The following is a guest post from Cheryl Benton, founder and publisher of The Three Tomatoes.com, a lifestyle web site and newsletter for “women who aren’t kids anymore.” The occasion was Barbie’s 50th birthday which was last year. I had to revive it, it’s too good to go to be forgotten, not to mention, Recession Barbie and Donwsized Barbie are still with us.
Be prepared to laugh out loud and I defy you to tell me you don’t see yourself in more than one of Cheryl’s midlife Barbies.

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AARP Barbie, Recession Barbie, Reinvention Barbie, Tomato Barbie and more…

Yes, that still incredibly youthful looking doll has just turned 51. Barbie is an ageless wonder. She still gets to wear princess clothes, has the body of an 18 year old, no cellulite, wrinkles, or grey hair. And she’s still with Ken, who is also ageless, and doesn’t have to worry about “ED” because, well to put it politely, he was never anatomically correct. Poor Ken. Sad Barbie. But since Barbie is now right smack in the middle of the “boomer generation”, we’d like to suggest to Mattel that they consider creating a new series of Barbies. Like, AARP Barbie, Invisible Barbie, Nip/Tuck Barbie, Recession Barbie, Downsized Barbie, followed by of course, Reinvention Barbie, and Tomato Barbie. And that got our silly brains thinking, “What would Barbie do as she enters midlife?”

Baby Boomer Barbie gets that AARP letter in the mail. Barbie was enjoying a lovely day in the last days of her 49th year, when that horrible piece of mail showed up in her mail box, making a total mockery of that “baby” boomer term. And she did what every other self-respecting not quite 50 year old woman does when the dreaded “AARP” card arrives — she shredded it to bits and pieces, yelled and screamed about her invasion of privacy, and made Ken’s life miserable for a week, since he obviously must have leaked this news somewhere. But she soon recovered her dignity, because after all, she still looks hot.

Invisible Barbie
Or so she thought. To celebrate her milestone birthday, Barbie’s two best friends, Midge and Christie,(who also worked for Mattel) suggested they meet for drinks at trendy, model packed A-lister wanna be hot spot, Balthazar’s for champagne and oysters. And just to catch you tomatoes up, Midge is now divorced and is thinking about appearing in the next season of The Real Housewives of New York City, and Christie lives with Tiffany, the love of her life. Barbie arrived first, wearing her Manolos, and her DKNY mini, and stood at the bar knowing it would only be minutes before one of the good looking guys standing around would offer to buy her a drink, which would be her favorite, an extra dry vodka martini, dirty of course, extra olives. And there she stood. And stood. The good looking guys at the bar gazed right past her to ogle the 20 something, empty-headed gigglers, and the bartender was too busy ogling them too to look up and take her drink order! OMG, thought Barbie in horror, “I’ve become invisible.”

Nip/Tuck Barbie. So the next morning, slightly hung-over Barbie was walking by one of her hundreds of mirrors,and instead of seeing her usual pleasing appearance reflected back, she saw (gasp!) her Mother’s face! She immediately ordered Ken to cover every mirror in the house and booked the very first appointment she could get with Dr. Nip/Tuck in his fancy Park Avenue office. During her consultation, Dr. Nip/Tuck presented her with a wealth of options, from Botox, to liposuction, a butt lift, tummy tuck, a thigh and arm slimming surgery, an eye lift, a lower face lift, and injections that would make her hands look as young as her chemically or surgically enhanced face. Well, she thought, money can buy most anything.

Recession Barbie
But alas, androgynous Ken had made an appointment for them to visit their financial planner who had the indecency to point out that their investments were now roughly half of what they were the year before, and that perhaps they should think about “cutting back.” So Barbie agreed to fewer massages, and facials, less time with her personal trainer, to only buy “on sale” at Saks and L&T and get a few less highlights at Bergdorfs. “Well at least I still have my job,” she thought.

Downsized Barbie
“So, Barbie,” the head of merchandising at Mattel started off, rather uncomfortably she thought, “we totally appreciate everything you’ve done for us over the past 5 decades, but we’re forced to downsize. HR will explain your severance package.” Shocked, she barely noticed when the Hannah Montana doll she passed in the hallway said, “We’ll totally miss you Barbie, but I’ll friend you on Facebook so we can stay in touch.”

Reinvention Barbie
So after taking to her bed for a full week, reading the National Enquirer, and watching The Today Show and Oprah, she realized the “secret” was to visualize her new self, get empowered, and reinvent herself. So she bought every advice book on New York Times best seller list, hired a visualization coach, a career coach, a life coach, a yoga coach, a meditation coach, a marriage coach, a shaman, meditated and mantra’d, took art classes, Italian lessons, and every course the 92nd Street Y had to offer, then one day she woke and discovered…

Tomato Barbie
She actually liked who she was — savvy, sexy, smart, and powerful -and she didn’t want to reinvent herself after all. And that’s when she fixed herself her own damn martini, and knew she’d be just fine. And that my friends, is how Barbie became Tomato Barbie.

