Diane Smith, 53

What is Age Esteem?  When I first saw Bonnie Fatio,s book AgeEsteem: Growing A Positive Attitude Toward Aging I thought it was about aging.  I thought it’s going to tell me how to age gracefully and this it great!

What I worry most about aging is aches and pains.  I’ve never been sick a day in my life, but when I turned 50 I started feeling some aches and pains and that’s one of my concerns.  And you know I look in the mirror and I see wrinkles and I start buying eye creams and stuff.  I have beauty products to prevent aging.  The reason is that it’s probably been on my mind since I was 25.  I’m a believer in prevention.
Diane’s tips:  I stay active.  I have friends.  I love working in my garden.  I feel good working in the garden.  I’m strong enough to do things and have the energy.  I feel  good.   I have a cup of coffee every morning.  I read my Bible every day.  It gives me inspiration and I look at my life and I look at where I’ve been and where I am now and I’m thankful.  I thank God.  If God doesn’t bless me with anything else, I’m blessed.  Yes, I’m totally blessed.  I have a lot of great friends.  I have a wonderful husband whose a good friend.  That makes it easy.  I have a daughter.  I have grandchildren.  I carry their picture around and when I look at them I think what a wonderful blessing.  I’m just thankful for what I have and I don’t worry about what I don’t have.

Pumpkins come in all sizes and various varieties.

We all look forward to seeing Mr. Jolly Pumpkin in the autumn – that wonderful big round orange fruit hiding in the pumpkin patch.  What excitement to see one fully grown, ready to be picked.  Of course, immediately one thinks of carving a jack-o-lantern  or you might think of delicious pumpkin pie.  Whatever the association it is a time of year when nature is exploding in its autumn colors with rich yellows, reds, oranges…  And the pumpkin is a definite part of this.

Did you know that  pumpkin flowers may be eaten?  The bright orange color tells us, of course, that it is full of beta-carotene, such a necessary substance in curing eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts, cancer and heart disease.   Pumpkins are also full of minerals such as magnesium and iron and contain essential vitamins. Studies involving many men have proven that pumpkin seeds can slow down and even cure prostrate cancer.  Pumpkin seeds should be eaten daily on a regular basis in order to be effective.

So enjoy all aspects of the pumpkin’s decorative, nourishing and healthy aspects to enhance your age esteem.

Grandma Nature

Suzanne Durham, 64, Alabama, U.S.A.

I love the positive spin that was put on Age Esteem, because now that I’ve become one of those older women I realize some of the bias and negative words that are out there like the Senior Citizen’s Club and those kinds of things.  So I love Age Esteem.  I immediately went to my own age; I went personal first.  I went to my own age of being 64, soon to be 65, and I thought that was a very positive way to frame my own issues around age.

My own concerns?  Personally I’ve noticed over the last couple years a loss of energy.  I get tired easier.  Although I still consider myself energetic and I do have some vitality, I have noticed a little bit of decline in energy and my job doesn’t allow that.  So I get tired and a little weary.  I’m also incredibly blessed to have extremely good health.  I’ve never had any diseases.  I had gastric bypass six years ago and I’ve lost 100 pounds.  I did that 6 years ago to get my energy back because I noticed that my weight was just really sapping my energy.  I was 245 pounds and lost to 145 and am now about 160.

Now I have some extra skin and sometimes ask myself, “Shall I have a tummy tuck or chin tuck?”  I always say that you can’t tell how old black women are because they have that great oil in their skin; and you can’t tell how old a fat woman is because of all the cellulite.  There is an advantage to cellulite in some places.

Suzanne’s tips:  Take care of yourself.  Exercise.  Do all the things we say to do to remain physically healthy.  I think you need to be mentally healthy as well.  You need to find that thing that brings you happiness and joy and that brings you spiritual energy and spiritual joy.  It goes back to finding the passion in your life that gives you spiritual energy.  It is important to stay active both physically and mentally.  I’m a former PE (physical education)  teacher so I’ve taught activity and I beat myself up mentally fairly often because I’m not as physically active as I know I should be.  I don’t always get that mile walk in every day that I try to.

Know your body.  Know the signs and symptoms and pay attention.  Pay attention to your mental well being as well as your spiritual health and your physical health.  Pay attention to your body.

Suzanne Durham is CEO of YWCA of Central Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama

Sunflower seeds offer a healthy snack that will curb your hunger while improving your health by offering you significant amounts of vitamin E, magnesium and selenium.

