by patricia on May 29, 2012
“You are what you eat.” We all heard that growing up, yet still so many of us struggle with the life-long lesson. So today I am sharing my top 10 foods that will help us all of us stay young….providing a little more time to enjoy life!
- Celery- Within this simple veggie there is a chemical that helps to expand blood vessels lowering our overall blood pressure…with as few as 4 stalks a day. PLUS, celery contains a protein that helps with anxiety and insomnia (both of which cause premature ageing). So when packing a snack for work, throw in some celery!
- Quinoa- This power food actually amazes me. For many vegetarians, it is hard to find plant foods that have all the necessary amino acids. Quinoa totally solves their problem! It contains all the essential amino acids, a great range of minerals and vitamin B giving your body the fuel it needs to renew skin, hair, teeth, nails, bones and organs. It also contains Omega-6 fatty acids which help to fight off inflammation. All of which helps our body to stay young! Another cool fact…Quinoa is actually a seed and not a grain making it a great alternative for vegetarians who can’t tolerate wheat or gluten.
- Cilantro – You are constantly exposed to metals in our body but with the help of this delicious herb, you can fight back. Studies show that Cilantro helps to breakdown the buildup of toxins in your body, bones and blood which may cause symptoms associated with anxiety, poor memory, skin complaints, insomnia and depression. So not only does it protect our liver from these toxins, it helps fight invaders looking to compromise our immune system…like an ageing super hero.
- Avocados – A true superfood, avocados help to keep our hearts, eyes, brain and liver healthy as well as helping to keep our skin looking youthful by fighting off wrinkles and changes in pigment. I even like to save the outer peel to run on my elbows or give myself a quick facial. Fantastic and yummy!
- Turmeric – Traditionally used in Chinese and Indian medicine for many years, this well-known Indian spice hasn’t found its way into everyone’s spice rack…BUT it should! Statistics have shown that heart disease, inflammatory diseases like arthritis and cancer are much lower than those in the West and it may be due to the high levels of turmeric in the Indian diet. Its active compound, Curcumin, helps to prevent multiple sclerosis, most digestive disorders and Alzheimer’s disease and more. If you don’t have it….get it! [read more…]
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by patricia on May 8, 2012
During Super Soul Sunday, Deepak Chopra told all of us that there are 10 specific things we can do to change our age…and none of them require expensive creams or surgeries where we inject toxic diseases into our bodies. Even more than fighting the clock, we have the ability to live more peacefully. By following these ten “action steps” detailed by Deepak Chopra in his book, Grow Younger, Live Longer, we all can turn back the hands of time.
Here are his 10 suggestions:
- Change your perceptions of your body, its aging, and of time. Raised in a society focused on our body image, it is rare to find someone that has a healthy body image. We all need to make the shift and think of our bodies as an energy fields, rather than flesh and bones. For instance, if we are always in a hurry, it can actually speed up our biological clock. Instead we need to be telling ourselves every day that we are increasing our physical and mental capacity…and then we need to do it. “People don’t grow old. When they stop growing, they become old.”
- Get deep rest. There are two kinds of rest: restful awareness, which is where you are relaxed physically yet have an alert and calm mind, and restful sleep. Apparently we should try to get a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of restful sleep every night to fully be rejuvenated. That news isn’t new, but this is and I’m in a little trouble…it’s best to go to sleep before midnight. By sleeping 8 hours from 10pm to 6am, we will actually feel more rested than if we go to bed at midnight.
- Love & nurture your body through healthy food. Another trick by Deepak to help us find a healthy balance is to include the 6 tastes into each of our meals…sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter, and astringent. In addition, he reminds us to eat foods which are deep blue, purple, red, green, or orange because they typically are higher in antioxidants and nutrients…boosting our immunity and overall health.
- Take nutritional complements. Essential nutrients are needed to maintain the delicate and vital balance of our bodies helping to prevent illness.
- Enhance your mind & body integration. Our health is a state of balance and integration between the body, the mind, and our spirit. So…good health does start in our minds!
- Exercise regularly. It is important we make a conscious decision to have physical activity a part of our daily life. By doing so, it will enhance the mind’s ability to learn, adapt and perform.
- Eliminate toxins from your physical and emotional bodies. Toxins can build up and cause an imbalance in our bodies…and even disease. We need to allow our minds and bodies the chance to purify themselves and restore their inner vitality and balance.
- Cultivate flexibility and creativity in your consciousness. It is important to cultivate the qualities of a youthful mind and in doing so we will “lighten up and be open to the wonder and delight of living a human life.”
- Make love the most important thing in your life. By loving, we enhance our well-being emotionally, physically and spiritually. So go ahead and fall in love…you will be younger for it. Seriously!
- Maintain a youthful mind. Our egos cling to the conditioned patterns in our lives and can be quite stubborn about changing. However, change is the natural force of evolution. Instead of clinging to old patterns, we should be opening ourselves up to new possibilities and playing a lot more!
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by patricia on April 29, 2012
In this great clip from OWN, Deepak Chopra shared his belief that people grow old…after they stop growing spiritually or mentally. Not only that, he shared that we all can change our “physical age” just by simply making the shift and changing our perceptions.
In doing this, we also minimize wrinkles (goodbye expensive creams), have the ability to reduce our blood pressure and can even strengthen our immune systems…making all of us stronger. It is a fascinating concept and one that certainly deserves a listen. Check it out!
