Men-Oh-Pause!

Your partner may be complaining of your erectile dysfunction every time you have romantic moments. You may also be worried about why you are experiencing such low sex drive these past few days, which may sometimes lead to hot flashes or mood swings, and may take a toll on your relationship with your partner. You may also be confused about why you are experiencing these symptoms where, in fact, these are common to women.

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Pause and let me help you understand these “changes” in your body.

How important is your Testo?

Testo, or commonly known as testosterone, is an important male hormone. You may probably think that this is just one of the hormones usually secreted by your glands. Well, think twice because the production of testosterone plays a vital role in your manhood.

This hormone is produced by your testes, as well as your adrenal glands. The peak season of its production is during your early childhood or adolescent stage.

This male hormone plays a vital role in your development as a man. Your physical features were developed with the help of testosterone, such as the deepening of your voice, appearance of hair on your face, armpits or genital area.

As you age, testosterone plays an important role in maintaining your sex drive. This is also a big help in the development of your male organ in terms of its size. Your testosterone is also responsible for the production of your sperm and muscle strength. But as you age, you may experience symptoms that are usually experienced by women.

Andropause or Male Menopause, is it real?

Have you heard of male menopause? You may think this is just a myth. But yes, andropause is real.

Andropause is commonly known as male menopause experienced by men as they grow older. This is usually the decrease or loss of testosterone. The production of their testosterone decreases gradually unlike women where the production of their hormones drops suddenly as they age.

Usually, some of the common symptoms of male menopause are fatigue, depression, irritability or mood swings, low sex drive or low libido, erectile dysfunction, hot flashes, sleep difficulties, and osteoporosis. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you may be in the stage of male menopause.

Is there a cure?

If you are experiencing these symptoms, you may consult your doctor and have your testosterone checked by undergoing a blood test. Your doctor may advise you to take treatments such as replacement of testosterone in your blood, treatment in a form of skin patches, gel, capsules or injections that may increase your testosterone level.

You may also change your lifestyle by switching to a healthier diet, exercising regularly and lessening the stress in your daily routine.

Pause and see your doctor.

Drop A Decade: 5 Age-Defying Foods to Add to Your Diet

“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” -- George Burns

Your choice of diet and lifestyle can add years to your life without making you feel and look tired and old. Aging can’t be skipped, but you can choose to age gracefully.

Look and feel a decade younger by adding these age-defying foods to your diet:

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Blueberries

This little fruit is a great immunity booster and a crucial food choice to help you look and feel younger. A single serving (3.5 ounces) of blueberries contains more antioxidants than any other fruit. Even a tiny piece of blueberry is packed with anthocyanins, a potent antioxidant that can do wonders in promoting cell rejuvenation and in protecting you against cancer and heart disease.

Black Beans

Beans, in general, are superior anti-aging foods. They are rich in fiber, healthy protein, and antioxidants that help slow down the aging process. More than that, black beans reign supreme over any other kind of beans as it contains 40 times more antioxidants than others. That means jam-packed, age-defying magic with every bean.

Green Tea

Hot or cold, green tea is consumed by many because of its outstanding overall health and longevity benefits. The phytonutrients in green tea supports the growth of intestinal bacteria, specifically inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria like E. Coli, clostridium, and salmonella, while leaving the good bacteria untouched, decreasing the risk of digestive health disorders that come with aging. It’s also rich in flavonoids that will protect you against heart disease and certain cancers. Three cups a day is recommended for you to receive green tea’s full benefits.

Oysters

With aging, bones tend to decrease in density, leading to different bone diseases like osteoporosis. Shellfish are rich in different minerals like zinc, calcium, copper, iodine, iron, potassium, and selenium that promotes healthier bones. The creamy flesh of oysters makes it stand out among any other shellfish. Oysters help build stronger bones and elevate testosterone levels especially in aging men, and protects them against prostate cancer.

Pomegranates

The ruby red gem seeds in pomegranates are packed with polyphenols, namely tannins, anthocyanins and ellagic acid that help the skin produce elastin and collagen to reduce the visible signs of aging. On top of that, studies suggest that a glass of pomegranate juice contains more antioxidants and vitamins than red wine, green tea, and blueberries.

Incorporate these age-defying foods to your diet and experience an age-defying transformation like never before!