Sunflowers are thought to be among the first flowers to be cultivated in North America, probably originating in Mexico and Peru.  Native Americans used the seeds for both food and oil for over 5,000 years.

Sunflower seeds offer many health benefits.  They are rich in vitamin E bringing anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular protection.  The sunflower seeds’ phytosterols lower cholesterol.  The magnesium they offer calms your nerves.  Research also shows that magnesium helps to lower blood pressure and to prevent migraines as well as keep bones healthy and increase energy.  Selenium in sunflower seeds helps prevent cancer and helps repair damaged cells.

How do you build sunflower seeds into your diet?  Keep sunflowers handy as a snack; sprinkle them on your salads, cereal and sandwiches.  They can be added to most any recipe and even crushed into a powder to coat your meats and vegetables in place of flour.

When we are healthy and have energy we feel good about ourselves.  Snack on sunflower seeds to enhance your age esteem.

Grandma Nature

Paulette Senior, 48

For me Age Esteem means feeling good about myself no matter what age I am.

A concern that I have about aging is to have someone there with me, having company.

Paulette’s tips:  Keep moving.  Keep physical and keep working on inner self.  Always find a way to be thankful.  Just be thankful for your life, for living and getting up every day and for having a purpose.

Paulette Senior is CEO of the YWCA of Canada.

People with age esteem recognize that they have choices, that they are masters of their own life.  They may not be able to control what happens to them all of the time or even most of the time, but they take control over how they act or react to what happens.

Age esteemers know they can choose to see what happens as an opportunity or as a catastrophe.  They can choose to be a victim, or they can choose to take action to move beyond the problem, to learn from it and benefit from it.

• Decide that you will become a can do, will do person who takes control.
• Look for the opportunity inside a difficulty.
• Remind yourself that you are in control.

Bonnie Fatio

Do you have an attitude of gratitude?

People with Age Esteem express gratitude.  Age Esteemers know the importance of not only feeling thankful, but also expressing appreciation and gratitude for what they have and what others do for them.  They choose to recognize the blessings of each day, no matter how great or small.

• Keep a gratitude diary where you record the highlights of each day for which you are grateful.
• Count your blessings when things seem difficult.  Remind yourself of all the good that surrounds you while you deal with a problem.
• Express openly to others your gratitude for what they mean to you.

Bonnie Fatio

People with age esteem have a positive attitude.  Studies show that people who enjoy life with a positive attitude live longer and happier lives.  This is not to say that they don’t have aches and pains like anyone else.  They simple choose to take a different view of life.  Rather than focus on their pains, they chose to concentrate on what goes well and to develop their interests.  They are engaged in living.

Age Esteemers know that when we focus on the brighter side of life, we draw other positive people and opportunities to us.

• Become aware of your thoughts and words.  Are they positive or negative.?
• Turn negatives into positives.  When you catch yourself complaining or discouraging yourself, change your phrase to make it positive and encouraging.
• Surround yourself with positive people.  Drop those who hold you back or put you down.  They don’t deserve your time.

Bonnie Fatio

Age Esteem begins when we are children.  Research at Yale University and the American Institute on Aging indicate that the attitude that we have towards age and older people as children influences how we ourselves age.  Children who are raised with a positive attitude and relationship towards older people age better and more healthfully and tend to live longer.

The relationships we have with older people, the language we hear others use to describe older people, and the images that we see illustrating older people will impact our whole life and even contribute to our longevity.

Age esteemers have a positive attitude toward aging.  They embrace it with age esteem.  Age esteemers value, admire and respect age and tend to live longer, happier lives.

Bonnie Fatio

Carolyn Flowers, 58

When I hear the word Age Esteem what comes to mind is age that doesn’t feel like age.  Although you’re aged, you still have some of that youth in you.

My own concern with aging is to think that somebody will have to take care of me.  I don’t want anybody to ever have to take care of me.
Carolyn’s Tips:  Stay busy:  always learning, always looking for ways to make improvements.  Giving of myself.  I think if you give of yourself you feel good about yourself and when you feel good about yourself you’ll age more gracefully.  I think that whether you’re young or whether you’re old you should always know what your passion is.  You can’t go wrong if you are doing what you’re passionate about.  It’ll keep you young.

Carolyn Flowers is regional manager of the YWCA’s of Southeast U.S.