More Aging Articles
Anti-Aging Beauty: What’s More Important? Food or Cosmetics?
In this month’s Links section of the Put Old on Hold Newsletter, you will see a press release “Women sacrifice food before cosmetics.” It claims that according to surveys, “Women are not only reluctant to reduce their spending on cosmetics but when their purses come under pressure they are more willing to scrimp and save on food.” Wow!
It’s baffling that many women seem not to understand that what they eat and drink (or do not eat and drink) every day over a long period of time eventually shows on the appearance of the face and body. If your body were a book it could be said that you can tell what’s inside the book by its’ cover.
Women will often spend a ton of money on external moisturizers but drink little or any water. I recall one woman who said she never drinks water — hasn’t done so in years — she drinks diet Coke exclusively. She’s very overweight and doesn’t understand the connection between the diet cola consumption and the weight gain. There is ample research that indicates artificial sweeteners are linked to weight gain.
The cosmetics industry is huge and its advertising is massive. Marketing gurus have it down to a science. They know how to make us buy what we don’t need or even want. And we buy, buy, buy, not because we are stupid, but because we are human and subject to psychological manipulation. Nevertheless, we do have the ability to make choices. We can say “no” and we can look for less expensive cosmetic alternatives — they are out there.
We all have our favorite cosmetic products but the truth is that you can buy a lot of “beauty” for a lot less. If you are paying big bucks for a department store or boutique moisturizer, you can find something at the drug store that will do what you want it to do (or perhaps even better) for a lot less. Or even find something in your kitchen. Recently, when I put out a SOS for a subscriber who wanted help finding a good neck cream, more than one of you recommended olive oil!
A great way to improve the appearance of your skin is with fresh juices. Invest in a juicer. (You may still be able to buy a Jack LaLanne juicer for $99 and it works great.) Buy a big bag or carrots and a couple of bunches of celery and juice them. Your body will know immediately that you have done something wonderful for it, and if you drink fresh juice often enough, it will do more for your skin than any expensive cosmetic.
It’s also important to take anti-agiing supplements. In Dr. Nicholas Perricone’s book, The Perricone Prescription, there are several pages of before and after pictures that show the effect of his three-day nutritional face lift and his 28-day wrinkle free program. Some of the “after” photos are remarkable. If nothing else, all the women look younger. The photos are testimony to the fact that what you put into your body matters.
Save money by not buying “phony phood” products — chips, dips, so-called breakfast cereals that may contain more sugar than nutrition. If it wasn’t food 100 years ago, it’s not real food. Spend your food money on live food that will help make you look and feel better. You may just have enough left over to splurge on the expensive cosmetics you think you can’t live without.
Barbara Morris is a pharmacist and author of “No More Little Old Ladies” and “Put Old on Hold”. Visit http://www.putoldonhold.com/newsletter/nov08.html for more info and free newsletter signup.
More infomation at WikipediaAnti Aging Reality: Will You Be an Obsolete 100 Watt Bulb?
I had a conversation with a retired engineer whose health problems were eating up a big chunk of his retirement income every month. He was doing everything possible to make ends meet such as using coupons, asking for senior discounts, and living a frugal lifestyle but he just couldn’t make ends meet.
I said to him, “Have you thought about getting a part time job — you have a lot of experience you could put to good use.” His response was so angry you would have thought I had insulted his mother. “Look, Barbara,” he sniffed, “I’ve worked all my life and I deserve my retirement.”
Everybody who chooses to retire deserves their retirement. Many people get to age 65 and have done all they are able to do mentally and physically, but most people at retirement age have more life left in them than they realize. Maybe they don’t want to work 40 hours every week, but they are too young and vital to vegetate, and they know it.
When a relatively healthy retiree defends the decision to stop being productive with the “I’ve worked all my life” declaration — it’s not accurate. If you are retired and not working, you cannot say “I’ve worked all my life” because your life is not yet over. You have yet to explore and exploit all of your potential that could benefit yourself and others.
For the record, I define “productive” as something you do that not only gives you pleasure but has value for others. Activities such as gardening, taking classes, and playing cards are fun, but they are not productive. Engaging in an activity that you enjoy be it paid or volunteer and is of value to others is productive. You don’t have to work forty hours a week unless you really enjoy what you do.
My concern with traditional retirement for healthy individuals is that that we are made for work — like it or not. Our tradition of retirement at age 65 is not ordained by God; it’s a foolish but well meaning creation of the 1930s when people didn’t live much longer than age sixty-five. A lot has changed since then. For example, the life span has increased by 30 years, yet people still retire at age 65 or sooner. That means retirees who are not productive will be in decline for a longer period of time. Instead of “living” they will be “existing.”
Boomers get it, I think. They tell me they have no intention of living the same kind of retired lifestyle as their parents and grandparents. But will they accomplish their goal, or will the lure of traditional retirement entice them to become part of the traditional retired lifestyle?
Science Daily of October of 11, 2008 published an article, “Sixties Generation Is Heading for Conventional Old Age.” (The link for the article is in the Links section of this newsletter.) The story is about retirement in the UK, but I believe it has universal application. Here’s the gist of the story from one paragraph of the article:
Most boomers - 70 per cent - regard age as unimportant in terms of their personal identity and, almost without exception, they told the researchers that they felt younger than their actual age. Boomers regard themselves as being more like their children and younger people than like their parents and older generational groups and, say the researchers, “see ageing as something that requires managing but is not overly problematic. . . . while 69 per cent of people interviewed agreed that it was possible to plan for retirement, 71 per cent were themselves making either no plans or only limited ones.”
