Five Simple Steps to Resist Aging Fast

It is summer time, and we are all getting ready to go on a summer travel vacation either with our families, loved ones, or good friends. However, summer is also the time of the year when direct sun exposure causes long-lasting aging effects. So go ahead and plan for the summer fun, but also plan to keep yourself well because eventually we will all be are faced with the reality and inevitability of the body’s natural aging process. And we would want to age well.

Here are five simple tips that I use to help myself age well when the time comes.

Use Sun Block and Moisturize Skin

When out in the sun, use a sun block with a relatively high SPF number. In the evenings after a day in the sun, the best thing you can do to keep your body looking young is to moisturize. Use Vitamin E creams for the skin under your eyes as the skin there is more sensitive than elsewhere, and wrinkles tend to show up there when unhydrated.

Drinks Lots of Water

Our body is 70% water so drinking lots of water helps to re-hydrate the body, and cleanses the body of harmful toxins that may cause us to age. Water also hydrates the skin, giving it a fuller, softer and smoother appearance. Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. I drink filtered, distilled, or spring water. I believe that doing so eliminatee some of the harmful chemicals that can be delivered by drinking normal tap water.

Sweat it Out

The saying "work out a sweat" is a useful reminder. Sweating while exercising actually keeps our body young. As the pores open up while we sweat, we are releasing a variety of toxins and bacterium that otherwise would normally increase the speed of the aging process. Working out also helps circulate the blood and oxygen in your body, making sure that your organs can work correctly, cells are rejuvenated and nutrients are delivered throughout. Also, a strong body is a young body, so try to exercise for at least 20 to 30 minutes every day, doing some form of aerobic workout that you enjoy.

Nutrients do a Body Good

Eating a balanced, healthy diet can slow the aging process in two ways - it will help us maintain a healthy weight and digestive system, and it’ll provide our body with the fuel it needs to fight free radicals, generate new cell growth and maintain your overall strength. Stick with lean proteins, fruits and vegetables for a diet that will help keep us young and strong for years to come. Try a number of healthy food options to find those you actually enjoy and will continue to eat over the long haul.

Don’t Stress the Younger Days Away

Stress is a key instigator of aging. The more you worry, the more those forehead lines begin to show, your hair starts to go gray and you find it a little more difficult to breathe each day. Stress will also accelerate your mental aging because it causes you to become increasingly forgetful and confused. To avoid or at least minimize stress, you should make your life more organized by planning events and leaving enough time for your day-to-day family activities. Also, focus on mental relaxation and meditation. Take the stress away and you reduce the likelihood of developing premature wrinkles.

Fat Loss 4 Idiots

I know I have said somewhere on my blog that fat people bother me because the extra weight they carry, to me, signifies a lack of control over their lives. But contrary to what some people imagine, I am not at all against or discriminatory against fat people. In fact, a really good friend of mine from my schooling days has been obese all her life. But that has not stopped me from being a good friend to her! Even if I wished she was thinner (ie visibly more in charge of her life), it is the person she is inside that matters more to me.

Still, it was a wonderful day indeed when she called me and told me about this online program, Fat Loss 4 Idiots, which she has been on. She has been on a secret mission to lose all that extra weight and she was actually making it happen this time. The reason why she did not tell me about her plans was that she has tried multiple online programs such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, and she had failed. Not this time. And the proof was in the photos she sent me - she looked so much slimmer. She told me that she has lost 30 pounds in 30 days!


Amazing! I don't usually buy into all of these weight loss gimmicks - I believe in hard work and proper diet. But then again, I have been trying to lose my extra 5 pounds for ages by pounding away at the gym for 1 hour, three times a week, and not seeing any real difference. So my friend's recent photos of her slimmer self was the motivating factor.

I got myself into the program - and I recommend it! The site itself is cool - attractive colourful cartoons, and it explains things in an easy to understand manner reminiscent of the XX for Dummies book series. But there is nothing idiotic about the subject matter.


Actually, this program may be more beneficial to those of us trying to lose some weight rather than for the grossly overweight - the program targets 9 pounds in 11 days, and focuses on the food we eat rather than exercise. Those who have to lose a lot of weight should incorporate exercise routines as well, but that is not the focus here. Nevertheless, it does contain valuable information on food intake, which the grossly overweight could use. For the rest of us, sometimes it is changing what we eat rather than those extra hours at the gym that will help us lose that tough bit of extra pounds we need to.

