Eating fruits, vegetables, protein and healthy fats will not only improve your overall health but will help you look age gracefully. . Eating fruits and vegetables in a rainbow of vibrant colors ensures we get a variety of phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and also helps us maintain a healthy weight. To keep a youthful glow, additional things to consider would be collagen, water intake, sugar intake, healthy fats, antioxidants and gut health. Lets discuss some tips and foods to add to your diet to  look younger!

Collagen

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It is found in your bones, muscles, skin, and tendons. Collagen helps make the skin elastic.  It also plays a role in joint and bone health. In the skin, collagen provides strength and elasticity. With age, we do not have as much collagen and what we have becomes thinner and weaker.

Besides the skin, collagen has been proven to have many different effects on the body. Adding more collagen to your body provides a variety of health benefits. It can help with joint pain, bone loss, muscle mass, heart health, and help keep you looking younger. You can also add some collagen rich foods to your diet to help you age gracefully such as bone broth, chicken, eggs and fish.

Currently, many people take a collagen supplement for weight loss or maintenance as collagen can help increases our metabolism. These supplements can also help keep us feeling fuller for longer so possibly reducing eating or snacking.

Drink water

Water keeps your body hydrated and functioning properly, but water also helps maintain your skin’s elasticity. You can prevent wrinkles and fine lines from forming as quickly, by drinking about ½ your body weight in ounces of water a day. You can also add water to your body by eating foods with high water content such as watermelon and cucumbers!

Drinking more water will also keep your collagen hydrated.   Fully hydrated skin will appear fuller or plump which will smooth out some wrinkles making them look less noticeable. Another benefit of drinking lots of water is to help flush out toxins in your body which can also affect the appearance of your skin.

Lower your sugar intake

We love sugar! It tastes good and can be addictive. What you might not know is that your sugar intake can affect the firmness of your skin. Eating sugar or lots of carbohydrates which turn into sugar, can lead to collagen damage. This can contribute to wrinkles and sagging skin. An easy way to use your diet to look younger is to avoid sugary foods and maintain steady blood sugar levels.

Add healthy fats to your diet

Key elements in a diet to  look younger are essential fatty acids like omega-3s and omega-6s. These are the building blocks of healthy cell membranes. These healthy fats also help produce the skin’s natural oil barrier, which is important to keeping skin hydrated, plumper, and younger looking. Omega -3 fats can also help with redness and acne by reducing inflammation.  Omega-3 fats are found in fatty fish like salmon and plant sources such as chia seeds and walnuts. Omega-6 fats are found in soybeans, nuts and seeds, meat, poultry fish and eggs.

Antioxidants and Vitamin C

Think of an apple that has been cut open and exposed to the air. After some time exposed to oxygen, the white flesh of the apple turns brown. I like to think of adding antioxidants to my diet as protecting my body’s insides and skin from being “turned brown” like an apple.

Antioxidants help the skin repair itself. Inflammation reduces the skin’s ability to renew itself. When antioxidants reduce inflammation, the skin can repair itself and correct visible damage. Antioxidants can also remove free radicals from the body which can then damage cells and make you more susceptible to illness.

Adding antioxidants to your diet is simple! Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, and even cocoa. As a bonus, fruits, vegetables and whole grains high in antioxidants are also typically high in fiber which also help your gut health.

Some antioxidants, like vitamin C, can also stimulate collagen production. Eating foods high in vitamin C  can help regenerate skin cells, reduce wrinkles and fight against the ultraviolet aging of your skin when exposed to sunlight.

A vitamin C serum can also help protect your skin from aging. Add this into your skin routine to help with hydration, brightening, reducing the appearance of discolouration and to help promote collagen production.

Gut Health

The gut microbiome is the bacteria found in your intestines that influences your overall health, especially your skin.  A healthy gut can prevent and heal illnesses in the digestive tract, immune system, cardiovascular system and even support a good mood.  An unhealthy gut can not only affect many parts of your health but can change the appearance of your skin, increase inflammation, and contribute to skin conditions such as eczema and rosacea.

