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The term ‘anti-aging’ is not one I completely support. There is nothing wrong with aging, we all age, and we are privileged to have the opportunity to grow older. But no doubt about it, we want to age well. We want our skin to glow, our body to be healthy and fit, our immunity strong, and our minds sharp.
We want to be happy and healthy and feel great for as long as we can. And we want to look as beautiful as we can at any age. These 11 best natural anti-aging tips for women will help ensure you are doing everything you can to age well – naturally.
1. Eat Real Whole Foods
The foods we eat have a big impact on the health of our body, brain, and skin, which translates to healthy aging. So it’s important to eat properly, and one way to do that is to feed our bodies with real whole foods.
Real whole foods are foods that are single ingredient, unprocessed, and found in nature. Whole foods are rich in nutrients and do not have chemicals or additives. Eating a diet rich in whole foods will ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body requires.
In contrast, refined packaged foods are highly processed foods that have been stripped of nutrients and fibre. Because these foods have been stripped of essential nutrients, you are often unsatisfied and end up over eating in the search of the nutrients that are lacking.
Processed foods often contain high levels of sugar, salt, and fat, which have negative impacts on our skin and the aging process.
Do not be fooled by packaged foods that market low fat; we want good fats in our diet. Fat is not the enemy. These packaged foods often compensate with more sugar, and sugar is the number one enemy.
Foods that Help You Age Well:
Good quality protein – among many other benefits, quality protein is essential for collagen and muscle production, keeping our skin healthy and our body moving.
Alkaline foods – reduce the acidity in our body. These include fruits, nuts, legumes, vegetables, and leafy greens.
Organic foods – will ensure you are not getting toxins on your produce and consequently in your body. Unfortunately, organic foods can be expensive, so check out the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen when purchasing produce to see which have less pesticides.
Antioxidants – Foods that contain Vitamins A, C, Zinc, Selenium, CoQ10 among others. Whole foods naturally contain many of these antioxidant nutrients.
Collagen-rich foods – helps create the building blocks (amino acids) you need for skin strength, support, and elasticity. e.g., bone broth, eggs, chicken, and fish.
Fat – Good fats are necessary for lubrication, skin and hair health, brain function, and building healthy cell membranes and nerve coverings. Examples of good fats are olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, butter, and ghee. Although these fats are healthy fats, they are caloric, so moderation is key.
2. Avoid or Limit Sugar
Sugar is one of the worst offenders of the aging process. It’s bad for our waistline, teeth, skin, and it raises blood glucose levels, which can lead to metabolic syndrome. Sugar also impairs immunity by attaching to white blood cells that fight infections.
The white blood cells are not able to do their job as well to destroy bad bacteria or viruses. This nutritional study shows it only takes 75 grams of sugar to weaken the immune system for five hours after consumption. So limiting it will keep you healthy longer, and to age beautifully, we need to be healthy.
Skin Health
The two key proteins, collagen and elastin, give our skin structure and support, and keeps our skin firm, elastic, plump, and youthful. Collagen maintains our skin’s smoothness and elasticity while elastin allows our skin to return to its regular form after being stretched or contracted.
Sugar damages the skin through a natural process called glycation. Glycation is defined as the covalent attachment (chemical bond) of a sugar to a protein or lipid. Collagen and elastin are those proteins and the sugar attaches to the amino acids leading to a loss of protein function and impaired elasticity.
Glycation can also induce oxidative stress and an abundance of cell-damaging free radicals. Thus it is important to decrease our sugar intake as well as include plenty of antioxidant rich foods and supplements in our diet to fight the free radicals.
3. Supplement Your Diet
As mentioned, a balanced diet with a wide variety of whole foods will ensure we are getting the required nutrients our body requires to age beautifully. However, sometimes we require a little extra supplementation to ensure we are getting everything our body needs to fight inflammation, reduce oxidative stress, and boost immunity.
A few supplements that can help with the aging process are listed below. On top of a clean diet, taking supplements are some of the best natural Anti-Aging Tips for Women
Vitamin B Complex – this vitamin combines the whole B Vitamin family, which provides energy, reduces stress, boosts skin and hair health, and helps transport nutrients throughout our body.
Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids – we need to get this essential fatty acid in our diet and sometimes that can be difficult if we are not eating a lot of fish. Omega 3 EFA fights inflammation, improves brain function, lubricates the joints, and improves skin and hair health – all things necessary for anti-aging. Try this Teriyaki Salmon recipe for a delicious meal rich in Omega 3.
Vitamin D – Supplementation is necessary if we are not in a sun filled climate. Vitamin D helps boost our immunity levels, ward off osteoporosis, and supports brain cell activity.
