Growing Young-A Natural Facelift

Aging gracefully has always been my mantra. How you feel is how you look but at fifty five my outside self no longer  reflected my inner self. Who is that fifty five year old woman in the mirror?  Why, I don’t feel a day over twenty four!

I have  always been afraid of getting a facelift.  In the spa we see many botched results and even the so called successful ones can leave a  strange,  frozen expression with shiny, over polished skin.  I wanted better results without undergoing the knife and finally decided on a procedure called Ultherapy. 

Ultherapy is a noninvasive facelift that promises to deliver a firmer neck and jawline over a period of six months. There is no down time, and the procedure lasts about two hours. The laser  impacts the subcutaneous layers of the skin and it feels like small electrical shocks.  The procedure is not for wimps! After twenty minutes I was weeping quietly.  The assistant mentioned that it was better than a facelift. Yes, true, but still it hurt!

The good news is that once the procedure is over so is the pain. The next day I noticed a bit of puffiness around my jawline but it healed within 24 hours and I was back to myself. One week later I can feel the healing and contraction.  Already friends are commenting.

The real therapy is that every  morning for six months I get to look into the mirror for the signs of growing younger. Six months of looking in the mirror,  anticipating a more youthful me, is plenty reason to invest in Ultherapy. Of course if I chose to wake up every morning looking for the beauty in my face instead its flaws, I wouldn’t even need Ultherapy. Now that is an ah hah moment.

Healthy Treats

As I’ve aged my metabolism has slowed down and I realize the only way to maintain my ideal weight is to avoid all empty calories. By empty I mean processed grains and sugars. Over the years I have slowly and so almost effortlessly eliminated some of my worst food addictions.  I see now that many of our food choices are cultural and surprisingly some of the healthier alternatives are more delicious than these traditional comfort foods. That bowl of ice cream I used to eat after dinner every night has evolved into a homemade coconut ice cream free of sin. Interested?

Read on….

Rich, creamy & delicious.
Rich, creamy & delicious.

Coconut Ice Cream

1 can coconut cream

1 tsp cinnamon

3 Tbs raw cocoa

1/4 c  Xylitol

1 tsp vanilla

2 bananas

2 tsp chopped walnut

Blend all the ingredients together except the walnuts. I use a Cusinart but a blender would work too. Freeze for 2-3 hours and serve with sprinkled walnuts.

If you are unfamiliar with Xylitol it is a natural sweetener made from the Birch tree. It has the lowest glycemic index of any natural sweetener and is one third of the calories of white sugar.

Chia Seed Pudding

1/4 cup chia seeds

2 cups vanilla unsweetened almond milk

1/3 cup Xylitol or honey

Mix all the ingredients and leave in the refrigerator 1 hour before serving. It is very similar to Tapioca pudding but oh so healthy and easy!