When did “aging” become such a loaded word? What happened to the good ol’ days when we associated another year older with another year wiser? Instead, we look to the future dreading decline, aches, pains, and a whole host of health problems. Dr. Christiane Northrup, ob/gyn, NYT bestselling author, and the ultimate women’s wellness warrior, is determined to change all that.
After spending decades helping women redefine how they understand their bodies and processes, Dr. Northrup has taken her extensive knowledge and expertise one step further with Goddesses Never Age: The Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being, teaching women to embrace a new mindset and thrive at every stage of life. From tips on vibrant nutrition and joyful movement to advice on how to love others without losing ourselves in the process, this ain’t your mama’s (or grandmama’s) book on how to access the Fountain Of Youth. Rather, it’s a manifesto for women of all stages of life – from 22 to 82 – on what we are entitled to as we move through time. Here’s Dr. Northrup with five of her priceless tips on how to be ageless no matter what your age is:
I don’t care how old you are right now. It’s never too early – or too late – to change the way you think about growing older or to upgrade your beliefs about the experience. If you are in your 20s, what I have to tell you will likely prolong your life in vital ways. And if you are older than 50, let me spare you from the health-eroding cultural beliefs that would have you thinking your best years are all behind you.
Becoming – and remaining – an Ageless Goddess is easier than you think! You were meant to be a powerful, luscious, fertile, healthy, Ageless Goddess. Don’t be afraid to discover and cherish this aspect of yourself. There’s no need to live small. An Ageless Goddess has many ways to express her creativity and experience the pleasures in life, like feeling good in her body, embracing or recapturing her sexuality and beginning a new relationship, project, or way of living.
These five simple tips have the power to change the way you move through time:
5 Tips for Becoming – and Remaining – an Ageless Goddess
Upgrade Your Beliefs
Understand that your beliefs are far more powerful, when it comes to your health, than your genes. That’s right. Your beliefs about getting older are the most powerful predictors of your health, longevity, and wellbeing. In the famous Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging, researcher Dr. Becca Levy found that those individuals who believed there were positive aspects to getting older lived seven years longer (on average) than those who felt that getting older was a negative experience to be dreaded.
Believe it or not, that seven-year edge held up even when the individuals studied smoked, were overweight, had high blood pressure, and had other health problems that we associate with premature death. That is how strong a belief is! If a drug had an effect this robust, it would be unethical to not prescribe it! Even more interesting is that our beliefs about getting older are generally already in place by the age of 11! What beliefs do you need to upgrade?
Rethink Aging
Understand the difference between getting older, which is simply moving through time, and aging, a term we use to describe decline and decay. The chronic degenerative diseases we associated with “aging” are nothing more than the cumulative effects of lifestyle choices that started in childhood. And almost all can be prevented! So stop equating aches and pains with your age.
Move Your Body
Don’t take life sitting down. You can see the adverse effects of prolonged sitting when people are in their 20s. Yep, if you sit all day at a computer, that process is aging you, which is why you may have heard that sitting is the new smoking. Those who sit all day are far more apt to suffer from heart disease and other chronic degenerative diseases even if they eat well and exercise. So set a timer and stand up at least once an hour, move around a bit, and then sit back down. Ideally, you should stand up every 15 minutes. It is the movement through gravity that is rejuvenating. So, standing all day isn’t good either.
Regulate Your Blood Sugar
Make sure your blood sugar is stable. Get it checked regularly. And also your fasting insulin level. Stable blood sugar is the key to ageless living. Blood sugar that swings from high to low results in glycation (browning) of the inside of blood vessels. This leads to cellular inflammation – the root cause of all chronic degenerative diseases.
If you eat a diet that is high in foods that instantly turn to sugar (including grains, pasta, cookies, cakes, bread of all kinds, many fruits and alcohol), then chances are very good that your blood sugar is too high at least some of the time. Over time, this will stress your pancreas, which eventually won’t be able to handle its job of shuttling all that excess sugar into your fat cells. Diabetes is the result. So-called “adult onset diabetes” is now rampant – even in children! Don’t wait.
An ideal fasting blood sugar is no higher than 85 mg/dl. After eating, it should go no higher than 120mg/dl. (Many labs have a “normal” that is too high.) Your fasting insulin level should be less than 10. And this is far more important than your cholesterol number.
It is very easy to stabilize your blood sugar with a diet that is low glycemic. Check out Joan Borysenko’s spectacular book The PlantPlus Diet Solution
, David Perlmutter’s Grain Brain
or Wheat Belly
by Bill Davis. These will get you on the right track!
Be Optimal
Don’t be normal. Be optimal! Get your vitamin D level checked. Optimal levels of vitamin D (40-80 ng/ml) will cut your risk of cancer in half. And also help prevent everything from infection to depression to MS. Don’t let your doctor tell you that your levels are “normal.” You want optimal – same with blood sugar!
This information is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. All material in this article is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition, and before undertaking any diet, exercise, or other health program.
© Christiane Northrup, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