Vitamin C – This is an antioxidant that fights free radicals and helps improve our immunity.
The following chart outlines other supplements that can benefit the aging process from skin health, immunity, and energy. Be sure to consult a doctor if you are taking medications, as some medications interact with supplementation.
| NUTRIENTS | BENEFITS |
| ANTIOXIDANTS – A, C, D, E, COQ10, SELENIUM, ZINC | ANTIOXIDANTS PROTECT THE BODY AND SPECIFICALLY THE CELL MEMBRANES FROM FREE RADICALS THAT CAUSE AGING, TISSUE DEGENERATION, AND SKIN DAMAGE. |
| VITAMIN A | STIMULATES GROWTH OF THE BASE LAYER OF THE SKIN CELLS. HELPS SKIN CELLS WITH STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY. SPEEDS UP HEALING. PROMOTES NATURAL MOISTURIZING. |
| VITAMIN B COMPLEX | A GROUP OF B VITAMINS THAT TOGETHER PROMOTE SKIN AND HAIR HEALTH, FIGHT STRESS, AND BOOST ENERGY. |
| VITAMIN B6 PYRIDOXINE | NEEDED FOR CELL DIVISION AND PROTEIN SYNTHESIS. |
| VITAMIN B7 BIOTIN | NEEDED FOR FAT PRODUCTION AND IN THE SYNTHESIS OF FATTY ACIDS; THEREFORE, IMPORTANT FOR FORMATION OF NEW TISSUE, ESPECIALLY SKIN TISSUE, BECAUSE SKIN CELLS DIE AND ARE REPLACED VERY RAPIDLY. |
| VITAMIN C | PROMOTES SKIN HEALING AND ACTIVATES FIBROBLASTS THAT HELP STIMULATE COLLAGEN. |
| VITAMIN E | NECESSARY FOR TISSUE REPAIR. REDUCES UV DAMAGE TO SKIN. STRENGTHENS THE SKIN BARRIER FUNCTION. |
| VITAMIN D | HELPS SKIN CELL GROWTH AND REPAIR. |
| SILICON | OPTIMAL SYNTHESIS OF COLLAGEN AND FOR ACTIVATING THE HYDROXYLATION ENZYMES, IMPORTANT IN THE FORMATION OF COLLAGEN NETWORK, IMPROVING SKIN STRENGTH AND ELASTICITY. |
| SELENIUM | ANTIOXIDANT THAT PROTECTS CELLS FROM UV RAYS. |
| ZINC | REDUCES INFLAMMATION AND HELPS HEAL TISSUES AND SMOOTH SKIN. |
4. Sleep Well
It is so important to get good quality sleep, but as we age many factors contribute to us sleeping poorly, particularly stress, hot flashes, work and family interruptions.
Our bodies repair and rejuvenate when we sleep, and when we don’t get enough, we look tired and aged. Our hormones become imbalanced and can cause us to gain weight, which makes new problems.
For example, when we don’t get enough sleep, the satiation hormone Leptin is decreased and the hunger hormone Ghrelin is increased. Ever notice how you overeat when you are tired?
So ensure you get more than six hours of good quality sleep each night to keep your hormones balanced and your eating in check.
Tips for sleeping better:
- Ensure your bedroom is dark and cool.
- Drink Camomile tea in the evening.
- Remove electronics from the bedroom.
- Stop using electronics at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
- Take a warm bath before bed.
- Take Magnesium tablets for relaxation.
- Try a homeopathy tablet that quietens the mind and helps with sleep, e.g., Boiron Coffea Cruda.
- Read a book before sleeping.
- Try adding white noise and listen to the sounds of waves or other soothing sounds.
- Don’t drink liquids close to bed time.
5. Water
An adult body is 60% water. The water we drink is absorbed by the intestines and circulated throughout the body in the form of body fluids, such as blood. These fluids deliver oxygen and nutrients to the cells, and take away waste materials, which are then eliminated with urination.
Water not only hydrates every cell in the body, it also helps to keep us full, flush out toxins, boost metabolism, and provide energy. Water helps make our skin glow.
Aim to drink half your weight in ounces of filtered water every day. For example, someone who weighs 150 lbs. would need a minimum of 75 ounces. Drink more if exercising and on a hot day. Rule of thumb: add 8 ounces for every 20 minutes of sweaty exercise.
6. Exercise
Get moving. Exercise improves the circulation of blood oxygen and essential nutrients to all of the body’s vital organs. Exercise helps keep our body in a healthy weight range, it’s good for heart health, good for the mind, and lubricates the joints by boosting the circulation of synovial fluid.
In other words, exercise keeps us young. Exercise is also a de-stressor and too much stress can lead to ailments and diseases in our body.