A great way to improve gut health is to have a balanced diet including lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and wholegrains. Fiber rich foods feed the healthy bacteria in your gut, promotes proper digestion and elimination.

Adding probiotic-rich or fermented foods, as well as taking a supplement containing probiotic and prebiotics can help you look better and feel better by improving your gut health.

Adding more fruits and veggies to your diet to look younger

Your mother was right when she told you to eat your fruits and vegetables. Not only do they help with weight loss, preventing diseases and fueling your body, but they will help you stay looking young.

Try to add at least one fruit or vegetable to each meal. Often this is hard for people who enjoy cereal or toast for breakfast. I enjoy a chia pudding with fruit each morning. This gives me protein, fiber and a serving of fruit. A smoothie is also a great option.

Make your snacks count. Plan some snacks to take to work or eat when you are hungry. Have a handful of nuts with an apple. This will keep you full and give you fiber and a fruit. Humous and veggies, yogurt and fruit, celery and pb or a smoothie are all great options. Choosing cookies and granola bars not only  are a minute on the lips and a lifetime on the hips but will increase your sugar intake.

When planning your lunch and dinner, half your plate should be veggies. When cooking vegetables as sides, try roasting a medley so you do not get bored of a half a plate of one thing. Add a salad to your meal, add veggies to soups and casseroles. There is nothing worse then eating the same thing over and over so try different recipes and ideas. In the summer, there are lots of recipes for dinner salads. Add some fatty fish like salmon into your week to get those omega 3’s!

The more you eat healthy foods, the more you crave them. Sound like a trick but it is true. Try to commit to adding some fruits and veggies back into your diet for 2 weeks and see. Your taste buds rejuvenate every 2 weeks!  With a change in how you see food and some new taste buds, you might find your cravings change.

I would love to hear your tips and tricks to adding healthy foods to your diet to help you look younger! If you would like more information on the supplements I use, please message me here.

For the past 20 years, I feel like I have been on one really long diet. For years the scale has determined my sense of self worth, my confidence and my self esteem,. This is a common theme in women’s wellness. Over the years, I have been overly consumed about what is going into my body, how many calories a timbit is, how many minutes of exercise I have done today or what I need to not eat to make caloric room for cake at the party later. It quite possibly was to the point of a mild eating disorder.

About 5 years ago, I decided to stop with the calorie obsessing and just live life. This sounds easy, but for me with 15 good years of thinking about food and weight constantly, it was really hard. I had to let it go. After working at it, I felt like a found a good balance. The result was some weight gain which I had to deal with but I finally got to a point in my life where I felt I had balance between treats, fitness and my “diet”. I had a baby and then my  body changed even more. A year after Ravyn was born, the weight piled, no matter what I did so I just gave up.

For the past 2 years, I have had a journey of wellness. I was feeling exhausted, my hair was falling out, I had trouble sleeping, I started getting hives, I had constant discomfort in my abdomen causing me to stop running and enjoying fitness. Then the headaches, migraines, hot flashes and muscle pain descended. As I mentioned before, unexplained weight gain was another huge issue. So, I went back to the doctor and then to another one and another one and no one could find a medical problem including perimenopause or a thyroid issue. I was offered an IUD to help with age related hormone balancing and several medications for the hives.

In many movies and books, people have these “AH HA“ moments. I am proud to say that I had had one 8 years before about another change but suddenly very recently, had another one. My second “Ah Ha Revelation” was that maybe my body had slowly been trying to tell me something for years. Maybe, when I did not listen to my body’s first few alarms, my body kept giving me more alarms to try to speak to me. Maybe my body was screaming “you need to HELP me” and I did not listen.

Although I was counting calories, I was not always getting balanced nutrition. Years of artificial sweeteners, low fat products and skipping meals had affected my body. I have had two different sleeping disorders and sleep deprivation seemed normal to me. I started to wonder if the sleeping issues was not the first alarm my body tried to send me.  If I wanted to feel better, I better start listening to what my body was telling me.

I am still on this journey. I am a mom of 5 kids, working from home and trying to balance it all and now I am trying to take time for me. I am still learning and this will take many years but I wanted to stop and share what I have learned so far. If I get derailed, someone make me come back and read this post again!

