Take a look at what you’re eating and cut out the junk, the processed food, the mystery meat, and the refined sugars and carbs. Read Dr. Weil’s books and website. Eat healthy, stay active, relax and enjoy life.

If you invest in your health by living a healthy lifestyle, you’ll look great, your skin will glow and you’ll save on fancy skin care products and doctor bills.

Another way to save money is to take care of your teeth. I’ve put quite a bit of information on this site about dental care. It’s based on how I have stopped boneloss, receding gums, brittle teeth, decay and hypersensitivity. For the past 3 years I have only had regular check ups with my dentist – no more gum treatments, root canals, fillings or extractions. More here…

Another great way to save money (and help the environment) is to stop buying bottled water. Get a water filter and enjoy the benefits of pure water on your health. I’ve saved a few old bottles in various sizes – I fill them up and have them with me when I’m out. More here…

Back to skin care… I was using coconut oil mixed with a bit of almond oil. Over time, I noticed my t-zone looking a bit unclear so I’m trying store products bought on sale, of course.

I still use coconut oil to massage around my eyes. It feels great and keeps the wrinkles away, which is just as much about the massage as it is about the oil! The massage technique is from the ‘Complete System of Self Healing: Internal Exercises’ by Stephen T. Chang.

Complete System of Self Healing: Internal Exercises

I do miss my Dermalift, but I feel better when I’m saving these days…

I was worried that I would wrinkle up over night. But I haven’t. A few wrinkles do seem a bit more pronounced, but overall my skin looks great. Mixing coconut oil with almond oil is fantastic for my 50+ skin. It feels supple and even has a dewy look. I mix it in my hand and apply it to my face, neck, arms and hands.

It’s no fuss and very low cost.

When the crunch is over I go back to Dermalift and an antiaging skincare regime, but until then I’m very happy with the results of this completely natural and very inexpensive skin care.

I knew coconut oil was a very healthy oil to eat, but I couldn’t imagine how much I would like it on my skin. Combined with a healthy diet, supplements and plenty of rest, coconut oil keeps skin healthy. It’s got antioxidant properties and antimicrobial properties to protect skin against sun and other environmental factors.

I now use coconut oil as a body lotion and I’ve just read that you can also use it as a pre-wash hair conditioner. I can’t wait to try it.

I still use Dermalift at night. It is simply the best anti-wrinkle cream I’ve come across.

Read our Coconut Oil page for more information in the health benefits of this wonderful oil.

I’m currently taking collagen in the morning and applying Dermalift cream at night along side of my usual anti-oxidant skin care. I’ve got enough for another two weeks and then will only use the Dermalift Cream and resume the HGH releasing supplements that I was taking in the first month.
I’ve experienced no side effects, however, a friend who also tried the products had to stop the collagen because she felt it made her eyes sticky. She has continued with the cream alone and feels it is helping reduce wrinkles.

I feel I’ve had additional benefits from taking the collagen, but then I am older than my friend. If we have less collagen in our skin when we’re 50, then certainly we will have less collagen in our joints, muscles and eyes, too. Since I started the collagen, my frozen shoulder is gone, and my joints and muscles feel good. Not only have I had no problems with my eyes, I feel like they have improved slightly.

I can highly recommend these products from eAntiAging: Colla C, Dermalift and Somato 8. If you’re fifty or over, or even if you’re nearing fifty, it’s worth trying all three. If you’re younger, I suggest the Dermalift Cream.

I’m 30 days into my new skin care regime. To recap: me and a friend bought a 3 month supply of Dermalift (amino acids) and Collagen to see if we could rebuild the collagen in our skin and reduce wrinkles. I also bought a 1 month supply of Somato 8 (an HGH releasing supplement) because I’m 50 and HGH release gets a bit slow at my age. After 2 weeks I reported a noticeable but subtle difference in my skin and also, surprisingly, somewhat clearer eyesight possibly due to the eye being made up of 85% collagen.

So how are we doing after 30 days?

We are both happy with our skin and have noticeably less wrinkles. I’m particularly pleased with the area above and around my lips.

My eyes still feel great and I think there may be another great unexpected benefit to rebuilding collagen. Last August after a month of travelling around the USA and schlepping lots of heavy bags, my right shoulder froze up. Lifting it was painful. At first I thought it might just resolve itself so I didn’t think much about it. After a few months it hadn’t improved so I went my doctor who suggested taking Ibuprofen up to 4 times a day. I tried that for a week or so but, of course, it didn’t resolve the problem and I don’t like taking tablets for any length of time. I also started yoga lessons, which sometimes helped for a day or so. After six months of a painful frozen shoulder, I started to look around for an osteopath. This was about the same time I started the collagen. Three weeks into the collagen I noticed that my shoulder was getting better. Now after 30 days, there is hardly any stiffness or pain at all. Maybe my shoulder would have gotten better without the collagen – I can’t say for sure. All I know is that it was very bad before I started and now its 99% better. I would never have thought to take collagen for a frozen shoulder or for my eyesight. I’m glad I’m vain enough to take it for my skin!

Collagen Smoothie Recipe: The collagen is a bit yucky so I blend it into a morning smoothie. I usually mix whole milk, a few scoops of Usana Nutrimeal, a 1/2 banana and some ice cubes. Sometimes I prefer a fruit smoothie and I’ll mix it with fruit juice, a banana, some frozen fruit and maybe a bit of Usana Nutrimeal.
You can buy Colla C, Dermalift and Somato 8 from eAntiAging.com. Look for the internet specials! And please come back an let us know if it works for you.

