Look Younger for Longer!

It’s a myth that to be healthy and look younger you need to be rake thin. In fact, a healthy appearance requires a certain amount of body fat, so don't be too focused on losing weight in general. If you don’t provide your body with enough healthy fats, proteins, and carbohydrates to support healthy metabolic activity, the body is smart and goes into starvation mode. Get too thin and you won’t feel good and you won’t look good, either.

Healthy Skin is an Inside Job.

Your skin will age with time, but there are things we can all do to stay looking younger for longer. Healthy fats should be included in every meal you eat along with other nutrient rich foods. Leafy greens and other green vegetables are loaded with the micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and antioxidants) required for youthful-looking skin. Look at the anatomy of the skin below. It's alive and needs to be nourished with Water and Clean Whole Foods. The skin needs these Micronutrients.

Antioxidants and Micronutrients Keep Skin Healthy

Research shows that Vitamins A, C, D, E along with omega-3 fatty acids promote beauty and healthy skin. While some changes are inevitable with time, there are all sorts of things we can do to prevent damage caused by external factors. Avoiding extensive sun damage and not smoking, for example, make a huge difference in terms of slowing down the aging process in your skin.

While Botox and other injections may provide a quick, temporary fix for your aging skin in an attempt to focus on certain body parts and areas of the body. They aren’t solutions that address some of the underlying causes of unnecessary skin aging. Mixing botox with subcutaneous fat? Into a living organ? Crazy... Listen to what Cindy Crawford has done, who looks fabulous even as she enters her fifth decade understands this. In an interview in the Daily Mail she said, “'The secret is that there is no secret. Do all the stuff we know: Don’t smoke, get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, find what makes you happy.” So many people only focus on weight loss rather than nourishing the body correctly and as she said, do the simple things we all know.

Cummings Eats Her Way to a New Face

Whitney Cummings, actor and comedian understands just how much difference it makes to be carrying enough healthy body fat to fill out under the skin and provide a healthy glow and bounce. As she says in this Today Show interview, she ate her way to a new face. Cummings is making fun of herself in the interview, but too many of us are afraid of what’s actually a healthy body fat percentage. The truth is, not only is an optimal amount of body fat healthy, finding the sweet spot will make you look younger and better total body appearance and not to mention health muscle mass and bone density. A healthy percentage of body fat is key so don't forget about your essential body fat.

Weights and Protein Shakes to Add Healthy Weight

After putting up with comments about being underweight for years, Australian model Cassi Van Den Dungen decided to put on weight. Because she’s naturally slim and finds it hard to gain and keep weight on, she added weight training to her regular fitness program and started having a protein shake every day at lunch to boost calories. In an article in The Queensland Times she says,"I feel like I've achieved it. I'm really proud of where I've gotten to.” The modelling industry is recognising that too thin is not healthy and in some places, models are now required to provide a doctor’s note confirming that they have an appropriate Body Mass Index (BMI).

Ignore the Comparisons and Trash Talk

While models live in the public eye, few of us are immune to comments and comparisons, not only from others, but from within as well. How many of us (men and women) have had to try to tune out an inner voice that says we are too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too bald, too whatever? It’s hard to fully accept who you are and what you look like. The only thing that should matter is that you are supporting your body as you strive to become the healthiest, best version of you! Not according to what anybody else thinks, but so you will be happy when you look at yourself in the mirror and know that you are aging gracefully, happy with who you are. Mental clarity, plenty of energy, the strength to engage in the activities you enjoy - those are the measures that matter, not how others judge you.

Don't put yourself down, but lift yourself up, get active, eat great healthy meals with protein, carbs and fats.

Keep these three tips in mind and you’ll look and feel younger for longer.

1. Eat Complete Meals and Snacks

Include all three macronutrients (carbs, proteins, and fats) in every meal and snack. Variety is, indeed, the spice of life! Eat whole, natural foods and stay away from processed foods full of sugar, additives, and unhealthy fats.

2. Get Active

Several short workouts every day [link to post] will do wonders when it comes to optimizing your fitness level. Getting your blood pumping moves nutrients to where they are needed, including to your skin, and removes toxins so they can be flushed from the body. Staying well-hydrated also helps this process.

3. Rest and Meditation

Determine how much sleep you need and guard those sleep hours zealously. I know it’s tempting to cheat and get up a few minutes early or stay up a bit later, but really, good quality sleep is essential for your body to heal, rest, recover and rejuvenate. Related to good sleep hygiene is managing your stress levels. Meditate every morning before you walk out the door - 20 minutes will set you up for a great day. Learn some simple breathing techniques and use them throughout the day whenever you begin to feel on edge.

Your lifestyle today determines how you will age down the road, so maintaining a healthy body weight and body fat percentage is key. Before you can make adjustments to your diet or fitness program, you should know where you’re starting. If you would like to get a scan done, I recommend either of these options. Bioelectric Impedance Analysis, a Dexa or Inbody Scan. Knowing your body composition is important for when you want to achieve body fat loss. But the most important is to use the same measuring method each time, so your results are true overtime.

Then, incorporate the three strategies above and make use of quality supplements like Life Grip’s Grass Fed Whey Protein powder for your smoothies or our 5 Greens supplement that provides you with a quick and easy source of those precious leafy greens.