I’ve done my best to eat well, exercise and take care of my skin since my 20s. I feel, all these years later, that it has had a very positive effect on how I’ve aged and lived my life.
One of the things I’ve tried to do is adapt as the latest information comes in. I’ve done my research and have made many, sometimes drastic, changes over the years.
The low-fat turnaround
For years, since over half a century ago, we were told that fat was bad for us. It would lead to heart attacks, clog our arteries and lead to serious illness. We all believed it, and for decades bought the many low-fat food alternatives on offer.
Yoghurt, milk, snacks…. the list of low-fat foods was, and still is, endless. Products low in fat but high in sugar. And what happened over these years? Did health improve in the general population? No, it didn’t. In fact, it deteriorated alarmingly.
And we all bought into it. We were raised on it. The “fat is bad” narrative ran deep. In 2015, I brought out my book The In-Sync Diet, co-written with the psychneuroimmunologist Fleur Borrelli, and she shared some groundbreaking information. Fat was not the enemy; it was a vital ingredient for true well-being.
This was only 10 years ago, and at that time, many people wouldn’t believe us. Today is a different story. Most people now know that healthy fats are good for us, and that sugar is the thing to avoid. It’s taken the medical profession, and even agencies like the American Heart Association, a while to catch up. Some still haven’t, and low-fat foods are still often touted.
Healthy fats not only don’t make you fat, they actually help you to burn fat and stay slim. The body needs healthy fats. The brain is made up of around 60% fat and relies on fats like omega-3 and omega-6 to maintain its composition. Fats like butter, olive oil, ghee, avocado and coconut oil – unhealthy fats and trans fats are a whole other matter, as they raise inflammation and are to be avoided at all costs. These include fats like vegetable oils and canola oil.
I was ahead of the game when I embraced a full-fat diet. It was heaven ditching the unappealing low-fat foods and enjoying what nature has to offer. I eat eggs, nuts and avocados, and pour olive oil over foods, knowing that, despite bad press, they are good for us. The joy of drinking full-fat milk, and eating butter and full-fat yoghurt, is not to be underestimated. I now avoid anything low-fat like the plague.
© Glynis BarberOver-exercising
Right up until the first lockdown, I exercised six times a week.
I would go to the gym four or five times a week and train for over an hour. This consisted of cardio and strength training. I also did yoga twice a week and went for long walks once or twice a week.
It sounds impressive, but what I now know is that I don’t need to work out for that long or that often to reap the benefits of exercise.
Since those life-changing days of 2020, when the gyms closed and the only option was working out at home, I’ve completely changed how I exercise. Of course, I’m that bit older and have a few more aches and pains, so my former workouts would be difficult. However, the latest research shows that moderate exercise is best and very beneficial.
This is especially true over the age of 45. Doing vigorous exercise will decrease some of those benefits. Surprisingly, the latest research shows we only need to exercise for about 20 minutes to benefit from it. Not only that, but all we need is to exercise 2 or 3 times a week.
I’ve continued to work out at home and now wonder where on earth I found all that time for those workouts. Make no mistake, exercise is very important, as is weight training as we get older, but it doesn’t have to be at Olympian levels. It can be gentle and short enough to fit into a busy schedule.
It also feels right for me at this stage of my life. My body is liking this change and I remain pretty fit.
Abrasive exfoliators
For many years, I was an enthusiastic exfoliator. In my 20s, when my skin was oily and spotty, I would use abrasive scrubs to try and make my skin smooth.
In my 40s, I was doing Crystal Clear treatments, where pulverised crystals would be blasted over my skin.
Peels, scrubs and exfoliating treatments were a regular part of my routine. And then I became educated on the skin lipid barrier and the skin’s microbiome. I realised that not only was I taking the cosmetic equivalent of a bulldozer to my face, destroying the skin’s delicate barrier, but I was also adding trauma to my skin and harming it.
It also occurred to me as I got older that if I was continually exfoliating, I was making my skin thinner. How could it possibly create new cells at the rate I was scrubbing them off?
I have now completely changed how I exfoliate. It’s all about being gentle and protecting the skin’s barrier. I’ve discovered alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), and they are wonderfully gentle while increasing cell turnover. Some are harder to tolerate for some people than others. A good gentle all-rounder that most people can tolerate is azelaic acid. I’ll occasionally use a physical scrub, but only with the most fine and gentle grains. Same with peels, although I usually only have these as part of a treatment.
I now shudder when I think about how hard I used to be on my skin. No more.
© Glynis BarberJogging
I started jogging in my 20s, at about the same time I became interested in healthy living.
I would pound those pavements every day and felt like quite the athlete doing it. I was super fit and had good stamina.
However, I have my dodgy knees to thank for the end of my running journey. I wore the wrong shoes and jogged on hard surfaces, and also sprinted down hills. My knees have never recovered, and by my 30s, my jogging days were over. And I was sad about that. When I met my husband, Michael, he was also a jogger and went out running every day. I longed to join him, but my knees now meant I couldn’t run at all. Not even slowly.
Like all exercise, jogging has many health benefits, but it seems to me that as a woman, I can find something that causes less injury and that won’t negatively impact me. Pilates is my latest activity and I love it - and no chance of a gaunt face with that!
I now look back on all these things I did, and it seems quite strange. I’m so much happier now with how I approach them all. I always listen to my body and to my instinct. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. I wonder how I’ll feel in ten years? Perhaps there’ll be another big turnaround by then.
