What’s Happening: Forever Young

The image of eternal youth combined with the reality of premature aging is a bizarre paradox of the modern lifestyle. We’re so terrified of wrinkles and gray hair that we support an enormous plastic surgery industry to make 40-year-olds look 30, 30-year-olds look 20. But at the same time, we complacently accept the “realities” of creaky joints, low energy, and memory loss as just part of getting old. It’s normal to spend thousands of dollars on Botox, but put that money towards organic food, and you’re “extreme” – as though the outer signs of aging were more important than health itself.

This is backwards, of course. What we really should be doing is treating aging from the inside out, starting with our food. That’s the way to maintain vibrant good health beyond middle age - and it doesn’t hurt in the looks department, either! This week, check out the latest anti-aging news in the Paleo world:

• The “Inevitabilities” of Aging: How Inevitable Are They? (via Mark’s Daily Apple) – this post takes a look at all the physical and mental symptoms we take for granted as “just part of getting old,” and how most of them really aren’t.
• Want to Look Younger? Watch Your Blood Sugar (via Paleo Lifestyle Magazine) – a new study found that the best way to keep your skin healthy might work from the inside out: people with higher blood sugar look older. This is a study to take with a grain of salt (people with high blood sugar probably eat an unhealthy diet in general, which could make them look older in many different ways), but interesting nonetheless.
• Homemade Hand Cream, Made with Lard (via Paleo Parents) – skin care, Paleo-style!. Unfortunately no, it doesn’t smell like bacon, although you could probably tweak the recipe a bit…

If you’re worried about keeping your mind sharp but crossword puzzles aren’t really your thing, try flexing your mental muscles on this new Scientific American article “debunking” Paleo with arguments mostly copied from Paleofantasy. How many arguments from Part 1 of the debunking series can you spot?

In political news, anti-GMO activists in Connecticut won an important victory: a law requiring GMOs to be labeled. Eat Drink Politics has an interview with the leader of the grassroots movement that made it happen.

Also this week, a new post from Humans Are Not Broken takes a critical look at “bacon-flavored bits” and other products that pretend to be meat. There really is something disturbing about “bacon” that’s not only vegan, but also kosher, and is flavored with “liquid smoke.” The only way to make it weirder would be a fat-free version – I’m sure the food industry is working on it right now.

What kind of recipes are you cooking up to celebrate your love of real, non-vegetarian bacon? Let us know on Facebook or Google+!