Post from: Aging Fabulous

In the interests of informing those new to membership in the human race, I should note that excess visceral body fat is bad for your long term health. In addition, lack of exercise has many of the same end consequences. The trifecta of diet, exercise, and levels of fat combine to exert a great influence over the future trajectory of your life - including such items as your risk of diabetes, risk of dementia, and your life expectancy.

All a long way of saying if you get fat and stay fat, your biochemistry is more likely to destroy the structure and function of your mind. And those thinner old people who are suffering as well? Their developing dementia - partially caused by earlier excess fat - led them to lose weight during their decline. There are easier ways through life than this, and unlike many of the slings and arrows we suffer, for the vast majority of us our level of body fat is a choice.

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Exercise reduce the rate at which some of the cellular and biomolecular damage of aging accumulates, either by slowing the ongoing addition of new damage, or by modifying the processes of repair. In a future of rapidly advancing biotechnology, even a single additional year of time to wait for new therapies is a big deal.

For the sake of piling it on, here’s another study on fat, exercise, and insulin resistance - one of the precursors to type 2 diabetes, and an issue prevelant amongst older people.

Physical Inactivity and Obesity Underlie the Insulin Resistance of Aging:

Age-associated insulin resistance may underlie the higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes in older adults. We examined a corollary hypothesis that obesity and level of chronic physical inactivity are the true causes for this ostensible effect of aging on insulin resistance.

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We compared insulin sensitivity in seven younger endurance-trained athletes (YA), 12 older athletes (OA), 11 younger normal weight (YN), 10 older normal weight (ON), 15 younger obese (YO) and 15 older obese (OO) subjects using a glucose clamp. The non-athletes were sedentary.

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Insulin sensitivity was not different in YA vs. OA, in YN vs. ON or in YO vs. OO. Regardless of age, athletes were more insulin sensitive than normal weight sedentary subjects, who in turn were more insulin sensitive than obese subjects. Conclusions: Insulin resistance may not be characteristic of aging, but rather associated with obesity and physical inactivity.

A small sample size, I know, but it’s representative of many other similar studies. Some of what we see as characteristic of aging these days is in fact characteristic of the effects of excess fat, too much food, and a lack of exercise. You can’t turn back the clock just by taking better care of yourself, but you can choose to make a significant difference as to how fast you are damaging yourself - and thus your risk of suffering all of the common age-related conditions.

Oh how I just love NARS and all of the beautiful eyeshadows. I have a separate case just for all of my NARS products and now I need to make a little more room for this “I can’t live without eyeshadow palette.” All of my favorite colors for creating the perfect natural look, or something a bit more eye-defining and edgy like a smoky eye.

This gorgeous palette from NARS is called The Modern Love Palette and contains six shades ranging from matte black to shimmery browns, and a gorgeous metallic rose. Each shade was picked for its ability to complement the
others, allowing you to mix and match, and create endless looks of subtle or
dramatic eyes. Create various day-to-night looks effortlessly with six shadows to accentuate the lashline, eyelid, crease and browbone.

Gorgeous isn’t just coming ladies, gorgeous is here! So grab one of these quickly before they are gone for good. This Modern Love Palette is an exclusive to Nordstrom, and will go on sale this Friday, May 1st for $50.00.

xx

image credit: NARS

Post from: Aging Fabulous

Summer is officially on the horizon, and I have just one question for you…are you ready? For those of us living in a cooler climate then I guess the answer is definitely yes, but I think even living in Los Angeles where the weather has been on the chilly side, we are so ready too! My summer skin care is all set as well, and one thing I wont be forgetting is my SPF. I love the sun, but the damage I can live without.  For many your skin may need a little TLC before pulling out all of your summer clothing. So I have put together a little list of to do’s for getting your skin glowing in no time.

Pevonia-botancia hydrating sunscreen

The first on my list is exfoliating, which is so important to do regularly. Did you know your body sheds skin cells at an amazing rate every minute of every day. If you don’t get rid of them, they’ll just sit there on your skin making you look dull and dry. That doesn’t sound pretty, and applying extra body lotion will just add layers to the already dull skin unless you exfoliate. There are plenty of great scrubs available over the counter. Just grab a body scrub, hit the shower,  gently rub your exfoliater in circular movements over your entire body from the shoulders down and rinse clean. You’ll want a facial exfoliator for your face and neck since the granuals are much smaller. Continue to do this 2-3 times a week for year-round beautiful skin.

Shaving makes a big difference too, and is number 2 on my list. It is so easy to go a few days, sometimes even longer especially during the winter, but with summer almost here unshaven legs just wont do. Invest in a good razor that won’t cause razor burn. I love the new Schick Quattro Trimstyle, available at most drugstores. Make sure to use a shaving cream/lotion and preferably something for women. Shaving lotion is much better for your skin, and will hydrate and help ward off nicks and cuts. A great substitute if you run out is to use your conditioner for a moisturizing shaving cream. It leaves your legs feeling fabulous.

Schick-Quattro Trimstyle

How about a beautiful summer glow minus the sun damage? A good self tanner will do the job and give you sun-kissed skin instantly.  There are so many products to choose from, and one will definitely be right for you. Yes laying in the sun for hours will give you a deep dark tan, but a self tanner will do the same in less than half the time. Using a sunless tanner will give your skin a beautiful start to the summer.

Most facial tanners build color gradually, so by alternating with your regular moisturizer, you’ll never get too dark. When you are ready to hit the beaches please don’t forget your SPF. Believe me you can still get plenty of color even with an SPF of 30. You will thank me years from now when your skin is still looking fabulous.

Bioelements Sun Diffusing Protection

With the body comes the feet and what better time to give yourself a pedicure and get your tootsies ready for the summer too. If you do it yourself make sure to soak your feet before scrubbing and removing the dead skin on the bottoms. Keep a foot scrub and file in your shower so you can keep them soft and smooth throughout the summer. Buy a bright new polish for your toes. This is the one time of year I like to go a bit crazy with my toes and wear a color that screams summer. Nail polish on the toes tends to stay on much longer so you don’t have to worry with maintenance. So there you have it, and if you start now you’ll be all a glowin’ just in time for summer.

xx

image credits: Pevonia Botanical, Schick Quattro, Bioelements

Post from: Aging Fabulous

The Kaiser Family Foundation conducts a poll every month specifically addressing health care and health insurance. What they discover in this poll is a look inside how people are feeling right now about the health industry, and it gives a pretty good idea how folks are on health reform.

This April poll was reported by Medical News Today, some of the results are: 59% say the health care reform is becoming more important now, 36% avoided regular office visits to doctors or dentists due to high costs, 26% had an individual within their home who struggled with health care bills this past year, 71% would be OK with having taxes raised on high income American to help pay for health care reform, 67% strongly or somewhat favor some type of national health insurance plan to provide competition with private plans.

Public opinion is becoming more obvious now as in regards to the actions being taken regarding health care and health insurance reform. In addition, many more are feeling the weight of the rising costs in health care.

The lawmakers who are ready to send the health care reform through the process are very happy with these results. As the Kaiser poll indicates, there will be support from the majority, and with this support will be ability for them to push the sweeping reform through the process.

However, these polls can change in the moments. The public is expressing themselves this way at this moment, but with the current economic crisis, opinions can vary depending on events. And the Democrats and Republicans have a ways to go in agreeing on how to resolve the health care dilemma.

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