Eating Sweet Potatoes Could Help You Live Past 100

The world is obsessed with youth. While youth is not the be-all and end-all, living a healthy lifestyle and giving your body the nutrients it needs to support mental and physical health can be rewarding and can enhance life to its fullest. I've always been curious (if not slightly jealous) of people I see living to 100 plus years of age and living those years well. What is it that they do to stay healthy?

The answer is pretty simple. It's all about your diet. Most of the people who live to be over 100 years old survive mainly on a plant-based diet — utilizing all that wonderful fiber- and nutrient-dense produce to help them sustain an active life.

Upon deeper research, I also found that sweet potatoes contain very high levels of beta-carotene and alpha-carotene, which are the ticket to a fountain of youth!, According to a 14-year study of more than 15,000 adults conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was proven that those high levels of beta-carotene and alpha-carotene can reduce the risk of dying (of all causes) by up to 39 percent!

Additionally, high amounts of vitamin C and vitamin D and excessive vitamin A also act as strong antibodies towards the harmful rays of the sun and other forms of skin damage that diminish our youthful glow — so ditch the burger and go for a nice healthy green smoothie full of kale once in a while.