Few years back I would get very upset when somebody talked to me like to a high school kid. This used to happen pretty often and it still does sometimes today. Nowadays, however, when somebody calls me a kid or asks "what am I in school for", I give them a big 'thank you' and the brightest smile I can muster. Why the drastic change? Because now, as I'm older, I do everything I know to look and feel as young as possible and I am happy with my efforts. I can't say I discovered the fountain of youth, but I am going to share with you some of my youth and health keeping secrets. If you wonder what qualifies me to talk about it, well, drop down to the bottom of this article for a photo of me at 36 years old.
It is true that genetics do play a certain role in how youthful we look. But the cool thing is that we can still do loads of things to feel better and look younger. This article may be a bit long but I feel I'm only scratching the surface. So if you're ready, this is how to look 10 years younger and feel great:
Looking and feeling younger will depend on these 3 factors:
1. What you put ON your body2. What you put IN you body
3. What you DO WITH your body
1. What You Put ON Your Body
Knowing what to put on your skin can be overwhelming. With the avalanche of beauty products out there it can be nothing short of confusing. Nowadays even drugstores and grocery stores have isles of body care products. And a trip to a natural health store isn't always easy either. You see rows of brands you never even heard of, and there isn't always a sales rep available to explain all the different products to you. I have worked at a natural health store for 3 years as a supplement and body care consultant and I've seen many confused faces. But there is one golden rule that should help:Read The Ingredients!
First, make sure you read and understand your ingredients. If I don't know what this glycobutohydropeptamicolB15 is, I will definitely pass the product. And even if I knew what glycobuto-something was I'd pass it anyway. I know, I made up the name, but you know what I mean. You don't want chemicals in your product, let alone ones you can't even pronounce.
Second, you pick a product with the simplest ingredient list. And by 'simplest' I mean that you know what they are, and know they come from nature, such as natural oils (such as coconut, jojoba, evening primrose), flowers (calendula, rose) , berries (goji, blueberries), essential oils (lavender, helichrysum), vitamins (E, A, C).
Third, you avoid the Dirty Dozen like a plague:
1. BHT and BHA - allergens, cancer causing, possible liver, thyroid and kidney damage, disrupts hormones
2. DEA (also in other forms such as MEA, TEA) - possible carcinogen, harmful to fish and wildlife
3. Dibutyl Phthalate - suspected endocrine disruptor and toxic to reproductive system
4. Coal Tar Dyes (also listed as Cl and 5 digits number, names such as Blue 2, Red 5, and p-phenylenediamine) - potential carcinogens, toxic to the brain
5. Formaldehyde releasing ingredients - such as DMDM hydrantoin, names ending with 'urea', methenamine, quarternium-15
6. Parabens - endocrine disruptors and harmful to male reproductive system
7. PEG compounds - as well as their related products like propylene glycol or polyethylene glycol
8. Petrolatum - possible carcinogen
9. Siloxanes - or anything ending in -siloxane or -methicone; endocrine and reproductive disruptors
10. Sodium Laureth Sulfate - suspected carcinogen
11. Triclosan - suspected endocrine disruptor and may contribute to antibiotic resistance
12. Parfume or fragrance - may cause allergies and asthma, some possible carcinogens
For more comprehensive and descriptive list of all the Dirty Dozen, please visit www.davidsuzuki.org
Make Your Own!
I know that we live in a very toxic world, and the above list can be scary and overwhelming. Many women, however, decided to go that extra mile and create their own beauty products, from home made oil blends and moisturizers, to lip balms and soaps. This way they have full control what goes into the products, from specialty oils to ingredients from their own kitchen and pantries.
It really isn't that hard to create your own beauty products! Sometimes all you need is some honey, a banana and oats, and you end up with the cleanest, purest and a very potent facial mask. Bonus if you use organic ingredients. For some fast and simple recipes visit Natural Beauty Workshop. This website is amazing and loaded with fun stuff to make.
Examples?
Here is an example of clean facial product. Take for example this product: Meta Care by brand Keys. If you look at their ingredient list, more than 85% of the content is organic, all the ingredients are natural, vegan, biodegradable and if you happen to accidentally taste it or get it in you mouth, you will probably be fine! Their list includes Avocado, Neem, Carrot Seed and Karanja Oils, and essential oils such as Blood Orange, Cleary Sage and Rosemary! I have used this product for more than two years, I love it and it smells nicely herbal. This is the kind of products I would highly recommend looking for and using.
