sarapearce99
- Aug 5, 2020
- 3 min read

Wellness Wednesday - 10 ways to naturally support aging | Part 1

It comes to us all! It’s a natural process that starts to happen from the day we are born, we begin to age. But the rate in which we all age is hugely individual and comes down to our own personal lifestyle, diet and product choices.

So you look in the mirror and see that your skin doesn’t look the way it used to anymore, or those grey hairs are becoming more frequent, these are external signs of aging that we can see, but what is really important is the aging that is going on internally.

So how can we support our bodies with aging and slow down the process?

1. Load up on antioxidants

We are exposed to many chemicals and toxins throughout our day, from the air we breath, the work we do, to the products we use, whilst there are easy ways to reduce these toxins, you can’t stop them completely, so loading up on antioxidants; bananas, blueberries, kiwis, grapes, pumpkin, nuts etc. is going to support our body to repair from the free radical damage that is caused by these chemicals and toxins and thus slow the aging process.

2. Say no to excess sugar

Appropriately abbreviated AGEs (advanced glycation end products), is a process that occurs in our bodies where glucose and fructose link with collagen and elastin and basically dehydrate these proteins, making your skin start to look dull and sagging. Excess sugar in our diets will accelerate that aging process both inside and out. Avoid processed foods and soft drinks, start looking at your labels for things like high fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, sugar and choose alternatives such as coconut sugar, fresh fruit and a small amount of organic cane sugar.

3. Drink more water

Being dehydrated is a huge contributor to aging, amongst other things that include basic bodily functions. Giving your body an adequate amount of water each day will help to lubricate joints and help your body to flush out toxins, which in turn support us in healthy aging. Water helps to restore elasticity to the skin and hydrates from within the cells! Everyone has a different daily water requirement, depending on how active you are or how much you weigh etc, but you can’t go far wrong drinking between 2-3 litres a day. Aqualert is an awesome app to remind you to drink and track your daily intake.

4. The gluten-free life

According to the Wheat Belly book by Dr William Davis, 2 slices of wholemeal bread spike your blood sugar levels more than 2 TABLESPOONS of sugar! Unfortunately for us, a lot of our available wheat is hybridised, and by having this kind of reaction in our bodies it means that the AGEs process, as mentioned in point 2, occurs here too. This is a tricky one as you also need to be careful with gluten free products that they don’t contain sugars, starches and fillers which are going to have the same impact! Time to start label checking again and avoid processed foods as much as possible. Get a good blend of vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and zucchini as well as the quinoa and brown rice.

5. Get more sleep

Getting enough sleep is really important to support the aging process and have healthy skin. I recently wrote a blog all about tips for getting the best sleep ever, so you can check that out here.

You know when you’ve had a rough night, dark circles, puffy skin etc. When we sleep our bodies are repairing, regenerating, detoxifying. If we don’t get enough sleep we don’t get enough repair. It has the same impact as stress has on our bodies, which you can find out more about in part 2 next week!