DIY Anti-Aging Hacks that Won't Break the Bank

Fight wrinkles

Cream signs of aging

Smooth fine lines and wrinkles with this simple moisturizing cream. In a small bowl, mix together 2 teaspoons honey, 2 teaspoons castor oil, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Massage into the face and neck, and leave on for 5 minutes. Rinse with warm water, and enjoy younger-looking skin!

The goodness of grapes

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of resveratrol, the powerful antioxidant in red grapes and red wine. It helps boost the production of collagen, giving your skin a younger look. Try this mask to help minimize fine lines and firm the skin. Combine 5 red grapes, 2 to 3 teaspoons olive oil, and 1 tablespoon honey in a blender. Apply the mask to the face, and leave for 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse with warm water.

INSTANT NIGHT CREAM: Don’t buy expensive vitamin E creams! Instead, just use the capsules you find in the vitamin aisle at the drugstore. Break them open and massage the oil into your face before bed.
 

Kick wrinkles with kiwi

Kiwis are rich in vitamin C, which is known for its potential as an antiaging ingredient. Plus, the little black seeds are effective at exfoliating the skin. Mash 2 kiwis (peeled and chopped) in a small bowl, then stir in ¼ cup cornmeal. Massage into skin for a few minutes, then rinse.

Pinch for relief

Many people hold stress in the area between their eyebrows, and in time, vertical stress lines will develop there. When you feel your brow knit together with concentration or stress, take a moment to pinch the muscle there, working from the center of the brow along the brow line in each direction with a thumb and bent forefinger. Not only will it make you feel better, but it will prevent wrinkles, too!

You’ve probably heard it before, but wondered if it was true: Does Preparation H really diminish fine lines and wrinkles? It does! Try applying first to an inconspicuous area.
 

Pungent but powerful to erase age spots

If you’re looking to eliminate unsightly age spots, sometimes you have to get serious! Grate a medium onion onto a cheesecloth or sturdy paper towel, then squeeze the onion juice into a bowl. Mix in 1 tablespoon each of white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Dab the mixture on the age spots twice a day (keeping away from your eyes), and keep it in the fridge when you’re not using it. You should see results in a week or two!

Perk up tired eyes

Your eyes may be calling for...

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2021: Your Best Year Yet

A First Person Account on the March on Washington

I saw Martin Luther King Jr. proclaim his Dream at the 1963 March on Washington.

King captured the nation’s attention, and his legacy ultimately became the focus of my career. In the days before the march, however, my understanding of his significance changed when I met Stokely Carmichael, a young black activist affiliated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Stokely made me aware that King was only one aspect of a sustained Southern freedom struggle to overcome the Jim Crow system of racial segregation and discrimination. Although I continued to admire King, I learned that the brash protesters and “field secretaries” of SNCC were key components of a community of dedicated activists I would come to know as the Movement. They exemplified the rebelliousness and impatience I felt as a teenager.

I had grown up as one of a handful of African American residents in Los Alamos, a small New Mexico town far from the frontlines of the Southern protest movement. Nonetheless, I paid close attention to news about civil rights activities— especially when black students near my own age were involved. When I was in eighth grade, the Little Rock Nine students were braving white mobs to desegregate Central High School. While I was in high school, I read about the student-led lunch- counter sit-ins and the freedom rides. During the months before the 1963 march, President John F. Kennedy stirred me with his televised speech urging Americans to see civil rights as a “moral issue,” although I wondered why it took him so long to recognize this. While courageous young black activists were battling entrenched racial oppression and capturing the nation’s attention, I resigned myself to return to Albuquerque for my second year at the University of New Mexico (UNM).

Several days before the March on Washington, I traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, as part of UNM’s delegation to the National Student Association’s (NSA) annual convention. Stokely, a Howard University senior, was representing SNCC. I was vaguely aware of SNCC’s involvement in the sit-ins, freedom rides, and Deep South voting rights campaigns, but Stokely seemed to be a knowledgeable Movement veteran. His lanky build, intense demeanor, and copious confidence made him a magnet of attention at convention sessions and impressed me to the point of envy.