2. What You Put IN Your Body
Is is equally important what you put IN your body, or maybe even more important. After all, there is a 100% truth to the saying "You are what you eat". What you put inside of you body will truly reflect on the outside and it will definitely show on your skin. Here are my four most important things for younger and radiant looking skin. Of course there are many more, but these four will get you started.Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
Drink water, lots of water. Or at least 10 glasses of water a day (1 glass is generally 8oz). It is estimated that we lose 10 glasses of water daily just by living: through sweat, breathing, body liquids. Those who exercise and work out should drink more than that. Your water should be as pure as possible. Or as you can afford it. Nowadays getting pure, clean water isn't cheap, unless you have access to water from natural spring. There are loads of articles about the proper water pH, proper mineralization and purification systems, I may even write one on that topic as well. But the first and foremost thing I would look for is to make sure your water isn't fluoridated. Fluoride is a poison to our bodies. It is a by-product of aluminum production and it used to be sold as a rat poison. It was also used in concentration camps during WWII and added to the water for prisoners to dull their mind and minimize their critical thinking. Its effects have not changed at all, it does the very same thing today. Most city water are fluoridated, so drinking tap water is out of the question. Additionally, fluoride contributes for faster aging of skin and body, aids to premature skin wrinkling, and causes calcification of skin collagen called scleroderma. According to book "Detox Your World" by Shazzie, fluoride "interferes with collagen formation and results in the body's inability to decide which tissue should be mineralized and which should not. This means that mineralisation of tissues such as a bone (which should be mineralized) is disrupted while soft tissues (which should not be mineralised) start to become mineralised. This effect, known as skeletal fluorosis, has been linked with causing or triggering scleroderma, arthritis, lupus, etc." WOW! Fluoride also suppresses your immune system so that it acts like that of an elderly person, making you that much more susceptible to diseases.
Water is seriously one of the most important agents of all. You can put the most expensive and amazing creams on your skin, and yet without water you skin will still look like a dried up raisin.
Drop Caffeine!
Drop it in all forms: coffee, all sodas and soft drinks, caffeinated tea, energy drinks, supplements etc. Caffeine is a diuretic and it dehydrates our body violently. It can take up to 6 glasses of water out of your body for every 1 glass of caffeine. Are you prepared to drink 6 extra glasses of water after each cup of coffee just to stay even? Coffee also contains something called Acetic Acid which is very bad for your skin, as it can cause skin burns and irritations. Plus it contains harmful chemicals such as acrylamide, which is a known carcinogen.
Dehydration will always show on your skin, making it look dry and unhealthy, and makes it prone to forming premature wrinkles a lot faster. Remember: our body consists of 75%-85% water; without proper water intake our bodies can't detoxify, organs can't function properly, are more prone to creating diseased cells and all of that will show on your skin guaranteed.
Sweat!
There are many ways to sweat: any form of vigorous exercise, warm baths, saunas... Sweating is an amazing way to open up the pores and remove toxins from our bodies through skin, giving you the most beautiful, healthy glow. Some people even notice minimizing of fine lines after routine sweat sessions. Sweating is a natural process designed by God detoxify and have have healthy bodies and radiant skins all over! When I used to run regularly (regularly was every other day for me) I remember having a lot less problems with random pimples popping up here and there. Some say that sweating helps to even prevents pimples. You would think that only puberty has zit problems. No sir, those nasty little buggers like to pop up in the most unexpected places at the most unwanted times. Well, perspiration actually helps to combat zits by flushing all the bacteria holding grime from your face. As long as you wash the sweat away, of course!
Embrace Plant Based Diet!
Start having more of those colorful plates on our table! Fruits and veggies were given us by our Creator as the most perfect anti aging diet and today's science and culture is finally catching up! With well balanced plant based diet you will get virtually all of your necessary vitamins and nutrients. And before the B12 proponents start screaming at me, no, plants do not have vitamin B12, but we do produce this vitamin by the bacteria in our intestines, providing we have healthy gut environment with proper enzymes and probiotic. And a sprinkle of nutritional yeast in your soup or salad should help raise B12 levels in no time.
Plant based diet is alkaline, healing, cleansing and anti aging. Meat based diet does the opposite. It creates free radicals that accelerate aging and it is one of the most acidic foods out there. Healthy bodies are alkaline, and diseases -including skin diseases- cannot be present in an alkaline body. Meat based fast food has been linked with blemishes, and animal fat promotes forming of pimples. As our digestive system is designed for long digestive process, consumed meat tends to sit and putrefy in our bodies. Additionally, we have hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, fertilizers and GMO feeds to worry about; all of which can and do manifest themselves in our bodies as diseases and skin problems.
I know that meat lovers can now get organic, properly fed meat from a local butcher or a farm. But consider this one thing. You will still consume the large amount of toxins and stress hormones the animal produces from the stress it goes through right before it is killed. It is common knowledge that animals do sense when they're heading for their death, and just like you would, they get immensely stressed out. With no way to release that stress, all of it goes right into the bloodstream, to every single cell of the body and its muscles and you end up consuming it. And we know that stress is not only a silent killer, but it is also promoting premature aging.