In fact, exercise helps slow the aging process in our chromosomes. Recent studies have shown a link between regular exercise and lengthening of the telemores (the caps at the end of our chromosomes that are responsible for aging and they get shorter as we get older.), which suggests that exercise may literally be able to slow our clocks down and help us live longer.
Because exercise improves circulation of oxygen and essential nutrients throughout the body, it replenishes and hydrates every cell, even skin cells. This circulation also helps improve immunity by flushing toxins to the lymph nodes for elimination.
So instead of (or maybe on top of) spending tons of money on anti-aging lotions, lasers, injectables, and even surgeries, one of the simplest and least expensive way you can age well is to exercise.
People that are fit with toned, strong bodies always look younger. The endorphins released while exercising also leaves these people happier, more confident, and ready to take on the day.
If you are new to exercise, begin slowly and find something you love. There are so many options for everyone to find something they enjoy. If you’d rather start out at home, there are many online options available. Just take a few minutes googling and you will find something that fits right away.
On top of your exercise regime, incorporating a walk into your day is very beneficial to connect with nature, reduce stress, and get the benefits from movement.
7. Challenge the Mind
Don’t give up on learning as you age. We want to keep our brains sharp and stimulated. Challenging your brain with mental exercise is believed to activate processes that help maintain individual brain cells and stimulate communication among them.
So keep your brain active. Pursue a hobby, learn a new skill, volunteer or mentor are additional ways to keep your mind sharp. You may also try learning a new language or computer program. Basically, keeping up with the youth on technology will help keep your mind sharp and young.
8. Don’t Forget Your Neck and Hands
The neck and hands are often body parts we forget when we are protecting and moisturizing our skin. And these are the areas that can really age a person quickly. To avoid this, make sure you apply sun screen to both your neck and hands every day regardless of the temperature outside.
Without proper care, your neck will get saggy, wrinkly, and sun damaged. Don’t forget to use your skin care and moisturizing creams on your neck and décolletage. You can also try a neck tightening cream like StriVectin to tighten up the area and give a more youthful appearance.
Without sunscreen and proper care, your hands will be dry, chapped, and acquire age-telling dark sun spots. Ensure you moisturize your hands after every wash and apply sun screen.
9. Moisturize and Dry Brush Your Body
A dry body appears to be weathered and aged. Ensure you exfoliate the dry skin regularly and apply a moisturizing lotion. I recommend natural lotions that do not contain parabens, or other chemicals, and ones that are animal cruelty free. Because the skin is our largest organ, we want to ensure that we do not put a product on it that contains toxins.
How to Dry Brush?
Dry brushing is a way to exfoliate and stimulate blood flow resulting in better skin texture. The course brittles open up the pores sweeping away dead skin cells among other health benefits, such as stimulating the lymphatic system, breaking down cellulite, increasing circulation, exfoliating the skin, and helping the body release toxins.
Purchase a dry brush with a long handle to reach your back.
Start at the feet and legs and stroke upwards towards the heart and then on the hands and arms in circular motion upwards. You can dry brush at any time, but the best time to dry brush is before you shower, so you can rinse off the dead skin cells and then apply a body lotion (remember to use a clean product null of toxic ingredients).
10. Limit Alcohol
Unfortunately, alcohol causes many negative impacts to the aging process: weight gain, dehydration, and memory loss. And on top of it, alcohol acts as a depressant, which limits our motivation to take care of ourselves, leaving us sad and not optimistic about life goals.
So try to find ways to limit alcohol and choose better options. When drinking, opt for less sugary and caloric options and try organic wines for less additives that cause headaches.
And remember to drink plenty of water in between drinks, so we aren’t as dehydrated. It’ll help with hangovers and keeping our skin hydrated.
11. Don’t Forget Sun Screen
Sunscreen is imperative for keeping our skin free from the damaging UV rays that cause age spots, skin cancers, and wrinkles. The sun damages our elastin, collagen, and skin cells, so we need that protection even on cloudy days.
Choosing a sunscreen product can be overwhelming with all of the different options available. One of the most important things to look for when choosing products is the level of SPF, keeping in mind an SPF of 30 or higher will ensure that your skin is fully protected, even on cloudy days.
Really good sunscreens can be expensive, so you may opt to buy a higher priced one for your face and a less expensive one for the rest of your body. Look for broad-spectrum lotions, because this means it protects against both UVA and UVB rays.
Conclusion
We all want to age well, look fresh and healthy, have good immunity and great skin. These 11 natural anti-aging tips for women are ways we can achieve these results from the inside out without expensive injections, lasers, or surgeries. If we do opt for these other methods, these natural options should still be applied for optimal results.
