Baby Boomers

The baby boomer generation amazes me. My parents are boomers and their attitude toward the world is almost surreal. They don't really think the laws of nature apply to them. Money came easily. The good life was with in reach. Now, the boomers don't recognize their reflection in the mirror.

They can live longer, mainly because of the medical discoveries made by my generation, the 40something. But, it is nothing to worry about, after all. Statistics say that I should live more than 10 years longer than a boomer, and my children may still be active when they turn 100.

Good health, abundant food, cures for disease, and a stronger understanding of the mind's control over the body's health will all work to help us live longer, healthier, lives.




Baby Boomers are Turning 60

The 60’s – flower children, hippies, tie dyed shirts, bandanas and free love. The Rolling Stones, Elvis, the Beatles and the notion they would never grow old began to permeate their thinking. Their new way of thinking made their parents shake their heads at a generation who embraced peace and declared to the world that they would stay young forever.

Baby Boomers begin turning 60! These bold, daring trailblazers have given “60” a new “look.” Clothing, hair dye and vitamins have given the baby boomers an edge - Being 60 today is nothing like when their parents were 60.

This generation of new thinkers began an odyssey to dispel aging.

“Down with the establishment” is still their mantra today. An overwhelming percentage of Baby Boomers are turning to alternative methods to maintain and improve their health and well-being. Rather than medication, they’ve turned to meditation, acupuncture and exercise to keep them in better health.

Keeping Father Time at bay is truly a life-long commitment to a healthy lifestyle. We are bombarded daily with fumes, smog, and other air contaminants; lots of food causes gastronomical upsets and adds pounds to our physiques and our get-up and go has gotten up and left as our energy level plummets.

There are many components to consider for better health:

One of the healthiest things you can do to easily help your body feel more alive is begin drinking at least 6-10 glasses of filtered water per day. Water helps flush the toxins from your body, relieves most back pains and enhances cognitive abilities. Avoid drinking water with your meals so the digestive process can work more efficiently; try drinking a glass of water before each meal and then after an hour or so, drink another glass or two.

Exercise can prolong your life, aid in preserving your sanity and help you lose unwanted pounds. Resistance type exercise will sculpt your body and contour your muscles so it is a good idea to add weight training several times a week. Walking is a form of aerobic exercise that burns calories, improves your heart function and adds a boost to your attitude. There are many modalities of exercise from which to choose, find several that appeal to you and do them regularly. Just move!

Food is our fuel for our bodies. Consuming pure food in its raw, uncooked state– without preservatives or pre-packaging means better nutrition levels for the body. Eating raw or lightly steamed vegetables rather nuked or cooked, maintains the vitamin and nutritional content of food, adds fiber to our diet and helps the body alleviate disease. What about meat and fish? Animal based protein in the diet can be worrisome. Colin Campbell, a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and the senior science advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research, says there is "a strong correlation between dietary protein intake and cancer of the breast, prostate, pancreas and colon."

Many nutritionists believe that 20-25 grams of protein a day is sufficient intake. Did you know that fruits and vegetables can provide protein? Yes, broccoli, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, certain lettuce, cucumbers, celery, along with bananas, peaches, cantaloupe and strawberries contain protein. We can completely satisfy our protein needs with fruits and vegetables. There are eight essential amino acids we need from food and we can get all of them just by eating nature’s organic gifts.

Getting your zzzzzz’s without sleep aids is a desire for millions of people. Many people feel they live in a pressure cooker and stress can takes its toll by disrupting sleep. A few nights of tossing and turning can affect our lives adversely. Over time the lack of good sleep could lead to health challenges. Sleep is the body’s mechanism for restoration and strengthening the immune system. The goal of sleeping is to awake refreshed and revitalized. If you want better sleep you might want to take a warm bath before retiring, limit your exercise routine to the morning, avoid adult beverages and stop watching television from your bed.

