The next time you're throwing together a light, laid-back dish -- an omelet, gazpacho, vegetables with marinara sauce -- spice it up by adding some extra parsley, onion, and celery. People who eat lots of these flavor-packed ingredients cut their risk of hardening of the arteries -- especially in the legs -- in half. And the people they’re eating with ask for seconds.

The health fuel powering these foods comes from flavonoids, plant compounds that are widely known for their disease-fighting, anti-inflammatory properties. These tiny warriors handcuff damaging oxygen-free radicals and encourage your body to take them out through urination. What’s more, flavonoids defend you from something called peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). It narrows, stiffens, and hardens the arteries in your legs and arms, reducing blood flow, causing pain and numbness, and possibly triggering a “call 911” moment of no blood flow at all.

Most fruits and veggies (plus tea, real cocoa-based chocolate, and red wine) have at least a smattering of flavonoids. Kale, leeks, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and blueberries are particularly good sources. But parsley, yellow onions, and celery are not only loaded with these goodies but are also inexpensive and easy to find. They’ll earn your food four-star ratings from the people at your table, and they’ll make it easier to eat a diverse diet that’s low in calories and high in nutrients -- ones that can make your body’s biological age as much as 4 years younger than its birthday age.

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