In a room filled with hundreds of women, you could feel the thunderbolt as Dr. Pamela Peeke took the stage.
She's proof that a healthy toned body is ageless. You could bounce a coin off her biceps, and she has the energy of a super hero.
Her practice focuses on keeping fit after 40 and Dr. Peeke has made it her mission to remind us that the older we get, the stronger we have to be mentally and physically. "Our bodies are built for obsolescence after 50, so we need to consciously use "Mind Mouth & Muscle" to maintain the next 50," she says.
The Mind is where change begins. To become habits, behaviors have to create new neural pathways. Radical change is very difficult to maintain because we usually abandon it before it becomes embedded in our brains. Smaller consistent steps work best. Don't expect to achieve 100% everyday. If you can manage 80% one day, maybe you'll reach 110% on another. The key is consistency.
The Mouth is the gatekeeper. Our health and energy are largely determined by the quality, quantity, and frequency of what we eat. Eat small meals every 3 to 4 hours and include fat, protein, and carbohydrates in each one. Don't be afraid of fat; there's nothing scary about avocados, nuts, and olive oil. They are good examples of high quality fat.
Muscle refers to our endurance, strength, balance and flexibility. Use it or lose it applies. Dr. Peeke advises adapting and adjusting exercise to accommodate physical limitations, like back pain etc. The important thing is to keep moving.
We asked Dr. Peeke:
(F) what are the most importnat changes we can make to our diet?
(P) There are two. Eat a healthy breakfast before 9 a.m. The other is to be prepared for the mid-day crash. We're most vulnerable to blowing it around 3 p.m. That's when we're likely to hit a metabolic slump. If we have a healthy snack planned, we'll be less likely to reach for the M&Ms.
Flashionista was invited to cover the recent MORE Magazine Reinvention Convention in New York.
