When it comes to eating healthy, potatoes often get a bad rap. The starchy carb is often shunned in favor of leafy greens and lean protein, but actress Olivia Munn's making a compelling case for eating a particular kind of spud just as often as you brush your teeth (ahem, daily).
The X-Men: Apocalypse star says eating Japanese root potatoes and Japanese sweet potatoes made "a huge difference" in her skin and flexibility. "When you're younger, your body creates collagen, and as you get older, it doesn't produce as much. You know when you wake up with a line on your face from a pillow? As you get older, those lines stay because we don't have a lot of hyaluronic acid," Munn told The Cut. "Now, after a month of doing the potatoes every single day, the line would be gone as it was when I was younger."
Munn cites the hyaluronic acid in the root vegetables as the reason she's seen such changes in her body, which she first learned about when watching this ABC News segment about the "City of Long Life." It's an area in Japan where illnesses—cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes—and wrinkles seem to be rare, and many people live well into their '90s, according to the report. While genetics and a low-stress lifestyle likely play a part in this, researchers told Chung they also believe it's due to residents' potato-rich diet.
The typical diet in Yuzurihara, Japan, involves eating little meat and lots of vegetables—particularly the starchy kind. Munn was so moved by what she saw that she decided to start eating a few Japanese sweet potatoes and root potatoes every day. She'll slice the sweet potatoes into one-inch coins, drizzle them with olive oil and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon, and roast them in the oven.
"The root potato is covered in dirt and has a slimy texture like okra," she says. "You can boil them or put them into a soup, which takes a little more preparation." (Sadly, turning them into French fries might negate some of those health benefits.)
Though Munn noticed an immediate difference, one doctor cautions that you shouldn't expect to start eating potatoes and wake up looking like you've gotten a facelift. "The health benefits of consuming these potatoes could be great, but their effect on anti-aging would be very small at best," plastic surgeon Jennifer Levine told Us Weekly. "Ingesting the acid would cause it to break down in the digestive system, and it wouldn't get to areas, such as the face, in high enough quantities to cause a real difference."
Earlier this year, Munn took to Instagram to explain the four things she's done to "get better with age," explaining that it's a mix of hour-long workouts, reshaping her brows to a more flattering angle for her face shape, using Proactiv Mark Fading Pads to fade sunspots (she's a spokesperson and devotee of the brand) and, of course, eating Japanese spuds.
She's also said that following the 20-80 diet, popularized by Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, helped her eat healthier while filming the latest X-Men movie. While she isn't following such a strict diet these days, she tries to eat clean as much as possible, while still allowing herself to indulge every now and then.
"A lot of people talk about these healthy lifestyles and show off their bodies, but if you meet some of these people in real life and see them without the filters, their skin isn't so great," she told The Cut. "I don't know if it's because they're not getting enough fat and oil in their diets, or because they're just so sad and hungry. Eating healthy makes me feel great. But chocolate cake and cheese make me happy, too."
Cake, cheese and potatoes? (Er, okay, plenty of greens, lean protein, potatoes, and the occasional treat.) That's a diet we can get behind.
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