FABULOUSLY FIFTY AND YOUR CHANGING SHAPE

This past weekend I spoke to a woman in her early sixties, she walks every day for an hour as part of her exercise regime. Sannie got a great skin and a good body on the petite side, but she has picked up weight around her mid section and she has lost her appetite: the result a sluggish metabolic system.

Sannie’s metabolic system is in fact burning the wet wood of metabolic and environmental waste. How can we stimulate the metabolic system to work for us and not against our own bodies?

Before I answer the question let, us look at our hormones and weight maintenance.

It is not a proven fact but it looks like when our ovaries produces less oestrogen, your body goes into this mode: “O my goodness, what now, where must we find oestrogen!” I can just picture the little workers throwing up arms into the air while frantically imploring the ovaries to keep on making oesrogen.

However, the twins Miss and Miss Ovary refuses to comply – their shift is over, they are on a retirement package. The body knows that oestrogen can be produced and stored in fat cells, now your body works harder –no retirement in view for your body- to convert calories into fat to increase oestrogen levels. The body is so busy with this mission that it does not stop to think that fat cells do not burn calories the way muscle cells do and so unfortunately, the kilograms sneak up on and around the midriff. This is even worse on the standard Western diet. Your body cannot get the necessary oestrogen from the food you take in, but it gets plenty of unhealthy calories. In fact, the empty food negates oestrogen production so the body must store more fat in order to get the “wanted” oestrogen.

We can reverse the effects of Miss and Miss Ovary retirement schedule. Keep on with the exercise, increase the walking distance within the same period, do an imitation of a run (shuffle) for short periods so that you force your body to work harder and to burn the calories that has been stored. Be conscious of what you are eating and when. Do not be tempted to eat a heavy meal late at night. Drink your veggie juice especially carrot, celery, apple (as a rule we do not mix fruit and veggies but this is the exception) and cucumber to flush the system.

How to increase your metabolic system to burn the dry wood?

Eat small meals, never bigger than your fist, and eat often. This will enable your metabolic system to burn effectively the meal that you have eaten. Do not skip breakfast, eat a substantial breakfast after you have walked (shuffled) around the neighborhood. A good breakfast should consist of; some protein, less carbohydrates, good fats –linseed or nuts, wheat germ- and a good herbal tea to stimulate the whole system. I do love celery seed, dandelion, red clover and rosehip tea. The celery tea is very good for menopause problems. Have a yogurt or some fruit 2-3 hours after your breakfast.

For lunch you could have a salad in summer with some brown rice and either fish or chicken. You could have a soup in winter – I will never buy tin soup, make your own, healthier and delicious. Supper should be (for us over fifty) a large glass of veggie juice – freshly juiced; you could add a teaspoon of kelp and a teaspoon of wheat germ to the juice. If and when you eat out, make sensible choices, but enjoy the food, tomorrow you will once again drink your juice instead of a meal.

SEX-ERCISE

We have done (I do hope you have started your training) the clench and relax training sex-ercises now we build onto that. This is the Push-outs. Clench the PC muscle and push down, you will feel the tummy muscles contracting as well as the anus; it must be a push as if you are delivering a baby. Hold the push, release and repeat about five times. Do more when you are comfortable with the movement. Do not forget to do the clenches of the previous week.

Good luck with taking back the shape you want to have and lots of love

Tessa Biagio.