I just ran across a boomer website and blog that is worth a visit.

It’s not just about fitness for boomer women like my blog here is, it’s about all things of interest to female and male “boomers” alike: travel, insurance, education, and staying active and vibrant through middle age.

The site is www.50somethinginfo.com. You’ll find all sorts of great info there-even if you’re a younger boomer like me who hasn’t hit the big 5-O yet.

The blog is www.50somethinginfo.blogspot.com. Head over there now and you’ll see a list of some of the top websites for boomers (okay, so she didn’t list beckywilliamson.com on this list–but I’ll get on the list some day!).

Just wanted to give you a quick post to let you know I think I found a gem out there on the ‘net for you.

Yours in health,

Becky

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It’s a well known fact that chronic dieting can slow down your metabolism over time (by “dieting” I mean significantly decreasing daily calorie consumption). A lesser known result of chronic dieting (and potentially deadly in it’s worst form) is weakening of your bones. Just what a “boomer” in mid-life doesn’t need!

According to a study out of the University of Missouri, women who were put on a very low calorie diet for three months experienced a much higher rate of bone turnover (the rate at which bone is broken down and replaced). This bone turnover pattern persisted even when the dieting women went into a weight maintenance phase and increased their calorie consumption a bit.

“Rapid rates of bone remodeling, regardless of the balance of breakdown and formation, can increase bone fragility”, said Pam Hinton, associate professor of nutritional sciences in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences.

This is not a good thing for any woman, but especially we boomer women. There aren’t many of us who are making a lot of new bone these days. We need to protect and hang on to what we have.

So what’s a boomer gal supposed to do if she’s trying to lose weight?
-Don’t severely restrict calories
-Plan on losing weight gradually
-Add resistance training to your workout regime
-Add some impact to your cardio workouts (see previous post for ideas)
-Get adequate calcium through food and/or supplements

We’ve known for a long while that crash dieting is bad for your metabolism. Now we have some proof it’s also detrimental for your bone health.

Fresh, whole foods eaten at regular intervals throughout the day combined with a good exercise routine that involves weight lifting and supplies a little impact is the best way for boomer gals to get lean and avoid osteoporosis.

Let’s hear it for strong boomer women!

To read more about Professor Hinton’s study, click here

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Impact! Yes. IMPACT. Now, please understand I’m not suggesting that every baby boomer woman run outside right now and jump off her back porch or run for an hour straight.

However, every woman who wishes to remain healthy and maintain her bone mass as she ages needs to consider whether her current exercise program is placing enough demand on her bones. You boomer gals who are avid swimmers, walkers or “spinning” enthusiasts–take note!

At this point in our lives, our bodies aren’t making any more bone. We “banked” it in our youth, up until we were about 30 years old. It’s imperative that we KEEP what we currently have. We can do this by making sure we get enough calcium** and by doing weight bearing cardiovascular exercise and full body strength training.

Back when I was in graduate school, we were taught that walking produced enough of a “stress” on the bones, but recent research has shown this is not the case. Cardiovascular activities that provide a little impact (not necessarily throughout the whole workout) are proving to be the best choices for helping women maintain bone mass. Weight training, especially exercises that target the back and hips, has also been shown to help maintain bone mass in women.

Again, it’s not necessary for your whole cardio workout to be impactful. Studies show that just a few jumps or hops here and there can make a big difference over time. As with any significant change in your workout program, you should always check with your primary health care provider to see if adding a little impact to your exercise program is safe for your particular situation.

For my female baby boomer customers here in San Jose, I include in their workouts strength exercises for the hips and back (like dead lifts and squats) and I add just a little impact to their cardio routines. For instance, I suggest they simply jump rope, do jumping jacks or jump up on a porch step a few times after their cardio workout. We start with 5 jumps and work up from there (over time) to about 10 or 15 jumps 3 times per week.

One need only look at an elderly osteoporotic woman to see the devastating effects of severe bone loss. We can’t control the hormonal changes that happen to us over time, but we can control the amount of impact our bones get and the type of bone building nutrients we put in our bodies.

Are YOU getting a little impact in your workout?

Leave me a comment here and share how you challenge your bones each week.

Let’s learn from each other!

Yours in health,

Becky

**Nutrition experts recommend 1,000 mg. of calcium a day for pre-menopausal women, and 1,200 mg. a day for post -menopausal women. Check with your primary health care provider to find out the ideal amount of calcium intake for your situation.

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Well, there is nothing I know of that will maintain our youth forever, but as far as anti-aging nutrition goes, fish oil is at the top of the list!

