My Anti-Aging secret

by Joan
(Netherlands)

I am forty years old and people still ask me if I am in my late twenties. They don't estimate my age above 30 at any instance.

I am really proud of that and I honestly think that the credit goes to my mother, who inculcated in me healthy eating habits.

She used to be so much interested in providing us with all kinds of foods, especially the seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Fish according to availability of the particular season also found an important place in our diet.

She also reared chicken at home to provide us with organic eggs and country poultry which she considered healthy for us.

She did not forget to make us the delicious sweets which included nuts and dry fruits.

Jaggery, which is crude sugar which is brown in color, was the sweetener she used for the sweets and also for sweetening milk and tea. She said this is rich in iron, which I understood to be true later.

She made us snack on sprouted grains and pulses, such as wheat and green gram. Even though she did not go to high school, she knew so many things from experience and also observation.

She knew how we can improve our immunity. She used to boil water with cumin seeds. If we took ill, she took us to the hospital only if her home remedies did not work. She used to find that out well in advance, before our condition got worse. Such a wonderful mother.

When I grew up, I found to my wonder that my eating habits suited all the advises of anti-aging diet.

I understood a well, balanced diet is important to keep fit as well as to have a young and glowing look.

I devised my own diet as follows:

• 1 cup of coffee with skimmed milk without sugar in the morning.(if I felt like, I would add a sugar free sweetener)
  
• 2 slices of bread with one egg twice in a week for breakfast
  or
  
• 3 Idlies with tomato chutney
  

A glass of juice sugar at 11 am. I also prefer to eat the whole fruits.

A little rice, a bowl of vegetable salad, a soup - mostly green vegetable soup, and a bowl of sprouted grains for lunch.

Two wheat biscuits, or sugar free cookies, with a glass of green tea at 4.30 pm

Dinner at 7.30 pm which includes 2 chappathis made of wheat, vegetables, and a small banana.

In a week I prefer to have 2 times fish, which are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, one time chicken, mostly in the form of soup, and red meat once in a month.

I drink lot of water. I also take lemon juice on hot days. During summer I take a glass of goose-berry juice with few drops of honey in the morning.

I think all this keeps me looking young and I also feel happy that I am able to be more active unlike the other people of my age.