The 3 Pillars of Healthy Aging - Part 3

Hello. We are the Foolish Couple. We believe that healthy relationships start with health and we help couples achieve total success in health and in relationships through nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle. 

We came up with the 3 pillars of healthy aging and we're on our last pillar of healthy aging. 

But first let’s do a quick recap. To us, healthy aging means

• to slow down our body’s aging process
• having a sound body and mind
• free from pain and diseases
• looking and feeling younger and
• of course having lots of energy

Pillar #1: Healthy eating habits

We came up with the 3 pillars of healthy aging. The first one is about healthy eating habits. What you eat has a direct impact on how you look and how you feel. Eating foods that are nutritious and clean will do wonders to your body. Eating bad foods, such as processed foods, will not only age you inside and out, but also harm your body in the long run. You can access Episode 1 here.

Pillar #2: Move it or Lose it

The second pillar is to move it or lose it. You have to move and exercise. Stop complaining about not having time or you that you have joint pains or whatever other excuses you come up with. There are people who can’t even walk who can still play tennis and basketball. There are people with no arms and no legs and they can still climb a mountain. Stop telling yourself stories about how you can’t fit exercising into your schedule and start moving. Because if you don’t build muscles, your muscles will go away. You can access Episode 2 here.

Pillar #3: Stress Management

The third and final pillar of healthy aging is stress, or, to be more specific, the management of stress. Stress management is crucial for healthy aging. When you have excessive stress on your body and mind, you can look and feel 10 or even 20 years older than your true age. I have friends who are the same age, yet when they are together they look like mother and daughter. We are in our 40’s. And we have friends that are in their 50’s who look like they are the same age as us. But we also have friends who are in their early 30’s who look older than us. This is all due the amount of stress they are putting on themselves.

Stress management really has to do with your perceptions of a situation, and also who you spend time with. It is important to think young and positive. Your brain is a powerful machine that will do what you program it to do. If you think happy and encouraging thoughts, it will focus on happiness and encouragement. If you keep telling yourself that you are fat, dumb and slow, then you will feel fat, dumb and slow.

1. Social Circle

When we get older, we must become smarter on how we choose to spend our time. We choose to spend more time with the people we care about, and stay away from the people who we don’t really care for. We also choose to be around people that are positive, strong, and always want to challenge themselves and grow stronger, better, faster. We want to be around people who make us feel good, people that are interesting and stimulating, and know us well.

When you are constantly around people who complains endlessly about their aches and pains, about how old they feel, how their family are ignoring them, not only will the negativity weigh you down, eventually, you will become one of them.

We choose to hang out with people who are young at heart and stay physically active. Hanging out with friends with similar values will not only keep you accountable in all you do, they will also support you with any challenges you may be encountering. Our little secret, keep a group of friends that are younger than you, it keeps you on your toes and will make you feel younger too!

2. Mental Stress

There are two main types of stress that will age you many years your actually age. The first one is mental stress. Many people will tell us that their lives are so stressful because of this and that. They came up with all sorts of problems and issues and they often make these problems sound so big that they cannot get it under control.

But hear me out. Stress is a perception. You are the one who is giving yourself the stress. No one else can do it for you. Not your boss, not your wife, not your kids. They may demand certain actions from you, but your thoughts are the only ones that is causing you stress.

The single most important principle to achieving any kind of success is a very simple equation:

E+R=O

E stands for Event, R stands for Response and O stands for Outcome.

If you get into a disagreement with your boss about a project. The Event is your boss telling you that the project is not going the way he expects. Your response is that you get all defensive and start defending yourself, the outcome would be that you get totally stressed at work over the project.

If you want to change the outcome, in this case, not to get stressed out over the project, then here’s what you have to do. The event is not going to change. But you have total power over how you respond to the event.

Rather than defending yourself and getting mad over it, learn to listen to what your boss is saying and how you can resolve the conflict. By changing your response, not only will be not be stressed out, the project may actually turn out better and everyone is happier.

You can handle family arguments the same way. Just remember to relax, listen and choose your response carefully. To help you reduce stress, you can also learn to do some meditation or zen-like exercises such as yoga and Tai chi.

3. Physical and Environmental Stress

The second type of stress, is physical stress to your body. The type that ages you, gives you aches and pains, messes with your hormones and potentially gives you chronic pains and diseases.

Of course, you should eat clean and nutritious foods, and exercise properly to keep your body healthy. But we are also constantly getting stress from the environment. There is pollution in the air and water, which affects the soils that grow our foods. Modern farming practices means we are getting our produce faster, but at the same time we are depleting our soil of many vital nutrients and minerals.

Anything that our bodies naturally don’t have, such as the chemical fertilizers on our fruits and vegetables, the growth hormones and antibiotics from our poultry and cattle, all these cause stress to our bodies, leading to inflammation, which can lead to chronic diseases.

Knowing that our foods no longer contains the same level of nutrition as they used to, we truly believe that everyone should be supplementing with high quality vitamins and minerals. High quality means a supplement that has complete purity, without foreign substances, that is bioavailable to our bodies, and contains the vitamins and minerals in the right amounts. Here’s one that we are using and we recommend to all our friends and family.

That wraps up our 3 pillars on healthy aging. We are in our 40’s and we certainly feel better now than when we were in our 20’s and 30’s. If you want to look and feel younger and stronger, follow our 3 pillars on healthy aging and let us know how that works out for you. Until next time,

Love what you Live, and Live what you Love

We believe that healthy relationships start with health and we help couples achieve total success in health and in relationships through nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle. If you know someone who can benefit from this blog, share with them. Let them know that you care about them. And of course, leave us any comments below. We love to hear from you.

PS: Our ebook ‘Gut Matters’ goes deeper into the issue of our gut and the action steps that we can take to repair our gut and bring our bodies back to an optimal, healthy state.

This ebook is free for you to download and all you have to do is follow the link below and we will send you a copy.

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We are not medical doctors. This blog is not intended to diagnose medical condition, or replace your health care provider. The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only. Statements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always consult your personal physician before starting any fitness or exercise program or changing dietary habits. The content of this site is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is not a substitute for a medical exam, nor does it replace the need for services or counsel provided by medical professionals. However, we do hope to inspire you to become healthier, more self sufficient, and more aware of options.