Yes, we can, through diet and exercise, keep ourselves looking younger and feeling fitter, and it does not have to cost a fortune.
It is funny to see how much money some women are prepared to part with for the promise of a beautiful glowing complexion, and they will hand over hard-earned cash for a range of things from fresh snails’ gel! to placenta face mask, which will be madly rubbed into the face hoping to give an instant turned-back-time look!
But instead of spending near enough a week’s wages on these creams that are applied to our skin, we can save fortunes and do it as nature intended, and feed and nourish our skin from inside out. The foods we eat will actually have a great impact on our skin and anti-ageing, so on your shopping list scrub off the snail gels and such, and instead replace them with a super anti-ageing fruit: the Melon. This is incredible for our skin. It has carotenoids, which allow vitamin A to be formed. This is vital for maintaining skin health and protecting skin from oxidative stress (this is what accelerates the internal ageing process and manifests itself externally as those dreaded wrinkles).
So make sure that in your diet you have plenty of fruits and vegetables. And why not make it part of your beauty routine every day to snack on a melon? (Or in other words eat your moisturisers!)
On to the exercise bit. Now this is a must if you want to slow down the ageing process, as exercise helps to stimulate the HGH Hormone (the Human Growth Hormone). This is in full swing and production up until our late twenties, then it starts to slow down! This is why in our 20’s we might get away with always looking amazing, as this little hormone was taking care of us.
But once we enter our 30’s, this hormone becomes very part-time and slows down. But the good news here is we can get it back to full time by exercising, as this helps to stimulate the hormone back to full production. Even if it is just a quick little workout, this will help you to get in shape and tone up. The great thing with exercise is that it enables you to tighten and tone up your body, which will always make you look younger! Try my 4 Minute HIIT THE MENOPAUSE WORKOUT workout as this target those areas that the middle age spread is guilty of sticking to and takes less than 5 minutes!
And don’t forget the face. This is an area we should keep toned also, and here is one of my special neck and jaw toning exercises.
“Lucy’s Facial Toner”: A move which helps to tone the muscle known as the platysma, which runs along the jaw-line and down your neck, joining at your shoulders.
Step 1: Open your mouth wide.
Step 2: Pull your bottom lip tight over your bottom teeth.
Step 3: Move your lower jaw up and down. Repeat this exercise 20 times at first, adding further repetitions as your facial muscles get stronger.
Other techniques include the chewing of gum, as this involves the jaw muscles, and you should always sit or stand with good posture, as this activates the muscles in your neck and jaw.
We may not be able to stop the clock, but we can start looking younger as we age, and more importantly get healthy, and it does not have to be under the knife or cost a fortune.
Some other simple tricks:-
Always look after your hair and avoid short layers, as they can be ageing.
With make-up, go more for oil-based foundations than matt ones, and avoid dark red lipsticks and go more for rosy and neutral ones. (Less is more.)
And finally posture: it’s possible to stand young, and a great way to do this is to simply imagine someone had dropped an ice cube down your back. See how you instantly stand straight!
Lucy x
