10 Easy Steps You Can Take to Fight Aging Now

May 31, 2008 by Sophia Mendelsohn  
Filed under Tips and Techniques

It seems like a thousand different factors affect how we age. Diet, habits, products, lifestyle. It can be overwhelming. So even if you spend hundreds on fancy supplements and stock up on tons of skin care products, you’re probably missing out on some of the most important products and most effective practices for anti-aging.

Are you doing everything you can to look and feel younger? Read on to find out.

Healthy Eating

Of everything you can do to stay young and live longer, eating well has the most dramatic anti-aging effect. If you don’t eat well, it’s impossible to stay healthy. Make some of the following changes to your diet to look better, feel sexier, and live longer.

1. Eat Antioxidants: Eating five servings of antioxidants a day can prevent cancer, lower blood pressure, protect the heart, and keep skin young-looking for longer. Add some berries, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, and garlic to your diet to up your antioxidant intake.

2. Drink Antioxidants: In Japan, they up their life expectancy with tons of green and white tea. In long-lived France in Spain, they guzzle antioxidant rich red wine. Drink 4 cups of green or white tea and one glass of red wine a day.

3. Add Fiber: Eat 25 grams of fiber a day from fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains to help prevent colon cancer and keep impurities from building up.

4. Add Healthy Fats: Good fat is good for you. Add plenty of Omega 3 fatty acids (found in walnuts, flax seeds, salmon, hemp, and spirolina algae) into you diet, along with 1 to 2 daily tablespoons of heart-healthy olive oil. Just be careful not to overheat olive oil, as you’ll erase some of its health benefits.

5. Take Vitamins: Most of us do not get enough vitamins in our diet. Keep your body healthier longer by eating or taking the recommended dosages of the following vitamins, minerals, and supplements:

  • Calcium (600 mg twice daily)
  • Magnesium (200 mg twice daily)
  • Vitamin D (1,000 units daily)
  • Multivitamin (half a tablet morning and night)
  • DHA Omega 3 (600mg daily)
  • Baby aspirin (162 mg daily)

Women who are pre-menopausal also need iron and 5,000 daily units of Vitamin A. Post-menopausal women (and men) need half that amount.

Healthy Body

In order to be healthy and stay young longer, exercise is key. To keep old age at bay (and look great, too), use this anti-aging exercise checklist.

6. Strengthen your Heart: Getting your heart rate up keeps your heart healthy. Find your target heart rate by subtracting your age from 220 and multiplying that number by 0.80. Get to that rate at least three times a week.

7. Strengthen your Muscles: Do at least 30 minutes of strength training each week to prevent muscle loss and keep bones strong.

Healthy Mind

Your mind and emotions truly do have an effect on you how you feel– and how you age. To keep your mind and body young, try:Fight Aging Steps

8. Meditation: Set aside just five minutes a day for yoga, prayer, or general meditation. It sets the mind at ease and relaxes blood vessels by releasing nitric oxide.

9. Sleep: Get those seven to eight hours a day, even if you don’t think you have time.

10. Monogamous Sex: Get intimate with your partner 2 to 3 times a week to stay close, stay happy, and stay young.

A Close Look at the Top Two Anti-Wrinkle Creams on the Market Today

May 31, 2008 by Sophia Mendelsohn  
Filed under Best Brands, Kinerase, Obagi

With so many new anti wrinkle creams and products now available, deciding which one to use can be a somewhat difficult task at times. Even so, not all of the new generation of skincare and treatment products work the same, so what works for one person may in fact, not work as well for another persons particular skin condition.

This is why virtually all of the major skin care product manufacturers have a wide range of anti wrinkle creams available to accommodate all of the various skin types and conditions that afflict them. Also, the active ingredients that are in their products such as retinol come in various concentrations as well.

Kinerase Anti-Wrinkle Creams

Kinerase made its debut with a revolutionary line of anti wrinkle creams and skin care products in 1999. Since that time their product line has been growing, Kinerase Pro+Therapy C6 Peptide with Kinetin & Zeatinalong with the level of acceptance that they have been receiving from the public. What separates Kinerase products and anti wrinkle creams from similar products on the market, is that Kinerase products contain Kinetin which is a natural active ingredient.

