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?????

I think the meditation one probably works, too. I have met a lot of unlined meditation teachers/yoga teachers. I think most of the ones I've met drink wine and have a veggie diet but enjoy a lot of very fine things in life. In some ways I think that people who live this sort of life are often enjoying life a lot because they make space for things that matter to them. I can't manage it, personally but I think the idea that it's massively exciting to eat a load of brown food, slob out on the couch and get wasted is "fun" but heading off to walk the Himalayas meditatively is "dull" seems a bit nuts, and I know some of my party-party friends would fight me to the death on such a thought!

Though... what is a spiralised courgette? Are there pictures? How do you do it?

They're probably secretly having botox.

fusion a spiralised courgette has been cut into either noodle or ribbon shapes with a spiraliser. They can be served with pasta sauces, stir fried or used in salads.

www.amazon.co.uk/Spiralizer-Tri-Blade-Vegetable-Strongest--Replacement/dp/B00GRIR87M/ref=sr_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1460015571&sr=1-2&keywords=spiralizer

I like mine, it is a good way to get more vegetables into the diet and handy if you follow a low carb diet.

My DS doesn't drink and doesn't like the sun. Her diet is not that healthy and she exercises only a bit. But the lack of sun and alcohol seems to make a big difference to her skin. She is is in her 50s and people are always shocked by her age.

I'm in my early forties and look at least ten years older. It's just the way I am. Crows feet more like crows wings, wrinkles on my forehead, the lot. People always look shocked when I tell them how young I still am.

If looking at me/reading this post makes younger-looking women my age feel better about themselves, that's great.

I started greying in my early twenties and finally chucked away the dye bottle in my late thirties as I was beginning to react badly to the chemicals in both permanent and semi dyes. "Have you tried Henna?" asked a disgusted fashionista, horrified by the white Morticia Adam's streaks in my hair.
"Not with a white bathroom suite!!" I replied - plus the fact my greys are resistant. I get treated by other women as if I have a severe disability!

The conclusion I came to is that we all are going in the same direction - to old age. Embrace it, but work on the inside, as well as the outside.

A recent health MOT revealed I had the healthiest results in a surgery with a patient list of 4000. I have a lovely family, good friends and live in a beautiful area. I have many fantastic hobbies. I love the outdoors and am always hiking and running.

If I had to stay indoors, spend hours in a beauty salon, botoxing, peeling and the lot, spend my hard earned cash on beauty products and be in anxious apoplexy regarding wrinkles and ageing, instead of fun days out with my beloved, my friends and my hobbies, I would think I'd have died and gone to hell.

Carry on with your botoxing, peeling, dyeing, facials, hair extensions, staying indoors on sunny days, pure eating and the rest.

I just ask that you would leave me alone to enjoy my life.

My last sentence refers to the media, not you guys on MN!! No edit function on this forum!

Do people put suncream on every day or can you get SPF in other things? I hate wearing suncream.

It's the sun and the fags that get you I reckon, loads of other things make a difference but they're the biggies. I'm 36 and after 2 kids in 2 years I look every bloody days of it but I've never smoked and hate being in the sun so I think if I get some decent sleep and lose 2 stone I'll be okay. Life is definitely too short to spiralise a courgette!

Fermenting kefir is not that difficult and doesn't take that much time either.
I can give you some milk kefir grains.
Misses the point of thread completely

Life is definitely too short to spiralise a courgette!

All of the couple of minutes it take to spiralise it and wash the machine? Or the 30 seconds they take to whizz round a pan and cook? As cooking goes IMO they are quick and easy.

Fair enough if you hate courgettes, however don't let the hype about spiralisers put you off, they are just a convenient cutting gadget, they don't have to be treated as a fad.

Since the only alternative is death, why are we so afraid of looking "old"?

Since the only alternative is death, why are we so afraid of looking "old"?

I agree, with you lljkk. However, saying this I have really felt people treating me better, they are much more friendly and chatty, when I look better (when I have been at my slimmest and not in my scruffiness stuff). Sad, and I am not saying this is right, but a lot of people are, at least subliminally, affected by appearances, I think. I have heard a lot of people saying they feel 'invisible' past middle age. So we shouldn't pander to the attention but it is easy to see how people connect looking old to feeling less positive about themselves when this is the message reaffirmed by society.

You're probably right capsium I'm biased because I have a friend who is now low carbing and will not shut up about bloody spiralise courgette! It's just as nice as pasta!! don't you know. Over and over again.

I loved spiralised courgette - weird, cos I don't like courgettes!

ootsideinbacktaefront I don't like sunscreen either.

