Baby Boomer Aging - Stay Healthy, Stay Young with Antioxidants!
Healthy Aging is a real issue with Baby Boomers and is certainly more on our minds now than when we were 30. If you’re like me, getting older isn’t the problem, it’s staying healthy as I get older that is my goal. I want to retain all my vigor, energy levels, mental focus and overall good health that I’ve enjoyed until these boomer years. If I can keep diseases like cancer or heart disease or so-called “age-related” diseases like arthritis at bay by consuming antioxidants, then I’m more than willing to add more fruits and veggies to my diet.
Do you need more antioxidants? Here’s what they can do for you:
Antioxidants protect our bodies from free radicals, the harmful oxygen molecules formed in the cells from exposure to the toxins in our environment. These days it’s nearly impossible to avoid toxins in air, water and food. When you add lifestyle habits like stress, lack of exercise, smoking, drinking alcohol, the damage to our bodies increases. The free radicals produced contribute to aging.
Damage to our cells caused by free radicals result in:
* saggy, wrinkly old looking skin
* cancer
* atherosclerosis
* Alzheimer’s
* rheumatoid arthritis
* wearing our of our bodies
* allergies
Ok, so you know you want to stay young and healthy with antioxidants, now where do you get them? Fruits and veggies, preferably organic, are the best source of antioxidants. Studies have shown that organic produce has more nutrients per serving than conventionally grown.
The recommended magic number of servings of fruits and veggies per day is 5 to 9 servings.
* Add these to your diet in healthy recipes or as snacks. Keep fruits and vegetables handy in your pantry and keep the unhealthy chips and cookies out. This way, when you reach for a snack, you will start reaching for the healthier alternative.
* Take healthy snacks with you when you’re on the go or off to work.
* Buy pre-cut veggies and fruit if you don’t have the time to cut them up yourself.
* Check out these healthy recipes.
* Read about how to create a healthy pantry.
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Just What Are Chia Seeds & Why Should You Eat Them?
What are Chia Seeds and Why Should I Eat Them
You probably remember Chia Seeds from Christmas time when they advertise those little Chia pets. If that’s your only exposure Chia seeds then you’ll be interested to know that the little chia seed is the newest in superfoods and they offer terrific health benefits to your diet.
Did you know that Chia seeds were a staple food source for the Native American and Aztec people for centuries? This amazingly little seed contains:
* B Vitamins
* Omega 3 fatty acids
* Fiber
* Boron
* Protein
* Antioxidants
* Calcium
All these nutrients are packed into each tiny seed. The health benefits of Chia Seeds in your diet are:
* weight loss
* diabetes - helps lower blood sugar
* heart disease
* digestive disorders
* improving bone health
Chia seeds are higher in omega-3 fatty acids than any plant known, containing up to 60%. They don’t need to be ground either, which makes them easier to use than flax seeds, for instance. Besides being so high in omega-3 fatty acids, chia seeds contain between 19-23% of their weight in protein, also higher than the amount of protein in any other seed or grain.
Chia seeds support bone health with their calcium (5 times the calcium of milk) and boron.
To help keep our weight down and have good colon health, we need to consume 35+ grams of fiber a day. Chia seeds absorb up to 30 times their weight in water, adding 4-5 grams of fiber to your diet with a 15 gram serving. Fiber to keep you filled up, combined with their high protein content which helps build healthy muscle, make chia seeds a dieter’s dream.
Chia Gel and Its Benefits
Chia Gel is created when the seeds are mixed with water. This gel creates a physical barrier between the carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes that break them down. This causes your carbohydrates to be digested slowly, at a uniform rate so there is no insulin surge or spike in blood sugar after eating chia seeds.
How Much Chia Seed Should You Eat?
You should aim for 2-4 tablespoons per day as part of a healthy diet.
How Do You Use Chia Seeds?
Simply add the seeds to anything you currently eat. They have little to no flavor so you can put them in your morning smoothie or yogurt or sprinkle on cereal. The chia seed gel can also be added to anything you are eating.
How to Make Chia Gel
To make chia seed gel, put 9 parts of water to one part chia seed, into a sealable plastic container. Slowly pour the seeds into the water, then mix with a wire whisk or fork to break up clumps. Wait a few minutes and stir again or shake container to finish mixing. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes and stir or shake again.