So Happy Birthday Barbie and tomatoes everywhere.

You do have one don’t you? At the very least you have good intentions right? Well, not to be a drag, a pill, or a party-pooper, but if you want to enjoy the privilege of good health, you got to plan on it.

In Daniel Pink’s book called A Whole New Mind–excellent read by the way on how the world has changed from left brain thinking to a right brain driven, whole brained approach–there is a chapter on design. What I read got me thinking about how we design our lives–or leave the design to habit, chance, others. Pink quotes the renown architect Frank Nuovo as saying “Design in its simplest form is the activity of creating solutions, Design is something that everyone does every day.”

True enough. We design schedules to get in all of the most important “to dos” like work, shopping for food, personal hygiene, time with family etc. If we are following some sort of plan for our lives the design should support us getting where we want to go.

In the case of living young into an old age–I’m hoping we share that goal–without designing or including some specific lifestyle habits known to increase the chances of doing that, we leave ourselves open to a mess. Think lime green walls, orange shag carpet, deco lamps and marble top tables. I’m feeling a little sick right now, you?

Even the most outrageous interior design contrarians among you would be rearranging in no time. Liken this room to aging with no plans, no design in mind for the rooms you want to inhabit.

Sure you know the food and exercise regs, you’ve heard me and others drone on about knowing your numbers, getting your annual physical done–by a doctor you can talk to please–getting a good night’s sleep etc. So, are you? When was the last time you had your fasting blood sugar levels checked? When you get your blood work done and the doc says, “Everything is fine” but you wake up tired each day, toss and turn at night, can’t lose weight, and don’t have a bm every day, are you fine?

My answer is, “No.” You might reply that “it’s normal for me.” Guess what, none of those symptoms are things you should live with. They are not normal, they mean something is out of whack and more than likely within your control.

The sooner a problem is discovered the better off you are in terms of getting over it.

You’ll need a physician you can talk to who specializes in working with the whole body. You must educate yourself about how good it’s possible to feel, not what’s “normal.”

In order to confidently design a plan that will keep you upright, intact, able to put words together to form sentences, you’ve got to know where you are right now and that requires getting the facts that only testing can give you. “Test don’t guess” says famed nutritionist to the stars, JJ Virgin and I agree.

Then you can create a bold design of a healthy life. You can add outrageous activities, splashes of decadent delicious culinary treats, and enjoy the living rooms of your creation. Until you’re sure your foundation is firm, confidence feels risky and live is random movement towards a blurry end point.

Get help for direction, accountability, and support. Another of the designers that Daniel Pink mentioned is Paola Antonelli. To paraphrase her, “Design is giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing.” Can you design a healthy life and give yourself a few things–wonderful things–you didn’t know you were missing?

Statins are America’s best selling drugs as of 11/07–the lastest stat I can find. Lipitor sold $9 Billion worth and Zocor $4.7 Billion. 12 Million Americans take one and more are being fed into the pipeline all the time. According to an ABC news online article from Dec. 2009,” The joke in the world of heart disease is that “they should put statins in the water,” but to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel that has recommended giving statins to “healthy” people, it’s no joke. The panel voted 12 to four with one abstention to recommend that the potent statin Crestor (rosuvastatin) be approved to prevent heart attacks in people who have no history of heart disease and don’t fit the traditional profile of an “at risk” population.”

The results of the trail of about 17,000 people from 25 countries is this, of the half that got Crestor, levels of mortality and morbidity were reduced vs the half that got a placebo.By how much? 70 or so people out of 8901. The reduction in events was tied to reduction of CRP– or C-reactive protein which is a marker of inflammation and an important test for anyone with a history of heart disease or any symptoms of heart problems. Did I mention that this trial was sponsored–that means paid for–by Crestor? And that some cardiologists pointed to the increase in diabetes in the subjects who got the drug vs the placebo group? That last finding was not mentioned by the people who published the findings.

This was not meant to be a diatribe against yet another fatal flaw in the current illness care system but I had to point out some startling and (should be) scary statistics. A statin drug could be coming your way, ill health or no. My point in this post is to tell you about the importance of taking the supplement CoQ10 if you are on a statin–or considering one. (It’s important for cardiovascular health and a supp I recommend even for those of us not on statins but it’s imperative for statin users as you’ll see.)

CoQ10 is the raw material needed for energy production within the cells. (That’s the reader’s digest version) It is also a scavenger of the free radicals produced by this process. Statin drugs not only suppress cholesterol production  they suppress production of CoQ10. Muscles are the biggest consumers of energy–the heart is the muscle that uses most because it never rests. Can you see the problem here? Less CoQ10 means less energy being made for the heart which is supposed to benefit from the use of a statin drug.