You can get moisturisers with SPF that feel light and non-sticky. You can also get makeup with SPF (if you wear it).

Personally, I use both of the above and in summer I wear a hat and sunglasses. If I know I'll be outside a lot, I will wear a separate 50+ sunscreen. I have lately started to wear quite open-weave, lightweight knitted tops in summer. I know they are not 100% effective against the sun but they protect my chest and arms and it's better than wearing a vest and baking.

There are also some sunscreens for facial use that aren't as sticky and awful as the stuff you get in a chemist. Japanese skincare brands have some good ones. They cost more but at least they aren't revolting. And for body, there are the drytouch spray sunscreens. Again, not as good as the creams, but better than nothing.

I'd say it is possible to impact on your appearance through lifestyle. I know a family with 5 sisters, all now in their 60s and early 70s. Two in particular looked very similar when younger - only a year apart, and often mistaken for each other, or for twins.

One used expensive skincare and lived a reasonably clean lifestyle. The other smoked - not to excess, about 5 a day - and drank. They both had the usual level of sun exposure of children and teens scampering about in a hot town in the 60s - ie. a lot. They look quite different now.

I think good genes along with a healthy lifestyle play a big part. By healthy lifestyle I don't mean living on bird seeds and green juice. I'm talking home cooked food from scratch, sensible portions, not too much alcohol or anything processed. Also being active.

My DM and DGM both look amazing and at least 10 years younger than their age. DGM is in her 90's. Neither of them has ever been overweight, DGM had 8 children They have never dieted or taken exercise classes but both had busy lives running after kids etc. They both have the occasional drink on special occasions. Tea is their main tipple

I think I'll stick to this plan as it seems to have worked so far for the ladies in my family.

Is Jerry Hall lying thru her teeth or does she really do all the 'wrong' things & still looks 25 yrs younger than she is?

Lena Horne was famous for looking 35 yrs younger & didn't do anything special to be that way.

Jerry Hall is only 59, and the photos show reasonable wrinkles. She looks so much better than Paula someone the cosmetic guru who was the subject of another thread here; facelift so tight she practically has a beard...

Hall's hair is probably dyed of course. She also SMILES which takes years off - the slapped arse fish pout face of most models puts years on even the youngest.

with a lifetime stink stick habit she's done well, but that mainly gives wrinkles round the mouth due to the sucking, and she may have had a bit of work there. Can't speak for the state of her lungs of course.

spending the next few years standing next to her grandad won't harm her appearance...

I know several yoga freaks, I know it works for them but for me yoga is hell.
And if you are hypermobile, it's actually counter productive. Tried Pilates, that was dull too.

Now I pull weights, but eat lots of cake.

I do find people with relentless healthy lives and exercise are a weeny bit dull to talk to - they have substituted doing for thinking so don't have a lot of conversation, but not as bad as people who are obsessed with their kids, which is also unhealthy.

LOL at people on here who are in their late twenties and think their great looks are down to their lifestyle. In my twenties, I partied a lot, had a great time, and was also a size 8. It was easy then.

The harder times, for me, body-wise have been post-birth the second time around when that elasticity which was there first time wasn't and I didn't ping back, being very time-poor due to little kids so not eating as healthily as I would have liked, and now in the menopause which, with the best will in the world, makes your skin lose elasticity and weight gain is not as easy to reverse.

That said, I still look good for my age, I'm afraid those extra pounds don't look good around the waist, but they do help the wrinkles plump out. That, nice hair and a smile is what I aim for. No interest in injecting anything or indeed eating seeds all the time.

I don't know any of these uber-healthy women who look 20 years younger. The ones I know look nice, but not noticeably different than anyone else, and a couple are quite old looking in the face even though they have slim bodies. No-one is truly defying nature, nor is Jerry Hall, even with great dental work, hair dye etc, she looks lovely, but her age!

My SIL is like this. Mostly raw food, gluten free, limited caffeine and alcohol. She does yoga and meditation and she takes a gazillion vitamin supplements and is vegetarian. She's in her 60s now but looks late 40s. She's obsessed by health, especially alternative medicines.

Thanks Japanese, I will get a moisturiser with SPF as I'm only an occasional makeup wearer, I am starting to look a bit wrinkly 😁

At school, the nuns went from wearing full headdress covering forehead, neck and side of face to small scarfs. Where their skin had been covered they had twenty year old skin. Of course the centre of their faces were those of women in their 50s and 60s. Looked weird, but taught me a good lesson re sun damage. Probably the only useful thing I learnt there.