Chia seed gel can be stored up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Add any of this gel to foods such as peanut butter, jams, jellies, tartar sauce and more to promote energy and endurance. Chia seeds can also be added to dishes like rice, pasta, stir frys, blended drinks, salads, soups and sandwiches. There’s really no recipe you couldn’t add Chia seeds to.
Here are some more tips on using chia seeds, as well as more recipes.
Using Social Networks in Network Marketing
If you are new to network marketing, chances are you may still be chasing down friends and relatives, trying to interest them in your “business opportunity.” There is a better way for Baby Boomers to build their business and have fun too. Welcome to the new world of attraction marketing where prospects actually seek you out wanting to join your network marketing opportunity.
First - What is Attraction Marketing?
Attraction marketing is based on the idea that to form a network marketing team, you will be more successful if you have many common bonds and friendships with your team. You seek out people who are like you, who have the same values and ideas. One terrific place to connect is through social networking.
For Baby Boomers, who remember when values like honesty and integrity were important, attraction marketing might mean connecting with others over 50 to form network marketing relationships. Attraction marketing could also mean connecting with others who have an interest in health, business building or any number of other topics. Groups who have an interest in a topic can form a social network and get to know each other.
How to Find the Right Social Networks for You
The first social network I joined was CafeMom. I was told by a friend that it was a great place to find women interested in network marketing and work at home opportunities. This was true but I found that most on the forums at CafeMom were young, stay at home mothers, not 50-something women and overall, I had little in common with them. As far as social networking, I felt like everybody’s mother on CafeMom.
One wonderful thing that did come from my social networking experience at CafeMom was that I met other like-minded women who all decided to branch off into our own group. My friend and mentor, Andrea Goodsaid started Natural Networkers which is based on attraction marketing and helping each other with our businesses. Many of us there have joined each others’ network marketing businesses.
Another social networking group I found with interests similar to my own was Eons.com. The way I found Eons was by searching for “social network over 50″. This social network caters to Baby Boomers and has forums on retirement, careers for those over 50, health, fitness, travel, just about any subject a Baby Boomer would be interested in.
I have a few other social networks I’m involved in, including The Freedom Formula which I joined after reading the book of the same name.
One new social networking tool is Twitter. Twitter is easy and fun. Here is my profile on Twitter. You create a small profile and then “twitter” about what you are doing at the moment, whether it’s creating a new blog posting or article, telling about a book you’re reading or a helpful program you’re involved in, or simply what you’re eating for dinner. Others check out your profile by subject - for instance, network marketing - and they decide to “follow” what you are doing and you can “follow” them or not, as you prefer.
What to Expect When You Sign up for a Social Networking Site
Each social network allows you to set up your own profile or home page where you usually tell something “about me”, add photos, blog postings, videos, links to your website and more to personalize it. It’s important to build a profile because it allows others to get to know you.
Each social network also offers forums where, if you participate, others can get to know you and perhaps check out your networking opportunity. The more of “you” that you put into your homepage, the more likely that people will see you as an individual and want to get go know you via the social network setting.
Social networks are also a great place to “brand” yourself as someone who knows about health, travel or whatever the subject area of your network marketing business happens to be. You can answer questions for people or give out information.
Offer and Expect Friend Requests
As you sift through the membership on the social networking site, you’ll spot others who share similar interests, whether it’s location, career, their networking business or whatever. Take time to really read pprofiles to see what you have in common or what sparks your interest. You can invite them to be your “friend” and usually this friendship includes letting you know when they’ve created a blog posting or posted on a forum. In turn, your friends are kept aware of your social networking activities.
One word of caution on using social networking for the purposes of network marketing - go easy on talking about your “opportunity.” Others don’t like the sledgehammer approach. Don’t send mass emails to all your social networking “friends” announcing your business opportunity. The best approach is to offer helpful advice, not even mentioning your business directly. Get to know people for the sake of knowing them and the rest will follow as you get to be friends.
To get the most from your social networks, be genuine. Offer help and advice with no expectation that others will join your “business opportunity.” Ask questions. Others are always glad to help and you can learn a lot through your friendships.
If you are new to social networking, you might want to start slowly. Keeping up with several networks does take time and effort and it’s best to focus on one until you have the social networking system down. After being part of one, however, the next networks are easier as you already have an idea of what you’d like on your profile, etc.
