Ageless Living with Harriet Broder

Hit That Reset Button!

Harriet Broder — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:33:50 +0000

I love fall. I love the fact that it’s a new (Jewish) new year, kids are beginning a brand new school year, and the air even feels fresher and new. We want to buy new boots and sweaters for the coming cooler weather. We clean out our closets and bring in our fall clothes. We may even come back from our vacations ready to ‘begin anew’ at our jobs.

The question remains, however, how to really push down on that ‘reset button’. Don’t you believe that the universe is telling us that we truly have this chance, this lovely season to have whatever it is that we really want? Sit with that one for a moment. Then the questions remains . . how to get what you really want? Here’s a little known secret: Forget the ‘how’ part for now. Ironically, focusing on the ‘how’ is what keeps you from what you want. It typically paralyzes you from moving forward.

Focus on what feels better now. That will lead you to something else that feels better, and something else that feels better and ultimately to what you are finally ready to have in that ‘now’.

So what is it that you really desire? Remember, essentially all you need to do is articulate it and focus on the mindset and tools you have right now to get whatever it is you desire. You know this is true – think about all that you have at this moment and how you created the mindset to actually get it or achieve it.

Here are some examples:

1. Losing weight – Can you see yourself 10, 20 whatever pounds thinner? Think WHY you want to be thinner. (It’s got to be a reason that truly resonates.) Do you know the foods that cause you to gain weight? Of course you do. Do you know what healthy foods are? Of course you do. Do you know the habits that keep your weight on. Of course you do. Hit that reset button!

2. Finding ‘the one’ – What’s your story about finding ‘the one’? Why you want him/her? What are the top 5 non-negotiables of him/her? Clearly, you need a new story. Hit that reset button!

3. You want a new job, change careers – Are you focusing more on why you can’t leave rather than the new opportunities offered if you do leave? Sounds like you need to change your story. Hit the reset button!

BTW, sometimes just visualizing ‘hitting your reset button’ will keep you on track and diminish your tendency to fall back into your old way of thinking and being.

Clearly, I’m writing this from a very simplistic perspective. There are layers of stuff that we allow to get in our way when it comes time to making changes. (That’s where a breakthrough session with me would come in quite handy!)

Yes, fall is the season for change. It’s in the air. The universe has hit her reset button.

It’s now your turn.

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If you like this article, you’ll love my FREE GIFT – the intro sections and first chapter of my new book, Look & Feel 20 Years Younger . . . 5 Secrets to Slow Down Your Aging Process. (See to the right.)

ANOTHER WONDERFUL OFFER: As discussed above, food and lifestyle changes are paradoxically, as easy as they are hard. So, if you are serious about making changes that will literally transform your life , click here to make your appointment for your Look & Feel 20 Years Younger Breakthrough Session. It will be your first step in digging deeper and learning how to tweak your genes and ultimately turn back the clock.

ABOUT HARRIET:

Harriet Broder, B.S., CHHC is writer, speaker, and highly noted Ageless Living health coach residing in Potomac, MD. She shows successful, savvy women – both locally and ‘Skypefully’ – that ageless living is not just a sexy catch phrase but a personal reality that can be attained. She is able to gently guide her clients on a path to eating smarter, living passionately and truly feeling ageless: guiding them on their journey to a personal transformation.

A.G.E.: A Fitting Acronym for Why We Look Old and Feel Sick

Harriet Broder — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:23:56 +0000

Let’s take a moment to talk about AGE – a very fitting acronym for advanced glycation end products – the debris from tissue decay. It causes arteries to stiffen (arteriosclerosis), eyes to cloud up (cataracts) and skin to wrinkle and sag. The older we get, the more AGEs we accumulate throughout our bodies, creating the ultimate environment for the ailments we associate with getting older: kidney disease, diabetes, cancer, male erectile dysfunction and dementia, just to name a few. And where do AGEs come from? You guessed it: they are the by-products of high blood sugar. Wheat products tend to trigger AGE formation quicker than any other carbohydrates – even sweets.

The fact remains that wheat is potentially harmful to the body and is actually pro-aging.

Are you ready to do the one-week experiment? Give up wheat. You WILL feel different. You may even lose a pound or two. If you give up other unhealthy carbs and sugar as well, as discussed previously, it’s not uncommon for people to lose 10 lbs in two weeks. In Dr. Davis’s clinic, (the author of Wheat Belly,) the average loss for those patients who gave up wheat was almost 27 lbs in less than six months. (BONUS: If you give up the wheat first, your cravings for sugar will diminish.)

If you give up wheat for a week, let me know how you feel and if in fact you did lose a pound or two. I know that I did!

