Joan’s Boomer Blog

ZenniOptical is now the number one website online to order fashionable, budget friendly eyeglasses. Prescription eyeglasses are necessary for eye health, but ZenniOptical knows that eyeglasses are also a fashion statement. They provide a high quality product at affordable prices. Did you know that despite the fact that ZenniOptical is a bargain for eyeglass wearers, many opticians don’t want you to order your glasses online?

The reason opticians don’t like ZenniOptical is fairly obvious. They would rather you pay their higher prices, which does not benefit you.

How can an optician stop you from ordering bargain, quality eyeglasses online? They leave out one vital part of your prescription, the Pupillary Distance, or PD. The PD is the distance in millimeters, measured between the pupils of each eye, center to center. To get the proper prescription made for you, ZenniOptical needs that measurement. However, there is a growing trend among those providing your prescription to you not to provide it unless you ask specifically.

If you’re looking for fashionable, quality eyeglasses at bargain prices, try ZenniOpitical. It’s easy. Just put in the prescription and choose the features you want. You can get beautiful eyeglasses for as little at $29!

Read what other eyecare professionals are saying.

Joan’s Boomer Blog - Joining the Green Smoothie Revolution

Recently my husband and I joined the Green Smoothie Revolution and I wanted to blog about how Green Smoothies can help baby boomers. Many people I’ve met who are passionate about Green Smoothies are young mothers who want to improve their family’s nutrition. Boomers and seniors like me are concerned with healthy aging - maintaining optimal health as we get older. We are experiencing health issues such as arthritis, high cholesterol and maybe diabetes.Maybe we don’t maintain our weight as easily as we used to.

As we age, our bodies don’t take in and use nutrients this they did, leaving us vulnerable to a lowered immune system and results of aging. Can green smoothies help us aging boomers get more out of life?

Why Drink Green Smoothies?

What is your normal daily diet? Do you eat processed foods (foods that come in a package and are full of unpronounceable ingredients?) Do you eat lots of cooked foods, with maybe a small salad for dinner to get your “greens?” Do you have health issues?

Believe me, the health issues are intimately tied to you daily diet. Green smoothies can offer whole, raw veggies like broccoli, kale, Swiss Chard, and mustard greens. You can even throw beet and carrot greens in to your green smoothie recipe so you waste less food. AND these foods are uncooked which is important because cooking often destroys many of the nutrients in our veggies.

Since the foods are blended, the super nutrition is more readily available to your body to increase energy, boost your immune system, help you lose weight and be healthier. Green Smoothies are quick and convenient too, once you get your foods and a powerful blender. They keep for up to 48 hours in the frig so you can make them ahead of time.

Since I decided to start making Green Smoothies for my husband and me, I wanted to blog about the experience, offering recipes and tips to get you started and to let you know what Green Smoothies can do for healthy aging.

Many of my friends already are green smoothie converts. They’ve told me they experience:

• more energy
• improved digestion, including more regular bowel movements and soft stools
• fewer cravings for sugar and processed foods
• improved, more stable moods
• weight loss - an average of over 17lbs!
• increased desire to exercise (couldn’t we all use that!)

Others report less pain from arthritis, improved sex drive, less stress, shinier hair, stronger fingernails and smoother, clearer skin tone. All this after only 30 days on green smoothies!

How Much Green Smoothie Do You Need to Drink?

Optimum consumption is about one quart a day, four or more days per week but you can start with less.

Green smoothies are a lifestyle change. I’m going to start growing sprouts, making kefir, growing spinach and making lots of dietary changes. Check back in coming days to see how the green smoothie revolution is working out for this baby boomer.

Once I decided to embark on the Green Smoothie lifestyle, my next step was to research blenders. Green smoothies do require more power than your average smoothie blender. I look at all of them, read reports and asked friends who are already making green smoothies. Find out tomorrow which blender met the challenge.

More Green Smoothie Information and Recipes

Remodeling Your Bathroom Increases Value, Function for Boomers

Not only does remodeling your home’s bathrooms increase the value of the property, but, for baby boomers, a bathroom remodel can increase functionality as well. Wouldn’t you love to have a beautiful, luxurious bathroom that would fit your needs as you get older?

Large, tiled showers and Walk In Tubs For Elderly offer safety and convenience as we get older and they are available in a a great variety of colors to fit your bathroom remodel. It’s easy to add a grab bar for safety as well.

