As I mentioned in one of my previous post on the benefits of Flaxseed in your diet . Studies have recently shown that taking flaxseed can really improve dry and sensitive skin. Researchers assigned 45 nonsmoking women with these skin issues to take 2.2 grams of flaxseed oil for 12 weeks.

After the initial 12 weeks all experienced improvements to their skin, including sensitivity, redness, hydration, scaling, and roughness. Flaxseed oil is rich in fatty acids which help to reduce inflammation to the skin. I continue to include flaxseed in my diet everyday and have already started to feel the benefits.

Here’s to beautiful skin in 2009!

xx,

Beth

Tune into Oprah today, as she will be having her resident Doctor Oz on the show.

Today, Dr. Oz will follow up to a recent episode where he will tackle the subject of aging, once again. The official title of the show is Dr. Oz on Aging: How to Turn Back Time Part 2. I will be watching and can not wait to see what he claims his miracle “green drink” is.

Tune back in here to Aging Fabulous tomorrow, where I will recap the show and let you all know about this “green drink” with more from the show.

Do you remember the love I have for Clinique and their Simple - 3 Step System?

Just for the Nordstrom Beauty Exclusives Event, Clinique has created a special 4 piece set of products for either Very Dry to Dry Combination or Combination Oily to Oily skin types.

Very Dry to Dry Combination set contains:Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser, Liquid Facial Soap - Mild, Clarifying Lotion 2 and Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion.

Combination Oily to Oily set contains Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser, Liquid Facial Soap - Oily, Clarifying Lotion 3 and Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel.

Each set is specially priced at $25 - stock up!

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Thirst-quenching algae extracts deliver an extra helping of hydration, and apricot kernel oil helps keep skin looking younger in the generous sized tube of Origins Drink Up 10-Minute Mask. This 6.7 oz. sized tube is extra large, an exclusive for Nordstroms Beauty Exclusives Event.

This mask is perfect for Summer dehydrated skin, and gives the skin the hydration it so deserves and needs in just 10 minutes.

Yoga has been around for centuries, and is becoming sort of a phenomenon as of late. I actually just signed up for a session of Yoga classes. I am really looking forward to it.

I was equally thrilled when I saw this recent article on Yahoo! from HealthDay News:

Yoga’s postures, controlled breathing and meditation may work together to help ease brains plagued by anxiety or depression, a new study shows.

Brain scans of yoga practitioners showed a healthy boost in levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric (GABA) immediately after a one-hour yoga session. Low brain levels of GABA are associated with anxiety and depression, the researchers said.

“I am quite sure that this is the first study that’s shown that there’s a real, measurable change in a major neurotransmitter with a behavioral intervention such as yoga,” said lead researcher Dr. Chris Streeter, assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine.

She believes yoga could prove a useful tool to help people battling depression and anxiety disorders. “We’re not advocating that they chuck their medication, but I would advise that they could use it as an adjunct and see how they are doing,” Streeter said.

Her team published its findings in the May issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

In the study, the Boston researchers used high-tech magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging to gauge levels of GABA in the brains of eight long-time yoga practitioners and 11 non-practitioners. The participants were healthy, and none was diagnosed with a major psychiatric condition.

Brain scans were taken before the beginning of the experiment. Then, the yoga group was asked to engage in the meditative practice for 60 minutes, while the non-yoga group simply read. The researchers then re-scanned each participant’s brain, looking specifically at GABA levels.

“We showed a 27 percent increase in the brain GABA levels of those doing yoga — a really significant increase,” Streeter said. No such change was noted in the non-practitioners who had just read.

She said the style or school of yoga practiced didn’t seem to matter. “We had hatha, ashtanga, bikram, vinyasa, and kripalu” practitioners included in the yoga group, Streeter said, “and many had been trained in several different schools.”

According to Streeter, “this all gives us one of the mechanisms by which yoga may be having a beneficial effect. There could be other mechanisms.”

But another expert pointed to what he considered flaws in the research.

Zindel Segal, chairman of psychotherapy and a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Toronto, has for years studied the use of behavioral interventions to alleviate psychological woes.

He said the Boston researchers were to be commended for using brain scan imaging technologies to investigate the effectiveness of these techniques. But he questioned why the yoga group was simply compared to a sedentary reading group and not to another movement-based group.

“Exercise itself may have some effects on GABA, so I think in this study, you’d really want that comparison,” he said. Including such a control group would make it clear that it was yoga and not just an hour of physical exertion that was responsible for the brain changes.

He also pointed out that all of the people in the study were mentally healthy, and clinical depression and anxiety disorders involve more than the “daily fluctuations in stress and tension” that healthy individuals are prone to.

“We know that yoga can have a profound effect” on smoothing out life’s daily ups and downs, Segal said. “But so does working out on a Stairmaster for an hour.”

Segal also questioned the role of GABA in depression. While it may play a role in anxiety disorders, “GABA is not one of the main neurotransmitters that seems to be a part of the depression story,” he said. Other neurochemicals — most notably serotonin — play much bigger roles in the disorder, he said.

None of this means that the study’s findings are without merit, Segal said. “In fact,” he said, “we have a program called ‘mindfulness-based cognitive therapy,’ where we do use yoga, as well as mindfulness meditation,” as therapeutic tools. Streeter’s findings “suggest the need for more study of these practices,” he said.

Streeter agreed that her study is probably just a beginning.