What Recession? Create Your Own Economy with The Freedom Formula
People are worried about the economy right now, but now is really the perfect time to start a new business. And Baby Boomers are asking more from their businesses. They don’t want to just make money, they want to turn passions in to profits. They want more fulfillment and spirituality associated with the business they spend so much time on.
When you’re deciding on a business or trying to grow the one you have, wouldn’t you like to integrate your spirituality with proven steps to grow that business into one that is not only profitable, but purposeful and passionate too?
The Freedom Formula - How to Put Soul in Your Business and Money in Your Bank
Christine’s book give you a step by step plan implement into your own life and business. The book begins by asking you to make assessments about your strengths, passions and goals. There is great information to download from her website such as a guidebook to keep track of your answers to her questions, a meditation and more.
In The Freedom Formula, Christine Kloser shares her experiences and offers guidance to help you build your business and get more fulfillment from it. She is committed to helping entrepreneurs make a profit from their business, but they can also at the sametime make a difference in the world.
Christine also has a social network tied to the book where you can discuss it and ask questions of the author.
I liked the fact that The Freedom Formula was so interactive. I learned a great deal about myself, my goals and my passions after following her plan and I feel more focused on a plan that will be personally fulfilling to me.
A foreword by Neale Donald Walsch, the best selling author of Conversations with God, says of The Freedom Formula, “In this book, Christine Kloser beautifully explains how to integrate your spiritual nature with proven business principles to become a successful conscious entrepreneur.”
If you click on the Amazon link above you can read what others are saying about The Freedom Formula as well.
Once you purchase your copy from Amazon, go to The Freedom Forumla and put in your order number to receive over $9,500 worth of free gifts from the author.
Affiliate Marketing Creates Multiple Streams of Income
If you have your own blog or website, affiliate programs can be a great way to earn extra money via online marketing.
Advantages of Affiliate Marketing
- Affiliate program sign up is free!
- With some affiliate programs you get your own affiliate website to promote the product
- Affiliate programs supply banner code and links for you to use on your website or blog which already has your code embedded in it.
- There are affiliates for any interest. Is your blog related to health - eco-living - pets? There is sure to be a company selling these products which would love to have you as an affiliate.
Disadvantages of Affiliate Marketing
- You usually need to earn a certain threshold of money to get paid. Sometimes it’s $10 or $25.
- You need to have pretty good traffic to your site to make that threshold with most affiliate programs
How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing
The best affiliate programs offer products you already use and enjoy. Do you order online? Do you have favorite companies where you like the customer service and quality of product? Go to their website and look to see if they offer an affiliate program. The chances are, they do.
Another way to find a product of interest is to do a search for what you want like “Affiliate program health” or “affiliate program pets” and see what comes up.
Before you actually sign up for an affiliate marketing account , create a pay pal account for yourself. Creating a pay pal account is free to do and it allows affiliates and others to transfer money to you. Many affiliate programs pay through pay pal. It’s handy to have one anyway in case you want to sell products from your website in the future.
When you sign up with an affiliate program, you may or may not be asked for your social security number. Most affiliates don’t require it until you’ve made enough money to require paying taxes on it. Also, when you sign up, you create log in info for yourself so you can get into the back office of the affiliate program.
Once you sign up, the company will most likely send you a confirmation email and you’re on your way.
When you get your sign in info or your own website, log in and you’ll find lots of great tools for online marketing of your affiliate including banners, text links and more. There is always some sort of tracking tool for tracking your links, sales and commissions too.
Here is an example of a banner supplied by GanoBrand Healthy coffee:
Many affiliate programs allow you to create links for specific campaigns you might want, such as a special link for your blog, another for your website and another for a specific forum you’re on often. This way you can see where your sales come from.
Many forums or social networks allow you to post links in your signature or on your profile which is a great way to market your affiliate program online.
How to Build Network Marketing Success
Use the Internet to Build a Successful Network Marketing Business
Online Marketing with an MLM can be a terrific way to own your own business and add some extra income to your retirement years. But where do you start looking for the best online marketing opportunity for you? Well, here’s a startling fact - which online marketing opportunity you choose doesn’t really matter all that much! What matters to your success is how you market the MLM you do choose.
What Network Marketing advice does YOUR MLM Company offer?