As the only black student on the UNM delegation to the NSA conference, I felt a special responsibility to inform myself about the convention’s most contentious issue: whether the organization should support the upcoming March on Washington. I listened as Stokely insisted that the NSA not only back the march but also give financial support to SNCC. His arguments were peppered with sardonic criticisms of cautious liberalism....

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Can Monitoring Your Blood Sugar Help Improve Your Workouts?

I am going to be honest with you. I was first introduced to the idea of using a continuous glucose monitor to improve health and longevity a number of years ago and didn’t give it much time or thought. My rationale was "I'm not a person with diabetes, so why would I want to bother tracking my blood sugar?"

Well, I asked my guest on today’s podcast episode exactly that. 

I think for a person that is a non-diabetic, Veri becomes a really powerful system to build accountability, and that accountability is food accountability. So with Veri, you get this stream of feedback. You give it an input and it gives you an output, just like sleeping and monitoring with an Oura ring or getting more active with an Apple Watch. Essentially, for a non-diabetic to measure their blood sugar, the things that come through are: What is the state of their metabolic health right now? And how, with the food they eat and the lifestyle habits they lead, are they contributing to that?

Anttoni Aniebonam

What is Veri?

Veri is a company located in Finland. And the word veri means "blood" in Finnish. So that should give you a big clue right there that Veri is a system to monitor your blood. Your blood glucose levels, to be exact.

When I received my Veri package in the mail, inside was a small round disc with a tiny hair-like spike coming out of one side. Along with that, there was a plastic applicator and not much else. My partner helped me apply the disc with the hair-spike going into the skin on the back of my arm (on my tricep, to be exact). I covered it with a fancy sticker to keep it safe, downloaded the Veri app, and away I went. 

A few hours after each meal or snack, Veri would assign a score to my meal photo, which would inform me whether or not that meal was appropriate for the amount of exercise and sleep I had gotten.

Over the next fourteen days, I tracked my food intake by simply snapping a picture of everything I ate. I tracked my sleep using the Apple Health app. And periodically held my iPhone up to the disc on the back of my arm (as you can see me doing in the photo above) so that Veri could read what had been happening with my blood sugar since the last time I held my phone up to it.

A few hours after each meal or snack, Veri would assign a score to my meal photo, which would inform me whether or not that meal was appropriate for the amount of exercise and sleep I had gotten. The app also gave me a chart and a score for how well I regulated my blood sugar that day and made some suggestions for how I could keep my blood sugar more consistent and stable.

During the first week I was using it, when friends asked me what I had learned so far, I would...

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What's the Difference Between a Snowstorm and a Blizzard?

The northeast was besieged this week. Hefting shovelfuls of snow gives a person time to think, and as residents dug their way out of this white apocalypse, they might have wondered what, exactly, they were battling. Was it a snowstorm, or a blizzard? What’s the difference between the two?

A snowstorm is your garden variety winter weather event. It can involve snow, sleet, ice, or freezing rain and be accompanied by freezing temperatures. Snowstorms can result in hazardous surfaces and poor driving conditions, so they’re nothing to trifle with.

To meet the standard of a blizzard, conditions need to involve three extreme weather events.

A blizzard, on the other hand, brings real environmental violence. To meet the standard of a blizzard, conditions need to involve three weather events: Winds are sustained at 35 miles per hour or more; snow reduces visibility to a quarter-mile or less; and the conditions must be expected to last for at least three hours.

One is not necessarily more severe than the other. A blizzard could create poor visibility and strong winds for a few hours but not leave much accumulation. In fact, a blizzard may not even involve active snowfall if existing snow is being blown by wind. (Blizzards are less common in coastal regions because snow tends to be heavier and less prone to being moved around.) But on the whole, blizzards tend to be more threatening, as conditions can grow so bad that visibility is near zero and wind chill factors invite frostbite or hypothermia.

The storm endured this week was classified as a nor’easter, which is an event identified by a low-pressure system originating in the Mid-Atlantic coast and gaining strength as it moves.