Do you want to find out some more food and lifestyle changes you can easily adopt and ultimately have a major effect on your health destiny? Do you want to look and feel 20 years younger?

If you are serious about making these easy changes that will literally save your life, and ultimately save you a lot of medical dollars down the road, click here to make your appointment for your Look & Feel 20 Years Younger Breakthrough Session. It will be your first step in learning how to tweak your genes and ultimately turn back the clock.

If you like this article, you’ll love my FREE GIFT. Better yet, you’ll really love my book, Look & Feel 20 Years Younger . . . 5 Secrets to Slow Down Your Aging Process now available through this website.

ABOUT HARRIET:

Are Your Beauty Products Actually Accelerating Your Aging?

Harriet Broder — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:58:26 +0000

Could you be putting “beauty” products on your skin that accelerate the aging process and contribute to health issues down the road? I believe the answer is a resounding YES.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), almost 90 percent of the 10,500 ingredients used in the manufacturing of the $50 billion personal care product industry have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the industry’s safety panel the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) for safety. The FDA states that “a cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval from FDA” (FDA, 1995).

Putting toxins in your body day in and day out – whether it’s in the form of pesticides and herbicides on produce, processed foods, household chemicals or beauty products – may eventually result in a toxic buildup in your system. Could this make it more difficult to age gracefully, to feel and look your best?

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), though we may be living longer, a third of us will develop a chronic disability or disease. Could this be attributed to the lax regulations of the cosmetic industry? What is the ultimate effect of the average woman’s exposure to over 160 different chemicals a day? Remember how the tobacco industry was able to hide the deleterious effects of smoking for so many years? This is definitely something to think about.

Many of the ingredients in personal care products are known high-risk chemicals, e.g. coal tar (a known human carcinogen) and lead acetate (linked with causing depression and brain damage), which are often the base (rather than trace) ingredients. In fact, one in eight of the 82,000 industrial chemicals registered for use in the US are found in the products we put on our skin daily.

Most women use an average of 12 personal care products a day. That translates to about 168 different chemicals, of which about 60 percent are absorbed through our skin. (Men use about six products or 85 ingredients daily; children are exposed to an average of 61 ingredients daily.)

Some of these ingredients run down the drain or are flushed down the toilet in human excretions, creating additional concerns for human health. There is also the impact they have on our waterways and wildlife. Some of these chemicals act like estrogens. I’m sure you’ve heard stories of hormone systems in wildlife being disrupted – hermaphroditic amphibians (eggs growing in their testes), for example. I don’t think we can blame the frog.

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Do you want to find out some more food and lifestyle changes you can easily adopt and ultimately have a major effect on your health destiny? Do you want to look and feel 20 years younger?

If you are serious about making these easy changes that will literally save your life , click here to make your appointment for your Look & Feel 20 Years Younger Breakthrough Session. It will be your first step in learning how to tweak your genes and ultimately turn back the clock.

If you like this article, you’ll love my FREE GIFT. Better yet, you’ll really love my book, Look & Feel 20 Years Younger . . . 5 Secrets to Slow Down Your Aging Process.

ABOUT HARRIET:

YES, YOU DO HAVE THE POWER TO TWEAK YOUR GENES AND ALTER YOUR HEALTH DESTINY

Harriet Broder — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 23:49:32 +0000

This is really exciting . . .more and more studies are coming out supporting the power we have to control our health destiny.

As I’ve shared with you several years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I lived my life like a hamster on a treadmill for way too many years. It was bound to happen – to be honest, I actually felt it in my body. So when the doctor told me, I truly wasn’t surprised. (BTW, I’m fine now.)

Now, I live my life differently – not only how and what I eat but even more importantly, how I live my life. Ironically, one of the most important lessons was that it isn’t about the destination it’s truly about the journey.

GENETICS DO NOT DICTATE DISEASE RISK

Cancer and heart disease don’t ‘run in your family’; it’s the disease causing habits that do.

According to Craig Venome, the scientist who led the research to sequence the human genome: “Human biology is far more complicated than we imagine. Everybody talks about the genes that they received from their mother or father, for this trait or the other. But in reality, these genes have very little impact on life outcomes. Our biology is far too complicated for that and deals with hundreds of thousands of independent factors. Genes are absolutely not our fate.”

At one time, future doctors were taught in medical school that cancer is almost exclusively genetic and that only about 5 percent of cancers could be attributed to diet or environmental toxins. Now we know the reverse is true. According to a recent NIH published study, 90 to 95 percent of ALL cancers are caused by lifestyle and environmental factors.

FACT: Since Richard Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971, the incidence and mortality rates and the probability of cancer diagnosis have all increased. This is after an investment of over a trillion dollars.

