to be confounded by health nut, non aging women?

[anonnobody]

I think we all know some women like that who dine on miso soup and spiralised corgette, who don't drink, smoke or eat mars bars, who do yoga, meditation and never leave the house without SPF 30 sunblock on. I have a couple of friends who fall into this catagory and it is fair to say that as we all are hitting 40 they do look really good and much younger than us mere mortals. I guess you can't get drunk with them but they are still good friends and great fun but I just can't get my head round how they do it. I mean how do you get to the point where you have the time and headspace to sprout your own seeds, ferment your own kefir, do yoga every day and do all your cooking from scratch?

I am tempted by the way these women look to follow at least some of what they are doing but it just seems impossible to me also it seems like its a bit all or nothing you need to go the whole hog rather than just bits and bobs. Even if I did it all I think its more about prevetion than fixing the current rapidly declining state of affairs that is my appearance. How do these women know so young to do these things, I never thought about it till I was over 35 and yet they were using high spf as teenages!

Are these women aliens from another planet?????

Not dull if they don't bang on about it saying that 1 women I knew went on about naughty food she was craving I just thought FGS just eat that's dull but in general as long as they are happy

The thing with sun worshipping when relatively young, is that you might not get the wrinkles until your 60's, but then they attack with a vengeance. I read a skin article a few years ago comparing English Rose skin, with Mediterranean olive skin, and black skin. The English rose hardly sunbathed compared to the Med olive skin who did tan on holiday, but the ER had more sun damage because her skin didn't have the natural protection.

I think it's a mix of personality and how you were brought up...(i.e what you see as 'normal')...people tend to comment that I eat really healthily but actually I think I eat less healthily then I could...DM is/was an Italian housewife so I had a pretty good example growing up.
RE personality I like experimenting with new recipes and going for long walks...it's good for me but I also find it really fun.

Also, I think it might depend on what your youth was like/when you met long term partners..my good friends are still the same people I went to secondary school with so I've seen us all grow up if that makes sense. We grew up in a pretty liberal place so got a lot of the partying 'out of our systems' young if that makes sense. Plus half of us met our husbands or had children straight out of uni so obviously there were less nights out clubbing etc.

I don't put SPF on everyday though (I need all the vitamin D I can get) and I don't have a skincare/make up regime though...I wash my face with warm water and put on e45 or similar if it feels dry. I look my age.

I hit the menopause and everything sagged downwards....been looking quite young and perky until then!

I think a lot older women who look younger for longer have dark hair and eyes at least I think different colouring must make a difference. I am pale with blue eyes and blondish bown hair ... unlucky me!

I look younger than my years. I could pretend otherwise so as not to appear conceited, but I do. Always have, which was fucking annoying as a teenager who looked 11 forever, so there's probably some genetic stuff in there. I'm not boring, have kids and run my own business so not exactly a stress-free life.

I burn easily so wear sun block and don;t much like the sun anyway. I moisturise a shit tonne because my skin is naturally dry and sensitive, and eat lots of veg because I like them, and want my kids to eat them. But I also eat a whopper from time to time, and am not fanatical about birdseed like health food. I hate sushi. I make a lot of stews and shepherds pies and stuff like that.

I do yoga, but mostly because it helps with some injuries, stops me from seizing up and it's quality time with my partner too. I walk everywhere, which forms the bulk of the rest of my exercise.

I don't really drink alcohol and have never smoked. I recently gave up caffeine and it's made my skin brighter almost overnight.

I think it's lots of little things, and generally taking care to be healthy without being a boring arse about it.

In brief? Helpful genetics. Move. Eat well. Avoid booze. Drink water. Don't smoke. Moisturise. Don't tan.

One of my best friends is one of those - not only daily gym and not smoking etc but every day she fills my FB feed with clean foods/anti inflammatory foods/aloe Vera juice posts and memes. A bit repetitive tbh, but I love her.

She only has the time cos she has no kids tbh as she spends a lot of time prepping her extraordinarily complicated mixed seed lunches with ingredients I've frankly never heard of. She posts her dinners on Instagram and I sit there in awe whilst stuffing my face with Domino's.

Yeah there's definitely some age anxiety driving it - she basically wants to stop the clock! But fundamentally I think she's just a bit of a foodie and it mixes with her wanting to keep young and this is how it manifests!

(I do have a sneaking suspicion she likes all the compliments she gets about it on social media as well tbh)

My friend is a teetotal, high energy, gym-obsessed vegetarian. She's early 40's and looks 28. She does tan though. Her body is really youthful looking and despite 2 kids, she has a six pack…she looks amazing, there's no denying it, but she works for it.

I eat well, run, and have 3 DC. I drink wine and don't eat much meat. Most of our food is organic and I only have caffeine at the weekend. I look alright, but whereas i used to look really young for my age, Im starting to catch myself up now!

It's not what they are doing but more the fact they have time to do it. There is a secret part of me that really wants to scream 'do you realise that anti-inflammatory foods / gluten free / spiralised courgettes are a load of bollocks?

The only people I know like this don't work, and have older children

I don't get the angst against spiralised courgettes or any other vegetables. They are just vegetables, what is not to like? Vegetables are good for you, no one disputes this. The cut shapes are ideal to mix with sauces, stir fry or put in soups and salads.

