Why This Longevity Expert Wants You To Eat "Stressed-Out" Foods

We tend to think of stress in terms of how we can evade it—much like anxiety and inflammation, stress is typically stamped with a negative connotation. And while stress management is a crucial pillar of overall well-being, it's chronic stress that becomes so worrisome—acute stress, on the other hand, isn't always harmful. In fact, a bit of physical stress on your body can actually be quite healthy (looking at you, intermittent fasting). 

You're probably thinking, Uh, how can I tell if my food is stressed? It's not like vegetables can come talk to us when they're feeling panicked (although emerging research suggests plants let out high-frequency sounds of angst). But it turns out plants do have a physical stress response: bright colors. 

According to Sinclair, the more stressed out the food is, the brighter colors it will have. Those pigments, he continues, are evidence of defensive phytochemicals: "Those colors are actually an indicator of other molecules that plants produce to try and survive when they're stressed," he explains. "We call these xenohormetic molecules. Xeno just means 'between species,' and hormetic means 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'" Essentially, those xenohormetic molecules make the plants more resilient (thus, increasing their longevity); when we consume those stressed-out plants, we're ingesting those healthy, resilient molecules as well. "It boosts these molecules that give our body that extra boost for longevity," Sinclair notes.