Even though I have consistently participated in weight bearing exercises and strength training for over 30 years, my most recent bone density (December 2022) results found that I have some osteopenia in my right hip and low back. Interestingly, these are both areas where I  have sustained injuries. 

My Mom had osteoporosis and I have been proactive in doing what I can to prevent it, especially since research suggests that osteoporosis and disorders of bone fragility are highly heritable

https://arthritis-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/ar2479#:~:text=Twin%20and%20family%20studies%20have,predominantly%20due%20to%20genetic%20factors.

Osteoporosis is diagnosed when a person’s bone mineral density is lower than a predetermined threshold (usually -2.5 or -2.6), as determined by a bone density scan (DXA scan).

Osteopenia is a condition in which bone density is lower than normal, but not low enough to be classified as osteoporosis. Having osteopenia increases a person’s risk of developing osteoporosis.

Osteopenia is typically diagnosed using a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan. During a DXA scan, a low dose X-ray is used to measure the density of bones in the spine, hip, and other areas. The scan produces a T-score, which is a measure of bone density compared to an average healthy adult. If the T-score is between -1.0 and -2.5, it is considered to indicate osteopenia.

As we age, we can expect to lose between 0.5 and 1.0 percent of our bone mass each year. This means that our bones become weaker, lighter, and more prone to breaks or fractures.

The quality of your life in later years is very much dependent on the strength of your bones. 

Personally, I want to be active as long as possible and not be relegated to the couch. 

Therefore, it is important to maintain bone density as we age to ensure that our bones remain strong and healthy and to maintain an active and vibrant lifestyle.

Ideally, we want to shore up long before we hit menopause but even if you haven’t it is not too late to start.

There are definitely lifestyle changes you can implement to improve your bone density. 

Eating: 

1. Increase calcium and vitamin D intake. Foods high in calcium and vitamin D include dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese), salmon, broccoli, kale, and oranges. 

2. Eat more greens. Leafy greens such as spinach, collards, and swiss chard are high in minerals that are important for bone health.

 3. Increase your intake of vitamin K. This vitamin helps to absorb calcium and is found in foods such as kale, spinach, and cabbage.

 4. Eat more plant proteins. Plant proteins are an important source of minerals that are beneficial for bone health. Soybeans, lentils, and quinoa are some of the best sources of plant proteins. 

Exercising: 

1. Weight-bearing exercise. This includes activities like walking, running, jogging, dancing, and playing sports. These activities help to build strong bones and improve balance. 

2. Strength training. Lifting weights and using resistance bands are excellent ways to build muscle and strengthen bones. 

3. Stretching. Stretching exercises help to improve mobility, flexibility, and balance.

 4. Balance exercises. Balance exercises help to improve coordination and reduce the risk of falling.  

If you want to improve your balance, you can access a free 5 day balance challenge within my private Facebook group. I provide this complimentary resource to my community. Doing so is my way of helping you reach your full potential in terms of health and wellbeing. You can join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindandbodymakeoverforwomenover40

There is an abundance of research that shows that fitness helps reverse aging and turn back the clock both physically and mentally.

Fitness after 40 is about much more than the vanity metrics we were concerned with when we were younger, like looking good in jeans. Fitness promotes health from the inside out. As your fitness improves, so does your ability to enjoy life.

Fitness means you’re able to participate in life and do what fulfills you with the people you love.

For me it means being able to hike, bike, run, and travel with friends and family.

What is fitness?

• Physical fitness is defined as the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, to be healthy, to resist disease, and react to emergency situations.

• A well-rounded fitness program will include mobility exercises, resistance training, cardiovascular training, stretching, and recovery. The latter two components become much more important with age. For example, I’ve noticed that I now need to be very deliberate in stretching on a daily basis in order to avoid straining my lower back.

Research has shown that no matter how old you are, you can improve many fitness markers (read: reverse aging) when you start to exercise consistently. For example, adults over 80 years old can improve their strength with two sessions a week. You can read more here.

Never think that you’re too old to start. The perfect time to start is NOW!

Often people are discouraged from high-intensity activities like strength training and HIIT (high-intensity interval training) because they think that they have to devote a significant amount of time in order to reap benefits, but research has dispelled this myth. (Journal of Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism)

• A study found that stair climbing for three 20-second intervals, three times a week, improved the aerobic fitness of sedentary college students in just six weeks.

That means you may be able to help reverse aging and its the physiological effects in just 3 minutes a week if you are currently sedentary.