Kinerase Pro+Therapy C6 Peptide with Kinetin & Zeatin

Kinetin is produced and extracted from plant life and it is what plants use to protect themselves from the harmful effects of the sun as well as the harsh environment that they live in. Also, Kinetin has excellent repairative properties as well. Kinerase anti wrinkle creams with Kinetin have been shown in numerous clinical studies to be highly effective in increasing the production of collagen and elestine in age and sun damaged skin.

The Top Anti-Wrinkle Cream from Obagi

Obagi ELASTIderm Night Eye CreamObagi is another relatively new name in the skin care market place. It is their Elastiderm Eye Cream that is making the latest buzz in the anti-wrinkle cream market, because are people claiming to be getting remarkable results from it. Its a bi-mineral complex called Copper Zinc Malonate that is the main active ingredient in this product and recent clinical trials have verified what its users have been saying and that is that it works.


Obagi ELASTIderm Night Eye Cream

The thin skin around the eyes and lips tends to be very vulnerable to to damage from the sun. Its the thinning of a layer that lies below the surface called the dermal-epidermal-junction that is responsible for the formation of crows feet wrinkles around these areas. However; this same thin skin seems to be the most responsive to effective anti-wrinkle creams. You must make sure that you only use an anti wrinkle cream that is formulated for use around your eyes or they can become irritated. Find more information about Obagi products here.

Anti-Aging Skin Care: Our 12-Step Checklist

May 6, 2008 by Sophia Mendelsohn  
Filed under Features

What you put on your skin and what you put in your body both have a huge effect on how you age– and how good your skin looks as you do it. Want your skin to look younger longer? Use this skin care checklist to make sure you’re doing everything you can.

Change Your Diet

1. Out with the Bad & In with the Good. What you eat has a huge effect on how you look. Reduce the amount of sugar, trans fats, and processed foods you eat– they break down collagen and elastin, dramatically aging your skin. Replace the bad stuff with plenty of antioxidant-rich foods and Omega 3 fatty acids.A Great Diet

Antioxidants neutralize the free-radicals that age skin, while Omega 3’s help to reduce inflammation (redness and swelling) and give your skin a healthy glow.

2. Hydrate. According to most experts, you need at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day. Drinking plenty of water keeps the skin hydrated and the body functioning better.

3. Add Some Vitamins. Think about adding at least a daily multivitamin to your diet. Really want to see the effect of taking vitamins on your skin? Try an anti-aging skin care vitamin with antioxidants, Vitamin C, and essential fatty acids.

Keep the Sun Out

4. Wear Sunscreen Daily. Nothing ages skin quite like too much sun exposure. So wear a zinc oxide sunscreen every single day– even if you’re not planning on spending much time outside.

5. Get Big Glasses. Large sunglasses with 100% UV protection are great for looking chic… but they also protect the delicate skin around the eyes from sun damage.

Put on Some Products

6. Add Topical Skin Care Products. Most skin care products out there don’t do much. But some, such as retnoids (generally sold in the form or prescription creams), do have an obvious effect on your skin. Also think about adding topical antioxidants, peptides, and plenty of moisturizer.

7. Boxtox It. Want to combat the wrinkles you already have? Consider getting Botox injections around the eyes or the forehead to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. A bonus? Botox also acts to prevent wrinkles.

Cut Out Bad Habits

Mr. Sun8. Don’t Over-Worship the Sun. Love to sun-bathe on a hot summer day, or go to the tanning booth all winter to get a warm summer-looking tan? Don’t. More than 15 minutes a day of prolonged sun exposure will age your skin.

9. Just Say No. Are you a smoker or a heavy drinker? Cut it out. Alcohol dehydrates the body, and smoking in particular ages your skin dramatically– even over-exposure to second-hand smoke can do plenty of damage.

10. Don’t let Stress Take Over. Too much stress can actually age your skin. How? High stress levels raise the amount of a hormone called cortisol in the body– and this hormone has an effect on your skin’s appearance.

Change your Lifestyle

11. Get Exercise. Any activity that affects the health of your body will affect the health of your skin. Making sure to exercise regularly will relieve stress and improve your body’s circulation and overall health.

12. Get some Z’s. Think you’re too busy to sleep? Think again. To improve the tone of your skin, you need to get seven to nine hours of sleep a night. When the body gets enough rest, wrinkles and under-eye circles are less noticeable and hormones (which have a huge affect on skin) are better-regulated.

You Can Do Without Anti-Aging Miracle Cures

May 3, 2008 by Sophia Mendelsohn  
Filed under Features

Oprah Anti-AgingWhat’s all this fuss about anti-aging? What happened to the Sophia Loren attitude of aging gracefully, throwing your cares to the wind and wearing your skin as is? Unless you live out on the prairie, you may have caught the anti-aging fever yourself.

If you consider yourself a disciple of Oprah’s ‘anti-aging product of the month’ club, then you’re probably in too deep, and only a smack in the face would help you (this is not to bash Oprah’s credibility though, but sometimes the craze she lets on can cause irrational mass hysteria).

Even men, not necessarily metrosexuals, have joined in the anti-aging bandwagon. But as crazy as this may seem to you, our parents got along fine before all these miracle potions gushed out of the marketing machinery; and look how ruddy and in the pink of health they appear on those sepia pictures. To be sure, there are a number of products out there which do work (though they won’t be mentioned for fear of incurring the wrath of their competitors); but the best things in life are absolutely free, or at least very affordable.

Ever wondered why all the most hardnosed nutritionists tell people to take in as much water as they can, and nobody seems to catch on except the truly fitness-conscious? It’s because water is so abundant that we take it for granted; but the body is made up of ninety percent water, and isn’t it common sense to replenish your stores with the same substance you lost in the first place?

Many don’t hesitate to pop vitamin pills into their mouths, but shrink away at the mere sight of a broccoli sprout. Those who opt for a gentle scrub foam have no qualms in getting their faces ‘sanded’ with dermabrasion. It’s like a culture of contradictions.

Why not go back to lifestyle of the good old days, despite the complexity of modern life? Our ancestors lived long fruitful lives, so they must have done something right. Get off the couch and exercise in the morning sun like you haven’t done before, and cut back on the night life and get some solid, decent sleep for a change.

Stress is one of the major causes of skin breakouts and wrinkling, so let loose and laugh, even if life wouldn’t let you. There’s a reason why phony anti-aging products continue to flourish like sponge spores; the people behind the curtains want to you get anxious enough about your age so that you’ll take the next opportunity to mask it, when the truth it is that everybody ages, and all you can do is embrace it. You don’t see Meryl Streep gawking at the anti-aging frenzy, and you shouldn’t be too enthusiastic about the buzz as well.

Believe the Hype: Antioxidants Do Delay Aging

May 3, 2008 by Sophia Mendelsohn  
Filed under Diets and Nutrition

While the prospect of eternal life seems a rather morbid prospect for most people, a much-extended longevity is all the more appealing. Everyone essentially wants to grow younger instead of older, but the human body unfortunately isn’t built that way. One of the quirks of nature is that it wants you enjoy life for what it is, because you have a relatively brief time with it. Well, you won’t go down without a fight, you might say; and modern discoveries give you just that – a fighting chance.

You may be fed up with all the rant which antioxidants receive nowadays, but at least the phenomenon is no mere hype. If you haven’t already known, it turns out that there are elements within the human body which want it to break down – decay, if you can pardon the term. These so-called free radicals propagate within the body inevitably, and since Murphy’s Law is applicable to every cell within your body, an unhealthy lifestyle surely won’t help. Here’s where antioxidants help – sure, the body can regenerate its cells even without proper nutrition, but that’s just one of the wonders of nature which you don’t want to gamble with; you have to aid in the effort by taking in foods rich in antioxidant agents.

Anti-Aging AntioxidantsFree radicals are foreign substances which can be obtained from exhaust and fumes, food preservatives, and carcinogenic substances such as burnt food. Although it is improbable in today’s complex life not to be exposed to these, you can otherwise counter its effects by eating fresh foods for a change. Anything green and leafy (and edible) is a source of antioxidants, as well as a wide variety of fruits – any fruit or berry will do as long as it is fresh; you might also want to put away the paring knife, as fruit skins are thick with antioxidants. This is the reason why fruit stays for so long in your kitchen table unpeeled, and practically rots within the day when skinned.

Skeptics may scoff, but the tech is true. Studies have shown that foods which rank high in the antioxidant assay test effectively slow down the aging process, both in the body and the brain. Spinach does boost your mental and physical capacities after all. Of course, the obvious extreme of an infestation of free radicals within the system is cancer, and you wouldn’t want to venture into that tough arena. Basically, it all comes down to one tip – have a healthy lifestyle, and eat a balanced diet. That’s it. If your meals are healthy in the first place, you wouldn’t even have to count your antioxidant intake, and you won’t have to worry about laugh lines, because they wouldn’t show – well, not yet anyway. You can only hope for as much.

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