Today, one out of two Americans will be diagnosed with cancer. Do you want to be sure it’s not you? (Or if you’re like me, do you want to make sure you don’t contract cancer again?)

Here are 3 easy ways to begin tweaking those genes of yours:

1. MEDITATION: 10 minutes a day of diaphramatic breathing has been proven to be able to lengthen the telomeres in as little as 12 weeks. Telomeres – those protective tips on the end of your chromosomes – are shortened because of envirmomental toxins, poor diet and stress. When you lenghten your telomeres, your lenghten your life.

2. MINIMIZE EXPOSURE TO TOXINS & HORMONES: Industrial farming has allowed us to farm food in phenomenal abundance; however, the tradeoff is chickens, cows, pigs that are fed drugs, antibiotics and hormones. Processed foods are loaded with carcinogens. Fruits and vegetables are treated with numerous pesticides and herbicides. Avoid the Dirty Dozen fruits and vegetables. Eat naturally raised animal products and wild, sustainable fish.

3. SOAK UP YOUR DAILY DOSE OF VITAMIN D: Daily exposure to vitamin D reduces your risk of deadly internal cancers. Twenty minutes a day is optimum. Make sure you don’t burn or use a sunscreen that contains carcinogens. During the winter, supplement with 2,000-5,000 mg of vitamin D a day.

Do you want to find out some more food and lifestyle changes you can easily adopt and ultimately have a major effect on your health destiny? Do you want to look and feel 20 years younger?

If you like this article, you’ll love my FREE GIFT. Better yet, you’ll really love my book, Look & Feel 20 Years Younger . . . 5 Secrets to Slow Down Your Aging Process.

ABOUT HARRIET:

WARNING: Your Sunscreen May Be PROMOTING Your Risk for Cancer!

Harriet Broder — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:36:21 +0000

Hard to believe but the sunscreen you typically use may be promoting your risk of cancer.

Consumer Reports‘ recent reviews of sunscreens lists two as top values; however, these ‘top values’ contain know hormone-disrupting chemicals and carcinogens! UGH! How weird . . . in the full article, they actually acknowledged some of the problem ingredients in sunscreens and then recommended the brands that contain those ingredients!

FACT: Numerous studies have show that those whose occupations keep them outdoors have a much lower incidence of melanoma than those who work inside. For example, farmers and constructions workers have much lower rates of melanoma than office workers.

FACT: Many studies have revealed that people with the lowest levels of sun exposure had the highest risk of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and cancers of the breast, colon, pancreas, lung, and esophagus.

FACT: A recent study involving people from over 100 countries found strong evidence between the vitamin D made by your body from the sun’s UVB rays and the prevention of the above mentioned cancers. (Vitamin D also protects your brain and heart, strengths bones and improves your immune system.)

Bottom line:

1. Daily, get twenty minutes of unprotected sun, preferably before noon or after 3:00pm.

2. If you are in the sun for an extended period of time use sunscreen with zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide.

3. Stay away from sunscreen with oxybenzone and PABA which has been linked to reproductive, organ and developmental toxicity.

4. A diet rich in antioxidants especially carotinoids provides a natural sunscreen: eggs, chlorella, spriulina, tomatoes, dark, green leafy vegetables and yellow and orange vegetables and fruits – berries, sweet potatoes, squash, red peppers, carrots.

5. Omega 3 fatty acids found in walnuts, fish such as wild salmon, mackerel and sardines help protect and nourish your skin.

6. Check out the Environmental Working Group‘s list of recommended sunscreens.

If you liked this article, feel free to share it!

If you would like to learn how you can upgrade your eating and lifestyle choices – and ultimately transform your health destiny – click here to schedule your Look & Feel 20 Years Younger Breakthrough Session.

The fee is usually $147, but through the end of the month the fee is $47. I promise this 30 minute telephone conversation will be your first step to transformation.

What are you waiting for? This is YOUR time!

Why I Love Flowers

Harriet Broder — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:24:13 +0000

I used to not be a flower person. I never got why someone would buy flowers for their home. They’re just going to die in a few days and toward ‘the end’ they get kind of soggy and stinky. Just keep potted plants. I have a rubber plant that I think I’ve had for over 20 years. They just DON’T die! I digress, back to the flowers. . . .

About 6 months ago, I became a flower person. I buy a fresh bunch each week: A mixed variety of colors, shapes and varieties. I put it on the coffee table in my living room and I can see it when I walk into the house or pass to the bedroom. Each day they seem to look different. Each day I turn the vase to get a different view – a new bouquet. Whenever I look at my flowers, it makes me smile.