Can you find 3 minutes a week in your schedule?

No matter how busy or out of shape you are, you can find 3 minutes in your week to climb stairs, or walk up a hill.

Why are aerobic activity and strength training important for you?

There are so many benefits. Simply google the benefits of exercise and you will find a lot of information. Some benefits include:

1. Muscle growth and prevention of muscle loss
2. Minimize effects of the aging process, even reverse aging
3. Help metabolize carbohydrates and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes
4. Reduce the likelihood of breaking a bone in a fall
5. Improve energy level

Continue reading for more information on the above benefits. Or, jump to the next section on how to incorporate aerobic activity in your life.

1. After the age of 35, people start to lose muscle mass at 1% to 2% a year. Once in our 60s, that increases to about 3% a year.

• Even if you are exercising beyond 60, you will lose muscle mass, but not as much as the sedentary person.

• High-intensity exercise can stimulate the production of anabolic hormones that promote muscle growth and help counteract the loss of muscle we experience after 40. Yet another way exercise can reverse aging!

2. Research by Wyckelsma and colleagues 2017 found that HIIT exercise helped mitochondrial density in 65 to 75 year old subjects. Improving mitochondria density may be able to improve your cellular function and minimize the effects of the aging process. (Wyckelsma et al. 2017)
3. Lean muscle mass is also important as we age because it helps us metabolize carbohydrates.

• As you improve your ability to metabolize carbohydrates, you may reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Given that almost 30% of Americans 65 and older have diabetes, the research suggests that exercising consistently, especially over 40 is important to help reduce your risk of this disease.

4. Exercise creates stress for the body which makes it stronger. The stronger the body, the occurrence of breaking a bone from a fall is lessened.

There is growing research that demonstrates that HIIT training helps reverse aging effects and it can allow you to maintain the energy level of adults who are many years younger.

HIIT sessions do not need to be long. The focus is on intensity and not duration. The shorter HIIT sessions are more intense, however, they may reduce the risk of repetitive or overuse injuries that come from longer workout sessions.

NO MATTER HOW OLD YOU ARE, THE RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT YOU WILL BENEFIT FROM INCLUDING HIIT EXERCISES IN YOUR LIFE.

You want to include high-intensity activity 2 to 3 times in your week, but you don’t want these sessions to be long in duration as they are stressful on the body. The older we get, the harder it is to recover from high-intensity workouts.

In his book ‘Ageless Intensity’, Pete McCall recommends no more than 3 HIIT sessions a week.

How do you know if you are working at the right intensity to reap the benefits of HIIT training?

The talk test and using will help you gauge if you are working hard enough to get the anti-aging benefits. When you are working hard enough, you are then using glycogen as fuel; this is the energy pathway you want to develop for longevity benefits. The aerobic pathway is used for less intense activity.

• The TALK TEST or the RATE OF PERCEIVED EXERTION (RPE) scale is helpful in guiding you with intensity.

The harder you work, the more out of breath you will be and the harder it will be to talk. By monitoring talk, you can determine if you are working at a lower intensity (below 5) or at a higher intensity. An all-out effort is closer to a 10 and a very easy effort is closer to a 1.

RPE scale:

10 = all-out effort sustainable for just 20 to 30 seconds- very hard – can’t talk
9 = very hard intensity – breathing hard- good for 1 minute intervals
8 = hard intensity – hard to say more than 2 or 3 words
7 = vigorous activity – can speak in short sentences with difficulty
6 = hard but doable for 30 to 60 minutes
5 = able to have a conversation – some effort
4 = you can speak a few sentences without struggling
3 = able to maintain a conversation and not get out of breath
2 = very easy to maintain a conversation and could move for hours
1 = bare minimum effort, like a slow stroll

Rowing machines, jump ropes, body weight exercises, resistance training, and bikes are great for performing HIIT intervals. You can also find a hill outside or stairs as was mentioned in the study above.

Here are some HIIT protocol examples:

Be sure to get approval from your physician before starting an exercise program and incorporating high-intensity exercise.

If you are new to exercise, it’s best to start with strength training and gradually increase intensity over 3 to 6 months.

Once you establish a foundation, carefully incorporate HIIT training. Start with only 2 high-intensity bouts and slowly add another, maybe every 2 weeks.