After only 1 month, I’m completely convinced of these products and will be suggesting them to my 75 years young Mom. I’ll keep you posted…

For more information read our anti-aging skin care page.

My skin seems slightly smoother and there is possibly less sagging around my mouth. It’s subtle, but it also early days. Another thing I noticed is that my eyes feel better. This is really unexpected so I Googled ‘collagen and eyes’ and sure enough our eyes are made of over 80% collagen. So it could be that the collagen powder I’m taking is helping my eyes.

I work full time and spend a lot of time looking at a computer screen. I wear reading glasses which get stronger each year. Its hard to descibe – I don’t actually feel that my sight is getting better, but my eyes feel less tired and although my close vision is still blurred my overall vision seems a bit clearer.

I’m due for eye exam so I’ll be looking at this very closely. I’ll keep you posted.

Take a look at my skin care page for more info on how to care for your skin.

You can buy what I’m trying (Dermalift, Colla-C (Internet Special) and Somato-8) at eAntiAging.com.

I’m not real big on skin care products that claim to reverse the effects of aging and I think that we’ve all gotten a bit crazy with wanting to stay young forever. I quite enjoy being 50, but maybe that’s because I don’t look or feel 50. I suppose I’ve got the benefits of experience without the side effects of poor health. My skin looks pretty good. It looks younger than many 38 year olds I know. Here’s what I’m doing.
I don’t smoke, don’t drink much, stay out of strong sun, use SP15 daily, get enough sleep, take my vitamins and use anti-oxidant based skin care.

I do have some wrinkles and I’ve noticed in the past year that my skin is getting thinner. Vanity got the best of me (I’m only female, after all) and I started looking at some research and learning a few things about how skin ages, collagen, amino acids and Human Growth Hormones (HGH). Now I’ve decided to try a combination of suggestions for improving my skin.

One comes from Dr Lam who recommends amino-acids orally and topically to improve HGH release alongside of anti-oxidants. And the other comes from eAntiaging.com who suggest taking Type II Hydrolyzed Collagen orally as well.

So I went online and ordered it all from eAntiaging.com and got a great Buy 3 Get 3 free deal on most of it (Check out their Internet Specials). Yesterday the 3 month supply for me and a friend arrived and we got started.

Is it a fountain of youth scam? Or will it really work? Join our newsletter or visit again to find out how it goes.

To read more about anti-aging skin care click here.

The LA Times article clearly states that it is the very costly HGH injections that don’t work and have potentially dangerous side-effects. There is no mention of HGH releasing supplements.

HGH releasing supplements contain amino acids such as glutamine, glysine and L-arginine. These are branched-chain amino acids that anti-aging doctors and supplement manufacturers claim release HGH and may prevent or slow some of the effects of old age.
So if you are taking HGH releasing supplements, do you have cause to worry?

The Stanford University research doesn’t answer this. In 2003, Mary Lee Vance in her editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, dismisses research on branched-chain amino acids because it was based on intraveneous arginine and states: “The effect of oral branched-chain amino acids is akin to that of eating a steak.”

She’s right about the steak – eating red meat releases HGH as does exercise and deep sleep. However, since her editorial was published new research based on oral branched-chain amino acids has become available and the results are interesting.
Effects of an oral mixture containing glycine, glutamine and niacin on memory, HGH and IGF-I secretion in middle-aged and elderly subjects. Nutr Neurosci. 2003 Oct;6(5):269-75.

• Concluded that an oral mixture of glycine, glutamine and niacin can enhance GH secretion in healthy middle-aged and elderly subjects.

The effects of 8 weeks of creatine monohydrate and glutamine supplementation on body composition and performance measures.
Lehmkuhl M, Malone M. Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.
J Strength Cond Res. 2003 Aug;17(3):425-38.

• Results suggest CM and creatine-glutamine significantly increase body mass, LBM, and initial rate of power production during multiple cycle ergometer bouts.

Effect of oral L arginine on blood pressure and symptoms and endothelial function in patients with systemic hypertension, positive exercise tests, and normal coronary arteries. Am J Cardiol. 2004 Apr 1;93(7):933-5.

• Concluded that in medically treated hypertensive patients with micro-vascular angina, oral L-arginine may represent a useful therapeutic option.

The influence of two different doses of L arginine oral supplementation on nitric oxide (NO) concentration and total antioxidant status (TAS) in atherosclerotic patients. Med Sci Monit. 2004 Jan;10(1):CR29-32.

• Concluded that oral supplementation of L arginine for 28 days leads to substantial increases in NO and TAS levels in the blood of patients with atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease at Fontaine’s stages II and III. The TAS concentration rise points to an antioxidative effect of L arginine oral supplementation.

Now, I’m no scientist, but it would seem to me that from reading the above abstracts (please link through and have a look at them) there are benefits to taking branched-chain amino acids and that the benefits relate to conditions that we associate with aging. They are not always associated with HGH, and for me, there lies the problem:

Scientific research studies shows us only part of the picture – the small part that they are trying to prove. It is up to us to connect the dots, make sense out of it all and relate it to our own health needs.