Excerpt of the type of information proposed in the program:

"You are overweight for the most simple of reasons -- because you're eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, and you're also eating meals in the wrong patterns each day. Think closely about what we're about to tell you, since it's going to change the way you think about dieting. FOOD is more powerful than any prescription weight loss pills, because the FOOD that you eat can either make you THIN or FAT. You don't get fat because of a lack of exercising, that's a myth. You get fat because you don't eat the right foods at the right intervals each day. Also, the pattern that you choose to eat your meals each day is more powerful than any prescription weight loss pills. This is true because your body is like an "engine" and it only needs certain foods at certain intervals each day, and if you don't eat the right foods at the right times then it won't burn those calories -- and you'll wind up storing those calories as fat tissue. (Hint: You need to eat more than 3 times per day to lose weight, but we'll show you the details later).You have gotten overweight by eating the wrong foods, that much is a fact. And guess what? You can get SLIM by eating the RIGHT FOODS at the RIGHT INTERVALS each day. It's not really any more complicated than that, and the way to start losing weight has nothing to do with starving yourself or jogging ".

And I liked their list of Top Fat Burning Foods! Not bad at all :)

Beautiful Old Age

I was at my favourite grocery store today - Trader Joes. After getting my usual grocery stash, I got into a line to pay. There was a woman unloading her cart of groceries onto the counter for the cashier to scan. I turned to my left and busied myself looking at the stuff the store puts on display so as to tempt customers into making last-minute purchases. In this case, my distracting temptation were chocolate raspberry truffles.

When I finally tore my eyes away from the chocolates, I saw that an old woman had moved to my right, slightly ahead of me, her cart at a 45 degree angle to mine. It was easy enough to see that she was cutting the queue - whether unconsciously or deliberately, I could not tell at that moment.

Now I am usually a mild person towards anyone perceptibly older than myself - must be an Eastern thing drilled into me to show respect towards the eldery. But I am also a stickler for principles. And the principle here was that cutting the queue is always wrong (unless you are facing a desperate emergency), and this principle had been violated by someone.

I politely pointed out to the old woman that I was in line, to which she replied in a crotechy Russian-sounding voice that she had been there all along, and insisted that I had not been in the line. That truly irked me because it was not true, which meant that she had deliberately attempted to cut the queue.

If it had been anyone else other than a visibly eldery person, I would have told the person off. Nothing gets me more than a rude person. But this was an old woman! What could I do?!

My solution was to simply stand my ground - I suppose another person would have walked away from the situation. In fact, my boyfriend who had been with only moments before, conveniently disappeared from the scene because as he explained later, he did not want to be involved in a "fight" between two females.

When the old woman saw that I was not backing away, she simply turned her cart and cut the queue on the next line! I was shocked to witness her audacity. A middle-aged woman who was in that line and who had seen the exchange between me and the old lady, rolled her eyes, threw her hands up in the air, and moved her cart into the next line - safely far away from this uncontrollable queue-cutting ripened terror.

If the old woman had reacted differently, and had said sorry that she had not seen me, I would have let her get ahead of me. After all, I do not want to be disagreeable to people, especially to the eldery. But instead she showed a total disregard for me and the others around her and a lack of shame, which is all very unbecoming for a woman at her stage in life.

How very sad.

Beautiful Old Age

It ought to be lovely to be old
to be full of the peace that comes of experience
and wrinkled ripe fulfilment.

The wrinkled smile of completeness that follows a life
lived undaunted and unsoured with accepted lies
they would ripen like apples, and be scented like pippins
in their old age.

Soothing, old people should be, like apples
when one is tired of love.

Fragrant like yellowing leaves, and dim with the soft
stillness and satisfaction of autumn.

And a girl should say:
It must be wonderful to live and grow old.
Look at my mother, how rich and still she is!

And a young man should think: By Jove
my father has faced all weathers, but it's been a life!

D.H. Lawrence

The 10 Women You'll Be Before You're 35

I was at Barnes and Nobles the other day, and I came across this book by Alison James - The 10 Women You'll be Before You're 35. I spent some time flipping through the book, and I came away with a good feeling. The half-an-hour spent on the book actually put me in a good mood!

I was thoroughly entertained with James' choice of words, and her frivolous sense of humour in typecasting the various stages all of us women go through.

According to James, the 10 stages women will pass through before we are 35 are as follows: New Graduate, Dollarless Diva, Worker Bee, Party Girl, Body-Conscious Babe, Chameleon, Crisis Chick, Ms. Independence, Wirl (half woman/half girl) and finally the True You.

It starts with the New Graduate stage when you have just graduated from university - you are fresh, young, happy, excited, flighty and giggly, and ends with the True You stage, when you become finally who you really are - that is, you are no longer personified by a stage. The 8 other stages in between are full of quirky snapshots of what your life have been, or could be (if you're not there yet).

My favourite was the Crisis Chick, maybe because it was easily identified as the one most matching my present stage (somewhat anyway). Crisis Chick has a stable job, maybe a boyfriend, and she has a life almost eveyone thinks she should be happy with. But for whatever reason, the Crisis Chick is unhappy, feels that she is stuck in a rut, and she wants to change her life. She is confused and goes through agonizing periods of reflection. She flits between dramatic pronouncements of life changing decisions and helpless self-pity. She thinks of giving up her job to save the world by joining the Peace Corps, so she can give meaning to her life. Then decides she would not be able to realistically survive without showering (or having her other comforts) in poverty-stricken countries like Africa. She hermits herself in her apartment and lives on snack food! I just love the way James portrayed this stage - she managed to trivialize this stage with a humour that does not take away from the actual reality, which can be quite debilitating to people feeling this way. Almost like saying, it's a confusing time, but hang in there through all of this nonsense, and you'll come out just fine.

