I just read the most amazing book. Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond. The authors are Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D. My husband received this book as a birthday present and I have to say that, if he reads it, it is the best birthday present he has ever received in his 66 years on this planet. No kidding! If he doesn't read it himself he'll being hearing about the book and having it read to him til I'm finished. (Well of course, you can't expect someone like me not to grab it and read it right out of the post, now can you?)
This book was actually written by men for men. Every little thing applies to women, too. While there is a Younger Next Year for Women, I'm getting high on this one right now. I'll explore the book for women soon, though.
This is the most astounding book! It puts our accepted concept of aging on its ears. What we've been told and have accepted as "normal aging" is anything but. Everything you think you know about the conditions and diseases of "aging" do...not...have...to...be. That's decay and totally different than aging. I think the most amazing part for me was that almost every time I read something in the book I immediately had a mental "You could have had a V8 slap". It not only made total sense but I also realized that I already knew it on some level. What was complete news to me was the science of exercise and and its effect on the mitochondria. Yeah, yeah, we've all been told that exercise is good for us and we'll feel better, yada, yada, ad nauseum. This book tells us why. It explains what goes on in the muscles and the circulatory system during & after exercise AND how EGF is manufactured in your own body as a result. Well howdy! Even if you're anything like the non-athletic lump I am, you'll get really pumped just reading the book. It makes you wanna find the closest place to go cross-country skiing......and I don't even ski!
There is so very much to tell you that I can't even begin to start without transcribing the whole dadgummed book, which would be a copyright violation anyway (a definite no-no). But, here's an excerpt from the inside cover: Younger Next Year is about how men can turn back their biological clocks. How they can be functionally younger every year for years to come, and continue to live with vitality and grace into their eighties and beyond. How they can avoid 70 percent of the decay and eliminate 50 percent of the injuries and illnesses associated with getting older. The secret? Over the millions and millions of years of human development, both body and brain have developed a system of messages that signal either growth or decay....... Exercise tells the body to grow. Sitting too long tells the body to decay. Eating a normal, balanced meal tells the body to grow. Overeating tells the body to decay. Connecting with family and friends tells the body to grow. Isolation and stress tell the body to decay.
Harry (Dr. Lodge) presents the science in an interesting (even fascinating) way but it's still science and medicine. Chris (his 72-year old patient and friend) is a riot and a half while still being very serious and earnest. This absolutely a must read for you and the men in your life. Well, only if you want those men to be in your life when they are in their nineties or older and still looking and acting like they're mucho decades younger. If not, read the book yourselves and hide it from them and you'll still be hot when you're 80-something. LOL
Be your own best friend today and tool on over to their website to have a look. Then come back and let me know what you think. I'm sure I'll be over there catching up, too. http://www.youngernextyear.com/
Until later,
~Ari
www.arishomespa.com
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Organic Skin and Hair Care - Fact or Fiction?
There’s a question for ya. With the proliferation of new skin and hair products hitting the scene claiming to be "100% Natural" or "Certified Organic", one has to ask the very real question, "Are they really?" After all, what constitutes "100%" or "Certified" and who determines those designations? There are no current standards in the United States for certifying organic skin care much less a central authority for bestowing this certification. When you see a "Certified Organic" seal on a website or a product that states only those two words and indicates no certifying authority, you must realize that the company itself is "certifying" that the product is organic. In the whole scheme of things, that means what? That's right.....nothing.
No one doubts the desirability or very real need for such products. Our modern lives are so full of synthetic this-and-that and harmful chemicals (pesticides, growth hormones, etc.) contained in the foods we consume to our clothing to the products we use in our homes. There is a very real, compelling need to move away from these substances for the sake of our children’s health and ours and it takes diligent effort, not to mention the expense, in sourcing organic foods and household products.
That’s all well and good for our foods and household products, but is it a practical expectation for those products that we use on our skin and hair today? I don’t really think so. Why not? Well because…..because most of us don’t make our own skin and hair care products because we lack the raw materials, the time and the knowledge. Each year, most of the world becomes more urbanized making it difficult to source the natural and organic materials locally for making our own products. (Here’s a great article on what we are facing in terms of increased urbanization, if you’re interested - http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/104.html .)