I can almost guarantee you that even the best MLM company will give you lots and lots of training that sounds just like this: Be passionate about your business and your product! Make a list of all your friends and relatives, then contact each and every one and tell them about your terrific business opportunity and all the money they will make if they sign up with you! Signing up just one or two prospects and the residual income will come flowing in!
A New Approach to Network Marketing
This is the truth about online marketing and building an MLM - this outdated approach doesn’t work! And by using the power of the internet and the social networking systems which are already there, you can build a successful online business without ever asking Aunt Sally and Uncle Bert to buy your product.
What brings network marketing success is just that - network marketing. Every MLM opportunity succeeds through great network marketing and online marketing is easier than you might think.
What are Your Network Marketing Business Goals?
First decide exactly what you want the objective, or goal, of your business to be. Are you a baby boomer who would you like to help others achieve greater health in the second half of life? Would you like to help others build their own businesses? What are your passions? What are your strong points that will help you in your business?
Branding Yourself - Not Your Product
The most important aspect of building a successful network marketing business with an MLM company is that ultimately, you are not selling your product, you are ultimately selling yourself. You must show others that they want to work with you, to be part of your team. You must show people that you’re being yourself and that they will like the person you are.
Take Advantage of Attraction Marketing
Something to remember too is that it’s best to find others to work with in your network marketing business who are like you, people you have something in common with, who have the same goals, interests and values that you do. That doesn’t include everyone! Attracting others to you, gathering a group of like minded people to work together is the basis of attraction marketing.
Just how to you attract others to you for the purposes of network marketing success? First, position yourself as an expert, not on your product, but on the solution that your product offers. Always focus on solutions!
If you’re promoting an MLM product for weight loss, for instance, the solution it provides is obvious. It helps customers lose weight to become healthier and slimmer. So how could you market this weight loss opportunity to others? You become an expert in weight loss and and also in the the health problems caused by obesity. You write articles on these issues, join forums and answer questions, offering a link to your blog or website where more information can be found.
One thing that is helpful in building a network marketing business for your MLM is to have your own blog or website. The replicator site your company gives you is great for branding your product but not for telling customers anything about YOU. You is ultimately what you are selling.
One very important aspect of branding yourself, and not your product is that you can build multiple streams of income with several different products, rather than identifying yourself strictly with one MLM company or product. This opens up very valuable network marketing options for you.
Building a Successful Network Marketing Business Can be Rewarding
Building a successful network marketing or online marketing business is not as easy as companies would like you to think - but it can be fun, rewarding and satisfying. Building your MLM business will connect you with many new friends who are trying to build their own successful network marketing businesses, friends who might also end up being on your team in the end, or, they could be very helpful to you with advice or support, even if you don’t sell the same products.
MLM and network marketing opportunities are out there by the hundreds but whichever one you choose, you must have a good network marketing plan to make it work.
Would you like a free, rebrandable ebook which can help you learn to Blog Your Brand? Click here to email me and I will send you a free copy which you can rebrand and give away on your website or blog.
If you’re looking for a terrific group of network marketers to hang out with and learn from, join us at NaturalNetworkers.com
Book Review - AntiCancer - A New Way of Life
AntiCancer A New Way of Life offers Servan-Schreibner’s personal account of his journey back to health and how he learned to turn on his own body’s cancer-fighting capacities. Diagnosed at age 31, he still didn’t make any real lifestyle changes until his cancer’s reoccurrance when he was 38.
Dr. Servan-Schreibner admits that prior to getting cancer, his diet was unhealthy and he lived at a hectic, stressful pace. While his chosen treatment did include traditional chemotherapy and medications to fight his cancer, Servan-Schreibner also decided, after the reoccurance of his disease, that he would learn all he could to help his own body defend itself against the illness.
AntiCancer A New Way of Life lists foods that are specifically designed to help the body prevent or inhibit cell growth - by more than 80% in some cancers, such as cancer of the brain and colon. A few of these foods are broccoli, beets, cabbage, garlic and kale. Other anticancer foods include green tea and turmeric.
I have seen this type of approach work in my own family. My father, who is now 84, was diagnosed with a blood cancer about 5 years ago that generally leads to weekly transfusions within 3 years. His doctors never actually have seen anyone get better from the type of blood cancer my dad has. However, upon diagnosis, my mom started researching anything that would build up the blood - foods, vitamins, etc. My dad started eating blueberries, drinking blueberry juice, eating iron rich foods like spinach and trying anything my mom thougth might help.