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful: 4 Natural Anti-Aging Skin Care Recipes

With aging, changes in the skin are the most noticeable. As you look in the mirror, wrinkles, age spots, warts, and sagging skin start to appear. This is because aging causes the outer layer of the skin layer to thin, causing increased risk of skin injuries. And as compared to younger skin, aging skin repairs itself more slowly.

“Aging is a fact of life. Looking your age is not,” says Dr. Howard Murad, founder of the Inclusive Health movement. Aging is a part of life that you cannot change, but how you want to look while you age is something you can control. You can be your own kind of beautiful – no matter what your age is.

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Here are natural anti-aging skin care recipes you can try to achieve younger-looking and healthier skin:

Hydrating Honey Facial

·    1 tbsp. of raw honey

It’s the simplest yet effective anti-aging facial you could try especially in fighting dry and sensitive aging skin. You just need to apply a spoon of raw honey on your face as a mask and leave it for 20 minutes. Rinse off and repeat a few times a week.

Honey is a natural rich source of anti-oxidants which makes it perfect for skin aging preventions. It is a natural humectant that locks water into the skin and keeps it moist, soft, and hydrated. It also has antibacterial properties that help reduce breakouts.

Nutty Skin Refining Natural Exfoliant

·    2 whole walnuts, crushed

·    2 tbsp. of yogurt

·    1 tsp. of pure almond oil

Just mix all the listed ingredients together for a skin refining anti-aging recipe. This simple mixture creates a natural exfoliant that’s gentle enough for daily use. Rub and leave it on your face for at least 20 minutes before rinsing off with warm water.

The crushed walnuts wash away dead skin, dirt, and oil from your face. The lactic acid in the yogurt refines your skin texture and tightens your pores. And last but definitely not the least, the almond oil acts as the sealant that soothes and moisturizes the skin, leaving it soft and smooth.

Lemon-Agave Age Spot Fighter

·    ½ cup cooked rice

·    1 tbsp. agave nectar

·    1 tbsp. lemon juice

Mix together the listed ingredients and blend well. Apply the mixture to your dry hands and to the back of your hands with circular scrubbing motions for one to two minutes each. Rubbing the rice on the palms of your hands can soften away calluses.

Exfoliating your hands rids off the top layer of dead skin containing the age spots. The rice does the exfoliation, the agave does the hydration, and the lemon does the lightening of the skin and the lifting off of dead skin cells.

Avocado-Honey Moisturizer

·    3 tbsp. fresh cream

·    ¼ avocado

·    1 tbsp. honey

Mix together all three ingredients using a blender and puree into a smooth cream. Gently massage it into your skin and leave it on for at least an hour. Use warm water in rinsing off.

When you age, your skin loses its moisture and starts to dry. A moisturizer is a must for anti-aging regimens. This natural moisturizer helps retain your skin’s moisture and acts as a temporary filler for those unwanted wrinkles. This recipe can make your skin look and feel dewy, and most importantly, youthful.

Try these all-natural and simple homemade anti-aging skin care recipes and be your own kind of beautiful – even in your 40s, 50s, 60s, no matter what your age is!

Intro-juicing Anti-Aging Juicing Recipes

Experiencing aging is like riding a seesaw in life’s playground. It has its own set of ups and downs. With aging comes beautiful memories you wouldn’t want to leave and detestable side effects that wouldn’t want to leave you.

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Though you can’t escape aging, you can befriend it. Through making wise choices in your life, exercise, and diet, you can triumph over aging’s side effects. One healthy and natural way to do that is through juicing. You are just a kitchen away from feeling younger, healthier, and looking more beautiful even with age.

Here are anti-aging juicing recipes you can try to achieve your healthy glow: 

Eggplant Carrot Juice

• 1 eggplant
• 3 carrots
• 2 apples
• 1 celery stalk

Vegetables that are dark in color, like eggplants, are rich in antioxidants that help slow down your aging process. This fruity-veggie mix also provides antivirus benefits, improves your blood flow, lowers your cholesterol levels, protects your cell walls, and reduce your risks of cancer.

Parsley Energy Explosion

• 1 large bunch of parsley
• 2 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1 celery stalk

Parsley doesn’t only boost up your energy, it can also oxygenate your blood with its high levels of chlorophyll. This energy explosion also helps you avoid that “old man’s breath” as it serves as a breath freshener. It also helps you look and feel young with its detoxification and energizing benefits.

