9 TIPS ON HOW NOT TO AGE
1) Say What?
Say yes to eight hours of sleep, antioxidants found in green tea, pomegranate and blueberries; a Mediterranean diet of nuts, legumes, vegetables, fruit and olive oil and say no to process foods and sugared soda. The latter could have the same aging effect on your telomeres – the parts of chromosomes that affect aging as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.*
2) Inflame Me Not!
Inflammation is a big culprit in aging, weight gain, disease and even wrinkles. Normally, inflammation is a healthy response to injury, but everything from stress to sugar can push it into overdrive, provoking the immune system into attacking healthy cells – and accelerating the body’s aging process.*
3) No Duh? Exercise.
“Exercise shores up the brain and
hippocampus, keeping memory sharp and preventing Alzheimer’s, and can lengthen lifespan by 4 to 8 years on the average.” Even people who start to exercise in middle age become stronger and ‘younger.'”*
4) Mine Enemy Is Thee Stress!
Stress is when you’re standing in the middle of the train track and you see it coming toward you. Stress is there for acute survival, but it increases blood sugar, blood pressure, arterial aging and the stress hormone cortisone, which can compromise your immune system; cause depression; and memory loss; and help form free radicals which attack the collagen that keeps the skin supple. Meditation, yoga.
5) Hello Lunch, Goodbye Big Dinner.
Dr. David Heber, UCLA nutrition expert, is high on protein. His top tip for slowing aging is to get enough protein at meals: 25 grams. Load up early at breakfast with unsweetened Greek yogurt, or six egg whites. For lunch have beef, fish or tofu because after dinner the protein gets excreted without being used. That means your body doesn’t benefit from eating all that protein at night.*
6) Rabbit Food?
Lutein contained in spinach, avocados, kale, and brussels sprouts promotes brain health and keeps eyesight sharp and eaten once or twice a week may reduce age related macular degeneration.
7) Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Dry Bones!
You’re kidding me, right? Bone broth, another hot food trend touted by LeBron James, is rich and amino acids and coats the intestinal lining to help heal the “leaky gut syndrome” which allows aging toxins and microbes to leak through the bowl lining. Some credit also with helping grow your nails and preventing pretty much every element, from diabetes to lupus. *
8) In-Your-Face Solutions
Bee pollen is anti-aging, good for allergies and boost immunity – also acupuncture for the face. It increases collagen improve circulation, even gets rid of fine lines says dermatologist, Dr. Mao. It is believed that topical vitamin C will also be away turn back the clock on aging skin.*
9) Young At Heart.
Really! In 1981 Harvard social psychologist Dr. Ellen Langer conducted studies that put over 70 years old in an environment straight out of 1959. They were told to imagine they were 22 years younger and were treated that way, with no mirrors to remind them otherwise. The result? Their memories, attitudes and health markedly improved. Why all the data suggest our minds are far more powerful than most of us realized. I think we will soon be able to prevent many ailments just from the mind body connection.*
So you had better believe while society waits for stem cells to make us younger I’m going to start thinking I am a forever young Audrey Hepburn, no matter what age I am!
* Partial excerpts from The Hollywood Reporter/ How Not To Age At All in 2015 by Merle Ginsberg.
Sandra's Hart My Over 60 Lifestyle Journey 