Besides getting walk in Replacement Bathtubs a whirlpool or soaker tub is wonderful for those with arthritis or sore joints. Today’s new materials make cleaning easier too.

Boise Bathroom Remodeling offers a unique feature on which allows you to “build your own bathroom.” Computer generated images add different features like walk in tubs or showers, and allow you to see different styles and colors in tile or whether or not you have grab bars, soap dishes or shower caddy. Want to test colors in the bathroom, or trims like wainscot or a chair rail? Using this web page, you can literally design your own bathroom remodel and get a sense of what it will look like when you’re finished.

If you’re considering a bathroom remodel, check into the features you can add to keep living in your home as you get older. You’ll end up with the luxurious, beautiful bathroom of your dreams.

Crystal Singing Bowl

Seeking Inner Peace? Try a Crystal Singing Bowl

The beautiful Crystal Singing Bowl is used for many spiritual traditions, meditation, relaxation, well being and religious practices. Singing bowls are a type of bell, and the sides and rim vibrate to produce a haunting, lovely sound.

How do you use a crystal singing bowl?

A singing bowl produces its melodious sound by rubbing a wooden, plastic, or leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl.

Many baby boomers are seeking fulfillment, inner peace and happiness in their senior years. The crystal singing bowl can be a powerful aid in meditation and relaxation, as well as being a beautiful addition to your home.

Can Magnetic Therapy Relieve Your Chronic Pain?

Chronic Pain doesn’t have to be part of your senior years. Alternative remedies such as magnetic therapy, using magnetic bracelets, acupuncture, reiki and energy medicine offer hope for chronic pain sufferers.

Baby boomers who suffer chronic pain often just accept pain as part of their lives. They take pain medications that harm their livers - Pop a pill and feel a little better - However, that chronic pain from arthritis, back or hip problems, neuropathy, carpel tunnel or other forms of unrelieved pain are still present. You can try and relieve the symptoms but the underlying cause it still there.

How Does Magnetic Therapy Work?

Magnetic therapy has been around for about 4,000 years. Magnetic healing may work to relieve chronic pain by relaxing the capillary walls of the body, increasing the blood flow throughout your system, working much the same as massage therapy, which stimulates the areas around muscles, increasing blood flow and helping the body to heal itself.

In Magnetic therapy a magnetic bracelet or other jewelry is worn which may help increase blood flow and speed healing of chronic pain, getting to the cause of the pain, not just relieving the symptoms.

Where Can I Find Quality Magnetic Bracelets?

One way to get magnetic jewelry is to join an MLM like Amega Global, which offers quality magnetic bracelets, zero point energy wand, an energetic healing tool which can help the body heal from chronic pain - often in minutes), and other energy healing products. Their products are about $200-$600 each.

Or, you can get the same type of magnetic jewelry such as the iRenew Energy Bracelet at Amazon.com for a fraction of the price.

The Magnetic Therapy Industry is a billion dollar business worldwide, with $300 million of that business in the United States.

Life is too short to live with chronic pain. With magnetic therapy, you can increase your quality of life - no matter how long you live. I’ve seen amazing results in seniors over 80 years old, as well as those in their 40’s and 50’s.

If you live in chronic pain and don’t want to take pain medications daily, check out magnetic therapy and energy healing. You might be glad you did.

Where to buy Chia Seeds

The health benefits of adding chia seeds to your diet are astounding. Chia seeds are the new superfood and a very important ingredient to your daily regimen if you are interested in healthy aging. Are you looking for quality chia seeds to use in your chia seed recipes and gel? You probably won’t find them at your local grocery store but you can now visit our new Chia Seed Store on Amazon.com

For our Chia Seed Store, I’ve chosen the best brands of chia seed, books on chia seeds and their benefits and even some of the ever-popular chia pets and chia sprouting gardens.

Health Benefits of Chia Seeds in your Daily Diet

Among the benefits of chia seeds are their high content of omega3 fatty acids, which are beneficial in protecting us from high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, arthritis and more.

You can buy a pound of chia seed for about $12 and it takes only a couple teaspoons to make 8oz of chia gel. All you need is about 1/4 tsp sprinkled on yogurt, cereal or other foods to get the superfood nutrition.

