Save on Beauty…..Secrets to Keeping A Youthful Look!

I am usually told that I look like I’m in my late 20′s however, I am actually shy of 40. It feels good to look younger, but sometimes it can have it’s drawbacks.  I suppose it depends on the scenario.  At work, I sometimes have a hard time convincing people and leading a team who are actually in reality within the same age range.  In other words, some people treat me like a kid and won’t accept that I have some wisdom (they talk about me being too young to know much!) Luckily, I now have a boss who is 10 years younger and can relate to my pain so he encourages me to just be myself. I know that at the end of the day what matters is I was able to deliver and execute and they can all look beyond my youthful appearance.

It is important for us to take care of ourselves early on.  The key to this is to live a healthy lifestyle because this will show up on your face — and help you live longer, too. A study of elderly adult twins showed a connection between looks and longevity. The younger looking of each pair was more likely to outlive his or her doppelganger. In the study, volunteers looked at photos of twins and tried to guess their ages. Seven years later, the twins who were guessed to be older had the higher mortality rate.

So how can we take care of ourselves? The fresh-faced twins had something else going for them: longer telomeres — those protective little coverings on the ends of DNA that dictate how soon cells will die. As we get older, our telomeres get shorter, making them a pretty good marker of cellular aging. The good news is that there’s plenty you can do to keep your telomeres long and boost your odds of a long life. Of note is that Telomeres made headlines last fall when three American scientists won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009 for discovering them and exploring their role in health and aging.  According to their study, Cells age as telomeres get shorter, and conversely, they don’t age when telomerase activity is high and protects telomere length.

 From geriatricandaging.com

Here are some pointers I follow to keep your telomeres long:

• Keep stress levels at a low.  It may be easier said than done but the most stressed-out women have enough telomere shortening to make themselves 10 years older (including wrinkling!); moms of disabled children also tend to have shortened telomeres. So do pessimists! Researchers have shown that meditation coupled with walking and a change in diet — toward healthy choices only — lengthens your telomeres. Others are now studying whether mindfulness meditation alone can preserve telomere length. We already know that the technique can help you with the next factor that keeps telomeres young.
• Be Positive! Worrying about pounds, food choices, and calories is associated with shorter telomeres, according to a University of California, San Francisco, study of constant dieters. Step off the diet roller coaster and achieve a consistent lower weight (and longer telomeres) with exercise and a meal plan packed with mindful eating plus healthful vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low-fat dairy, lean protein, and good fats from foods including fish, nuts, and avocados.
• Keep Moving and Be Active. Inactive people have shorter telomeres than active people. The difference is enough to age the sitting-around crowd by an extra decade. Take a walk for at least 30 minutes a day. Physical activity can also help reduce belly fat, another telomere foe.
• DO NOT SMOKE!!! Smoking two packs a day for 20 years aged participants in one telomere study by an additional 7.4 years. Your telomeres aren’t the only reason you need to nix tobacco. Smoking messes with everything from your lungs (of course) to your heart, and even your wrinkles and your sex life — and everything in between.
• Mediterranean DIET. Eat a diet rich in delectable vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and healthy fats. Telomeres, in one study, were longest in those eating the most vitamin C-rich foods, including citrus fruit, strawberries, and red bell peppers; and vitamin E-rich foods, such as whole grains. Add salmon and trout, olive oil, and a cup of tea — or two or three. Researchers in Hong Kong found the longest telomeres in men who drank three cups of green, or sometimes black, tea a day.

I keep it a point to do the above on a regular basis and even pass them onto my husband and kids.  I know that one day, they will thank me for it.  I also just need to note that I do use face creams as part of my daily routine and good make-up which I will discuss another time.  But for now, stress less, exercise more, and go Mediterranean will probably be the most basic you can get to keeping a healthy glow.