Study after study shows that fish oil (and, more specifically the long-chain omega-3 fats DHA and EPA) can benefit us in so many ways. Based on scientific evidence, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports that the ingestion of fish and/or fish oil supplements can benefit us in the following ways:

-Reduce blood pressure
-Reduce triglyceride levels
-Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease
-Reduce inflammation
-Reduce the incidence of macular degeneration (an eye disorder)

These are only the top four benefits the AHA mentions as having “strong scientific evidence”. It’s the tip of the iceberg–the list of potential benefits from fish oil is several pages long!

We boomers are right smack in “mid-life” where a lot of life’s pains the rear (heart disease, high blood pressure, etc) start showing up. The evidence-based argument favoring fish oil in reducing the risk for these conditions is just too strong to ignore.

If you aren’t taking fish oil, I suggest you talk to your doctor about adding it in to your supplement regime. One word of caution: Folks who are allergic to fish or shellfish should not take fish oil capsules.

If you like fish, the best way to get omega-3 fatty acids is to eat fattier fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel. Trout is also high in both DHA and EPA.

If you don’t eat fish several times a week, a fish oil supplement may be in order.

What should you look for in a fish oil supplement?
-Look for a product containing Neptune Krill Oil. Neptune Krill Oil doesn’t give you “fish burp” or a fishy aftertaste, and reportedly has a higher antioxidant rating than other types of fish oil used for supplements.
-Look for a product that contains both EPA and DHA.
-Talk to your health care provider about the proper dosage of fish oil for your situation.

I use and recommend EFA-Icon from Prograde Nutrition for my Omega-3 supplement.

You can pick up some EFA icon at a discount right now!

Click here to get to the Prograde site. Once you’ve placed your order, put in the coupon code 012009 at checkout. You’ll save 10.9% off your entire Prograde order from now through midnight EST on Thursday, January 15th!

Yours in health,

Becky

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I’m excited to announce the my new book for YOU, the boomer woman who wants to be in shape and look great throughout mid-life, is almost ready to go! It’s chock full of cutting edge workout routines you can do at home or at the gym and step-by-step instructions on the right way to melt fat with your cardio routines (there are NO long, boring cardio routines in the whole book! Yeah!). It also has a nutrition chapter that teaches you a non-diet approach to getting and staying lean (I know you’re sick of diets and so am I), and a complete success journal to keep you focused and on track. There’s just one thing I need for the book…..

A TITLE!

That’s where YOU come in. I’m having a “Name Becky’s Book” contest! As a reward for coming up with the best name for the book, the winner will receive FREE products from my favorite nutrition company, Prograde Nutrition and a FREE copy of my book.

Here’s exactly what the winner will get:

• VGF25 for women- a top notch whole food multi-vitamin and mineral supplement
• One box of Prograde Cravers (the flavor of your choice)–the best tasting nutritious snack bar on the planet
• Longevity- Prograde’s new, cutting edge anti-oxidant supplement
• My digital e-book plus all the bonus items I’ll be offering with my book

This is over $160 worth of goodies!

So, get your creative juices flowing and send me your best title ideas for my book. Just post right here in the comment section. Feel free to post more than one title suggestion.

My team and I will consider all entries posted on or by Friday, January 16th and will announce the winner right here on Monday, January 19th.

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I believe we’ve learned that weight gain can happen to any of us if we allow ourselves to get lost in the shuffle of life and end up at the bottom of our own priority list.

We’ve learned that even a very wealthy woman who has access to “gurus” of all sorts, “people” to do various things for her to free up her time, and has (or had) a personal trainer and a personal chef at her disposal, still can lose focus and gain weight. It can happen to any of us. Even those of us who appear to “have it all”. We truly are responsible for our own bodies when it comes right down to it.

If you are currently lean and fit–well, it’s because of choices you’ve made. If you’re overweight and out of shape–same story. It’s due to choices you’ve made. The buck stops with you.

I have to hand it to Oprah for the very open, honest and compelling story that she wrote about her situation in the January issue of her magazine. She makes no excuses. She even had a medical problem that certainly must have played a part in some of the weight gain–but she didn’t use it as an excuse and I applaud her for that.

She explains that the weight gain was a slow process. There were medical problems and medication problems that exacerbated the issue. She may not have realized what was really happening as it was happening (perhaps because she was too dang busy getting through the day and paid little attention to her health and well-being!).

Bottom line, as Oprah puts it “I don’t have a weight problem. I have a self-care problem that manifests through weight”.

So, what can boomer women learn from this very public weight gain that Oprah has lived through?

Hmmmm…….perhaps that a little “self care” and “life balance” might need to be on our priority list this year??

I’ll leave you with a quote from Oprah’s article
“….every last one of your choices–from the food you put in your mouth, to the commitments you put on your calendar–moves you toward the life you want”