There are four natural supplements that can help induce sleep: l-tryptophan, melatonin, valerian or kava. These are recommended by HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D. Dr. Spreen: "If I really needed sleep (and couldn't get it) I'd never do any of the Rx drugs, period, but I would have no problem with proper use of any of those four (my favorite being l-tryptophan for younger ages, tryptophan or melatonin for the older folks)." Dr. Spreen also recommends Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time Tea.

Anti-aging alternative avenues are becoming main stream. Certain “Rx drugs” have become suspect as many health practitioners claim that most drugs do not heal but rather mask the symptoms and even the FDA has come under scrutiny as drugs are approved, then disapproved when certain information comes to light.

Vitamins and supplements have long been touted as beneficial and their healing powers are legend. Supplementing your diet now with life-saving anti-oxidants will stave off premature aging, boost your immune system and limit free radical damage. What to take? Go to a reputable health food store and speak with their professionals; they will discuss your lifestyle, your needs and help you choose a beginning regimen. Take time to research trusted internet sites that offer information regarding your specific questions.

Life matters.

Cynthia Rowland is widely recognized as an expert in all natural facial fitness with over thirty years experience in health & beauty related fields. She has appeared on The View, Fit TV, HGTV and other popular shows. This author, speaker and television personality is leading the crusade to keep men and women looking vibrantly younger through natural techniques without spending their children’s inheritance.

Do Face Exercises Work?

There is no set answer. If you eat a healthy diet, drink plenty of water, do not smoke, and clean your skin properly - then the answer is yes. But, if you are looking for a way to eliminate the results of 10 years smoking, then facial exercises will not help.

I don't think you need to use a method. Just press softly above your eyes, on your cheek bones, and along your jaw. Gently flex your muscles 10 times. Take a break, and then try again. Do this lightly.

Results will take a few weeks to show. I noticed a lifting in the outer corners of my eyes. It actually looked like my brows lifted higher on the forehead. I've done the exercises on and off for about 10 years. I am 44 and still do not have wrinkles around my eyes. I don't have jowls. But then, I am not sure if I have apredisposition for jowls.







Exercising Your Face - Fact or Fiction

You’ve looked in the mirror and have decided it’s time to do something for your face. You’re not exactly certain whether you should call the nearest plastic surgeon or take matters into your own hands. After all, this is your face and even though you don’t want to look sixteen again, you do want to do something that will stop those tired eyes and droopy cheeks.

Facial exercise has been in and out of vogue for hundreds of years. There are many practitioners of facial manipulation; so what works best?

There’s yoga for the face that aids lymphatic drainage, needle therapy via acupuncture, contortions and isometric/resistance training. All seem to have one goal and that is to help the user look youthful.

There are many benefits when exercise is used for the face: better posture is achieved as the neck muscles strengthen, a healthier face develops as blood flow is increased and collagen production is stimulated, and the facial skin becomes supple, refreshed and resilient. A facial exerciser will look younger as the sagging skin and supporting muscles reposition and align; the face will firm and lift.

Exercise is natural. It’s not invasive, there is no risk and the only “tools” one needs are the fingers and thumbs.

Facial exercises using isometric and resistance type movements prove best. Why? Unlike other parts of the body, the facial muscles are connected to bone on one end only. The other end is connected to another muscle. In order to achieve a contraction in these muscles, special anchoring techniques are required for the specific muscle or muscle group. Just like exercising your arms or legs, when a contraction of the muscle is created, the muscles shorten and then “plump”. When facial muscles contract this action lifts the skin because facial skin is attached directly to the muscles

Looking younger is the mantra of most every baby boomer. This generation of “forever young” adults knows the importance of good eating habits, exercising the body and using the finest non-chemical skin care items. Facial exercise fits the bill for anyone wanting to look 10-15 years younger without spending their children’s inheritance. Whether you’re 35 or 70, you will see a difference when you exercise your face.

Cynthia is widely recognized as an expert in natural facial fitness and has appeared on ABC’s popular morning TV show The View, Fit TV, KTLA Morning Show and Good Day L.A. This author, speaker and television personality is leading the crusade to keep men and women looking vibrantly younger.

