Ageless Beauty:
How to Sculpture Your Body Inside and Out
With What You Consume,
Think, and Do Daily including Sex
The anti-aging products market is expected to reach nearly $192 billion by 2019 a staggering amount of money that Americans keep dishing out in an effort to stay forever young. This is one market that even withstood the economic downturn. As WorldHealth.net reported:
Age is no longer a measure of how old you look, but how long you live at what quality of life. |
“The market for anti-aging health, and appearance products posts sanguine growth patterns for the upcoming years, backed largely by the affluent aging baby boomers with high levels of disposable incomes.
Anti-aging products market is traditionally resilient to economic cycles, given consumers’ unchanging desire to look young and healthy, and the importance accorded to health, and well-being.”
In reality, there is no better place to spend your money than on things that may promote better health and well-being because achieving wellness and vitality is priceless.
But there is a lot of misconception out there about what exactly will keep you full of energy and looking younger. Will the expensive eye cream at your favorite cosmetics counter do it? Will youth be found in a piece of exercise equipment that helps you do hundreds of crunches a day? Or maybe plastic surgery is the route that will give you ageless beauty …
Why Real Ageless Beauty Cannot be Bought
The truth is, no amount of money can buy youth. Youth is as much a state of mind as it is the number of candles on your birthday cake, which is why one of the only ways to truly stay young at heart is to act it. Your mind can be an incredible force to keeping you young, and scientific research bears this out as well.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh analyzed data from more than 100,000 women and found those who were optimistic were:
- 14 percent less likely to die from any cause than pessimists
- 30 percent less likely to die from heart disease after eight years of follow-up
- Less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes or smoke cigarettes
So it is of incredible importance that you do not view “aging” as a crisis, but rather embrace it with each passing year. Being in the moment, living each day to its fullest, will keep you younger longer than any new pill or potion on the market.
As leading meditation expert Mary Maddux states:
“I think what we’ll find is that we can not only do away with some myths about aging which limit our quality of life, but also discover some of the “perks” of aging that we often ignore. There are lots of role models who have led the way for us. Did you know, for example, that:
- Martha Graham danced professionally until she was 76
- Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals at the age of 78
- Georgia O’Keefe continued painting well into her 90s
Vitality in “later life” is not just for the famous. Undoubtedly everyone knows at least one person who is living a vital, fulfilling life “despite” their age. This is really the way it should be — life should become better as we age.”
So a large part of staying young will come from inside your mind … and another significant portion will come from inside your body as well …
.aspx?width=220&height=176) |
A Healthy Lifestyle Will Keep You Young
Your lifestyle choices will go a long way toward whether you look “young” or “old” for your age, which includes several very important but easy to change or add factors for your inner-beauty that will show outwardly — and at the top of the list is your diet.
The adage “you are what you eat” is really true when it comes to staying healthy and beautiful inside and out.
A poor diet is a source of aging from the inside out. Without the proper fuel, your body does not have the nutrients it needs to function properly, let alone use to keep your skin firm, moist and blemish-free. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, will provide you with plenty of antioxidants that will help to protect your skin and overall health.
Are You a Sugar Junky?
Another basic dietary choice that will help you to not only slow down the aging process but also to potentially avoid disease is to cut back on sugar.
Researchers from the University of Jena in Germany blocked worms’ ability to process glucose (a type of sugar), which put them into a metabolic state similar to one you would have if you avoided glucose in your diet. Without glucose, something fascinating happened: the worms increased their lifespan by up to 20 percent, which is the equivalent of 15 years of human life.
It turns out that sugary foods, which are quickly broken down into glucose in your body, may be one of the major players in accelerating the aging process.
In the United States, however, the average person eats a hefty amount of sugar, which when broken down generates glucose. In fact, sugar makes up anywhere from 15 percent to 20 percent of most people’s daily diets! So reducing this amount significantly may help to turn back the clock.
Anti-Aging Benefits of Vitamin E …
If there were an “anti-aging pill,” vitamin E may very well be the closest thing to it.
Vitamin E is a group of fat-soluble compounds that act as antioxidants in your body. Most notable about E, is that it:
- Stops the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) that are created when food is digested and also absorbed in your body from external sources such as air pollution and cigarette smoke. This helps prevent damage to cells.
- Is involved in immune function, cell signaling, regulation of genetic expression and other metabolic processes. It helps your cells to communicate effectively.
- Helps dilate blood vessels and inhibits platelet aggregation, which may reduce the risk of clot formation as well as heart attack and stroke.
Vitamin E even plays a special role in protecting your skin from ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which is one of the leading causes of premature aging of the skin. These benefits occur both when applied topically and ingested via food or supplements. Vitamin E has even been called the “lightening rod” of your cells because UV light can hit it without causing damage to your cells.
You should always strive to get your vitamins and minerals from healthy food sources, but in the case of vitamin E this can be difficult.
To ensure you’re getting the full spectrum of vitamin E, in a form that your body will be able to absorb, supplementation is essential.
What About Sculpting Your Body? 
No discussion of anti-aging techniques would be complete without a mention of exercise, as physical activity will help you lose weight, lower your risk of stroke, cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease, build strong bones, and even keep your sex life strong.
Exercising for as little as four hours a week can actually triple the three-year survival rate of 85-year-olds – the benefits are that profound!
Exercise also tones muscles and helps promote blood flow — necessary for healthy skin and body – and will increase your confidence in your body image, no matter what your age.
Aim for an exercise program that is varied and comprehensive, bringing in components of weight training, aerobics, stretching and core work. Proper stretching is actually one of the most widely recommended methods to help you look and feel younger, live longer, avoid and even overcome serious health issues, and increase your mental concentration and emotional well-being, yet it’s often overlooked.
Fortunately, according to Jacques Gauthier, top stretching expert of the “Stretching Toward a Healthier Life DVD”, stretching should be easy, enjoyable, safe and effective, and better still it takes just 15 to 20 minutes of stretching a day to experience the beneficial effects.
Spend More Time in Bed … Benefits of More Sleep and Sex
… In more ways than one. First, you need regular sleep to stay well, and this includes trying to go to sleep and wake up at similar times every day. If you skimp on sleep, it can actually mimic the aging process.
In fact, University of Chicago researchers found that sleeping for four hours a night for less than seven nights interferes with your ability to process and store carbs, and regulate hormone levels — all of which may lead to aging. Regular exercise will also help to get your sleep schedule on track, just be careful not to exercise too close to bedtime (as this can keep you awake).
Next, don’t underestimate the power of good sex life. Studies have shown that men who had sex at least twice a week lived longer than those who did so less than once a month … and it can also lower your risk of cancer and heart disease while strengthening your immune system.
So grab your partner and spend some quality time in bed together often.
Give Your Brain a Workout
As you work on sculpting your body, you’ll also want to pay some attention to “sculpting your brain.” You can keep your brain functioning at its highest level just by keeping it in shape, just as your muscles improve when you work them out.
“Working out” your brain is only slightly different from working out the rest of your body. If anything, it’s easier because such a wide array of activities is beneficial.
As the saying goes, “Use it or lose it.” It’s thought that some of the forgetfulness and loss of mental acuity that comes along with aging is caused, at least in part, by non-use — so keep learning and thinking, dreaming and creating.
And above all else, simply living, loving and enjoying your life — while keeping your worries to a minimum — will keep you feeling and looking young your whole life through.
“Old people have one advantage compared with young ones. They have been young themselves, and young people haven’t been old.”
–Lord Longford
Sources