Within a year or so, my dad’s blood work started improving! His doctors were amazed. They tell his he is the poster person for MDS, the blood cancer he has. Is he cured? No, but he’s not only maintaining his health, he’s improving. All through natural means that his doctors never even suggested.
Have his doctors asked what he’s doing, if anything to bring about this change? No, unfortunately they haven’t.
But my father’s experience, as well as other’s I’ve had with improving health via natural means, is why I personally liked reading about a medical doctor who embraces making better lifestyle choices to prevent and heal the body from cancer. AntiCancer A New Way of Life empowers people to make better choices to determine the course of their health, whether they presently have cancer or would just like to prevent it ever occurring in their lives. When it comes to our health, we are not helpless to control what happens to us.
I also like that Servan-Schreibner recommends pther important aspects of a healthy lifestyle relating to relieving stress and avoiding toxins in everyday products people use. Besides giving a guide to eating anticancer foods, Servan-Schreibner recommends exercise to relax the body and bring it back into balance, using exercises like yoga or tai chi. He also recommend meditation to quiet the mind and lower stress levels.
AntiCancer A New Way of Life also offers advice too on the use of household cleaners and and hair and body products and which of these products to avoid in order to protect the body from taking in toxins which may contribute to the cause of cancer.
The advice in AntiCancer A New Way of Life is common sense, realistic for anyone to follow and can be worked into every lifestyle.
There is no “magic bullet” but living this anticancer lifestyle would have a huge impact on the overall number of cancer cases if everyone embraced it. If you or someone you know now has cancer, living the anticancer way of life can enhance any medical treatment they are now receiving and it will help them take back the responsibility for their own healing.
How I Found Fitness After 50
However, now that I’m looking for fitness over 50, I can tell my body needs more than my daily walk. My walking companions are my two dogs - they never let me skip a day - but, let’s face it, they’re “power sniffers” and I’m not doing enough for myself aerobically.
When I turned 50, I tried doing yoga to Cd’s and that is a good way to begin if you’re shy about taking a class. I recommend Yoga on CD with Rodney Yee. His work outs are terrific. He does voice overs while doing a yoga routine on a beautiful beach which is very relaxing. However, exercising to CD’s, at home alone has its drawbacks. Namely, if I skip a day, who would know or care?
This past January, I joined the local YMCA, which offers a special fitness program for seniors called Silver Sneakers classes. I decided to start with this one, since I really didn’t want to begin in a class with 25 year old, physically fit women. Something slower and easier, I thought.
To my delight, Silver Sneakers incorporated everything important for over 50 fitness. We use resistance bands, 3 or 4 lb weights and we do stretching, aerobic exercise and work on balance. Also, just trying to keep up with the routines the instructor keeps changing keeps our brain in shape.
What really surprised me is that many in the class were much older than I am. The 70’s and 80’s were the norm in that class and I found people who were what I aspired to be at that age, energetic, healthy and mentally alert.
I’m still doing Silver Sneakers but I’ve also moved on to water aerobics, which I love. While I’d been afraid of competing with 20-somethings, I’ve found the ones I’m now competing with are still in their 70’s!
If you’re over 50 and have never exercised, or even if you’re physically fit, there are some important aspects to fitness over 50. If you want to be physically fit after 50, here are some special things to look for in a class:
1. Aerobics or cardio work out - keeps our heart in good shape and the extra pounds at bay.
2. Weight training - muscle burns more calories than fat! Maintaining our muscle mass keeps diseases like osteoporosis away and keeps our bodies strong to protect our bones from breaking if we fall or are injured. Muscle mass also affects our ability to balance.
3. Balance exercises - seniors are more prone to falls because the brain “forgets” over time, how to maintain balance. Doing daily balance exercises assures you that those important connections in your brain stay connected.
4. Mental work out - most senior fitness classes incorporate doing routines that must be remembered and then changed frequently so keep the brain stimulated.
Even if you currently have physical limitations there is a class for you. In the water aerobics class following my own, class members show up with walkers and canes! Stay tuned to future articles where I will examine different aspects to physical fitness for baby boomers so you’ll know exactly what your goals should be and how to achieve them.