Who among us wouldn’t want to look more youthful or have a more beautiful smile? Well, maybe I’ve found a bit of the fountain of youth, and you can too in just a few easy steps. So let me introduce you to a product that can teach you some effective facial movement exercises. I will then add my own recommendations for great anti-aging foods and the best whole food supplements you can find anywhere. Altogether, you’re sure to have a new, fresh, and healthy look.

I consider it a stroke of good luck that I happened upon a wonderful and inexpensive e-learning course called Shape Your Face by Tom Haggerty. This is a valuable collection of super easy facial movements that will help you rejuvenate the fading beauty we’re all subject to after we reach 40—or even younger for some.

Even if you don’t have a regular exercise routine, these facial movements are your best chance of maintaining the precious muscle strength that helps keep us looking youthful. In Shape Your Face, Tom Hagerty demonstrates facial exercises you can do any time, without leaving your home. And you don’t need to spend hours of grueling time on them to see results. By boosting circulation, these facial movements also have the added benefit of supporting superior skin health and improving the color in your face.

But for those more medically inclined, allow me to first tell you a little about each of these facial areas that need strengthening.

Important Facial Muscles for a Youthful Look

Muscles around the eyes. Located just under the skin around our eyes, the orbicularis oculi are the muscles responsible for opening and closing our eyelids. That means they play an important role in our facial expressions.

Muscles around the mouth. The orbicularis oris muscle in our lips is a complex of muscles that encircle the mouth. It looks like a circular (sphincter) muscle, but it’s actually composed of four interlacing quadrants that act independently of one another.

Chin muscles. The transverse muscle of the chin (or transversus menti) are in fact “superficial fibers of the depressor anguli oris muscle which cross to the other side of the face.”

Muscles in front of neck. The platysma muscle in front of the neck extends up from the chest, travels over the collarbone, and stops at the jaw. It causes wrinkles here that can resemble a grimace by pulling down the lower face and mouth.

Scalp muscles. Covering part of the skull, the occipitalis muscle isn’t a distinct muscle of its own but rather a part of the occipitofrontalis muscle (along with another muscle called the frontalis).

Lower face strength. The subcutaneous (just under the skin) muscles of our face play a major role in facial expression. They can also cause wrinkles at right angles to the action line these muscles.

A Shape Your Face Bonus

The Shape Your Face e-learning course comes with a comprehensive 25-page booklet of written instructions and information on each of the exercises. Hagerty also includes his own recommendations for diet, food, and skin products as well as other tips that will keep you at top of your game.

Foods That Restore

As a longtime member and chapter leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation, I’ve helped many clients restore their health. The two most important promises I make to those I work with are to point them to the foods and supplements they can use in their daily lives. Chief among these are the fourteen super foods that I list on my website. These are the top foods recommended by Sally Fallon Morrell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Of course, there are many other nourishing foods—nuts, seeds, whole-grain sourdough breads, fermented foods and beverages, and vegetables, to name a few—that are a critical part of keeping us healthy and yes, beautiful. However, the fourteen super foods are indispensable and should be considered the most important.

Whole Food Supplements

Below is a paragraph from a blog post I wrote to improve to your general health knowledge, but this information is especially useful if you plan to use supplements to nourish not only your skin and facial muscles but also every other part of your body. The right supplementation is a critical component that will help you get the most out of the wonderful exercises that Tom Hagerty outlines in Shape Your Face.

From “Synthetic Vitamins vs. Whole Food Supplements”:

“The vitamins present in whole foods are found in nature as complete complexes. Synthetic, chemical vitamins, such as B1 and E tocopherols, both contain only isolates, or parts, of the whole complex. This difference is important because you need all of the synergistic factors that complete a vitamin to achieve a nutritional effect. Thus, whole food supplements act in the body like whole food, but they are in therapeutic concentrations. Synthetic forms of vitamins might have a stimulating effect, but they do not have a nutritional effect. They can, in fact, cause deficiencies because the body tries to complete the isolated form by grabbing nutrients from its own storehouse.”

As you go forward with a new, inspired motivation to reverse some of the effects of aging, I know that you, like me, will embrace the challenge of finding a version of yourself that you find more appealing. Best of luck! And please share this message to any of your slightly wrinkled friends. (Smile)

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Afterthoughts from the Traditional Cook

Tom Hagerty’s author bio: “Tom Hagerty has been the expert voice behind the popular website ShapeYourFace.com for over eight years. After graduating from California State University, Tom went on to work in several careers. In Shape Your Face, he combines a lifetime of bodybuilding skills with an in-depth knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the face. The result is a simple, natural, noninvasive program that’s received enthusiastic testimonials from around the world. Tom has helped hundreds of people achieve younger-looking, more expressive faces—including those whose job it is to look good in front of a camera. Not only that, but he is living proof that this short program of facial exercises can help hold off the signs of aging.”

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Disclaimer from Maria Atwood, CNHP: I am a Certified Natural Health Professional, CNHP, not a medical doctor. I do not diagnose, prescribe for, treat, or claim to prevent, mitigate, or cure any human diseases. Please see your medical doctor or health practitioner prior to following any recommendations I make in my blog posts or on my website.

Images from iStock/monkeybusinessimages (man looking in the mirror), Iuliia Mikhalitskaia (woman’s face).