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by patricia on April 18, 2012
MORE great clips from Oprah’s Next Chapter thanks to OWN! Fascinating conversations about our body image and the impact the messages are having on women today. Listen in…it’s good!
Oprah, Gloria and the Barnard women talk about body image and the subtle messages we hear.
Gloria reflected on her ageing, death and what she wished she had said to the Barnard women.
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by paula on October 21, 2011
Growing up in a home full of women, I’m not sure that we have ever OWNed our age. We have turned 29 over and over again…never fully embracing our age, our wisdom and our journey. Until now. I am taking these notes from this class and sharing them with every woman that I can. We have had incredible journeys. Each year IS a blessing. Each year IS a year of experience that counts. Oprah, I’m learning with this Lifeclass and I’m hoping that Camile Crosby is right about the 40′s…and that the best is just about to begin. Here are my notes…
- OWN your age. It who you are. Love it. Love yourself.
- What is your value card? Is it beauty and youth? Is this how you value yourself?
- Case Study – Sybil Shepherd. “My beauty is something that I did not earn. That blessing opened doors for me.” Played the fantasy that she was the most beautiful woman in the room but admitted that it was a cover up for her insecurities because she never really felt beautiful. “Yes, I was defined by my beauty.” People treat you differently when your beautiful…when you’re thinner…it’s a fact and we do it. You allow the mirror of how other people see you to define yourself. We use each other as projections to ourself. (i.e. look how good she looks at 45 or at 71). If beauty is your calling card, at some point that’s going to start to fade. What happens when you no longer look that way? At 40, she realized that the beauty was fading. “Turning 40 was traumatic. Turning 50, a disaster. I stopped looking at myself in the mirror.” She feared growing older because she feared becoming disposable and no longer having any value. Whatever it is you thought you had, you don’t have anymore. What happens when heads stop turning? ”Learning to love ourselves as we age is the most challenging things we can do. And that means really looking at yourself and finding something that you can love about your body.”
- If you haven’t done the inner work – if you haven’t made a connection to begin to understand that your inner life is your real life – and that just like your external, everything external changes. If you have cultivated your inner life, wisdom, and spirit, the aging process won’t be difficult because you will start accepting and stop resisting what that really is.
- When you lie about your age, you are lying about your life. You are denying those experiences and your very existence.
- Cultivate an inner life – a life that is spiritual, deep, and wise where I understand that I am more than what I look like. I’m more than what I do. I’m more than what other people’s image of what I look like and what I do is. The understanding of who you are is necessary as you get older because as you begin to loose the external attraction it is your real responsibility to cultivate the inner attraction. (WOW!)
- Cultivating your inner connection to what really matters makes the aging process less difficult.
- Cultivating your inner connection doesn’t mean that you don’t take care of yourself – you still exercise, eat right, etc…but your understanding about that inner connection and your life outside the external body helps you to find and connect with your true self worth.
- Case Study – Ali MacGraw. Be real. It’s hard to be authentic but it’s the only real joy. What is the message that older women send to younger, terrified 30 and 40 year olds if they deny their age – that life is over? At 40, you’re just starting to wake up!
- Some women are consumed by the fear of aging. Fear is based upon you not feeling like you will be valued anymore in your life - and people are trying to hold on to the past,they are trying to hold on to what the used to be, hold on to the vision that they have of who they once were in order to maintain value in their lives.
- External things fade away. It’s nature and the natural process.
- Cultivate a deeper sense of who you are. Not having the attachment of what your body looks like. Not being defined by what your body looks like and what other people think. Developing a deeper sense of your inner value helps you be less attached to external qualities.
- Case Study – Beverly Johnson. What is it really like to get older in front of cameras. It’s tough to age in America. Her beauty held her back from developing her inner self.
- Fear of aging – people are afraid they will no longer matter so they are trying to hold on to what they think matters.
- Camile Cosby – “Honey, the best is just about to begin for you because the greatest thing about turning 40 is that you stop living your life for other people and start living it for yourself.” (about turning 40, getting older)
- The best thing about getting older is that you grow into more of yourself, become more of who YOU are and were meant to be and stop living your life out of ego for other people.
- Case Study – Jamie Leigh Curtis. Allowing yourself the freedom of who you were meant to be. It all boils down to being authentic and your essential self. Aging well is giving yourself the freedom to be who you were meant to be.
- Case Study – Bo Derek. ” I try not to worry about things I can’t do anything about. Beauty – I had nothing to do with it. I was born with it. I know I have become the best of myself. The trade off of aging – the mind gets better and your happy about yourself.”
- If you are blessed enough to grow older, I think of all the people who are not….Feel blessed to hold that space.
- We live in a youth obsessed culture that is constantly trying to tell us that if we are not young that we don’t matter. I refuse to let a system or a culture or a distorted view of reality tell me that I don’t matter. I know only by owning who and what you are can you start to step into the fullness of life. Every year brings us closer to expressing your whole and healed self.
- I’m grateful for every age I’m blessed to become and I hope that’s how you will start to look at your life. It’s a blessing for every year you are able to say, “I am 43 years old.” Oprah’s 57…I’m 43.
Just getting used to OWNing my number. If does feel freeing…I’m on my way!
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