Whoa, Where’s the Fire?! How to Slow Down the Aging Process

While the legend of the fountain of youth is generally connected with Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, tall tales of this sacred, rejuvenating water existed well before his birth.  Other famous historical figures like Alexander the Great and Christopher Columbus were said to have come across healing “rivers of paradise.”

While no one has been able to actually locate this mythological fountain of youth, that hasn’t stopped many a salesman from hocking the modern-day equivalents. Whether it’s a magical cream that will completely “eliminate all wrinkles,” or a pill that guarantees to make you look 20 years younger in less than a week, there is no shortage of empty promises.

But there is some good news. While the mythological Fountain of Youth may not exist, and while you can’t believe the plethora of companies that claim they can help you look younger with their various expensive products, there are things you can do to help turn back the hands of time WITHOUT going under the knife or spending a fortune!

Here are some things you can do that will help you look and feel younger and healthier:

1. Cut Out the Sugar

 You know that sugar is bad for your health and by eating too much you can amage your teeth and develop diabetes and hypertension. But did you know that eating too much sugar can dramatically age your skin?

Excess sugars, particularly glucose and fructose, dehydrate collagen and elastin, two skin protective proteins. This process is called advanced glycation end product, AGE for short. When this happens your skin loses its elasticity and begins to sag and look dull.

Bottom line: Cutting out sugar will not only keep you healthier but also help you look younger and more vibrant.

2. Eat More Water

And speaking of hydration, what’s the best way to make sure we stay hydrated as we age? If you think it’s drinking a gallon of water every day, guess again. Most of that water will never make it into your cells but will instead end up being flushed down your toilet. The structured water found inside of fruits and vegetables like cucumbers, celery and watermelon contains hydrating salts, minerals and sugars. This plant fluid closely resembles the natural fluid found in our bodies and so can easily slip into our cells and get to work truly hydrating us.

Bottom line: If you want your skin, eyes, joints and mucous linings to stay hydrated, start eating more fruits and veggies. Or better yet, start each day with a tall glass of fresh watermelon or cucumber juice.

3. Load Up on the Antioxidants

Free radical damage to our cells is the foundation of disease and aging. If you want to protect your cells and slow down the aging process, you’ve got to be sure you load up on antioxidants like Vitamin A, C, E and also some of the most powerful antioxidants found in grape seed, red wine and pine bark extracts called OPCs.

Bottom line: You’d have to eat a whole bunch of fruits and veggies to get the amount of antioxidants your body needs to stay young and healthy, so we recommend finding quality supplements and taking them daily.

4. Eat More Protein

Protein is almost as magical as the mythological fountain of youth. It not only helps you feel full so you don’t overeat, it also promotes stable blood sugars, which decreases your chances of developing diabetes and reduces the stress on your body, keeping your cortisol levels in check.

But let’s get down to what you really want to hear: how will eating more protein help you LOOK younger? Well, not only is protein essential for repairing tissue, it’s also responsible for constructing new tissue.

Collagen is one of the most important proteins. Our body uses collagen to build hair, nails and skin. Without adequate protein intake, you will develop sagging skin and wrinkles.

Bottom line: If you want to prevent premature aging and support your overall health, eat more protein. To get collagen into you, start making and eating bone broth. And check out our incredibly delicious SmashIt! Protein drink. Losing weight and managing your blood sugar has never tasted so good.

5. Reduce and Manage Your Stress

Have you seen Barack Obama lately? He seems like he’s aged 20 years in the past 8. This is generally the case with all presidents. They go into the Whitehouse looking one way, and come out looking far older. And what ages them so quickly? All of that stress! YOU try running the country.

Stress is one of the absolute worst things for your health. Stress causes our bodies to release high levels of the hormone cortisol, which wreaks havoc on our body. As I mentioned a little bit ago, it’s important to keep our cortisol levels in check. Chronically high levels can not only effect how we look (puffy and wrinkly) but also lead to life-threatening diseases like heart disease, hypertensions and GI issues.

High cortisol levels also rob your body of essential vitamins such as vitamin B5, B6 and vitamin C, which are all important for immune health and for healthy glowing skin.

Reduce your stress as much as possible. If there are negative people in your life, stop spending so much time with them. And stop watching so much news, it’s all negative anyway.

For the stress that is left (because let’s be honest, none of us can really live a totally stress-free life) deal with it by exercising more. Exercise releases endorphins, the feel-good chemicals.

Try meditation, take hot baths, walk in nature, spend more time with your dog. These are all effective ways at relieving the symptoms of stress. Once you release stress, your blood pressure comes down, heart rate comes down, and you relax.

Bottom line: Relaxing is good, our bodies were created to live in a state of relaxation, so find ways to do it more often.

Final Thoughts

Aging is a fact of life, but that doesn’t mean you can’t slow the entire process way down. By following these 5 strategies, you will look great, feel great, and have way more energy. Sounds youthful to me!

Oh, and if you’d like a really fun and easy way to relax every day, then you’ve got to try Sonic Wave Relaxation Therapy. Just ten minutes of this relaxation technique each day can bring down your blood pressure numbers for GOOD – Click Here for all the details.