Option 1:

Always start with a warm-up: approximately 3 to 4 on the RPE scale
Slowly increase the intensity so that you break a sweat and stay at this level for about 3 to 5 minutes and 5 or 6 on the RPE scale
20 seconds at a level 9 or 10 on the RPE scale, followed by 10 seconds at a level 4 or 5 on the RPE scale
Repeat for 8 cycles – total of 4 minutes
Cool down

Option 2:

Warm up (follow same warm up rules as in option 1)
30 seconds at 9 or 10 on the RPE scale
30 seconds at 4 or 5 on the RPE scale
Repeat for a total of 5 to 10 minutes
Cool down: 5 minutes or however long it takes to lower your heart rate to within normal range. This is done at a level 3 on the RPE scale.

Change the intensity and duration of your workouts on a consistent basis.

A weekly rotation could look like this: (recommended in the book ‘Ageless Intensity’ by Pete McCall.)

Day 1 = strength or power training
Day 2 = bodyweight exercises
Day 3 = metabolic conditioning HITT
Day 4 = strength
Day 5 = bodyweight
Day 6 = metabolic steady state
Day 7 = rest

Contact me for help in creating a personalized HIIT workout.

If you haven’t already, consider signing up for my weekly newsletter. Content varies, but is all health & wellness related. No spam. You’ll receive exclusive advice ranging from recipes to tips on mindset shifts. Don’t miss out!

Lately, it seems everyone is talking about fasting. In today’s post, I’ll share 2 big truths to help you decide if fasting is for you, and if so which method is best for you.

And if you are currently fasting, I share some REALLY important information below that you’ll want to implement, otherwise you may no longer continue to get results from fasting.

I practice time-restricted eating most days of the week, while my husband follows intermittent fasting a few days of the week along with time-restricted eating.

Is fasting a fad or a legitimate trend?

Recent research shows that fasting is a practice that yields many worthwhile health benefits.

Some of the benefits of fasting include:

Weight loss
Increased lifespan
Improved immunity
Improved heart health
Reduced inflammation
improved insulin sensitivity
Reduction in metabolic disease

Bottom Line – fasting will improve most health markers and is well worth your effort unless you are underweight, under 18 years of age, pregnant or breastfeeding.

How do you go about it?

There are different ways to fast, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. I’ll focus on time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting.

Intermittent Fasting (IF)

The 24 hour day is divided into two periods: a fasting period and an eating period.
This is a dual approach to reduce calorie intake and the period of time in which you eat.
The most common schedule people follow is a 16/8 hour schedule. A person will fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8-hour window. This is done between 2 to 7 days a week.
Most people skip breakfast on intermittent fasting. days. For example, the eating window may be from 11 am to 7 pm or 10 am to 6 pm (or any other time that fits your schedule).

Intermittent Fasting is for you if:

you typically aren’t hungry in the morning
you have a significant amount of weight to lose
you’re prone to nighttime snacking.

Time restricted eating (TRE)

Time-restricted eating is a form of intermittent fasting that typically allows a longer eating period than intermittent fasting.
With time-restricted eating a person eats as much as they want during a predetermined eating window.
People typically eat between an 8 to 12-hour window.

Time-restricted eating is for you if:

you don’t like to miss breakfast. This method works for people who don’t like to miss breakfast (like me). I would rather miss dinner than miss breakfast!
you don’t have a lot of weight to lose and want to experience the health benefits that fasting provide.
if you’re new to fasting, TRE is a great way to ease into longer fasting periods.

BOTH INTERMITTENT FASTING AND TIME-RESTRICTED EATING ELICIT BENEFICIAL HEALTH EFFECTS INCLUDING:

weight loss
reduced-fat mass
improved heart function
enhanced aerobic capacity.

During the pandemic, I was pretty diligent in following the fast periods which meant I didn’t snack or have any alcohol after dinner. As a result, I lost almost 5 pounds whereas many people gained weight during this same period.

HERE’S WHAT INTERNET SEARCHES DON’T TELL YOU ABOUT FASTING:

Don’t follow the same fasting period every day of the week.
WHY?
Studies have shown that over time, the body will no longer respond to fasting as it did initially. In fact, over a prolonged period of restrictive calories, the body may reach a state of stress. The body needs diversity to keep working well. It’s called metabolic flexibility. You want your body to be able to adapt to various demands placed on it.

In order to avoid this, you need to vary your eating window. For example, follow a 16/8 (fast -eat) window two times a week, a 12-hour window 2 or 3 times a week, and the remaining days a 13 /11 window.
Don’t follow the same fasting periods for long, extended periods of time.

