Reaching a ripe, old age is something most people aspire to—but getting there with all our faculties intact and with relative good health is not something anyone takes for granted. There are several processes that occur naturally in the body over time, and taking control over them can help slow down signs of aging and prevent associated diseases.

The trio of aging processes that are relatively easy to address are glycation, inflammation and oxidative stress. Glycation is the process that occurs when sugars binds with proteins. In the body, this causes stiffening and cracking of the collagen, causing skin to look wrinkled and brittle. The two most effective ways to fight glycation are to keep your blood sugar low and controlled without major spikes, and to increase antioxidants, which fight glycation. A side effect of keeping blood sugar low and steady is that to minimize fat-storing hormones like insulin, which helps us to get leaner.

Inflammation is a bad word no matter how you look at it. It occurs when the body releases harmful chemicals in response to environmental toxins. Those harmful chemicals in the bloodstream attack your body and cause aging. Worse, they can silently damage our skin, organs and brain for years before we notice the effects, but by then, it’s usually too late. There are a few ways to deal with inflammation.

Try adding the herbs ginger and turmeric to your diet. Ginger is an anti-inflammatory powerhouse. Also, green tea contains EGCG, which is another potent anti-inflammatory. We can also take ginger capsules and/or turmeric capsules each day if we don’t use them in our food preparation regularly. They are both very inexpensive in capsule form and add a potent whollop of natural anti-inflammatories to our body.

Light exercise also protects the body from inflammation. We don’t need too overdo it and it should not be long, slow cardio. That’s been proven to increase inflammation and even cause heart damage over time. That’s why some marathon runners drop dead of a heart attack.

Oxidation is the worst of the bunch. This is referred to as the “rusting” of your body, and it’s what happens to your car when salt and water attack it, and when an apple turns brown after you expose it to air. It’s the same thing in our body, if we let oxidation take place, we can wrinkle up like an old apple left out in the sun. The easiest way to avoid oxidation is by eating hefty amounts of fresh, organic fruits and veggies daily. The vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in them protect our body from the harmful effects of oxidation, inflammation and glycation.

Really good nutrition is the foundation of health and youth. What we put inside our body affects not only the inside of our organs and glands, but it affects how we look on the outside, too.  Our skin, the largest organ of the body, reflects our state of health or lack of good health. Glowing, clear skin, without excess wrinkles, is pretty to look at ,but even more so, it is a reflection of what is going on inside. Many times when we can see a problem on the outside we are more prone to get proactive and do something about it, and monitoring the skin is one way to do this.

Organic raw and living foods give us a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, anti-oxidants and amino acids, and they taste incredible. Add more delicious fresh vegetables and fruits and get all the benefits from these delights of nature.

Carrot Puffs

3 large carrots, chopped ½ cup fresh dill or 2 Tbsp dried dill ½ tsp powdered turmeric ½ tsp fresh grated ginger 1 tsp Himalayan salt 1 Tbsp olive oil 3 Tbsp lemon juice

Chop the carrots coarsely in a food processor. Chop the fresh dill. Combine the carrots and dill with the olive oil, salt, turmeric, ginger and lemon juice and toss together. Use a tablespoon to scoop up the mixture and pack it tight. Turn the spoon upside-down so the mixture comes out on the plate in a puff.

Brenda Cobb is author of The Living Foods Lifestyle and founder of The Living Foods Institute, an educational center and therapy spa in Atlanta, offering healthy lifestyle courses on nutrition, cleansing, healing, anti-aging, detoxification, relaxation and cleansing therapies. For more information, call 404-524-4488 or 1-800-844-9876 and visit LivingFoodsInstitute.com.