Anti-Aging Tips to Keep Us Looking and Feeling Our Best
Aging is a part of life, but who says we can’t do it gracefully?
As part of my grand fight against the aging process, I have spent considerable time researching every possible tip to keep looking and feeling as young as possible. Here are a few of the best:
• Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day – this hydrates your skin and keeps you healthy.
• Try to get at least three 30 minute exercise sessions in a week. At least one of these should involve weights to prevent osteoporosis. Stretch exercises such as Pilates should also be included for overall flexibility.
• Take Calcium supplements for bone health – chelated calcium is the best as it is absorbed more readily.
• Take trace mineral supplements – our soil is badly depleted of trace minerals which are essential to our overall well-being.
• Be sure to wash your face carefully twice a day. After washing your face in the morning, use vitamin C serum, let it dry, and then add a layer of a good moisturizer WITH sunscreen. Nothing ages us worse than the sun! At night, use a night cream with alpha hydroxy acids to help with fine lines and wrinkles. And don’t forget your neck as many women do!
• A daily supplement of DHEA has been proven to help turn back our internal aging clocks – our body stops making this vital hormone in our thirties.
• If you color your hair, avoid either too light or too dark shades as both can be very aging.
• Don’t neglect your hands! Use a good hand cream morning and night to keep them soft and smooth.
• Use olive oil in your cooking instead of vegetable oils.
• Take a good multiple vitamin, and add potassium magnesium aspartate supplements for added energy – many of us are sadly lacking in potassium.
• Evening primrose oil is another useful supplement to help keep us young.
• Eat fish and/or flaxseed oil at least once a week – this will help you to keep an ideal weight, and will keep your heart and eyes healthy.
• Play crossword puzzles or logic puzzles to keep your mind as sharp as possible.
Working from home - easier than ever
Juggling a career outside the home and a family can be very difficult – and many Moms are searching for businesses that can be run successfully from home. The Internet has made this dream a reality for many busy Moms; all you need is some careful planning and research.
First of all, do you have saleable skills that companies will pay you to perform in your home as a consultant? Accountants, copywriters, marketing professionals, and PR professionals are all in demand these days – setting up a website, and then promoting it is the best way to attract clients. Craig’s List is a wonderful site that has a small business listing, and postings are free. If you have these or similar skills, you can also frequent Elance and Guru.com; both are sites where those in need post projects for bid. The bid from the person with the most relevant experience and best quote usually wins the project.
There are many other options out there. This site has a great list of businesses that can be started from home.
Many great Ebay businesses have also been founded by busy Moms who purchase overstock items and then turn them, or sell handmade items crafted themselves.
If you are an artist or seamstress, local Arts and Crafts fairs can be a wonderful marketplace for your wares, as can local Farmer’s markets.
There are also many successful MLM’s out there that actually do work, if you are willing to put the time into them. Unlike the old MLM approach, you no longer have to set up embarrassing meetings where you try to show your friends “the plan”. Many MLMs use the Internet to prospect, and to educate prospects on the potential benefits of membership. One of the best we have found is Mellaleuca; they have a great commission plan and allow all members to purchase products they use everyday anyway at 40% discount.
Find out more online business ideas here.
Scents Add Life to Your Home
It has been scientifically proven that smells can change our moods for the better or worse! A quick and easy way to put your family in a good mood is to add pleasant scents to the environment.
A quick and inexpensive way to add scent to your home is by plugging in any one of a variety of scented oil products by Glade or Renuzit into your outlets – I especially like the Apples and Cinnamon scent. The oil is slowly heated, and releases its scent into the air over time, so you don’t have to keep renewing the scent.
If you enjoy incense, burning a stick before your family comes home will change the atmosphere of the entire house. Vanilla helps to stimulate appetites, while jasmine and lavender are calming. Incense sticks are available in a very wide variety of scents, so it is easy to have a wide variety of sweet smells. My favorite is ginger peach.
Potpourri is a more subtle way of adding fragrance, and can be warmed over your stove top. It can tend to lose its smell over time, but many potpourri packages come with refresher oils to be used when this happens.
Even more subtle is the fragrance of scented candles – but there is something magical about watching a candle burn. This is a good way to change the fragrance of a smaller area of your home, and add ambiance at the same time.
Smells that can create tension in the home and should be avoided are bad refrigerator smells (if you really aren’t ever going to eat those leftovers, pitch them), garbage smells (make sure it gets taken out regularly), animal smells, and musty smells common in older homes.
To eliminate refrigerator smells, I suggest placing an open box of baking soda in the refrigerator. Change it every two months to keep it effective. Garbage smells can be lessened by spraying your trash cans once a week with Lysol or other antibacterial aerosol sprays. Animal smells in the carpet are easily eliminated with Pet Fresh or other powdered carpet fresheners. Musty smells are best eliminated with room fresheners and sprays – a dehumidifier may help if you live in a humid area.