Now, anyone look for real self-help information in this book should be forewarned though - this will not help you solve any of your major problems. However, if you are looking for a light, fun read to occupy your spare time while relaxing, this would be a good companion book - a true chick lit gem.

Birthday Milestones

I found the below on a Facebook website. Since the website does not attribute an author, and the link does not show for those who do not have a Facebook account, I have copied and pasted the below. I found it amusing. Enjoy :)

30…40…50…
Oh, those milestone birthdays!

How to Cope
Whichever milestone birthday you face, you’ll weather it better if you:

Explore your assumptions and change any distorted thinking about what it means to be a particular age.

Take charge of your body. Maintain a healthy weight, stay active, get enough sleep, learn to manage stress.

Live in the present. Try to focus on what you have right now rather than mourning what’s gone or fretting about the future.
When we’re children, we can’t wait to grow up. Too bad the feeling doesn’t last. By age 40 or 50, a “big” birthday is something most of us dread. Partly, that’s because of our youth-worshiping culture, says clinical social worker Pat Gordy of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “Just look at all the products that will ‘make you look 10 years younger,’ ” she says. But there are plenty of other reasons why milestone birthdays can be stressful—from family issues to health worries to unmet life goals. Gordy and family medicine physician Pamela LeDeaux, M.D., explore the issues.

30
At this age you’re still in the prime of youth, but you face big, scary questions: Have I found the right job? Do I like where I’m living? How well am I balancing work and social life? Shouldn’t I be married by now?

40
Welcome to the “midlife crisis.” As your body starts to show its age, you realize that if you want children or a new career, you’d better get busy. “At this stage, people start thinking about self-renewal and life enrichment,” Gordy says. They also start taking their health seriously for the first time. “It’s not just about getting a physical,” LeDeaux says. “Wellness means taking care of yourself.”

50
Even if you still feel vibrant, at 50 you can’t pretend you’re young anymore. Menopause, job insecurity, college costs and the needs of elderly parents are major concerns. On the plus side is the opportunity to explore new facets of your life; many 50- something women shift focus from caregiving to career, and men from work to relationships. Physically, poor health habits begin to take a toll. “But it’s never too late to stop smoking, lose weight or make other healthy changes,” LeDeaux says.

60
Retirement looms large now. While many of LeDeaux’s patients have a healthy selfimage in their 60s, “they do have concerns about financial security, life as a retiree and how to move gracefully toward this thing called old age.”

Thirty is Not Old

Have you ever noticed that a lot of women tend to take on an air of desperation on the dating scene once they hit 30? They moan about missed opportunities, brood over failed relationships, or they do the ultimate worst, they play out fatalistic scenarios of their lives if they don't manage to find someone *soon*. It sure is fun being around women who are in this state. Not!

Admittedly, it is easier to find a boyfriend or future life partner when one is in their twenties (as I happily did then to my chagrin today) than when one is in their thirties. So I can appreciate the urgency single women in their thirties feel to find a suitable life partner. Afterall, most women desire children, and once they hit thirty, they suddenly hear the biological clock ticking all the more acutely. But what I don't understand is the sudden acceptance now of what they could never in their twenties. It is as though entering the big 30 deems them unworthy of having any normal standards.

Case in point. One of my friends recently met a man through a matrimonial website. They corresponded for awhile, and then made plans to meet. At that meeting, the man told my friend that he had to view her without clothes so as to see if there was a "fit". He said he would not be willing to proceed with someone he was not comfortable with. This was on their FIRST meeting! Hello? Which planet did this moron come from? My friend said she felt she was being interviewed for a job, which suddenly did not seem all that attractive anymore. Luckily, she escaped that scene with her dignity intact.

But how in the world did she, an educated and decent looking woman, get into that situation in the first place? Now this horror story is just one example of many I have heard in the recent past. I have come to the conclusion that part of the reason why this happens is because women decide to believe that they are no longer worthy to demand what they desire by virtue of having aged an additional year. This attitude leaves them open to abuse by accepting the rubbish behaviour from men (who btw know all about the desperate thirty-something woman syndrome and wickedly play on it) in the hopes of finding anyone.

That is the crux of the problem - they will accept anyone. It's no longer the special somebody they are hoping for. So all the anyones come-a-rushing in. So why be surprised when you attract the wrong crowd? Who's really to blame?

My friends, can you not have a little more self-respect?

Maybe then you will get what you truly deserve.