“I think what’s important about this study is that it shows that by using really cutting-edge neuroimaging technology, we can measure real changes in the brain with behavioral interventions — changes that are similar to those that we see with pharmacologic treatments,” she said.

I am hoping that Yoga relaxes my mind while it strengthens my body. And if it helps ease a bit of anxiety - that would be a great benefit too!

Oh dear, I have noticed a few. On my hands. Ugly, little brown, patchy spots. Age spots. I hate them. I want them gone, and better yet, I have been looking into how to prevent age spots in the first place.

The best way to prevent age spots is to protect your skin from the sun by using an effective sunscreen or sun block. Each and every day. I swear I have been lathering sunscreen on my hands throughout the day.

By putting on anti-aging sunscreen each and every day, like I have just started doing, you give your skin a barrier against any further damage as well as protection from the UV rays. These rays are essentially what cause age spots over time.

I am looking into some fade creams, and will report on those soon. I remember trying an anti-aging age spot fade cream from Joan Rivers before, and I will definitely be looking that one up again.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know before I hit the stores next week.

Ahhh. Aveeno.

You see it on the shelves at your drugstore. But have you looked deep into Aveeno. I swear this line is worthy of a department store. And they recently launched two new products in their Positively Ageless line. It consists of a Rejuvenating Serum and Night Cream.

Both of these treatments are formulated with a natural Shiitake Complex. This complex self adjusts to everyone’s unique skins chemistry to visibly reduce the signs of aging. You see, everyone’s skin has a unique pattern of aging - almost like a fingerprint. So self-adjusting anti-aging treatments just may be the answer to younger-looking skin.

The Positively Ageless Rejuvenating Serum should be used daily to accelerate cell renewal. The silky fluid absorbs quickly and is designed to be used in addition to your existing skin care routines. This retails for $19.99

The Positively Ageless Night Cream goes beyond moisturization to help reduce the signs of aging. While you sleep, this cream will work to help accelerate the skins cell renewal process as well. It absorbs quickly, and leaves skin feeling smooth too. This retails for $19.99.

There are more products in Aveeno’s Positively Ageless line including a Daily Exfoliating Cleanser and Daily Moisturizer.

We see this written across many anti-aging wrinkle creams. It is even sometimes is difficult to distinguish between the ones that truly have the proof to back it up versus those who hope that with their fancy ingredients, it will work.

One microdermabrasion product I have been using, has been put to the test. And form my few weeks of results, I believe that it is working.

I have been using the Daily Microdermabrasion Cleansing Disks from RoC - and I have fallen for these. These discs go way beyond normal cleansing by providing results similar to microdermabrasion. But it is done with one simple dual-sided disk. Each disk features a unique cleansing technology to deliver the anti-aging results we want.

As I said, the disks are dual sided. One side, is the exfoliating side. This side is ridged containing micro-crystals that provide a gentle microdermabrasion-like action that not only wipes away dead skin cells, but it cleanses the skin as it does that. The second side, is the conditioning side. This side has a diamond pattern on it, and this helps to remove the excess dirt and oil from the skin, while it leaves behind a moisturizing blend to help keep the skin soft and smooth.

It is so easy to use by just putting your fingers in the pocket and running it under water. I use the exfoliating side first in light circular motions over my entire face, and then follow with the conditioning side.

Overall, these disks simplify my cleansing routine, and do ore then just cleanse. My skin looks better and feels so much smoother since I started using them.

RoC products can be found at drugstores nationwide and drugstore.com for $9.99.

I am in a full on major exercise kick these days. I do a bit of stretching, light weights, and stomach crunches, but my main focus is walking. Oh - I like the walking. I am up to just over 5 miles a day, which I break up into two separate walking expeditions.

The first walk I take is in the morning, and that walk is just over 2 miles. It is a nice easy walk, with only one hill up in the beginning, and another one at the end - which is sometimes a killer, depending how I am balancing my time. This little over 2 mile walk is taking me just about 35 minutes, which is great time, if I say so myself. I have my iPod all geared up every morning, ready to go with the same 35 minutes of song, that lets me walk to the beat. And when I see people looking or sometimes staring at me, I just smile and say a warm, welcoming, “Good Morning!”. You see, it is early, the kids are off to school, and I need to get my day going - so as I am walking, I am belting out the tunes - oh yeah!

My second walk of the day is usually taken right after dinner. This walk is about 3 miles. I walk to the high school track, which is 1/2 mile away. I love the track. It was just built last year, and it is this really weird spongy/asphalt kind of material. It is almost rubbery - and so easy on the joints! I walk around the track 8 times, which someone told me is 2 miles then back home, which is another 1/2 mile. On this walk, I am bit more subdued, as there are a bunch of us walking on the track, and inevitably there is someone that joins in with me, and starts conversing with me. It is not so bad, but I don’t keep the pace like I do in the morning. But it is exercise nonetheless.

Do I have any more walking buddies out there? More importantly are there any more crazies out there that sing at the top of their lungs when they are walking to the beat of their own drummer? I can’t be the only one!

I caught a few minutes of the morning gabfest over at The View this morning, and I was thrilled to see the gorgeous Goldie Hawn filling in as a guest co-host. She looks amazing. She is amazing! I got me thinking about her age. She is 62 years old, people! It’s not fair that she can look so great, and be so fun, and full of life.

Goldie Hawn is definitely Sassy (and sexy) and over 60!