On gaining weight after turning 50:
I started to put on weight around my waist and hips, which was never my thing before. My legs started to get heavy. I started to feel lethargic. I also didn’t feel inspired. I wasn’t sleeping. My whole energy felt heavy.
On her diet:
So I turned to a plant-based diet. What I’d always thought were sunspots—actually, they were sugar spots— started to clear, and my skin looked tighter, dewier and plumper. I started to lose weight, probably because my sugar cravings had subsided. My digestion improved. I felt more emotionally balanced.
If I’m really in my groove, I love a raw, plant-based diet. That’s how I feel best. I eat grains, nuts, seeds, beans, vegetables, almond milk, hemp milk, chia seeds. I make my own granola in a dehydrator. Avocado, salads, juicing—you know, beautiful, whole, natural foods. As far as animal products are concerned, I’ll have a poached egg every now and then, some Parmesan cheese and goat cheese, but they’re not staples of my diet.
On her other wellness and beauty tips:
Walking in seawater is one of the best things I can do for my body. It tones the legs and the waist, it’s great for minerals, and if you have any water retention, it’s a great diuretic. I walk in about thigh-deep or knee-deep water for 40 minutes to an hour.
Before or after I shower, I dry brush my body. You can watch how to do it on YouTube—basically, it’s circular movements toward your heart, from your fingertips and your toes. In the shower, I do about three cycles of switching hot and cold water. You can feel your body start tingling; it’s so good for your lymphatics and circulatory system, and such an easy thing to do.
I’ve been using an infrared sauna at home for about a year and a half. I try to do it every day for an hour— I’ll watch TV in there or do a meditation or a phone call. That’s been phenomenal for the quality of my skin and the capacity of my body to detox and really function well.
On loving the sun:
Forget about the look of a tan—the immune system is very much boosted by sunshine. I try to lie outside for 20 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon. I close my eyes and raise my face to the sun so that the pineal gland in the front of my head is toward the sun. That just works wonders for your immune system.
… says 53 year-old Elle.
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