Relationship with Food:

One day, I looked down at all my fresh vegetables that I was preparing and thought, look at all this nourishing food that is so good for my body. Food is not just made up of macros and calories, but it is what gives our body the nutrition it needs to function properly. Suddenly, the food I ate became a lifestyle not a diet. My heart became involved in what I prepared for myself and I began to see food as nourishing my spirit not a caloric in/out system. There is no finish line to my food choices now as I do not see them changing. I am not on a diet or off a diet. I am not re-starting Monday after a indulgent  weekend. The foods I now choose, make me feel more energized, clear headed and happy. If I have a treat, it is not falling off the wagon but nourishing another part of my soul that needed chocolate or some nachos. Its about balance. We have to enjoy life and our journey so have chocolate and have nachos, just not for breakfast everyday.

Supplements

Today’s produce does not have the same nutritional values as produce produced 40 years ago. You would have to eat 8 oranges to get the same amount of vitamin A your grandparents got from a single orange. And you would need to eat five to get the same level of iron. In order to support our bodies, we need to eat more whole foods and less added sugar, preservatives and flour. My family uses a whole food supplement, Juice Plus, to ensure that we are getting the nutrients we need. The changes I have made in my diet have included tons of whole foods but they tend to be servings of the same 10-15 veggies. Juice Plus gives me the confidence in knowing I am getting the benefits of 30 different fruits and veggies each day. I also take several supplements from Neora’s Wellness line including the brain supplement, sleep chews and probiotic as I believe they are right for me. We put money into our cars, houses, hobbies and hair but often our wellness is ignored because we think it is too costly. I budget in money for wellness as I believe protecting my brain, sleep and my gut health is important and a priority. The choice is yours. It means we don’t eat out as a family as often but that is a trade I am willing to make.

Perception of Fitness

Several years ago, I read an article that said if you walk 5 km or run km, the benefits are the same for your body. Then I read another that said running was better then walking and burned more calories. Naturally, my calorie counting brain decided that I should be exercising ALL OUT. When my weight started to go up, I first started exercising more or double. I taught myself to run at age 38 for this reason. I used to LOVE walking. I found peace walking and enjoyed it. I do not naturally enjoy running so why did I stop doing what I loved…because I was gaining weight and an article told me so. In my mind, being in good physical shape was being able to run 10 km and blew off my favourites of yoga and step class.

Since then, I have learned that fitness is not an all-out event. Your fitness has to do about moving your body in a positive way every day. Frantically running, spin classes and the elliptical are forms of fitness but also need to be balanced. There are times in my life when I am under stress, I need to walk and do yoga. Exercising with intensity will actually make me feel worse. I had to change my perception of fitness and my health because just because yoga does not make you gasp for air, you are still strengthening your muscles and increasing flexibility. Walking and yoga is good for MY body right now as my soul needs the calm and peace to repair. Increasing my heart rate and my cardiovascular health are still of value for me but I realize that I do not need to push it all the time. What is important is that I not worry about weight/type of exercise but worry about supporting my body and wellness.

Gut Health

Everywhere we go, you hear about Gut Health. This is a newer term but flashed around a lot in the past few years. Ten years ago, I thought about my gut as a digestive system but research is now linking how our gut is doing to our mental health, allergies, skin conditions, thyroid issues, fatigue, weight gain, headaches and many more. Funny that many of those are on list of complaints I was talking about to doctors. I am not a doctor or nutritionist so I can not tell you how to heal your gut. I would suggest to you all to research this or talk to your health care professional.  I have been eliminating gluten and dairy to try to heal my “gut” and I do feel better. I added probiotics to help support this healing as well.

The little pieces I underestimated: Me, Water and Sleep

When we get busier as moms and parents, we stay up later, drink more coffee and power through. At night, some of us drink wine or whatever alcohol helps you relax so you can pass out, get up and do it again.