3. What You DO With Your Body
And this brings me to the third aspect of staying young: what we do with out bodies has a huge influence on the appearance of our skin and the condition of our health. Here are three fundamental principles for better skin and better health.Manage Stress!
Let's face it. Stress is everywhere so there is no way to get rid of it. I sometimes laugh at the articles out there telling me to 'get rid of stress'. Sorry, but in today's world stress is everywhere, and unless I go and live as a hermit in a faraway cave in a middle of nowhere, I will not get rid of stress. I can, however, learn to manage it. Bottom line is to learn stress managing techniques that works for you, wether it is listening to soothing music, going for a walk or run, hitting the gym, diving into a feel-good book or praying. There are so many ways one can de-stress that I think the topic deserves a whole article for itself. Whatever it may be, make sure that you do find an outlet. Stress ages. It shows on your skin big time and lets face it, who wants to walk around with dry, patchy skin, blemishes, pimples, wrinkles and bags under their eyes?
According to APA's Stress in America survey, 42% of adults in the United States say their stress level has increased over the past five years. The website cites a number of studies that have linked stress with shorter telomeres, "a chromosome component that's been associated with cellular aging and risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer." Here they explain what telomeres are and how they link stress and aging together: "Telomeres are a protective casing at the end of a strand of DNA. Each time a cell divides, it loses a bit of its telomeres... [and] chronic stress and cortisol exposure decreases your supply. When the telomere is too diminished, the cell often dies or becomes pro-inflamatory. This sets the aging process in motion, along with associated health risks". Basically what it means that when you stress you lose telomeres, and the more you lose the more you age.
Go To Sleep!
If you want to look younger and feel healthier, skimping on sleep is a very bad idea. Getting to bed early is called 'beauty sleep' for a reason. It is crucial to get enough sleep but also sleep at the right time. Most people know that to get optimal rest they need 8 hours of sleep each night. What they may not know is that adequate sleep at the right time allows your body to produce the proper body-regulating thyroid hormones. These hormones are produced only between 10pm and 2am. This is called the healing time, where you body works on healing and restoring itself. It will only do that, however, if you're asleep. These hours also count as double. What it means is that if you only slept exactly from 10pm to 2am, your body will feel as if you slept for 8 hours, not just 4. Ever wondered how some of the elderly people are able to go to sleep at 10pm and be up and about at 5am, wide awake, rested and ready for the day? It's because they slept during that special healing time. You can also call it the beauty time, because your body restores your skin cells during that time, too.
Here is a quote from Dr. Day's workbook "Getting Started on Getting Well". "Reducing sleep to 6.5 or fewer hours of successive nights causes potentially harmful metabolic, hormone, and immune changes, changes identical to those found in aging. Sleep deprivation causes cravings for sweets and starchy and fatty foods leading to obesity, it can accelerate the onset of diabetes, it causes inflammatory reactions and increases the risk of heart disease".
Get Creative!
It may not be easy in today's busy world, but extra bonus to those who do make time for their hobbies and passions. It may not necessarily make you look younger, but it will definitely make you feel younger, happier and healthier. People with passions and interests live longer. They are more creative. They tend to be more open to new ideas and to meeting new people. They manage their time better because they make sure to make time for their interests. They are more organized. And they feel more fulfilled in life, because they get to do something they absolutely love. People who actually create something with their hands, build something, make, paint, etc are better at problem solving and thinking outside of a box. Your passion can be anything you can image: flying a plane, building your stamp collection, working with animals or children, knitting, building websites... It's time you stop spending endless hours in front of TV watching yet another show, or scrolling pointlessly through Facebook posts. It's time you begin investing in yourself, growing your talents, feeding your passions, loving yourself, and giving yourself that gift of "me time".
I hope some of these points helped you to get on the path of better health. I hope you'll start implementing these steps into your daily routine and make them your habits. I haven't always been a 'good girl' when it comes to living healthy. There was a long time when I never drank water, but lived on caffeinated beverages. Three were years when my diet was, well, abominable. I also had a fair share of stress in my life: broken marriage, battling crippling diseases, starting life in a new state, losing everything in a house fire, losing a job, ending nearly homeless... But it's been nearly 10 years since I changed my lifestyle to a healthy one, and let me tell you, it was one of the best things I've done for myself. And the human body is such an amazing creation! Your outer skin layer regenerates itself every 35 days. That means that roughly every two months you get new skin. So do not ever think it's too late. You can start living better and creating healthy habits today!
As I promised, here is me at 36 years old. And by all means, ask me what I'm 'in school for'! :)
Source articles:
www.apa.org
www.inspire.com
www.davidsuzuki.org
www.naturalbeautyworkshop.com
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