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"Lose Ten Years in Ten Weeks"
It might sound impossible, but it's not
By Anita Bartholomew

Joyce Mae Liddle of Sarasota, Fla., lives a healthful, active life-style. At 52, she feels young and vital-and simply doesn't relate to her chronological age.
But five years ago, jowl lines and crow's-feet appeared on her face, betraying her years. She signed up for ten sessions of nonsurgical "face lift" therapy, performed by a licensed acupuncturist. Did the trendy new technique work? "I was in the grocery store buying wine," Liddle says, chuckling, "and with a twinkle in his eye, the assistant manager asked to see my ID."
Maury Breecher had different concerns from Liddle. An insulin dependent diabetic living in Northport, Ala., he started researching ways to improve his declining health. Based on what he discovered in medical journals, he began eating a diet high in antioxidants, fiber, garlic and soy protein, and walking almost daily. "Within ten weeks, I had more energy and I felt like my younger self," attests Breecher, 53. More surprising, blood tests confirmed he had rolled back some degenerative effects of heart disease. His need for insulin was cut in half, and his dangerously high cholesterol levels were now in a healthier range.
As Liddle and Breecher found, the secret of rediscovering youthfulness can be simple but powerful. And the difference in your health and appearance can be profound.
Below are some pointers on how you can look and feel better than you have in years. Some of the tips yield results almost immediately; others take longer. But by the time ten weeks are up, you may find that your body and face will seem younger-perhaps even ten years younger.

Nibble Away at the Years

Since you really are, to a great extent, what you eat, anti-aging experts recommend eating more of certain foods. Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids - such as salmon, tuna and sardines - are essential to cardiovascular health. They may even help maintain mental performance, while cutting you risk of heart disease and other age-related illnesses.
Fish consumption has also been tentatively linked with a lower incidence of breast and other cancers. Scientists at U.C.L.A. put women who were in remission from breast cancer on a diet that stressed fish oil, soy products and vegetables, and reduced their intake of the "bad" fats associated with increased cancer risk. In just three months, participants' breast tissue showed a 40-percent increase in protective omega-3 fatty acids.
Vegetables and fruits are great sources of antioxidants, nutrients that prevent our bodies from aging prematurely. "Many people feel more energy, since fruits and vegetables, with their high fiber content, provide gradual sugar release, unlike sweet snacks," says Mary Ellen Camire, associate professor of food science at the University of Maine. To enjoy the benefits, eat five to eight serving of fruits and vegetables each day.

Try a Natural Face Lift

So-called nonsurgical face-lifts, such as electronic muscle stimulation and facial exercises, are the rage. None has been subjected to rigorous clinical trials, and some such as facial exercises that require you to stretch delicate skin - may create additional lines.
But one type of "natural face lift," based on stimulation of acupuncture points on the face, may actually make you look younger. John Myerson, an acupuncturist who chairs the Committee on Acupuncture of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, speculates that the face looks younger in part because acupuncture increases circulation. "It helps the black puffiness under the eyes, and tones the muscle-around the mouth."
Skeptical, I made an appointment to see an acupuncturist, Cynthia O'Donnell of the Academy of Chinese Healing Arts in Sarasota, Fla. Using a technique called electro-acupuncture, O'Donnell stimulated facial muscles with electronic probes instead of traditional needles.
I asked her to treat the left side of my face, as I had noticed more lines around my left eye, and the crease from my nose to my mouth was deeper there. After the half-hour treatment, which felt more like a massage that acupuncture, I saw subtle, but real, change. I now had fewer lines on the treated side. However, the crease form my nose to my mouth did not look better. (O'Donnell had told me the effects are cumulative and usually take ten sessions.) Nevertheless, I was impressed.

Start Moving!

Aerobic exercise is important for looking and feeling younger. The most immediate effect is that of your skin will have a more youthful glow from increased circulation. A longer-lasting result is improved cardiovascular health.
"What's the single best aerobic exercise for most people? "Walking," says Dr. James Anderson, a professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky and co-author of Live Longer Better: Dr. Anderson
s Complete Antiaging Health Program. He and other experts recommend walking six days a week, if possible. "Within ten weeks, you will have more stamina and be healthier," he says. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that walking two miles a day approximately halved the death rate in men 61 and older.
If you're not used to walking that much, start gradually, Anderson advises. For the first week, try ten minutes a day, then try to walk 50 percent more the next week.

Get Your Zzz's

About 150 million Americans regularly sleep less than either hours a night. But when most people try to get by for too long on five or sex hours a night, their eyes get puffy, their skin looks unhealthy and they feel drained - in other words, they look and feel years older. The easiest way to reverse these results is to get about either hours of sleep every night. This will give you more energy and help you feel more youthful.
If you find it hard to get to sleep and stay asleep, experts suggest you avoid caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes three to four hours before bedtime. Though a glass of wine may relax you enough to sleep, a few hours later a rebound effect may wake you in the middle of the night.

Pamper Your Skin

If you smoke, stop. Cigarette smoking increases your need for nutrients, and exposes you over a hundred toxic chemicals. The effects show up on your skin, making it appear dry and wrinkled - old.
Sun exposure, too, injures skin and may be the real cause of most damage we associate with aging. Any tan you get from the sun or tanning machines will age your skin. If you like to appear tanned, try the newer sunless-tanning creams to get natural-looking color without the ultraviolet exposure.
Under the microscope, skin that has been exposed to the sun looks different from young, undamaged skin, says Dr. George Hruza, a dermatologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Instead of lying flat and smooth, damaged skin cells form a haphazard pattern. But, Hruza says, after treatment with the creams Retin-A or Renova, which is Retin-A plus a moisturizer, " The top layer of skin, the epidermis, becomes more normal. The cells look more healthy."
What the naked eye sees is more impressive: a moderate reduction in the number and depth of wrinkles and lines. It can take a few months of using these creams, however, before you see a significant reduction.
For more immediate results, Hruza suggests, try creams with at least seven percent alpha-hydroxy acids, such as glycolic or lactic acids.

Build a Stronger Body

As you age, your muscles atrophy and become weaker, making you look older. Strength-training dramatically reverses this process by rebuilding healthy muscle. That extra-lean mass also helps boost your metabolism-and energy- to more youthful levels.
"We lose, on average, about a third of a pound of muscle every year after age 40 and gain at least as much body fat." Says Tufts University scientist Miriam Nelsom, author of the bestseller Strong Women Stay Young. But when women in a study followed her twice-a-week strength-training program, "they actually gained about three pounds of muscle and lost that much body fat. They become leaner, tighter, firmer." The difference in confidence showed in their faces too. In other studies, men got similar results.
Building yourself a younger body is simpler tan you think. Buy dumbbells in pairs from a pound up to eight pounds or higher, depending on your condition, and adjustable ankle weights that hold similar amounts. In general, you should start with the lowest possible weight, then increase the weights as you get stronger. Speak with a fitness professional at your local gym about designing a program suited to your physical condition and goals.
Nelson says that with two or three 30- to 40-minute sessions a week, you can achieve significant improvements in just four weeks.
Of course, before starting such a program, get your doctor's approval.