Read more about the health benefits of chia seeds or pick up a book on chia seeds at Amazon.com. Many of the chia seed products in our store quality for free shipping if you purchase $25 or more on your Amazon order. I have a wish list of Amazon products so if I need something else to bring me up to the free shipping level, I go to my wish list and add something.

Boost Your Metabolism with these Easy Tips

As we get older, our metabolism slows, which is one reason we gain weight as we age. You can speed up your metabolism, however, by following some simple tips.

Our metabolism is the rate at which our bodies burn calories and a slower metabolism means that weight creeps up on us as we age. Weight gain as we age leaves us vulnerable to supposed “old age” diseases like heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, arthritis and more. Speeding up our metabolism is the key to keeping our weight down.

So how can you speed up your metabolism?

Hate to say it but exercise, of course, is the number one way to speed up metabolism. Not only does your metabolism speed up during exercise but for several hours after a cardio workout - so you get double the increase in your fat burning if you exercise. Plus, muscle burn more calories than fat so having more lean muscle increases metabolism too.

Drink water - a well hydrated body runs more smoothly and burns calories for efficiently.

Drink more green tea. Green tea not only offers health benefits but also increases metabolism.

Try Deep Breathing - Deep Breathing is one very easy way to boost metabolism. Read Jumpstart Your Metabolism: How To Lose Weight By Changing The Way You Breathe for some easy tips on deep breathing. Most of us only breath shallowly, not using all of our lung capacity. Deep breathing not only helps boost metabolism but increases energy and good health and relieves stress.

Add these metabolism boosting spices to your daily diet.

Spices like cayenne, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon all boost metabolism. Adding them to your daily diet also helps protect your body from diseases like cancer. Turmeric is also good for inflammation leading to arthritis, ginger is good for nausea and indigestion and cinnamon helps lower cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. So far as is known, there are no adverse effects to adding these spices to your diet either.

Other Recommended Reading on boosting your metabolism:

Read more about superfoods which help boost metabolism.

Read Ultrametabolism: A Simple Plan for Automatic Weightloss by Dr. Mark Hyman

UltraMetabolism Recipes - 200 Recipes to boost metabolism

WebMd - Make the Most of Your Metabolism

Get Healthy with Tasty Chia Seed Recipes

Tiny chia seeds offer a powerful nutritional addition to your diet. How much chia seed should you eat per day? About 2 to 3 teaspoons of chia seeds offers B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, protein and more.

How Do You Use Chia Seeds?

Chia seeds can be added to just about any food, such as yogurt, pancake or muffin batter, or sprinkled over cereals or added to your morning smoothie. Or you can try these tasty chia seed recipes:

Luscious Chia Seed Smoothie

1 Tbs Chia Seeds
3/4 cup fruit juice
1/2 banana
2 oz yogurt

Add chia seed to juice and wait for chia gel to form, stirring a few times to break up clumps. This usually takes a few minutes. Add rest of ingredients and blend until smooth.

Chia gel can be made with water and kept in the frig too, ready to add to any recipe. Simply use 9 parts water to 1 part chia seed and put in a shaker bottle. Shake well several times to prevent clumping and store in the frig.

Chia Seed Guacamole

1 Avocados
1 scoop chia seeds
1/2 juiced lemon
1 TBS onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS Olive oil

Mash avocados, then stir in remaining ingredients.

Chia Seed Quesadilla Recipe

1/2 scoop chia seeds
2 Flour Tortillas
Butter or Ghee
1 cups shredded cheese

Heat a skillet. Spread butter or ghee onto tortillas.

Place one tortilla in skillet, butter side down and sprinkle cheese on top.

Place second tortilla on top, butter side up.

Saute both sides of tortilla until it’s golden brown.

Serve.

Chia Seed Pancakes

2 scoops chia seeds
pancake mix
fresh blueberries or strawberries

Mix pancake batter according to directions. Add chia seeds and fruit.

Heat skillet and add batter.

When bottom side is golden brown, flip and cook other side.

Top with fresh fruit and serve.

Chia Seed Stir Fry

Chicken or beef strips
1 scoop chia seeds
cut up veggies for stir fry
Sesame oil
Soy sauce-low sodium

Mix chia seeds with soy sauce and wait one minute for gel to form.

Heat skillet with sesame oil. Add meat and saute until golden brown.

Add veggies and chia soy sauce mixture. Stir fry until veggies are tender.

