4 Foods That May Shorten Your Life

People want to understand the trick to living longer. There%u2019s no telling what exactly helps some people get to 100, but healthy eating is one thing that sure helps.

Some foods, though, could hurt your chances of growing older by messing with components with your cells called telomeres. These little caps for the ends of the chromosomes are key for safeguarding DNA from damage%u2014many experts do a comparison to the plastic advice on eliminate shoelaces.

Thing is, as the cells replicate, telomeres get shorter with time, in line with the University of Utah Health Sciences. As telomeres shorten it could trigger cells to malfunction and die, and shorter telomeres have been associated with conditions like cancer and heart problems. Reports have also shown lifestyle factors including diet can increase (or decrease) the shortening process, that's sometimes looked at as an %u201Caging clock.%u201D

These four foods can contribute to telomere shortening, so it may be best to limit these eats for a long and healthy life.

Soda

Sugary soda is bad news for telomeres. A recent study of 5,309 adults in the American Journal of Public Health found that a daily 20-ounce serving of soda was associated with 4.6 more years of aging, reports Time.com. To put that in perspective

Processed meat

Another no-no for telomeres is processed meat, like hot dogs and pepperoni. A 2008 study of 840 people in the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the effect multiple food groups had on telomere length. 

Red meat

Higher intake of red meat, like hamburgers and steak, has long been associated with heart disease and cancer, and that could be tied to its effect on telomeres. For a study in Clinical Nutrition, rats were fed varying diets of beef or chicken for four weeks. More red meat in the rats’ diet was linked to decreased telomere length in colon cells. Similar findings were shown for the white meat

Alcohol

Like red meat, alcohol also gets a bad rap for its connection to chronic health conditions. A study presented at the 2010 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting found alcohol can speed up telomere shortening, too.

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Best Food for Pregnant Women

When you become pregnant, you have to change the way you eat. Not only must you keep your baby healthy during pregnancy, but you need to keep yourself healthy, as well. While the idea that you need to eat more while pregnant is true to an extent, that does not mean you should substantially increase your daily caloric intake. Typically, pregnant women only need to consume 300 more calories a day than what they consumed before becoming pregnant. However, the type of food you eat during pregnancy is important because it provides you and your growing baby with the proper nutrients.

Chives
Chives contain almost all those essential nutrients that you and your baby need, such as magnesium, calcium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, fiber, iron and folic acid (folate). Magnesium is a very important nutrient for both you and your baby because magnesium takes active part in over three hundred cellular reactions that take place inside your pregnant body. Besides that, magnesium is also helpful in alleviating many common pregnancy symptoms and discomforts, such as constipation. Just sprinkle of chives in your diet can fulfill your magnesium needs.

Leeks
Pregnant women are usually prescribed super multivitamin-mineral tablets, but do you know that leeks can be the vegetable equivalent of all those tablets? One cup of raw leeks contains 0.4 micrograms of manganese, 2 micrograms of iron, 40 micrograms of vitamin K, 0.2 milligrams of vitamin B6 and 60 micrograms of folate (folic acid). Besides that, leeks are also a rich source of calcium; one cup of raw leeks contains 55 milligrams of calcium.

The foods that you eat during pregnancy are extremely important to your health and the development of your baby. The old saying "you are what you eat" has never been more true. Your baby gets all of its nutrients directly from you, through the umbilical cord, so it's vitally important that you eat the right foods. Anything less could put your baby at risk.

The good news is that following a healthy pregnancy diet can be fairly easy, once you get past the cravings. In fact, certain foods will actually help you avoid cravings. The foods pregnant women can eat are really very similar to what would be included in a normal healthy diet.

Foods Pregnant Women Can Eat 

• Whole fruit. It's packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber.
• Vegetables are also very important and should be a big part of your daily diet.
• Natural protein found in foods such as eggs, nuts, certain fish and lean meat is essential for you and your baby. It contains the basic building blocks of life, such as amino acids. It also helps rid the body of toxins.
• Foods with Omega 3 Fatty Acid, such as fish. You may need to take a supplement to get an adequate amount.
• Water is absolutely essential to good health for you and your baby. The benefits of drinking plenty of water are too numerous to list in this article. Just know that every glass of water you drink is important. Do yourself and your baby a favor: throw away any soda or other sugary drinks that you have in your house and drink water.
• Carbohydrates: Some carbohydrates can be a good source of vitamins and fiber. They include potatoes, some rice, oats, and sweet potatoes (very good). However, these foods should be eaten in moderation because they can cause your body to store unnecessary fat.
• Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt can be a good source of calcium.

Do you enjoy cooking? During pregnancy, just forget about cooking. The key to a healthy diet is to reduce cooked food as much as you can. Raw food contains more nutrients than cooked food. If you cannot enjoy eating raw food, you should choose cooking methods that retain nutrients. For example, instead of boiling vegetables you can steam them.

Pregnancy is about staying healthy. Make the best decisions concerning you diet plan during pregnancy and you'll enjoy life together with your healthy and happy new born.

Foods To Avoid
Mostly, you should avoid sugary foods and drinks, and all packaged snack foods. Sugar does terrible things to your body. And artificial sweeteners are far worse. If you have a craving for something sweet, eat some whole fruit. But make sure it's "whole" fruit - skin and all when possible (that's where most of the fiber is stored). And there's absolutely nothing good to say about packaged snack foods. They're full of salt, empty carbohydrates and preservatives. They should be avoided at all cost.

As you can see, you don't need to go on a special diet for a healthy pregnancy, but it's important to eat a variety of different foods every day in order to get the right balance of nutrients that you and your baby need.

Chives, tahini and leeks are no doubt healthy pregnancy foods and have all the capabilities to make the nine-month journey more delicious for you. But, you are strongly recommended to get your doctor's advice before you include these power foods in your diet program. You must always keep in mind that every case of pregnancy is different and their doctor is the best person to tell them what can work and what cannot work for them. So, rate your doctor's advice above everything while you are journeying through the three trimesters of pregnancy.

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