So what really occurs with too little CoQ10 on board? Let me quote one of the best integrative cardiologists I know. Dr. Steven Sinatra reported in his 2/09 newsletter, “The cascade effect that results from statin therapy goes something like this: lower CoQ10 levels lead to decreased ATP production, (energy production) which leads to diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle, which leads to heart failure.”

That’s heart failure, the very thing the statin is supposed to be protecting you from. In countries like Japan, Germany and others in the EU, statin drugs come with a warning that it is recommended that you supplement with CoQ10 if you are taking this drug. Doctors prescribe it when people are in their offices. Clearly if other countries not so tied to their pharmaceutical behemoths can warn patients of a necessary, safe, and easy to use adjunct to the statin therapy, our government has that option.

Low CoQ10 also leads to muscle pain and weakness and fuzzy thinking. I don’t know about you but at this age I don’t need any help in that area. If you are on a statin, please do not stop it abruptly! If you want to add CoQ10 the best form is ubiquinone according to Dr. Sinatra. That’s because it’s converted, in the body, into ubiquinol, the antioxidant form of CoQ10. And the form you’ll see most often.) You can get a hydrosoluble product or a gel cap type. If you are on a statin, many of the docs I follow suggest 200 mgs per day in divided doses. You can talk to your MD about this but many will be unaware of the statin/CoQ10 connection. Drs. Sinatra, Julian Whitaker, Jim Roberts, and many other integrative cardiologists can be found online with more information.

One last quote, from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, a bastion of all things conservative and Big Pharma focused. They reported a study that proved that higher levels of CoQ10 was related to longer life for heart failure patients. It wasn’t a very well publicized finding. I wonder why?

My colleague Eileen Williams is the creator of a blog and radio show called, The Feisty Side of Fifty. Love that name. And it suits her. She’s high spirited, sassy, and definitely living her second half with a vengeneance. (Check out her psychedelic T-shirts)

Eileen’s has finally packaged her twenty years’ combined experience as a job search specialist, career/life transition counselor, university instructor, and writer into career counseling session in work book form. It could not have come at a better time. I asked her to talk a bit about her new book and wondered if there are any bright spots on the horizon for midlife job seekers in this current–and eternal I think– youth obsessed  age.

What follows are Eileen’s thoughts.

Midlife With a Vengeance is all about wellbeing and thriving as we age. Gregory Anne consistently provides us with a wealth of information to keep our bodies and minds active and energetic. In truth, radiant health should be at the top of each of our lists. However, even if our bodies are healthy and strong, it’s hard to feel our best if we’re unemployed and feeling discouraged about future job prospects.

Day after day, we’re bombarded with depressing news: the job market is described with words such as “bleak,” “slow to recover,” and “with limited prospects.” This, we’re told, is especially true for the older applicant.

Despite what we hear, this is NOT the case. Older workers have plenty to offer: great experience, highly developed skills, a mature work ethic, and a substantial network of coworkers, clients, and customers. Nevertheless, older jobseekers do have certain challenges in knowing how to market themselves in today’s competitive job market. The job search has changed tremendously over the past several years and, if you’re not up on the latest, you’ll be left in the dust.

As a job search specialist with twenty years’ experience assisting thousands of midlife applicants find work, I wanted to help. So I wrote a book sharing key insider techniques that will make a huge difference in getting a job. Following the suggestions in Land The Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50, now available on Amazon, is guaranteed to save you time, money, and loads of frustration.

Remember the good news—the workforce is aging. Workers over fifty represent one of the fastest growing labor groups in the country and you’ll fit right in. But to stand out as the candidate of choice, you’ll need to know the Surefire Strategies:

•              The proven formula to best articulate your skill sets and back them up with winning examples of you performing your work at its best.

•              The most effective method to use personal contacts to network your way into targeted organizations where you’ll build key alliances in your search.

•              The very best resume format for older applicants and how to highlight critical skills and accomplishments so that they literally leap off the page.

•              How to prepare for and ace the interview: the all important first impression, knowing how to answer questions to peak the interviewer’s interest, handling behavioral style questions, and getting the job offer.

•              The strategies to negotiate a win/win deal.

Armed with the right information, job search strategies that really work, and a winning attitude, you’ll be amazed at how quickly your search will progress. So don’t get discouraged by the news—take action! Before you know it, you’ll be telling your friends just how you landed the job you love!

Mary Eileen Williams, M.A., NCC has twenty years’ combined experience as a job search specialist, career/life transition counselor, university instructor, and writer. She also has a popular blog and radio show called, Feisty Side of Fifty. Get your copy of Land the Job You Love on Amazon.