5 Wellness Secrets to Slow Aging and Feel Great

Chances are if you take a look at older people around you will find various circumstances that can provoke your senses about aging. When you think about aging even if you are just 30 years old, how do you feel? The constant media sound bites to purchase a ton of wrinkle creams, sexual energy booster pills, ask you doctor for even more medication and have your food delivered to maintain your weight. And of course you can always nip and tuck… Isn't this daunting? Here are a few ideas to lift your spirit. Start with nourishment. It is the source of human energy. Insist on only eating fresh food about 80% of the time. Make a major effort to eat well while you are younger. Let’s consider the food wise way, without pain suffering and lifetime medication. An improper diet will gradually disrupt all your organ systems. Usually premature aging give clues such as hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, lack of resistance to cold and flu viruses, skin problems, stomach ailments, brittle nails and weight gain. Train your mind to separate nourishment from desire so that you can make food wise choices 90% of the time. If not you might be looking at aging symptoms earlier than you think. Purposely seek to boost energy. Exercise helps. A friend of mine took up dancing after a divorce and a diagnosis of IBS. This activity turned his health around, and in no time he was in love, looking and feeling younger than ever. While his last kid was getting ready to go off to college, he was getting married to his new love. Sure you can join the gym, but there are plenty of other chances to move, like walk the dog, yoga, bike riding any thing that increase your heart beat and helps regulate your energy. Regularity counts. Forget about parking a long way from the door at the grocery store. You need a movement rhythm to your life. Something you can look forward to doing 3 or 4 times per week. This will keep your metabolic rate up as you use all the food you eat to build muscle and less fat. Change your dieting attitude. A new attitude can help you resist fad diets and have a richer relationship with yourself. Run away from fad diets and companies that make food for you. This is dis-empowering. Seek out foods that boost your immunity, bones and brain power. You will then stay well and slow your aging. Miss this and you will eventually be asking your doctor for some medication for aging ailments. Live the 'no shelf life' life. Learn to cook. People who cook are in control of their energy and therefore their power. Foods with shelf life ingredients cause wear and tear on the body. Humans do not have the genetic coding ability to metabolize them. They end up as debris in our joints causing inflammation and the aches and pains associated with aging. Can you really look forward to this? Consider cooking beneficial foods that are new to you. If you like Chinese food but never bought ginger. Find recipes and make a dish with ginger. Ginger will boost your immune capacity and nothing slows aging like a full functioning immune system. You might never have to fight cancer! Visualize your future. Develop a clear vision of you as an older person looking 15 years younger. People always guess my age to be 45 and I am in my 60's. What will you wear? Clothes to cover up a fat belly or something stylish that will show of your figure. Go through magazines and pick out older people that look terrific. A good magazine to people watch is Town and Country. Resist looking at prepared food model spoke persons. The always seem to gain the weight back it must be the shelf life. Declare a new personal philosophy of how you will approach each day of your life from now on. Resolve to have a quiet mind so you can experience peace. Some people might even call this seeking a higher spiritual level. Use these two tried and true methods - Keeping a journal of your progress and clearing your mind with meditation. It takes a huge hunk of generosity of spirit to change a habit. How generous will you be with yourself? This is not the 30 day diet. Remember aging is a continuous process so the refinement to slow aging is continuous. The ultimate goal of this process is contentment. Will you still need every fad diet that comes along or will your level of contentment put a stop to all food cravings?

How thin people think about food

I got this request: Looking for experts who can answer some questions/provide some insight into the way thin people think and provide tips to help readers shift from “fat thinking” to “thin thinking.” For example, thin people rarely feel the need to finish everything on their plate, and when eating, they focus on the physical feelings in their bodies (fullness, hunger) rather than emotional feelings (anxiety, sadness). I'm looking for quotes, so answers should be complete, interesting and well-developed (but short). Email only. Here is what I answered - There are healthy thin people and unhealthy thin people I am a healthy thin person. I am 5’ 4 and I keep my weight at a healthy 128 – 130 lbs for the past 40 years. I am also a wellness coach and author of an award winning cookbook. Thin healthy people have a set rhythm of eating that boost metabolic rate. For example I eat 5 times a day - breakfast, snack, lunch snack, dinner. Thin people actually make an effort to make healthy choices and they do not rely on the same fast food diet every day. Thin people have adapted to thinking of food as nourishment, and not simple as pleasure or stifling emotions. Thin people seek out markets and business that serve fresh food and in great variety. For example a restaurant that not only serves chicken or beef but will have turkey, quail, crab, lobster and shrimp in the menu. Thin people think seriously about portion control. They make an effort to choose portions that are in keeping with what they estimate will help them maintain a healthy weight.

Food and Celebration, Rituals and Traditions

Life in society is made up of traditions. Usually traditions are carried out with celebration and rituals. By the time we celebrate our first birthday, we get our first taste of the foods of celebration: ice cream and cake. As we get used to the traditions of our country and ethnicity, we realize that food is a vital part of maintaining traditions. Starting with Christopher Columbus and his crew, we want to carry our food with us wherever we move, adding it to another country’s own celebrations and traditions. I did not grow up with Halloween. But before I became enamored with wellness I used to raid my kids trick or treat bags. Celebration and traditional foods are associated with fun and comfort. I would say that most of them could even be called “fun foods” or “comfort foods.” Most comfort or fun foods are made with simple carbohydrates like sugar and are combined with fats like butter, such as ice cream, cake, and pastries and chocolates. I would not even consider suggesting that you eliminate these from your diet. However, I would say consider what they represent, and notice how often in a day or a week you are seeking joy or comfort from such food. Ask yourself why and what else is possible for you to create comfort and joy on a daily basis. It’s not the once-per-year Valentine or Easter candy, or the various birthdays, that can harm a balanced diet, but your daily rituals. Check and see how often in one day you reach for that sweetened drink, even if it is sugar-free. If you perceive that you are feeding your sweet tooth, you are out of the realm of celebration and into cravings or addiction with food. Becoming aware of your problem with a certain food is the first step to easing out of such an addiction and moving towards what you want to experience for yourself. Since most of our cravings develop in childhood because of the beliefs and traditions that were imposed upon us, we unconsciously accept them as the truth. This is your chance to examine your beliefs consciously, to see if it is true that the foods and traditions you are clinging to still bring you comfort, joy and good health. Or, consider if you are afraid that you would be missing out on something wonderful without them. If you become aware of having a difficult time with food cravings, and can’t imagine making the food changes you want without difficulty, you might want to seek guidance. Authors like Wayne Dyer’s who once had to deal with alcohol addiction show us in his book, Your Sacred Self, new possibilities for you. He teaches you how to notice what you do and how to change, now that you know better. With the help and guidance of these books, pretty soon the change will seem effortless. You can even make up your own celebration menus that support the life you want to create in order to maintain your youthfulness. My quest was one for maintaining health as well as youthfulness and so my book, Eat Yourself Younger Effortlessly, was born.