5 Simple, Effective Anti-AGEing Strategies

Pretty...aging

“It’s only 30 minutes, and then we’ll hit the tapas-and-tequila happy hour in the lobby,” my coworker said.

We were at a nutrition conference where, after sitting through eight hours’ worth of lectures, my brain was fried. I just wanted to go to my room and chill out before the party.

But no, my coworker insisted on this 4:30 p.m. seminar, cleverly titled “How AGE-ing can Destroy Your Life.” Well, duh, of course growing older sucks if you don’t take care of yourself, I reasoned. I didn’t need to hear a lecture about it.

I soon understood the lecturer’s clever wording: He was talking about an entirely different sort of aging that can wreak havoc on every system in your body.

7 Dietary Mistakes Fitness-Minded People Frequently Mess Up

You can't out-exercise a bad diet

Over the four weeks I’d trained him, he developed muscle but also a pudgier midsection. I became baffled and started brainstorming reasons he might be gaining where he shouldn’t be. Food intolerances? Work-related stress? Maybe I needed to tweak his carb load or switch up his post-workout meal?

Nope. Nothing so complicated as that. He was completely forthcoming about why he put on weight.

7 Hard-Won Lessons Every Personal Trainer Should Embrace

This can apply to anyone!

“I went into the bathroom to have that conversation,” a friend told me recently. Mind you, this was a very good friend; otherwise I don’t think she’d have the courage to tell me she went into the ladies’ room to converse with herself in the mirror.

My friend got the idea from a ‘90s celebrity who recently wrote a book describing how, as a 40-something who had been through numerous struggles over the past few decades, imparted wisdom to her “younger self” in the bathroom mirror, thereby forgiving herself for many past mistakes.

“It’s almost as good as therapy,” my friend insisted. “I’ve come to terms with some heavy stuff I encountered in my early 30s with those bathroom-mirror conversations.”

I initially found the idea silly, but driving home that evening,

Candy Bars in Pretty Wrappers: The Awful Truth about Protein Bars

Adult candy bars?

“This is nothing more than a nutrient-enriched candy bar,” I said to a coworker who happened to be in my crossfire, tossing the wretched bar on my desk. “I can’t believe they had the gale to ask our gym to sell this crap.”

My nutrition and fitness colleagues understand the constant product peddling I endure at my job. Oftentimes they’ll provide a hyperbolic explanation that their cream, capsules, powder, or bar will help you burn fat, build muscle, or turn back the clock 10 years. Whatever.

Many times, I’ll politely take a sample. In this situation, I took two protein bars, one in chocolate cherry and another in apple pie. They certainly sounded delicious. I put them aside on my desk and reached for one as a mid-afternoon snack.

Reading the wrapper’s lengthy ingredient list ignited my fury, and I dramatically tossed the bar aside. Among those ingredients included: