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You’ll never get Bev to admit her age because, as a gritty and steadfast anti-aging warrior, age is an irrelevant factor. Through The Age-Old War, she’ll introduce you to natural, yet powerful, foods or techniques that will keep that nasty nemesis at bay. Read on, and join her anti-aging army.
Ok, the poetry needs a bit of work, but the advice is sound.
All spices are beneficial to your health, but paprika explodes with anti-aging goodness, particularly for your skin.
Here are 5 surprising reasons to spice up your health with paprika:
1. Out, Out, Damned Spots. They creep up on you and before you know it, ugly brown spots have disfigured your hands or face. Paprika is packed with vitamins, iron and beta-carotene, which help to prevent age spots by restricting the production of melanin (the pigment that causes age spots).
2. Wrinkle Free. The beta-carotene in paprika is converted to Vitamin A. This plays a major role in preventing wrinkles and brightening and tightening the complexion to make your skin glow.Pile on the paprika and you’ll notice an unexpected benefit if you’re cursed with spider veins on your legs and face. Adding paprika regularly to your diet helps to strengthen the veins and blood in your body and prevents the formation of new red or blue spidery lines.
3. Energy Shot. Forget caffeine and make paprika a daily part of your life and watch tiredness, lethargy and depression slip away. Paprika contains a large dose of Vitamin B6. This co-enzyme helps dozens of other enzymes do important jobs like producing neurotransmitters, which conduct impulses from one brain cell to another and tell your body to feel great.
4. Iron Man or Woman. One tablespoon of this earthy-smelling red spice provides 8 and 18 per cent of the daily-recommended intake of iron for men and women respectively*. We need this essential mineral to keep us energized since it’s a major component of our red blood cells. And the red blood cells are what transport oxygen throughout our bodies, which in turn charges us up with energy.
Paprika also contains Vitamin E, which helps to control the formation of blood clots and keeps our blood vessels nice and supple. Since Vitamin E is an antioxidant, it also protects our DNA and repairs damage to our cells.
5. Eye Spy. Protect your peepers from age-related eye diseases like macular degeneration and cataracts by spicing up your food with this versatile spice. Paprika contains four carotenoids called cryptoxanthin, beta-carotene, lutein and zea-xanthin. Your eyes use these compounds to convert light into vision. Lutein and zea-xanthin are particularly useful as they stop harmful light rays from damaging aging eyes.
Say it with me now – ditch the sugar and paprika-up your life.
*as determined by the Institute of Medicine
Baked Paprika-Parmesan Chicken
Directions
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Bev Bell is chief cook and bottle washer and she wouldn't have it any other way! She loves exclamation marks and her dog and her children and her husband - not necessarily in that order. When she’s not working on a freelance article, she’s madly penning her latest middle grade novel, gardening when weather permits or trying desperately to play the guitar.