As impressive as this recent storm may be, there have been worse.

As impressive as this recent storm may be, there have been worse. In the notorious Great Blizzard of 1888, the northeast was hammered by as much as 55 inches of snow and winds up to 85 miles per hour. Above-ground water and gas lines froze, and walking was all but...

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"How Will You Measure Your Life?" The Question that Changed Me Forever

Reading is one of my superpowers. I make time daily in my work life to consume an article or a chapter of a non-fiction book. I usually learn something—a new fact to absorb or a tactic to try. 

Incredibly rarely, something I read actually changes me. 

When I first read this piece, I was an exhausted, overworked, always-feeling-guilty mom with a long commute and a need for something to change.

Seven years ago, I first stumbled on an article called How Will You Measure Your Life? written by the renowned Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. The piece captivated me, and I credit it with setting me on a new path. Christensen, who has since passed away, offered me a sense of direction and clarity. I find many people around me seek the same thing right now, which is precisely why I'm revisiting a seven-year-old article with you today.

When I first read this piece, I was an exhausted, overworked, always-feeling-guilty mom with a long commute and a need for something to change. Reading it helped me ask and answer some big questions for myself—not by telling me what to think, but rather how to think. Christensen's article applied big wonky management concepts to the everyday business of humanity. And he did it beautifully.

Since I first read "How Will You Measure Your Life," I've made a habit of rereading it once a year. And each year I take something new from it.

Today, in case you’re one of those people sitting with big questions, I’d love to share some of my favorite insights. If you’ve ever wondered how to maintain fulfillment, balance, and integrity in your life and career, then this one’s for you.

How do I achieve fulfillment in my career?

Professor Christensen begins with an introduction to the work of Frederick Herzberg whose research in the mid-twentieth century taught us that money is not our most powerful motivating force.

As Money Girl Laura Adams tells us, money can buy us happiness … but only to a point. To have emotional well-being, we need to have enough money to cover basics like food and shelter comfortably. A widely cited 2010 study set that bar at $75,000 a year. Making more than that, data told us, didn’t equate to more happiness.

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How to Build a Lasting Mother-Son Bond: 4 Loving Tips

If you're the lucky mom to a sweet son, don't let anyone tell you that having a mama's boy is a bad thing! There are so many incredible opportunities to form bonds between the two of you. And if you tune in to your son's way of thinking, that connection will be even stronger.

Remember, our sons are human beings first and boys second. Gender doesn't define who a person is inside. But one thing is for sure: all of our children are growing up in a world that treats boys and girls differently. My goal is to speak to some of the common experiences many parents of boys share to help you raise a young man you can be proud of. Some of these may not ring true for every parent, and that's okay! I encourage you to honor your own unique experience with your son.

Here are four ways to deepen your relationship with the boy who holds your heartstrings!

1. Get into the groove of communicating with a boy

Some boys do a lot of communicating through their actions rather than their words. An over-tired 7-year-old boy may not tell you he's exhausted, let alone suggest going to bed early. Instead, he may jump on the couch, race down the hallway, or grab a ball and start throwing it around as you keep a nervous eye on the lamp or the beautiful vase on the hallway table. 

If your son is the silent type, tune in to his non-verbal communication from an early age.

If your 14-year-old son is suffering some emotional pain, he may retreat to his bedroom to be alone rather than pull up a stool at the kitchen island to talk it out. Or if he's excited about making the final cut for the baseball team, rather than immediately sharing the good news, he might head to the backyard with his ball and glove and process his achievement quietly.

When you have a child who doesn't verbally express feelings and needs, it's important to give him opportunities to talk rather than trying to pressure him into it. Kenneth Ginsburg, author of Raising Kids to Thrive and co-director of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shared this great advice:

When you feel like you have to dive in too deeply at every single moment, you might actually push your son away. You might go for a walk or go fishing or just be present, and after 30 minutes or three hours of silence, the nuggets will start coming out.

Kenneth Ginsburg, Six Ways Parents Can Stay Connected with Their Teen Sons

Parents need to be willing to...

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