Red Pepper Beauty Juice

• 2 red peppers
• 2 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1 broccoli spear

The high amount of carotenoids present in red peppers can improve the look of your skin even as you age while preventing symptoms of arthritis. This beauty concoction also protects your cardiovascular system and reduces your bad cholesterol enabling you to do more in your daily activities.

Parsnip Carrot Juice

• 3 parsnips
• 3 carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 apple

Parsnips are like carrots but are much sweeter. It is also a good source of Vitamins C, folate, and manganese. This powerful rejuvenation combo alkalizes your blood, benefits your weakening eyesight, soothes your nervous system, and prevents you from having skin cancer or melanoma which is most common in women.

Your fountain of youth hides within just a cup of mixed fruits and vegetables. Try adding these anti-aging juicing recipes to your diet for at least 30 days and feel the anti-aging difference!

Bioidentical Hormone Therapy: What’s In It For You?

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One of the best things about gaining more years is having the opportunity to look back at significant memories you have collected all throughout your lifetime. Remembering all your firsts will make you shed tears and smile: your first love, your first heartbreak, your first pet, your first job, your first mountain climb, and more. You wish you could go back to your early life and experience those things again.

But, with aging, those memories will just stay as memories. You can’t do the things you usually did before because your body doesn’t allow you to do them anymore. Aging slows you down and limits you because of the different physical changes happening inside your body.

You can’t do your favorite activities anymore because muscle cramps, backaches, and arthritis get in the way. A brisk walk in the park isn’t as enjoyable as before because your muscles start to lose their strength and flexibility as you age. There are fewer moments to reminisce with your spouse because your memory starts to fade and you experience difficulty in remembering some familiar words or names.

It’s unfortunate that with aging comes different diseases and lost opportunities to do the things we used to enjoy.

However, there’s an effective treatment that could help you relive those memories again. Your body’s hormones undergo imbalance as you age, causing you to experience different kinds of illnesses.

With Bioidentical Hormone Therapy, the gradual decline of your natural hormones will be diagnosed, corrected, and restored naturally. BHRT will reverse all symptoms of hormonal imbalance and return you to your optimal physical, sexual, mental, and emotional health condition just like in your early 20s or 30s!

Here are some of the many benefits BHRT can do for you:

·         improvement of energy levels

·         improvement of memory and concentration

·         improvement of sex drive and performance

·         reduction of heart disease risks

·         improvement of fat loss and muscle tone

·         protection of bones from osteoporosis

·         rejuvenation & vitality

If you would like to get more information about Bioidentical Hormone Therapy (BHRT), click here.

When Age is Just A Number: Tips on How to Age with Grace

Aging is an inescapable stage in everyone’s lives. Every birthday celebration is a step closer to aging. We see our children having their own families and realize how time has flown so fast. We experience different changes in our bodies that start to hinder our usual activities. We can’t avoid aging, but we can face it head on!

Here are some tips on how to age with grace:

Resolve to live a healthy lifestyle.

The choices of food we intake in our younger years will surely affect our body’s condition in our later years. If we eat too much junk, our bodies will age faster and also feel like junk. We are what we eat and what we do with our bodies.

Replace junk food with healthier snacks such as fresh fruits and yogurt. Instead of unhealthy processed foods, start buying different whole foods as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean meat.

Get some exercise and keep your body moving regularly. According to Mayo Clinic, exercise has a lot of benefits to our bodies. It controls weight, combats health condition and disease, improves mood, boosts energy, promotes better sleep, and help you enjoy physical intimacy better.

Say goodbye to vices.

It’s better to bid farewell to all your vices early on than to say goodbye to the world early in life. Alcoholism, smoking, drug addiction, and other unhealthy habits rob us of a graceful aging process.

Before you light another cigarette, keep in mind that every stick sends 7,000 chemicals inside the body that harm nearly every organ in it.

Excessive alcohol intake will offer you liver cirrhosis, cancer, irregular heartbeats, and more unwanted effects.

It’s not easy to say goodbye to vices instantly, but you have to consider that it’s worth your life and your future.

Consider medical help.

For a more personal program in choosing to age gracefully, it’s always best to ask for professional help. Genemedics Health Institute is one for the list. They offer nutrition consultation and personally designs nutrition plans for different kinds of individuals.

A personalized nutrition program is like a perfectly tailored suit or gown that could make you look your best -- even in the aging process.

According to Charles S. Swindoll, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” Aging is just 10% of our later lives. The 90% is dependent on how we choose to react to aging. Start changing the way you think and live. Choose to age with grace!