Facial Exercise

I can remember a decade ago when facial exercise was considered a quack theraphy invented to sell celeb's books. Now that those celebs are holding 'leading lady' rolls, in their 50s, people are starting to sit up and take a second look at facial exercise.

I have been doing facial exercise, on and off, for more than five years. My eyebrows are low due to some trauma in the muscle over the left eye. The exercise not only lifts my brows so that my eyes are more prominent, but the exercises helps reduce the 'sag' caused by the damaged muscles.

The following article reminds me of an old song. The singer asked Cinderella why she didn't tell them what happened after she married Prince Charming. Many of my friends feel like this - they went to bed as young women and woke up old. It doesn't matter if you are 20 or 60, tightening the muscles in your face will take years off the look.







The Magic of Facial Exercise

Once upon a time, a fair maiden met and married her long-time love. They had many children, lived in a beautiful home and enjoyed all of life’s offerings.

One day as this mother, wife, lover of life, walked past a mirror, she caught a glimpse of herself and wondered, “Who is that ‘old woman”?” After this rude jolt, she realized that her former beauty had begun to fade. What was happening to the face she had grown to love? How and when did the sagging begin? Was it blatantly apparent to everyone but her? Was there a way to find prettiness again? What were her options to regain a shapely, sculptured face?

Sadly, this “fairy tale” is repeated many times a day. The graying of America is a fact; while the Baby Boomers are turning 60, many men and women are endlessly searching for anti-aging solutions. They seek the latest and greatest remedy, choosing lotions and potions promising a “scientific breakthrough” just hoping that something will stop the tired, old look they are portraying. These aging boomers and zoomers want to look as young as they feel; rather they’re faced with thinning hair, bodies that have become misshapen and faces that are less recognizable.

Certainly there are options. Pick up any magazine or newspaper, get online and you’ll see plenty of compelling ads for plastic surgery, injections and treatments aimed at helping one look younger. Even if some or all of these methods are tried, the fact remains that aging gracefully is more than just “nips and tucks”. Frankly, it’s an inside job that starts with “the man in the mirror” and this is where the magic begins.

Face work in front of mirror is practiced by many models, singers, speakers and actors as they hone their craft for the audience and the camera. At first, you, like others, may feel uneasy as you steadily peer at yourself for a period of time; however, the mirror can be very revealing of who you really are and how you look to the world at large.

Here’s how “Mirror Work” begins: Be alone. Close the door and move close to the mirror so you can intimately examine your face. Observe how you smile. Keep your face relaxed. How do you appear? Do you look angry or sad? Are your mouth corners down-turned? Can you determine what’s changed in your appearance? Can you say “I love you and I forgive you” to that reflection looking back at you? Talking out loud to your mirror can subtly begin altering who you are, how you think about yourself and how much you can love yourself.

Facial exercise is one of the easiest ways to incorporate “Mirror Work” into a daily routine. That’s right, exercise for your face is just as important as exercise for your body. When you are exercising your face on a regular basis, you are constantly observing your face in the mirror while you execute the movements to ensure that your finger and thumb placements are accurate. As you spend more time gazing at your features, a certain type of acceptance begins to take hold in your psyche. Maybe you will begin to notice that you are more accepting of yourself and others, that little annoyances are indeed trivial and that you are becoming more becoming.

Yes, the magic of facial exercise works from the inside out, first making an important shift in the shape and contour of the muscles supporting your skin, but most importantly, there is magic when you shift your thinking to acceptance, love and peace of mind. There is magic as you understand that both physical and emotional change is possible. Like the song says, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change”.

Cynthia Rowland is widely recognized as an expert in all natural facial fitness with over thirty years experience in health & beauty related fields. She has appeared on The View, Fit TV, HGTV and other popular shows. This author, speaker and television personality is leading the crusade to keep men and women looking vibrantly younger through natural techniques without spending their children’s inheritance.


