What to Eat For Beauty, Brains, Health, & Longevity 
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| Food is under-appreciated as miracle medicine and beauty elixir. Here are 9 favorites from our updated list of 2011 Superfoods for Health, Beauty, Brains, and Longevity.
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The Vitamin C in citrus fruits helps in the formation of collagen, the protein that keeps skin firm and reduces wrinkles. Eat oranges, grapefruit, kiwis, strawberries, red bell peppers, and broccoli
Don't peel away the good stuff. Silica, which helps promote skin elasticity and healthy hair, and nails is found mainly in the peels and strings of fruits and vegetables. With oranges and grapefruits, that includes the white membrane found just under the outermost peel.
"Brainberries" is what Steven Pratt, MD, author of Superfoods Rx: Fourteen Foods Proven to Change Your Life, calls them. Diets high in blueberries (aka bilberries) have resulted in improvement in cognitive skills of aging rats, making them mentally equivalent to much younger rats. They also improve and preserve eyesight, and contain a compound (pterostilbene) that may help lower cholesterol as effectively as commercial drugs, with fewer side effects.
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Omega-3 fatty acids help improve memory, reasoning, and focus, and protect against cancer. Eat 2 servings or 12 ounces of coldwater fish a week like salmon, cod, mackerel, and tuna. Dark green leafy vegetables, flax seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, and a variety of vegetable oils also provide Omega 3s, but in smaller amounts.
Nuts & Seeds are sources of Vitamin E, which prevents and slows cognitive decline, and promotes skin elasticity. Eat an ounce a day, raw or roasted, of practically any nut including pistachios, walnuts, almonds, cashews, peanuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed, and unhydrogenated nut butters, such as peanut butter and tahini.
Avocados are an underappreciated brain food because they lower blood pressure, which promotes brain health. Eating � to � a day also provides fiber, minerals, iron, potassium and healthy fat.
Pomegranate fruit or juice offers potent antioxidants that protect the brain from free radicals. Pomegranate juice has added sugar (to counteract its natural tartness), so don't overdo it, drink 2 ounces a day diluted with plain water or eat � of a fresh fruit.
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Two to three cups a day of freshly brewed white, green or black tea can enhance memory and focus, and provide potent antioxidants, which promote healthy blood flow and halt cellular damage. Studies have found a link between consuming green tea and a reduced risk for several cancers.
Eat dark chocolate containing a minimum of 70% cocoa. Unfortunately, more is not better. An ounce a day provides the powerful antioxidant properties and natural stimulants, including caffeine, to enhance focus and concentration, and activate mood boosting endorphins.
Read More:
The Brain on Acid
Live Long, Eat Super (foods)
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