While I would never say I look amazing in the slightest, I live fairly like that.

Moisturise twice a day and spf 50 balm beneath moisturiser.

I eat limited amounts of brown/red rice, the occasional slice of brown bread but never pasta/pizza unless eating out. I don't eat much red meat but eat a lot of chicken and fish. I cook every meal with no exception from scratch with fresh ingredients and put fresh chillies in 90% of food (increases metabolism), add turmeric when possible and have a Nutribullet that I use daily usually with 2 whole oranges, a huge chunk of ginger, two handfuls of spinach, some lime, flax seeds etc.

Stopped doing yoga but do high intensity interval training a few times a week and walk a minimum of 10k per day.

Drink like a fish but cutting down. Hell no to smoking.

I'm 28, get ID'd for alcohol constantly and size 6.

Meh, I was always sporty and hate eating things that sap my energy. I don't think it is difficult to do really if you're organised.

But if it doesn't mean much to you then why bother? Not for everyone and I don't feel superior to anyone else, only within myself health wise.

I feel so parochial - I know nobody like this there is also a dearth of yummy mummy cliques & playground mafiosa where I live

Water too. If anything I drink too much - about 3-4l per day (but I exercise a lot). Nothing else except a black coffee or two (wild, hey) and alcohol (cutting down).

My father and to an extent my DP both shake their heads a lot at my dietary choices and my father certainly believes I diet, rather than I actually like kale in large quantities and get nothing out of carby, greasy or otherwise heavy meals.

Think it might be a state of mind thing. I live in a nice bit of SW London - it is very common here.

Yes to water. I drink at least 2 litres per day, often more. I feel wretched if I don't. I actually feel crap if I don't eat healthily for more than a day or so. We went to Centerparcs a couple of years ago and seemed to exist on bread, pasta and pizza. Fine for a couple of days but I was bloody dreaming about salad after that.

I've never eaten remotely healthy stopped doing regular exercise (other than lots of walking) in my early 20s, have drunk too much all my adult life, never moisturise or sun block (I'm not white though) and I still get ID'd. I'm 36.
Its a mix of genetics and in my case being short helps I think. People see a short person and think 'child' - I think.

Avoid the sun and don't smoke

The rest is luck

The only part of your post I take issue with, OP, is that it's 'a bit all or nothing'. It's not! Drink an extra glass of water a day. Add an extra portion of veg to your evening meal. Go on a brisk walk, or try a little jog, or shut your bedroom door and do a 15 minute yoga video three times a week.

You may find you get hooked on how good you start to feel and want to do it more. If so, great. If not, so what? I live by the 'better than' rule - so if i want pizza, it's homemade or nice sourdough from a restaurant rather than dominos. I drink good quality coffee. I eat and enjoy chocolate - milk, because i can't be arsed with the dark stuff, but not crappy cadburys or galaxy, just decent stuff where i recognise all the ingredients. That's all it takes.

Agree that suscreen is probably the most significant factor, followed by not smoking, genes and maybe not having children. I have worn moisturiser with SPF15 every day since I was a teenager - I read it in a magazine as being the most important thing to do and just did it - has never been expensive creams - mostly Boots Botanics or Aldi brand.

The above is the entirety of my 'beauty regime', my diet isn't great and I don't do much in the way of formal exercise but I do have a couple of reasonably active hobbies.

I probably consume less sugar than average as I almost never drink anything except water, unsweetened tea and coffee and alcohol. I do drink modestly most of the time but have drunk to excess quite often.

I regularly got IDd until my late 30s and I probably look at least 10 years younger than my real age of 42.

Yeah my diet is shite. And I've never found an exercise I fell in love with.

But I look young. I know why - I have my mother's skin and I've been slapping on the SPF daily since I was 20. And no fags! So its no mystery.

But I am highly aware that my insides might not match my outsides and perhaps some bloody kale and yoga might do my innerds a lot of good!

I've got a friend in her late 60s who would easily pass for early 50s. And I think her secret is yoga. She also runs and eats well but I really think I should take up yoga.

I ascribe to some of the stuff on you list, it's natural for me I just have no interest in chocolate at all and culturally getting a tan in my culture shows you are a field worker so it is just the done thing to stay out of the sun. Plus I just can't drink much alcohol at all, Asian blush issues.

I dont have any friends like this.

Quite a few are into exercise, but none are proper health freaks.

Almost my friends drink, with the exception of a couple of the Muslims (and even they come to the pub) .

I think I probably do look 'good for my age' and I think that is definitely down to religious high factor sunscreen use and vampire attitude to the sun. My sister has the same genes but is a sun worshipper, and you can definitely see the difference in our skin now we are careering towards 40.

I am 34. I knew to do all these things when I was young. I just didn't. Until I was about 32.

Now though I rarely drink (I always feel crap the next day and hate it, even if it's just 1 or 2), exercise a lot, wear spf etc.

They are all things that suit my life better. I don't enjoy drinking. I like exercise, I like to eat well. I have two kids. I do get told I look younger than I am, but generally put that down to people being polite.

Avoid the sun and don't smoke

^
This, above all else.