Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Want to Feel and Look Younger? Part 1

We all want to look and feel younger.  Yes, you have heard me rant about seeing all of those flighty, little scrawny girls that grace our magazines.  Well, fight back.  Here are some tips!
  • Get 8 Hours of Sleep
  • Start you meals with fruits/veggies and a full glass of water
    • Loading up on fruits and vegetables will make you feel recharged
    • Eat 90% healthy and 10% (fun stuff)
  • Do strength training - Will make you feel 20 years younger
    • Weight training makes microtears in muscle which leads your body to generate thicker, stronger muscle fiber --Focus on the lower body and core
    • My doctor advised this type of exercise to make me less vulnerable to injuries (bone breakage, etc.)
    • Go to the gym or get a set up dumbbells ---do squats and lunges, calf raises 2 to 3 sets of 10 reps at least 3 times a week. 
    • Walking is also good
Now, that we have our exercise out of the way...It's okay to want to feel good about how you look.  Remember the song, "You're So Vain" by Carley Simon?  Well, go ahead, be vain.  Who gives a flip.  Feel good about yourself.  Cover that gray and buy that fancy face cream.  Bio-oil and Moroccan oil is good for your face and skin.  Also, you know how I love my coconut oil. Pro-longing the vitality of your skin, hair and your body will make you feel good about yourself and more confident.  Hey, and you want give two flips how old you are because the new forty is sixty.  So there!

Remember, to feel younger, you need to mix things up a bit.  Don't do the same exercises every day.  Don't use the same shampoo or face cream.  After awhile, the same things lose their effect..  And, I recently read that the brain craves change.  To feel younger, you need to make little changes in your routine.  In a recent Harvard study, people who were placed in an environment that resembled their youth ...moves music and memorabilia from the past....experienced marked improvement in their memory, vision, happiness level and overall health.  This shows that our mind set limits us says one researcher.  (Ellen Langer, PH.D, author of "Counterclockwise".  So, do something that really takes you back in time.  Check out this photo.  My friend from childhood came over to my son's rehearsal dinner.  She made me feel twenty years younger.  Look how happy we looked. 
http://www.amazon.com/Counterclockwise-Mindful-Health-Power-Possibility/dp/B004NSVE9Q

1 comment:

  1. I love this picture of us!! I made YOU "feel twenty years younger?" Come on. Meeting up on that day brought back all the sweet, sweet memories of our childhood/adolescence. Remember when we use to dress alike…wearing our short-shorts roller skating – skating to Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I want to.” Every time I see you, that song comes to mind. So, YOU actually made ME feel twenty years younger because you haven’t changed a bit. Speaking of feeling younger, you pointed out some really good tips. Eating right, getting proper rest, exercising, taking care of your skin...all these are so, so important. In terms of eating right, I have found keeping a journal of what you eat each day for a week or so every now and then helps you truly understand what you are putting in your body. When I start getting a little pudgy around the waist, I whip out a journal. I break my daily caloric intake down by the number of calories of carbohydrates, protein, fat, sugar, sodium, fiber and cholesterol. The recommended ratio of calories is 40-50% carbs, 25-35% protein and 20-30% fat. You should also try to keep your sodium intake under 2500 mg/day (you don’t want to retain fluid) and keep your fiber intake up to at least 25 grams/day. I added cholesterol to my list because we want to make sure we keep those arteries clean. After all, if our Ticker stops ticking…it doesn’t really matter how pretty we are! :0

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