Author: Cynthia Rowland

How to Stave Off Plastic Surgery Naturally and Attain a Younger Face

I rememer when my mother was 50 years old. She was almost ashamed that she died her hair black. She was expected to 'act her age.' This lead her to be frustrated. She was a beautiful woman, who was chastised if she didn't dress frompy. I am glad we have come a long way since then.


Plastic surgery is not a oart of natural health but it can restore and rejuvinate the mind as well as the body. Health starts in the mind. Depression and low self esteem have negative side effects. Your body will show the symptoms of sadness or unhappiness in general.

How to Stave Off Plastic Surgery Naturally and Attain a Younger Face

The world has seen great strides in medical miracles, technology and anti-aging. We see cutting edge conveniences everywhere as we live keep-up-to-date lives that have altered who we are.

We have cell phones that provide us with on-the-go communication as we download movies, music and news. Never in the history of our world have we been so closely connected as we further rely on the internet to bring us information, news, sports scores and more in real time – it’s all readily available at our fingertips.

Preventing maladies and protecting our health has become everyday news. Anyone who reads, listens to radio and watches television knows that exercise and diet are vitally important to our good health; we choose our foods wisely and know that exercise improves not only our waistlines but also our blood pressure, blood serums and it keeps dis-ease at bay.

People seem to easily live healthfully into their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Options for living longer means one can easily replace knees, hips, even elbows if they wear out; hearts and lungs and other organs are transplanted plus there are many, many drug and vitamin supplements that work to keep us vitally alive

We live in a youth obsessed world. We don’t want to feel old or look old; we want to look like the airbrushed models we see in magazines, billboards and television. Aging can be a painful experience as we look in the mirror and see an older face staring back at us. How and when did this happen?

Little by little facial muscles begin to lose their vitality. This loss of vitality produces noticeable sagging over time as the muscles elongate; this action drags the skin downward making one look tired, out of shape and old. One might see down turned mouth corners, a flabby neck or a lined forehead develop practically overnight. Aging in the face can alter our lives as we lose confidence in our appearance.

One option to turn back the clock is plastic surgery; it has certainly become mainstream and affordable but surgery has inherent risks such as anesthesia complications, loss of sensation, risk of infection and less than stellar results sometimes occur. Taking unnecessary financial risks and risking one’s health to attain youthfulness is a very steep investment that one should carefully consider.

Another aspect of having a surgical face procedure is that muscles continue to atrophy, pulling the skin downward. Unfortunately, surgery does not stave off the aging process; procedures just mask the symptoms and the muscles continue to weaken due to inactivity. Surgical face lifts may be repeated and little “nips and tucks” performed periodically to “freshen” the lift; again, more risk for the patient.

Injections of “filler materials” have become so popular, one shouldn’t be surprised to find them popping up in every airport kiosk. Botox® and Restylane® and Collagen are the “darlings” of the many available injections but they, too, only mask aging in the face. The results from these injections are temporary and must be repeated several times per year to counteract further muscle elongation.

What if one wants to proceed naturally? Is there a way to look revitalized when you don’t want to spend money or risk your health to look younger and fresher?

There are those “weeds” and “seeds” - people who prefer everything organic and natural to achieve better health and they would never consider plastic surgery, rather you will find them seeking the latest information from their trusted naturopath and exploring other techniques that are proven and safe.

One easy way to a non-surgical, non-invasive face lift is to practice isometric facial exercise. This is a natural way to revitalize the facial muscles and yet look at least ten to fifteen years younger in just a few weeks. Isometric movements along with resistance techniques make a huge difference when you exercise your body; the same type of exercise will lift, tone and tighten the facial muscles. You will look healthier and younger as you laugh all the way to the bank.

Cynthia Rowland is widely recognized as an expert in all natural facial fitness with over thirty years experience in health & beauty related fields. She has appeared on The View, NBC 4, Fit TV, HGTV and other popular shows. This author, speaker and television personality is leading the crusade to keep men and women looking vibrantly younger through natural techniques without spending their children's inheritance.

Author: Cynthia Rowland