How and why did I all of a sudden become a flower person – seeing and reveling in the intense colors and diverse shapes? I believe it correlates with my getting into 10 minutes of quiet, meditation time in the morning. I am able to finally see the beauty in the mundane, because nothing is mundane when you are able to be in the moment.

Flowers epitomize all that is so special and marvelous about nature: Its beauty, its balance, its serenity, its acceptance, and especially its transience.

What we love and value most, will not be around forever. (That is why I never did like my fake orchid. It’s still perfect after 10 years.)

Flowers and me – all part of the forever changing universe. My lovely sisters. My family. How could they not make me smile!

If you liked this article, why not download a FREE copy of my new book. In Chapter 2, I explain in more detail how I evolved, or actually am evolving into someone who is much more able to live in the moment. I share my techniques and tips to take you there as well. (The book is also available for purchase on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.)

ABOUT HARRIET:

The Most Important 10 Minutes of Your Day

Harriet Broder — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:24:19 +0000

What do you do to de-stress? I FINALLY learned how to meditate last year and, I believe, it has literally saved my life. Here’s why:

Not only can meditation lower your blood pressure, reduce stress, and create serenity, but studies have shown that in as little as 10 minutes a day, over a 12 week period, you can actually lengthen the telomeres, the protective end caps of your chromosomes. When telomeres become shorter, lifespan becomes shortened. So if you were to ask me what’s the number one secret to a longer and healthier life? Meditation would be it.

The therapeutic breathing I’m speaking about must come through your diaphragm not through your chest. Chest breathing tends to be short and triggers stress. Diaphragmtic breathing will lengthen your telomeres and engenders other wonderful anti-aging effects like improving your’s lung ability to oxygenate blood and aiding in the removal of waste products.

I like to meditate in the morning for 10 minutes. Remember, just like the first five years of life are considered the formative years, the first few minutes of your day can serve the same purpose. They can set the tone for the rest of your day.

You know the days that start off being angry at your spouse or kids? Didn’t negative stuff follow you throughout the day? This is how to reset the dial and make sure it’s a positive day, no matter what befalls you.

Meditation will set a positive tone for your day. I know it can. It has for me.

So how does one do the diaphramatic, stress reducing breathing?

1. Lie down and put one hand on your stomach, another on your upper chest.

2. Focus on breathing rhymically not necessarily deeply.

3. Put your tongue at the roof of your mouth and your front teeth.

4. Inhale, pushing your stomach out and feel your lower hand move outwards. Your hand on you upper chest should hardly move.

5. Exhale feeling your stomach contract; the hand on your upper chest should again not move. Your exhale will be twice as long as your inhale so as to make sure you tap into your parasympathic nervous system – which slows down your cardiovascular system and relaxes your muscles.

To keep your breath rhythmic, I recommend using the Saagara app, Relax. Set it at level 1:1:2. The music makes it so much easier maintain your rhymic breath.

Let me know how this works for you. I started feeling a difference in 4-6 weeks. What do I mean by a difference – more calm and focused and less easy to be ruffled by ‘stuff’.

If you like this article, then you’ll love my FREE GIFT.

ABOUT HARRIET:

I received my training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition^®. Based in New York City, Integrative Nutrition^® is the largest nutrition school in the world. The school offers the world’s leading health coach training and teaches over 100 dietary theories, practical lifestyle management techniques, and cutting-edge coaching methods.

Integrative Nutrition is the only nutrition school to integrate all the different dietary theories and provide comprehensive coaching and business training. Health Coaches from Integrative Nutrition’s world-class training program learn from top experts in the field of health and wellness including Dr. Andrew Weil, Geneen Roth, Dr. David Katz, Dr. John Douillard, Dr. Mark Hyman, and David Wolfe among many others.

Change Your ‘Story’, Change Your Life

Harriet Broder — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:39:46 +0000

Would you like to have you as a best friend? If the answer is ‘no’, then perhaps you need to change your ‘story’. Creating a new ‘story’ about you starts with being non-judgmental with yourself. So instead of saying, “I’m 20 lbs overweight, so how could I be desirable to anyone?” Say, “I may have extra weight but I’m lovable, funny and intelligent [whatever resonates], and today I will make one dietary change” [i.e. not eat bread; walk for 10 minutes – again, whatever resonates]. Remember: where your thoughts go, energy flows.

