5 ways to feel 10 years younger
Have you ever felt like you were suddenly feeling older than you wanted? You hit your mid-40’s and all of the sudden it hits you…you can’t easily lose weight like you used to and added weight seems to come out of nowhere. Your energy levels plummet and you find yourself wanting to take afternoon naps when you never did before. Your monthly cycle starts doing weird things. You do not want to play with your kids as much and are happy to get them off to bed.
This is what I have felt like these last few years. Humbled. Feeling suddenly…older.
After many trials and errors I found myself going back to the basics and here are 5 things I have found that are helping me to feel 10 years younger again…
1. Kickstart your metabolism.
At first when I started putting on some post 40 mom weight, I thought I could fix it by eating less and for sure eating fewer carbs and going more “keto”. I think that is what a lot of women do these days. But after a number of years doing this, I actually think I hurt my metabolism overall and made it less flexible.
I recently got a Lumen (this is not an affiliate link – I do not represent them) device and I honestly cannot believe how little I was eating before. No wonder I was getting tired in the afternoons. I was not fueling my body enough. I am now eating more every day – especially a very large breakfast and lunch – and am feeling a lot better and I am not snacking as much. I clearly was hungry before and it was making me crave more sugar. I now eat a low carb dinner but eat more carbs at breakfast and lunch all at the recommendation of my Lumen.
Of course it isn’t just any carbs that should be consumed at this age…but complex and healthy carbs. Eating processed sugar is never ok. What I am talking about here is fresh milled flour from whole heritage grains. Carbs are essential for life but when the wrong ones are eaten in excess it tips the scales in the wrong direction. They key is understanding how to help your metabolism be flexible enough to wake in the morning burning more fat than carbs on a regular basis. This allows our liver to have a break and allows us to detox properly. Having a device like Lumen has helped me to see when my body needs to eat what carbs and how many at various points in the day.
2. Flood your cells with antioxidants.
Have you ever noticed that older people actually smell different? As we age we quite literally age as in like a stinky cheese. Our fats oxidize and go rancid and the proteins in our body become caramelized. The build up of rancid fats and denatured proteins is caused by free radicals. Free radicals are from how our metabolism burns carbs for fuel, what we eat, and pollutants in our atmosphere (aka what we breathe).
Our cells are bombarded by these free radicals and elderly people with junky old greased up cells produce more pollutants than younger people. So how do we counteract this as we age?
We FLOOD our body with antioxidants. My favorite whole food antioxidant supplement is wolfberry juice. This is a variety of goji berry but is actually better than goji. Wolfberry is a SUPER juice because it is made from whole wolfberry fruit which has the highest levels of antioxidant power measured of any food and has been shown to almost completely reverse DNA and oxidative damage caused by free radicals.
Wolfberry juice actually helps reduce the build up of rancid fat in our bodies. Protecting our cells from this oxidation of fats is key to slowing down the aging process. Whole fruit wolfberry juice also helps our cells live longer. How cool is that? I drink about 4-6 ounces of woldberry juice daily and I get it here.
3. Get your minerals.
Minerals are key to every single human body because vitamins cannot be used by our bodies without the aid of minerals. Our bodies also cannot make minerals, we have to ingest them. Minerals are key in helping our bodies balance electrolytes in our cells which forms the foundation for our health and wellness. More than half of all Americans are mineral deficient.
I knew this and yet I did not consistently take any minerals daily…until 3 months ago when I started taking these daily. It took me getting one of these adorable and trendy 30 oz water bottles to finally be consistent. I simply add my super juice and minerals to water and sip all day. It tastes delicious and I end up drinking a ton of water too! Win win. These are the minerals I take daily. I do 5 half droppers in my my 30 oz bottle of water and super juice.
4. Use the sun to charge your batteries.
I love this one because it is FREE and anyone can do it. I dragged myself out of bed to see the sunrise every morning and went outside to see the sunset each night and after 3 days I felt my circadian rhythm reset and then my energy truly kicked into high gear. For the first time in over 3 years, I actually wanted to exercise again. I wasn’t craving an afternoon nap or an afternoon sugar or caffeine bump.
Our eyes have receptors for the sunlight. At sunrise and sunset we get a special dose of infrared and red light therapy … for free. And you do not even need to see the sun directly or sit in the sun. You can be in the shade. I simply sit under my covered patio or walk down my block which is heavily treed and my eyes do the work for me. Just make sure you do not wear any glasses or sit inside where the sun is blocked by windows. If you are in your car simply roll down the window or open that sunroof and remove your sunglasses.
Most of what we see these days is artificial light and our bodies legit do not know what time it is. The bright artificial light makes our bodies think it is noon all the time and this forces us to produce more stress hormones. Not good.
Experiencing the sun during these times will completely change your health for the better. Did you know when you see the sunrise, your body starts to make more melanin which can help you not get a sunburn later in the day? Our bodies are truly a miracle. Sun gazing is a lifestyle change that costs nothing. I downloaded an app here called Circadian which notifies me what exact time sunrise and sunset is wherever I am. It also helps me to turn off any artificial light (like from my phone) at night so that I can sleep better.
5. Get your B vitamins.
Inflammation and oxidative stress rob our bodies of B vitamins. And we truly do not get enough of them. We need B vitamins for energy and to help our poor liver to process all the toxins from our food and just daily life. I am quite sure someone could explain this better than me but that is how I understand this complex process. I do not know all I know is adding B vitamins consistently to my daily routine has helped a ton.
Did you know there are a lot of natural B vitamins in fresh milled grains? Years ago when white flour became a Big Food commodity and was mass produced, all of the natural B vitamins were removed so that white flour would become more shelf stable for longer periods of time. Synthetic B vitamins were added that oxidize and aren’t very well assimilated into our bodies.
It is very beneficial to mill your own flour at home and use it for baking right away so you can take advantage of those B vitamins as God intended them to be. Only then will you understand why grains were always seen as the staff of life. Fresh milled grains truly do provide 99% of the essential nutrients (vitamins and minerals) we need. Learn more about fresh milling here. Grab some B vitamins here.
I challenge you.
As you can see, all of these 5 ways to feel 10 years younger are just getting back to the basics of health. You can try any kind of diet you want but if your body is devoid of key nutrients and minerals…you are going to speed ahead in that aging process. Only when you help fuel your body with what it needs can you slow down that process and truly feel younger.
And so I challenge you to join me in this journey. It helps to keep my accountable as well. I run a monthly “feel 10 years younger challenge”. You can customize additional add ins for various health goals. Read all about that here. Click to join the challenge here.