So, even if we had the means and materials to make our own skin and hair care, doing so requires constant research, compiling detailed formulas (recipes) and conducting trials of one product after another for measuring results. Few have the time for all that this entails and, so, we rely on the makers of these products to do what we can’t. These manufacturers, too, have constraints. For instance, products are required to have a shelf life of 1-2 years. Preservatives are very necessary in order to preserve the integrity of the product and to protect us from harmful bacteria and mold. In spite of what you’ve read, there…are…no…"natural" plant-based, broad-spectrum anti-microbials out there. Any number of plants have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties but they just aren’t potent enough in the concentrations used and none of them are all-encompassing enough to fight off the whole spectrum of "baddie" microbes. These antibacterial and anti-fungal properties were developed through evolution to protect those plants from microbial dangers within their own growing environments.
What can we do then? We all can become better label-readers and only hair and skin care products that do not contain Sodium Lauryl or Laureth Sulfate (SLS) known to seep into the skin and cause damage to our bodies, those unproven ingredients without sufficient independent studies to support their safety and efficacy, the latest "designer" ingredients and potentially dangerous preservatives such as parabens (The jury is still out on that one. Still, I’d rather be safe now than sorry later.). You can research, as I do, the ingredients shown on the labels and determine their value to the product; i.e. whether they are necessary to your skin’s continued health and repair, potentially dangerous or just fillers. A very good place to look up particular ingredients is http://www.wikipedia.org/ . You will find fascinating descriptions and other uses for almost all ingredients you come across. Another thing you can do is to search out handcrafted skin and hair care made by smaller companies in fresh batches from natural and organic ingredients and apply your new label-reading skills to those products as well.
Until later,
~Ari
http://www.arishomespa.com/
No one doubts the desirability or very real need for such products. Our modern lives are so full of synthetic this-and-that and harmful chemicals (pesticides, growth hormones, etc.) contained in the foods we consume to our clothing to the products we use in our homes. There is a very real, compelling need to move away from these substances for the sake of our children’s health and ours and it takes diligent effort, not to mention the expense, in sourcing organic foods and household products.
That’s all well and good for our foods and household products, but is it a practical expectation for those products that we use on our skin and hair today? I don’t really think so. Why not? Well because…..because most of us don’t make our own skin and hair care products because we lack the raw materials, the time and the knowledge. Each year, most of the world becomes more urbanized making it difficult to source the natural and organic materials locally for making our own products. (Here’s a great article on what we are facing in terms of increased urbanization, if you’re interested - http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/104.html .)
So, even if we had the means and materials to make our own skin and hair care, doing so requires constant research, compiling detailed formulas (recipes) and conducting trials of one product after another for measuring results. Few have the time for all that this entails and, so, we rely on the makers of these products to do what we can’t. These manufacturers, too, have constraints. For instance, products are required to have a shelf life of 1-2 years. Preservatives are very necessary in order to preserve the integrity of the product and to protect us from harmful bacteria and mold. In spite of what you’ve read, there…are…no…"natural" plant-based, broad-spectrum anti-microbials out there. Any number of plants have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties but they just aren’t potent enough in the concentrations used and none of them are all-encompassing enough to fight off the whole spectrum of "baddie" microbes. These antibacterial and anti-fungal properties were developed through evolution to protect those plants from microbial dangers within their own growing environments.
What can we do then? We all can become better label-readers and only hair and skin care products that do not contain Sodium Lauryl or Laureth Sulfate (SLS) known to seep into the skin and cause damage to our bodies, those unproven ingredients without sufficient independent studies to support their safety and efficacy, the latest "designer" ingredients and potentially dangerous preservatives such as parabens (The jury is still out on that one. Still, I’d rather be safe now than sorry later.). You can research, as I do, the ingredients shown on the labels and determine their value to the product; i.e. whether they are necessary to your skin’s continued health and repair, potentially dangerous or just fillers. A very good place to look up particular ingredients is http://www.wikipedia.org/ . You will find fascinating descriptions and other uses for almost all ingredients you come across. Another thing you can do is to search out handcrafted skin and hair care made by smaller companies in fresh batches from natural and organic ingredients and apply your new label-reading skills to those products as well.
Until later,
~Ari
http://www.arishomespa.com/
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