How Can We Stop Aging?

As I move through my 50’s I have started to understand my body more but also do not understand my body I other ways too. Why is that?

It is fair to say that as you age you become a lot more confident and you do develop wisdom for who you are and what you want. However, the physical changes that happen to your body as we age sometimes is quite difficult to understand.

I have been a relatively sporty person all my life and I have also battled with my weight all my life. It was one of the reasons that I wanted to educate myself in this area so that I could help others. I am finding that as I age, changes that I want take longer to adjust to, and ability to find ways to improve my body image becomes more difficult. I am one of those people who do not like to give in to “it’s your age” and that is the way it is supposed to be but want to find the solutions to change this.

How can we stop aging is key for me as I do not want the wrinkles and loose skin, extra weight especially around the stomach, lowered fitness levels, greater sickness, and the grey hair?

Hopefully, with some of my tips I can help you to also stop the aging process and take back control of your health.

Here I want to briefly go through some of my tips in the following areas

Food & Drink

Exercise Variations

You Are What You Eat!

This has never been closer to the truth and as we age this becomes even more poignant.

You need to think of your body as a sponge and if you want to look and feel better than you need to soak up the right type of food to give you the edge. Eating food that is nutritional is the key. Stay away from processed foods as there is no goodness and they are full of additives, salt and sugar all detrimental to a good body.

You would not fill your car with tractor fuel so please do not do the same with your body.

Choose an eating habit that fits in with your lifestyle.

As an example, I eat a Paleo diet and I do Intermittent Fasting 20 – 4. This works well for me and helps to give me the nutrition my body needs and a little of leeway for me to enjoy my weekends when I am with my friends and family.

There are a few options that you can choose

Paleo Diet

Keto Diet

Vegetarian Diet

Vegan Diet

Intermittent Fasting 16:8, 18:6, 20:4

800 Calorie Fasting Diet

Drink Your Way To Fitness

It is crucial to your skin and hair that you hydrate your body. We are made up of 65 to 70% of water and is so important for the way we look and feel. It is difficult to feel energetic or to think straight if you are thirsty. You should be drinking 2 litres to 3 litres of water minimum every day.

My bonus is that if you are replacing your water then in theory this will keep you younger.

Limit all fizzy drinks as they are full of sugar and other additives and can really increase weight, diabetes, and tooth decay.

Alcohol is another evil and unfortunately has no goodness for us whatsoever. Try to at least find days when you never drink to help your liver. You will be really surprised the difference to your body just by cutting your alcohol consumption back.

Stop Smoking Increase Life Longevity

You are all aware of the detrimental effects that smoking has on our heart, teeth, gums, and life in general. Heart disease is still the biggest killer in the UK and if you cease smoking the good effects that your body will feel are imminent. Smoking also effects our skin, breath, and fitness levels.

Exercise Habits To Make A Difference

Exercise plays an important role in our life and more so as we get older. The key to success is to find something that you enjoy and to mix things up.

There are certain staples that are key to looking and feeling good and regularity is important.

The World Health Organization states that just to maintain our health then you should be doing a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise every week. A minimum of 2 days per week you should add in strength exercises.

My advice is that you should plan your workouts and if it is easier to do small bite size chunks to fit in with your lifestyle better than that is fine. Some of my tips include the following which should be done weekly.

Cardio Exercise – Important to raise the heart rate

Flexibility & Mobility – To help keep muscles and limbs in alignment

Strength – To ensure we can move every day

Mindfulness – Time out for yourself e.g. Yoga, Meditation

My biggest tip that will ensure that you shape up quickly is to do High Intensity Interval Training (HiiT) and starting at 10 minutes will allow you to reap incredible rewards. Cardio and strength workouts are covered in these exercise sessions. The other huge benefit is that you burn so many calories not just during the exercise but for the 23 hours and 30 minutes or so later.

Why Strength Movements Are Essential In Developing And Maintaining A Youthful Body.

Today there is so much talk about wanting a youthful body and sometimes we are all looking for the ‘quick fix’ the ‘special potion’ or even worse ‘how the celebrities do it’.

I just thought that it would be a good idea to strip things back to basics so we can take responsibility ourselves and make a change today.

As we age the musculature that props up the spine weakens and that is how we develop poor posture. To age gracefully it is profoundly important to maintain a functional body which can easily be done through simple exercise.

Isometric Movements – Adding weights are beneficial but not essential

Two great exercises

Deadlift

Position Setup

Feet under the hips, slight bend in the hips, chest up, abs braced. Elbows to rear with a light pinch between the shoulder blades and chin tucked in.

Execution Setup

Tip from the hips, keeping the chest lifted.

Hands move towards your knees

Chin tucked in – eyes forward (6 feet/2 meters) in front.

Layer 2

Tension between shoulder blades all the way through

Squeeze your hamstrings and glutes on the way up.

Heels grounded into the floor.

Squats

Position Setup

Feet slightly wider than hips with toes turned out.

Chest up light pinch between the shoulder blades

Execution Setup

Sit the butt back and down

Knees track forward, in line with the toes

Butt stops just above knee level with knees at a 90-degree angle

Layer 2

Finish with hips under shoulders

Feel the pressure in your quads

Brace the abs tighter in the bottom halves.

Stretch & Mobility

Keeping your body moving is so important for everyday life. As you become better at exercising then you can start to challenge yourself more.

My favourite is Yoga as I can incorporate something to relax me as well. Plenty of different types of workouts available that will help to stretch, mobilize, and strengthen your muscles. There are also times that you will also feel a cardio kick, so this combination is great to help you lose weight without excess pressure on your muscles.

Conclusion

I know that I want to stay in good condition and free from illness as I go through my 50’s and beyond. Of course, I not only want to feel healthy, but I also want to look good.

I exercise 5 times per week and mix up with Cardio, Strength, flexibility, and mindfulness to help me feel in peak condition.

I exercise well and eat a paleo diet through a 5-day Intermittent Fasting routine and ensure I do not eat any processed foods.

Whilst I am partial to the odd glass of wine which I do try to limit to the weekend, I have certainly cut back on my alcohol intake.

I am not saying that you must starve yourself or turn into an exercise junkie but changing your lifestyle now will help you have a better life illness free into your later years.

You can change today to make a difference to how you look and feel forever. I know I want to stop the aging process what about you?

For further information and advise please leave your comments below.