HOW I CHANGED MY STORY: I had to change my story about meeting a significant other. For MANY years, I had the mindset that I had to ‘want’ a person; I couldn’t need somebody. So for years, nothing happened. Then one day I realized the problem: I needed to change my ‘story’: I had to accept that it was OK to ‘need’ someone. Before, I’d been so terrified that if I needed someone, I would be ‘needy’. Humans are social creatures who are wired to need others in our lives to feel more ‘human’. Once I changed my story, I was able to open my heart to the love of my life. I was 57. My relationship has been going strong for seven years, and it gets more loving and ‘unneedy’ every day.

It’s all about having a story that says you value you because you are perfectly imperfect (which, by the way, is the only “perfect” that exists). It about making your life a living affirmation.

Do you want to change your ‘story’? I would love to be your guide on your journey to change. . .

Schedule your Look & Feel 20 Years Younger Breakthrough Session now to begin creating your new ‘story’. Click here.

If you like this article, then you’ll love my FREE GIFT.

You are Invited to an Anti-Aging, Wellness and Zumba Cruise to Bermuda

Harriet Broder — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:51:17 +0000

Sail away September 28, 2012 on the

Enchantment Of The Seas for 6 Nights

This cruise will be the most fun! Not only will I be conducting daily anti-aging seminars and workshops, but you will be able to participate in zumba classes twice a day. We will be talking about the core ‘secrets’ mentioned in my book, Look & Feel 20 Years Younger . . . 5 Strategies to Slow Down Your Aging Process, as well as how to eat smarter and feel totally satisfied even while you are on a cruise! (Book and ebook available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.) Of course you will have available all the many amenities typical of Royal Caribbean cruise ships.

Participate in an many as (2) Zumba classes per day from one the most popular instructors in the metro DC area.

Never done Zumba?! Think dance + exercise = way too much fun!

What you need to know:

Per person fee (based on double occupancy)*

Interior Cabin: OLD PRICE: $625.00; NEW PRICE: $489

Outside Cabin: OLD PRICE: $695.00; NEW PRICE: $589

Note taxes and port charges are an additional $117.93 per person.

*Must be Maryland Resident for these prices

A deposit of $250.00 is due by June 7, 2012.

There are a limited number of cabins at the prices above – reservations are first-come, first-served. After these are reserved, all others will be at a higher price.
Prices include a Welcome Cocktail Reception, Zumba Classes and Anti-Aging and Wellness seminars 24-hour a day dining, all entertainment, most activities, and more!

This Cruise will sell out! Make your reservation now!

For more information including upgrades and triples, please contact:

Susan Owens 8:30-5:00 Mon – Fri at 301-421-1956 or 240-498-6215

Email: owens21st@gmail.com

Oil of Olay vs. Flax seed

Harriet Broder — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:44:44 +0000

In my research in writing my book, I learned about the marvelous power of foods that help to diminish external signs (wrinkles) and internal signs (disease) of aging. One of those amazing foods is flax seeds.

Believe it or not, Olay skincare has added flax seed oil to one of their product lines, but not enough to make a difference or to counter all the other damaging ingredients (on the Cosmetics Database, Olay scored a hazard rating of 3–10 – ugh!). So why not go right to the source? Flax seeds are wonderful to put into smoothies and they are can even be used when baking as an egg substitute. (1 tbsp. milled flax seed + 3 tbsp water).

They are loaded with alpha-linoleic acid and lignans (essential fatty acids), which aid in combating inflammation, allergies, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; they even enhance hormone health.

Another benefit of consuming flaxseed oil: it contains omega-3 (as well as omega-6) fatty acids. The skin has a fatty layer composed of these acids and other fats; consequently, the more omega-3s your body has, the plumper (i.e. less wrinkled) your skin will appear.

HOW TO EAT IT TO DE-WRINKLE: Daily, mix ¼ cup of whole-fat organic cottage cheese* with a tablespoon of organic flax seed oil. Watch your skin start to plump up in 2–4 weeks. NOTE: Keep your flax seed oil refrigerated to maintain its quality and freshness.

I adapted this muffin recipe from Dr. William Davis’ book, Wheat Belly. It’s a quick and amazingly satisfying breakfast:

90 Second Fantastic Flaxseed Muffin

Ingredients

¼ cup milled flax seed (www.swansonvitamins.com has the BEST price)
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp xylitol (a natural sweetener)
1 organic egg
1 tsp organic unsweetened butter
½ tsp vanilla flavoring or extract
1 tbsp chocolate chips and/or some raw organic almonds or walnuts

Method

Mix all of the ingredients in a large coffee mug.
Put in the microwave for 90 seconds.

Voila! Play with the recipe and add your own ingredients of choice: berries, cinnamon, banana or orange extract, coconut flakes or ginger.

*We’ll talk about the benefits of eating whole organic fats in a forthcoming blog.

Let me know how you like this recipe. Share your change-ups to the recipe.