The above is accurate. Typically, boomers say they identify more closely with younger people than the older people. But that perceived identity will quickly give way to traditional thinking and behavior unless there is a plan to avoid typical traditional retired culture. What is particularly important to note in the above paragraph is that 71 percent were making no plans for how they want to live in retirement. That means that instead of taking charge of their aging process and making choices that result in growth and productivity, they have chosen to just let life happen.
Many people spend their pre retirement years doing work that is unfulfilling and eagerly await retirement so they can be free of the daily grind. What they don’t realize is that the “do nothing” lifestyle they eagerly look forward to is worse than doing work they hate. It is the traditional “living life as a pastime” lifestyle that contributes to early and rapid decline.
If you spend your pre retirement years in the wrong career all is not lost if you plan, at least by age 40-50 to take charge of your future. At a healthy age 65 it’s not too late to go back to school, start a new business or new career. Post retirement is the time to live your dream. If for no other reason, you should plan to stay productive in light of the prevailing economic chaos that may not resolve any time soon. True, life may throw a monkey wrench in your plan, but it’s far more exciting to have a dream that can come true rather than to reminiscence about what might have been as you pass time in a retirement community with other declining “could have beens.”
Please don’t allow yourself to become obsolete because you plan to retire. You are not a light bulb that has been programmed to burn just for 100 hours. You are not an automobile that has been engineered to run just 100,000 miles and then be relegated to the scrap heap. Your potential is enormous. I always think about Col. Harlan Sanders who began his Kentucky Friend Chicken empire at an age when his peers were languishing in retirement communities and nursing homes.
Regardless of what you have worked at for so many years, there is something more inside you that has potential and value. Please don’t leave your brilliance untapped. Use it to give joy and purpose to your own life and for the benefit of others. The bonus payoff is that you will stay ageless as long as you live. Engaging in work that you enjoy is the ultimate anti-aging secret. I guarantee it. There isn’t a wrinkle cream in the entire world that can come close to helping you stay young.
Barbara Morris is a pharmacist and author of “Put Old on Hold” and “No More Little Old Ladies!” Visit http//www.putoldonhold.com and http//www.NoMoreLittleOldLadies.com. Sign up for free content rich newsletter.
More infomation at Wikipedia3 Interesting Facts About Ayurvedic Skin Care
In this fast moving world, we often find it difficult to stand back and take good care of ourselves. However, we are obsessed with the idea of looking good. Ancient ayurveda, one of the oldest disciplines of medication, tells us that we can have good-looking skin only if our insides are pure and free from any kind of impurities. Thus, before you start external polishing, take an inward look, and go for ayurvedic skin care.
The blemishes, pimples, eruptions, or spots on your skin that irritate you are merely a result of certain lifestyle or diet disorders. If you can go for a skin friendly diet, you can ensure that you have great and healthy skin.
Always try to have food that is good for your body. Have meals that are light and healthy. Go for fruits and vegetables that make your insides clean and healthy. If you follow a healthy diet for some time, you will see the results yourself. The result will be healthy skin that looks young and fresh.
Given below are certain dietary tips that will help you get healthier skin:
1. For ayurvedic skin care, begin your day with a mug of hot water that has the juice of half a lemon. Lemon is very good for the skin and since it is anti bacterial, it helps your body to flush out the toxins and keep your body clean from within. In case you have very oily skin, you can go for another glass of lemon water later in the day. Those who have regularity problems can start the day with raisins that have been soaked in water overnight.
2. Herb tea is another thing that forms an important part of ayurvedic skin care. You can go for fennel, mint, aniseed, cardamom, rosehips or cinnamon tea about twice or thrice a day. The herbs that are very good for cleansing include neem, turmeric, Sarsaparilla, marshmallow root, and Indian madder. All these herbs are great for your body because they purify the blood and clean the toxins in your body.
3. Raw salads are also great for your health but you can reap the maximum benefit of eating raw food only when you have a strong digestive system. In case your system is not very strong, you will not be able to digest the raw food. For ayurvedic skin care, you need to consume vegetables that have high water content. Carrot, lettuce, daikon radish and tender asparagus are vegetables that are very good for your health and your skin. In Ayurvedic jargon, these vegetables are called tridoshic, which means that they are suitable for individuals with any kind of skin.
Another group of vegetables that is very good for your skin. These are cruciferous vegetables. However, you must have these vegetables only after you steam them because they are slightly difficult to digest. If you have vatta skin, avoid these vegetables. But if you have Pitta or Kapha skin, have steamed broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.
For complete ayurvedic skin care, avoid bad fats and oily food. For those who have dry skin, consumption of ghee is prescribed. If you follow these diet tips for ayurvedic skin care, you will see the difference in a few days when you get healthier skin.
Click here to get free advice on how you can enhance the look of your skin. Ray A. Rubio is a skin care specialist providing advice on choosing the best anti aging creams for you. Visit http://www.BestAntiAgingSkinCreams.com for more details.
More infomation at Wikipedia