blossom of spring, the almond tree, was one of the earliest fruit trees ever domesticated, grown across the Middle East and Mediterranean, for thousands of years. It's the first tree to blossom at the end of winter, often with snow still on the ground. And ancient cultures saw it as a symbol of watchfulness, and renewal. Almonds traveled the Silk Road as a luxury food, and were pressed into oil for the skin. And modern research suggests, almonds may be one of the best foods you can eat for your skin. In a University of California, Davis study, post-menopausal women, who ate almonds as a daily snack, showed a measurable reduction in wrinkle severity, compared to women eating a nut-free snack with the same calories. Almonds are one of the richest food sources of vitamin E. One ounce, about 23 almonds, provides close to half your daily needs. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant, that protects cell membranes, including skin cells, from oxidative damage. Almonds also provide magnesium, fiber, protein, and monounsaturated fats. And clinical trials show, they can lower LDL cholesterol, and blunt blood sugar spikes, after meals. Interestingly, because of their tough cell walls, your body doesn't absorb all of their fat. So they deliver more fullness per calorie, than the label suggests. The traditional use, a handful of raw, or lightly roasted almonds a day. Brown skins on, since that's where much of the polyphenol content lives. Soak them overnight, if they're hard to digest. The ancients planted a tree, that blossomed before any other. Modern science found, it keeps you blossoming longer. Few fruits carry as much symbolism, as the pomegranate. In ancient Persia, where it was first cultivated, it symbolized immortality. The Egyptians buried pomegranates, with their dead, to carry into the afterlife. And across the Middle East, it became a symbol of abundance, and long life. For thousands of years, people looked at this crowned fruit, packed with hundreds of jewel-like seeds, and saw something eternal. Now, science is finding out why. Pomegranates are rich in polyphenols, called elegitannins, especially punicallagin. Remember when I told you, to keep the word urolithin in mind, back at the walnuts? Here it is. Certain gut bacteria, convert punicallagins into urolithins. And one of them, urolithin A, has become one of the most exciting molecules, in aging research. Inside every cell, are tiny power plants, called mitochondria. As we age, damaged mitochondria build up, and our cells lose energy. Urolithin A, appears to activate a cleanup process, called mitophagy. Clearing out old mitochondria, so healthy new ones can take their place. In human trials using urolithin A, older adults showed improvements, in muscle endurance. One nuance, not everyone's gut bacteria, produce urolithins equally well. Which is one more reason to feed your gut, with the fiber rich foods on this list. Pomegranate juice, has also been shown in clinical studies, to help lower blood pressure, and reduce LDL oxidation. The traditional use, eat the fresh seeds, called arils, on salads, yogurt, or oatmeal. If you drink the juice, choose pure, unsweetened juice, in small portions. Since juice concentrates the sugar, it takes a little work to free those seeds. But the ancients believed, this was the fruit of eternal life. It's worth a few extra minutes. 18. Sweet potatoes, the Okinawan secret. Okinawa, in Southern Japan, was once home to one of the longest lived populations, ever documented. When researchers studied what traditional Okinawans ate, they were surprised, it wasn't rice. For much of the 20th century, the staple was the sweet potato. Especially a purple variety, called Beniimo. In the years after World War II, sweet potatoes supplied, more than half the calories, older Okinawans ate. Those sweet potatoes were doing remarkable work. Orange sweet potatoes, are one of the richest sources, of beta carotene on earth. And a single medium one, provides more than your entire daily requirement, of vitamin A. Essential for healthy skin, immunity, and vision. All of which decline with age. The purple Okinawan varieties, get their color from anthocyanins. The same antioxidants, we found in blueberries at number one. Sweet potatoes also deliver fiber, potassium, vitamin C, and manganese. And despite the name, they don't have to spike your blood sugar. Boiled or steamed sweet potatoes, have a much lower glycemic impact, than baked or roasted ones. Because long dry heat, converts more starch into quick sugars. Cooking and cooling them, forms resistant starch, which feeds beneficial gut bacteria. The traditional use, steamed or boiled, skin on, the Okinawan way, with a little olive oil or butter, to help absorb the beta carotene. Try purple varieties if you can find them. And if you garden, sweet potatoes are wonderfully productive. And even the leaves are edible. The longest lived people in the world, built their diet on this humble root. That should tell us something. 