How Do YOU Want to Age?

How do YOU want to age? Do you want to steadily decline with aches and pains, chronic illness, taking a dozen or more pills a day? Or do you want to live a vital, healthy, active life for years to come? The choice really can be yours – I’m Wendy Corr, and in today’s Wellness Tip, I’ll help guide you towards aging well.

There’s a picture I found on the internet that really stood out to me – one side of the picture was a woman with a pleasant smile on her face sitting in a wheelchair; the other side showed a body builder in the prime of her life. The common thread between the two women? They were both seventy four years old.

Four lifestyle habits—not smoking, controlling your weight, 30 minutes of exercise a day, and eating plenty of fruits, veggies, and whole grains, but little or no meat—can turn back the clock years. Of these four habits, diet may be the most important for DNA health.

The more servings of fruits, vegetables and beans we eat, the longer we may live, according to many researchers. Some foods that appear to protect against aging include: berries (for the brain, skin and eyes), grains (for protection against Alzheimer’s disease) turmeric, corn and spinach (for macular degeneration), nutritional yeast, watercress, cocoa and green and yellow vegetables (to prevent wrinkles).

Dr. Frank Lipman, an integrative and functional medicine physician and author of “The New Health Rules,” points out that foods that create inflammation speed up the aging process – so processed, packaged and fast foods, as well as gluten, dairy and sugar are foods you might want to eliminate from your diet. In particular, Lipman points to sugar as a prime culprit. He says eating too much sugar will make you more prone to wrinkles and make you age more quickly.

And while many people believe that strength training is only for people who care about bodybuilding, the reality is that it can help add more years to your life, and more life to your years. Some of the normal health issues that accompany aging, such as muscle weakness, lower energy and diminished brain function can all be slowed down using exercise with either weights or bodyweight.

So how do YOU want to age? It’s not too late to choose YOUR 74!