How To Live A Long And Healthy Life With These Superfoods

Stock your kitchen with these super foods to ensure your diet is packed with antioxidants, fibre and other healthy properties

Garlic

Studies have found that phytochemicals in garlic can halt the formation of carcinogenic chemicals in the body, and that women who eat more garlic have lower risk of certain colon cancers.

Olive oil

As delicious as it is healthy, this monounsaturated "good fat" is well known for its heart-health and longevity benefits. Studies also show that olive oil may also be linked to brain health and cancer prevention. Aim for two tablespoons a day.

Avocado

How to prevent heart disease, the largest killer in the United States, according to the latest report from the National Center of Health Statistics? Eat more foods that help keep your heart healthy, like avocados and others already on this list, and improve your odds of a long life. Avocados can lower your LDL "bad" cholesterol while raising your HDL "good" levels, and they help your body absorb heart-healthy vitamins like beta-carotene and lycopene.

Tomatoes

Lycopene is also an important nutrient in the fight against cancer—the second leading cause of death in the United States. And there's no better source than rosy red tomatoes. Eating them cooked, in pasta sauce, tomato soup, or chutney, actually increases the amount of carcinogen-fighting carotenoids your body is able to absorb.

Beans

Beans, beans, are good for your... life? In a 2004 study conducted on elderly people in Australia, Japan, Sweden, and Greece, researchers found that participants had a 7% to 8% reduction in death for every 20 grams of legumes they consumed daily. A diet rich in beans and legumes increases levels of the fatty acid butyrate, which can protect against cancer growth, according to a study from Michigan State University.

Grains and seeds

Getting more fiber—specifically by switching from refined bread and pasta to whole grains—can reduce your risk of death from any cause by 22%, according to a 2011 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Experts say that fiber can protect against diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, and obesity, and can reduce cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

Chocolate

Eat chocolate, add a year to your life. Men who ate modest amounts of chocolate up to three times a month lived almost a year longer than those who didn't in a 1999 Harvard study of more than 8,000 people. And in a 2009 study from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, patients who had survived a heart attack were 44% less likely to die over the next eight years if they ate chocolate up to once a week, versus none at all. Other types of candy did not seem to have any effect on longevity. Preliminary studies have identified the most beneficial part of chocolate: flavonols, the antioxidant found in cocoa beans. To get the most flavonols, say researchers, stick with dark chocolate.

Less red meat

Going vegetarian a few times a week may lengthen your life. People who eat red meat every day have a higher risk of dying over a 10-year period than those who eat it less, according to a 2009 study from the University of North Carolina. (Most deaths in the study were from heart disease and cancer.) Burgers, steak, and pork were partially to blame, but processed meats—like bacon, ham, and hot dogs—also seemed responsible for shorter lifespans.

More white meat

In the same study, however, people who ate the most white meat—chicken, turkey, and fish—seemed to have a slightly lower risk of death during the study than those who ate the least.

More nuts

Another more recent study, this one out of Harvard in March, also found that red meat consumption is linked with a greater risk of death from cancer, heart disease, and all causes. This one, however, also looked at the benefit of substituting healthier protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes. Of all the swaps studied, the researchers found that trading a serving of beef or pork for one of nuts could reduce a person's risk of death during middle age by 19%.

Fish

Salmon, tuna, and other oily fish can help patients with heart disease live longer, studies have shown, because their omega-3 fatty acids help fight dangerous inflammation that can damage our DNA. The same may be true for the rest of us, as well: A 2009 study from the University of Hawaii found that men who ate the most baked or boiled fish—as opposed to fried, dried, or salted—reduced their risk of heart-disease related death by 23% compared to those who ate the least. (The study also found that women who ate low-sodium soy sauce or tofu also saw heart-health benefits.)

Two meals a day

Walter Breuning of Great Falls, Montana was the world's oldest man when he died in 2011 at age 114. He attributed his longevity to eating only two meals a day, reported the Daily Mail, because "that's all you need."

"I think you should push back from the table when you're still hungry," Breuning told USA Today in 2009. Breuning said he ate a big breakfast and lunch every day, skipped supper, drank lots of water, and ate plenty of fruit.

Home cooking

If all else fails, good old home cooking may just be your ticket to longer life. A 2012 study from Cambridge University found that people who cook up to five times a week had a 47% greater chance of staying alive over a 10-year period. Taking the bus to the supermarket to buy your ingredients might help, too: Grocery shopping and taking public transportation were also associated with a lower risk of dying.

Pepperoni pizza

Just because your favorite food's not on this list doesn't mean you're doomed to a shorter life, however. Take Sister Cecilia Adorni of Hamden, Connecticut, who passed away in 2011 at age 103: At her birthday party that year, coworkers (yes, she was still working) told CBS 2 New York that Adorni liked to eat an occasional steak. "And when it comes to pepperoni pizza, they said, she can eat anyone under the table."