Serve with rice.

Easy Banana Chia Seed Snack Recipe

1 banana
1 scoop chia seeds
2 Tbs shredded coconut
1 Tbs cocoa powder

Peel the banana and roll it in the coconut, chia seeds and cocoa powder.

Slice coated banana into pieces and serve.

As you can see by these chia seed recipes, it’s possible to add them to just about any dish.

Where to Buy Chia Seeds?

These delicious chia seed recipes came from Omega 3 Chia Seed, which is available on Amazon.com. I’ve been using this brand for about a year and find good quality for the price. Amazon also carries several other brands of chia seeds too.

Visit our Amazon Chia Seed Store for many brands of chia seeds, chia gardens and books on the amazing chia seed.

Anti-Aging Workout Video Is Fun to do at Home

Carol Argo’s anti-aging workout video Anti-Aging Method with Carol Argo offers a unique total body

The Anti-Aging Method with Carol Argo

workout that blends the best of Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates and dance that is suitable for beginners to the experienced fitness expert. As we age, our workouts should include these aspects so we can remain flexible and to keep our bodies youthful and free of pain from stiff joints, and help us improve balance to prevent falls. These exercises offer a great anti-aging program that you can do at home to accomplish all these goals.

This anti-aging workout video features three different workout options - a comprehensive total workout which lasts 50 minutes, a brief energize & dance workout with is 20 minutes, an all-floor Yoga & Pilates session of 27 minutes and bonus six minute program of Chair Yoga. Carol Argo’s Anti Aging Method
is easy to fit into any type of schedule and received the highest viewer ratings on Amazon.com.

Exercise as we get older, or exercising to keep us young, is absolutely essential to improving our senior years. The earlier you begin, the better you will feel and the better you will age. Aches and pains are common as we age, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Yoga, Tai Chi and Pilates keep us flexible and pain free. If you’re free of pain from stiff joints, an aching back or knees, your quality of life is so much better. Balance exercises are essential as we age as well, to keep us from breaking hips and other bones.

All it takes is getting into the habit of exercising several times a week. You’ll notice the difference in the way you feel in just a week or two.

If you’re new to fitness and want to improve flexibility, reduce stress and feel more energetic, The Anti-Aging Method is a terrific place to begin. If you’ve been doing fitness workouts for a while, or are looking for a workout you can do conveniently at home, The Anti-Aging Method is an essential addition to your fitness video library.

balance exercises

Exercises for Balance - Do These Every Day for Healthy Aging

No matter what your age, balance exercises are some of the easiest and most important exercises you can do on a daily basis. As we age, our brain “forgets” how to balance, leaving us susceptible it falls and broken hips in our senior years. It’s easy to prevent these falls by doing balance exercises daily.

Balance exercises strengthen core muscles, which in turn, hold you upright and protect you from back pain.

The easiest and least expensive balance program is simply to stand on one foot for as long as you can and then switch feet. If you have trouble at first, lightly place one hand on the counter to steady you. As time goes by, you won’t need the steadying hand anymore.

Do this balance exercise while you brush your teeth each day. Once you get really expert at this exercise, do it with your eyes closed.

Think of all your daily tasks that would allow you to do balance exercises at the same time - washing dishes, cooking, talking on the telephone.

Here are some free yoga standing poses from Yoga Journal. Any of these, done daily, will greatly improve balance.

From personal experience, I can say that yoga improves balance tremendously. Many poses involve balance and yoga strengthens core muscles. Here’s a helpful yoga DVD to get you started or find a class at your local YMCA or rec center.

The New Yoga for Healthy Aging is also a good book to get you started on using yoga for balance exercises.

Tai Chi is another great exercise for improving balance. If you don’t have a class near you, try Tai-chi Exercises for Seniors, a DVD which shows you how to practice tai chi at home.

Many people like the bosu ball for balance exercises. When I went to my chiropractor for a therapy session, however, the therapist did not recommend using the bosu ball at home as it’s been connected with many falls and injuries. If you want to try this form of balance exercise, find a certified instructor to teach you how to do it safely.

Here is a slide show of simple balance exercises from the Mayo Clinic.

Other helpful tools for balance exercises.

DVD on Senior/Elderly Balance Exercises Using a Chair

Total Body Balance Ball Kit from Gaiam.com