According to Dr. Judith Reichman, in her book "Slow Your Clock Down", there are some solid disease prevention and anti-aging stragegies. The top strategy she lists is to make exercise a priority. The Woodlands Personal trainer Melissa agrees with this and has helped many clients improve the quality of their life through exercise. The doctor also recommends managing weight by eating a balanced diet of fish, chicken, and turkey, veggies, egg whites, nonfat yogurt, whole grains, nuts  and fruit. She appears to promote the use of real food in the diet instead of manufactured foods such as weigh loss drinks or meal replacement bars. Real food supplies more of essential nutrients that the bodyneeds.  Fitness trainer Melissa is a firm believer in eating natural food and she relies on a clean diet to help give her the energy for her workouts and other activities. No engineered food can really match the flavor and nutritional availability of vitamins and minerals and other things we still do not even know about found in real food. So instead of a protein bar,  eat a hard boiled egg. Instead of a flavored soda, drink water with a squeeze of real lemon.Instead of a slim fast drink, eat an apple, a slice of turkey and some baby carrots. You will feel fuller, and you will give your body more variety to draw nutrients from.
One of the concerns of aging also is alzheimers and to reduce the risk of this disease by 60% it is important to get at least 500 mg of Vit C and at least 400 IU of Vit. E. as these two vitamins  help prevent this disease.




Also eaing several servings of yogurt every day will help reduce belly fat bulge by 81 percent. According to the directore of nutrition institute at the University of Knoxville, three servings of yogurt supresses calcitrol, which is a compound that tells the body to store fat. By helping the body to burn fat with yogurt, and keeping the belly flat, a person will have a more youthful appearance. Also, eating grapefruit, strawberries or kiwis, which are high in viamin C, will help in the absorbtion and breakdow of nutrients, which is important because age and health problems sometimes prevent good nutrients from being properly absorbed from the diet. To get the most benefit from the foods we eat, it is helpful to add natural sources of vitamin C to the diet.

With all the low carb diet craze, many individuals are looking for ways to cut carbs from their menu so they will hopefully lose weight. However it is technically illegal for companies to list any product as low carb because there are not uniform standards for what amount is low and companies who are trying to market their product as low carb are saying it is carb aware or carb smart. The government has appointed agencies to help create guidelines that are specific related to how many carbs are needed in the diet to help with obesity. continued below photo of Melissa  under a wooden beam wearing a pink shirt and green skirt on the beach in Galveston.

Personal trainer Melissa has some suggestions based on how she keeps on track with her eating as well as keeping weight off. She enjoys protein drinks with egg whites and milk and ovaltine and ice to start and end her day and avoids sugary carbs (bad carbs)  at breakfast. The extra protein is important because she is working out and trying to keep muscle..so eating to keep muscle helps with losing body fat which is burned off by increased mass. She tries to eat carbs for energy but not simple carbs such as sugary snacks or  fruit juices, rather she eats whole wheat and whole grain products in small amounts such as oatmeal, whole wheat crackers and flax seed and wheat germ in her salads and in her cereals (good carbs). When she does drink fruit juice she drinks natural cranberry juice because cranberries have flavonoids  which inhibit a cancer cells ability to replicate..so it helps fight cancer.  It is helpful to add cinnamon to the hot cereal as well because recent studies say that a half a teaspoon daily fends off heart disease and also helps the body use insulin more efficiently which helps prevent type two diabetes.
She also drinks the liquid yougart in the morning when she gets hungry during a workout and she gets the little bit of sweet with it without the high calories, plus the yougart products help keep the body from producing more fat. In addition, when women consume at least 500 mg of calcium, they are much less likely to have gum disease because cacium strengthens bones.The woodlands personal trainer Melissa also likes ice tea and makes it herself which is good because recent studies suggest that canned ice tea is harder on tooth enamel than any other canned drink including Coke and Pepsi. Canned ice tea strips tooth enamel 30 times faster than regular home made ice tea. Melissa likes soy milk but is switching to eating more soy rather than drinking it. She read that highly processed soy can increase cancer rates so she is switching to eating more edamame.
For some yummy and easy snacks, Melissa sometimes eats the following...

Three chocolate dipped strawberries..only 135 calories, 5 grams fat, or fifty five goldfish crackers, only 140 calories and 6 grams of fat, ten large shrim with cocktail sauce only 145 calories and two grams fat or a small slice of pumpkin pie with nonfat whipped topping, only 124 calories and 5 grams fat or a mug of hot chocolate only 120  calories and 3 grams fat.
Also, vegetarians need to remember that the body only absorbs 70 percent of protein from a vegetable source where it absorbs more than 90 percent from animal sources. So though tofu may be good, it should not be the only source of protein. In salads, it is useful to heat the salad dressing a little bit before adding it to the salad because the heated dressing cooks the veggies a little which helps them release their carotenoid compounds. Also it is better to use a low fat dressing rather than a fat free dressing because the little bit of healthy fat such as olive oil, helps facilitate absorbtion as well.

Many women are concerned about the way their body will look after losing a significant amount of weight. That is a valid concern because without some body fat, the skin can look saggy and deflated and lack tone. Eating a healthy diet is important because the body uses Vitamin C to form collagen, which is a key ingredient in youthful looking skin. So snack on bell peppers with the hummus dip to add 226 mg per one medium pepper.

There are a number of things that can be done to help with great youthful looking skin after weight loss. First of all it is important to avoid too much sun exposure. Melissa, personal trainer in The Woodlands and Houston Texas, wears Sensitive skin sunscreen with spf 30 every day under her makeup. She does not just rely on make up because she knows that sunscreen can also be toxic to skin so she just uses the sensitive skin sunscreen on her face but also uses a visor to keep the sun away and wears long sleeve cotton workout clothes if she is going to be doing workouts in the sun.  The makeup is also for sensitive skin and has sunscreen in it as well. Even if a person is not out in the sun every day, constant sunlight on the skin will eventually cause spots and sun damage to appear as well as dry and diminish the texture and fresh look of the skin. Plus sunscreen gives the skin a radiant glow under makeup and Melissa wears it on her hands, neck, arms and legs as well. Photo below of sexy personal trainer Melissa wearing a jean jacket and a swooshy miniskirt showing how healthy skin can look after eating properly and getting the right amount of sleep and exercise on a consistent basis.

Secondly, every night after her shower, personal trainer Melissa applies vaseline to her entire body..a very thin layer. Vaseline is the cheapest and yet the best skin protectant for the night that she has found because it provides a protective barrier over the skin to seal in the moisture from the shower. By morning, it has somewhat absorbed e and the skin has a fresh clean moist feel. To help shed dry superficial dead skin, Melissa uses baking soda to scrub her face and body occasionally. Baking soda is natural and has an abrasiveness that helps loosen dead skin so it can wash off in the shower. Melissa also drinks water all day and then drinks a big glass of water at night to make sure the skin has enough internal hydration. Water is essential to many things including healthy skin.

When she wants to have a golden tan glow, The Woodlands Personal trainer Melissa uses the mystic tan which is a spray on tan at the salon. It does not cause any sun damage and she wears a protective cap over her face and hand applies the tanning solution to her face after leaving the tanning booth. This way she is not breathing any of the mist during the spraying of the solution. (There is not evidence of danger from the mist but Melissa just does not want to breathe it).

Personal trainer Melissa also keeps her nails short and painted in light neutrals and pale pinks to keep a natural healthy look to her nails as well. Being a personal trainer takes its toll on her hands so she has a hard time keeping long nails. But hers are neat and clean and healthy looking and she makes sure to cover them during a tan session so the nails do not TAN as well.