19. Garlic. The food, that built the pyramids. Garlic is one of the oldest medicines, in recorded history. Egyptian workers who built the pyramids, received garlic as part of their rations, to keep them strong. Egyptian medical papyri, listed in numerous remedies. The first Olympic athletes, ate it before competing. Roman soldiers carried it on campaign. And Hippocrates prescribed it. Nearly every ancient civilization, that had garlic, treated it as food and medicine. Modern science confirms, that reputation was earned. When you crush or chop garlic, an enzyme converts a compound, called allium, into allicin. The source of garlic's sharp smell, and much of its power, allicin and the sulfur compounds, it breaks into, have antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects. For aging, garlic's biggest impact, may be on your blood vessels. Analyses of multiple clinical trials, have found garlic, can lower blood pressure, in people with hypertension. In some studies, by amounts comparable, to standard medication. High blood pressure, is one of the biggest accelerators, of aging in the heart, kidneys, and brain. Studies on aged garlic extract, have also shown improvements, in arterial stiffness, and slower plaque buildup. And one trial, found fewer colds, in people taking garlic daily. Here's the traditional trick, backed by science. Crush or chop your garlic, then let it rest about 10 minutes, before cooking. Giving the enzyme time, to create allicin, before heat shuts it down. Same principle, as hack and hold for broccoli. One to two cloves a day, raw in dressings, for maximum potency, or cooked into everything else. If you take a blood thinner, check with your doctor, before using garlic supplements. The pyramid builders knew, what they needed. 4,000 years later, garlic is still doing, the heavy lifting. 20. Green tea, the drink of the monks. And here we are, at number 20. The one I saved for last. According to Chinese legend, nearly 5,000 years ago, the Emperor Shennong, was boiling water beneath a tree, when a few leaves drifted into his pot. He tasted the brew, felt refreshed, and clear headed, and tea was born. Centuries later, Buddhist monks embraced green tea, to stay alert, and calm, through long hours of meditation. In 1211, a Japanese monk named Eisai, wrote one of the first books devoted to tea. Opening it by describing tea, as a miraculous medicine, for preserving health, and extending life. 800 years later, scientists decided, to find out if Eisai was right. In a landmark study, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers followed more than 40,000 adults, in Northeastern Japan, for up to 11 years. Those who drank five or more cups of green tea a day, had a significantly lower risk, of dying from any cause during the study. And an even stronger reduction, in cardiovascular deaths, compared to those who drank less than one cup. That's the finding I teased at the beginning. What's behind it? Green tea is rich in catechins, and the most powerful is EGCG, studied for its antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects, and its support of healthy blood vessel function. Because green tea leaves are steamed, or pan fired, rather than fermented like black tea, they keep far more catechins. Green tea also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that promotes calm focus. Exactly why the monks loved it. Alert, but never jittery. And every cup of unsweetened green tea, replaces something else. Like soda, or sweet coffee drinks. Cutting one of the biggest sources, of added sugar in the modern diet. The traditional use, brew it in water that's hot, but not boiling. Around 175 degrees Fahrenheit, or 80 Celsius, for two to three minutes. Boiling water scorches the leaves, and makes them bitter. Drink it plain, several cups through the day, and keep it to the morning, and early afternoon, if you're sensitive to caffeine. The monks sat with this drink, for a thousand years. Clear minded, calm, and long lived. Sometimes the oldest remedy, is still the best one. 20 foods. Thousands of years of human wisdom. Blueberries gathered by indigenous peoples. Olive oil, pressed by the ancient Greeks. Beans simmered by the longest lived people, on earth. Sweet potatoes, on Okinawan tables. Green tea, in the hands of meditating monks. Here's what I want you to take away from this. Aging, isn't something that only happens to you. With every meal, you're either feeding the processes that age you, or the processes that protect you. The longest lived people in history, didn't have supplements, anti-aging creams, or longevity clinics. They had real food, grown close to home, prepared simply, eaten every day. And modern science, keeps arriving at the same place, they did. Olive oil, protects the heart. Leafy greens protect the brain. Beans extend life. Garlic lowers blood pressure. They didn't need to understand the mechanism. They just needed to eat the food. And here's the part I love most. So many of these foods, you can grow yourself. Kale, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, even blueberries. A few raised beds, or a handful of patio containers, can put some of the most powerful, anti-aging foods on earth, right outside your door. That's real food independence. You don't just eat for a longer life, you grow it. Before I let you go, I want to make sure you have a path forward. Because information without action, is just entertainment. Start small. Pick three foods from this list, and add them this week. A handful of walnuts, a cup of blueberries, a pot of beans. Then add three more, next week. And if you have a medical condition, or take prescription medication, check with your doctor, before making big changes. I've linked the brands and sources, I trust in the description below. Along with the heirloom seed companies, I recommend, if you want to grow your own. Drop a comment below, and tell me which foods surprised you most. Are you team greens, team fish, team berries, or team beans? I rid every single comment. If you haven't subscribed to Homestead Roots yet, hit that button now, and ring the bell, so you never miss a video. We post every week, and we're just getting started. See you in the next one.