Another concern, especially for women after menopause, is that extended long fast periods may promote muscle loss. You want to maintain as much muscle as possible. The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism will be.

References
1.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6836017/

2. Longo, Valter D., and Satchidananda Panda. Fasting, Circadian Rhythms, and Time-Restricted Feeding in Healthy Lifespan Cell Metabolism 23, no. 6 (June 2016): 1048–59. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2016.06.001.
3. https://daveasprey.com/dr-will-cole-796/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783752/
5. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/20/7777/htm
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4636982/

RESET, RENEW, RESULTS

If you want to really get a handle on your weight and your health, and learn optimal aging strategies like fasting, join my 6 week program called Reset, Renew, Results.

You’ll learn content that is NOT shared in Weight Watchers or any other program. My program is science-based and it draws from psychological practices that are proven to enhance and solidify learning.

At 63 years old, I walk my talk. I’ll teach you how you can eat, move and think for weight loss and lasting health.

Join us. I KNOW you won’t regret it!

Sign up HERE

Chances are that if you’re over 40, it’s the latter. According to a neurosurgeon I saw at the Cleveland Clinic, this is normal. He told me that anyone 40+ has some degree of degeneration in their joints. It’s a natural part of aging. Of course injuries and lifestyle do contribute.

The joys of aging…

Joint inflammation and damage can limit our movement, and yet movement is exactly what we need to keep agile and strong as we age.

Doing what you can to preserve your joints is worth every minute of effort.

Let me share with you what has worked best for me. My motto has always been: If it doesn’t hurt then it’s worth trying. (And trust me, I’ve tried a lot of different things for my joints!)
I’ll share what I’ve found to be the most effective.

If you have sore joints, it may seem counter-intuitive, but strength training is key to maintaining joint health.

Your joints are stronger if the muscles around them are stronger. As long as you have proper form as you perform the exercises, you will improve the integrity of your joints. If you aren’t sure about your form, get help from a professional.

Here’s a great strength training routine you can use.

The better you look after your joints, the longer they will serve you.

My routine since the pandemic looks different than it did before. When things get back to normal, I’ll be back to see my chiropractor since active release therapy and acupuncture help to keep me more flexible. Another change since the pandemic is that I don’t need to travel for infrared sauna because I bought a red light therapy device that I can use at home.

Here’s my current routine:

Infrared Light Therapy

I use the Baton Rouge from True Dark. I like it because it’s light, portable, easy to use and affordable. I can honestly say I’ve noticed a difference, especially in my knees and thumbs.
Every morning, I use light therapy on my knees, thumbs and any other joint that may be sore.

You can read more about it on the True Dark website. Here’s the link to the one I use.

Infrared light therapy uses certain wavelengths of light to restore, repair and protect tissue that is either injured, degenerating or at risk of dying. While varying wavelengths affect the body differently, as far as healing with red light is concerned, the most effective wavelengths range from 630-670 nm and 810-880 nm.

Benefits:
increase mitochondrial function
decrease skin inflammation
reduce wrinkles
heal wounds
help osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, and cognitive dysfunction following brain injury

Icing

After using the light therapy, I ice my knees. Fifteen minutes helps to reduce inflammation.

Essential oils

I still can’t believe that I used to get injections and take anti-inflammatories (bad for the stomach) to deal with knee pain. That was before I was introduced to essential oils.

Now that I know better, I can make healthier choices.

Over time, I’ve developed my own blend of essential oils for my knees. These oils are scientifically shown to support tissue like muscles, joints, ligaments, and cartilage. If you want the recipe, let me know and I’ll send it to you.

The main ingredient in my blend is Deep Blue Rub, which is all-natural. Remember, what you put on your skin can be absorbed into your body, so you want to make sure it doesn’t contain any toxic ingredients.

Learn more about Deep Blue rub and purchase it here
Get 25% off Deep Blue rub for an entire year with a $35 membership HERE
There are huge benefits to having a membership. With it, all doTERRA products are 25% off for an entire year!
And you get free membership in my private essential oil group. In this group you’ll learn how to replace toxic chemicals in your home with natural, health-enhancing products.

Foam Rolling

Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique. It can help relieve muscle tightness, soreness and inflammation, and increase your joint range of motion. I have foam rolling on my health tracker as a reminder to do it daily. That’s how effective this strategy is for me.

Foam rolling can be an effective tool to add to your warm-up or cool-down, before and after exercise.

Here’s a video that explains how to effectively foam roll.

What helps you relieve soreness? I would love to know.

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