Everyone knows from a young age that we should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

Everyone knows we should get 8-9 hours of sleep a night

WE DO NOT DO EITHER….Why is hydration and sleep never a priority to us but it is when we parent our children. We make sure their water bottles are full and they get enough sleep. You would be horrified to put your 2 year old to bed 4 hours late and up at the same time the next day because you KNOW the child will be grumpy. Why do we do it to ourselves then?

In order to heal, get rid of toxins and function properly, we need water and sleep. Only as of this January, have I made sleep and hydration a priority. It takes effort to not grab coffee, it takes effort to have a sleep routine and go to sleep at a reasonable hour when you want to stay up after the kids went to bed. It takes effort not to resort to alcohol as a sleep aid. I had to change my relationship with all of these things in order to create balance.

Christmas was a rough time this year. I decided to make 2020 the Year I Take Back Ellyn. I am going to stop working at a reasonable time each night and relax. I am going back to my yoga practice and doing things for just me again. If I do not take time for me, I will break down and be no good for my family. I need to nourish my spirit and soul making myself a priority and teaching my children to do so too. We are in control of our own happiness so I better do something that I enjoy for my own happiness. Now, I take some time each day just to BREATHE and I do not feel selfish for doing so.

Results:

I am not “fixed”. I am still struggling to determine what my body needs and does not need. I am making mistakes and some progress. What I can tell you is that my constant pain and migraines are much better. I can tell you my hot flashes are pretty much gone. I can tell you my stomach and digestion are improving. Weight is not yet flying off but that is not my priority. My priority is to learn to listen to my body and what it needs. I truly believe that once I do that, a healthy weight will be achieved.

This story is of my journey and my perception of wellness. If you are not feeling well, I do encourage you to see a medical professional but to also stop and listen to the alarms that maybe your body is sending you.

What does wellness mean to you?

I have been trying to lose the baby weight. I feel like I have been doing this for 13 years…well I have been I guess. It’s a long term battle for me. I will lose a few pounds and then Christmas or a vacation will come around and they creep back on. I actually started running so that I could burn calories to allot to wine. I need to factor the calories in. This week, I just got back from vacation and gained back all the weight I had lost in the past bit.

No matter where you are on your calorie intake, we have days where we overindulge. Maybe you have a few too many drinks at a party and then have hangover McDonalds. Maybe you go to your favourite restaurant and order 3 big courses and enjoy every second of it.

I had a friend that used to plan when she could over indulge. The entire day before, all she would do is eat vegetables. She would cut them up into a giant ziplock bag and carry it around. That takes extreme will power, especially if you have kids you are serving mac and cheese, cookies or garlic bread. I could never do it.

My problem is, I eat something extravagant, and then I immediately feel guilt for overeating. Why? I should be able to simply enjoy my extravagance, but I think I have been on a diet so long that I have trained myself to feel guilt. This guilt can lead to many decisions, but I find there are 2 big options I see.

1.    To say screw it and keep eating badly. I have already blown it. Its too hard….I feel fat…..might as well eat…

2.    To accept the indulgence, we need to live life and enjoy it, to be thankful for the treat and to keep on your calorie/consumption goal. I need to believe I am good enough for a treat but not let it derail or sabotage me.

This seems like there is an obvious right choice but when faced with all your friends eating hamburgers and fries while you look at a salad with grilled chicken, it all goes to hell in a hand basket. Often time, I waffle back and forth between the two choices or feelings.

My point to this story is that we as women beat ourselves up. We want to be skinny because that is what we think is pretty. I once went two years without eating a whole chocolate bar. Some might call it will power but I do not think so. I think we need to give ourselves a break. I think we need to be a woman and eat a nice meal, cake on our birthday and drinks in Mexico. No, we do not need to give ourselves heart disease by letting it all rip but we need to enjoy life. It’s the every day decisions we make that add up not the one meal. A simple habit of making your dinner portions slightly smaller each day is more helpful then not eating a hamburger once and a while.

I could get hit by a car tomorrow and I do not want to go out without chocolate. What I need to learn is how to balance it all! A well-balanced diet and exercise has to be the way to go. I do not care if I fit in someone else’s mold. I want to live and enjoy life! I wish this for us all.

Do you have any tips, tricks or stories? I would love to hear them.