I love this woman. I mean, just LOOK at her. Healthy, vibrant and beautiful, despite defying all the accepted ideals of beauty. Is that a grey head of hair I spy? Oh yes. Expression lines making their way across her face? Indeedy. Unwhitened teeth? Check. And she’s starkers. Who is this woman who is boldly and beautifully baring herself? Pam Lucas: supermodel and sexagenarian.
You may wonder why she’s painted green. Well, Pukka have homed in on the benefits of green tea and are launching a new range dedicated to the power of the mighty leaf. They wanted a woman to demonstrate the health and vitality green tea imparts and Pam fit the bill.
So, not only do I like Pam, but I also like Pukka for choosing her and not paying lip service to the quite frankly ludicrous lie that is ‘anti-ageing’ – yes, some of the visible signs of ageing can be slowed and skin plumped/evened, but ageing is a fact of life, and trying to look 20 in your 40s is never going to work out well.
Instead, make like Pam and adopt the attitude of making the most of what you’ve got by eating nutritious food, drinking lots of water (or green tea!), exercising and using quality products that you feel work well to hydrate and treat your skin. And just enjoy life. Then you’ll remain youthful throughout your days.
Here’s what Pam had to say about remaining youthful at any age //
‘The most important thing I do is taking care of what I eat and drink. I make sure it’s organic and as fresh as possible. I cook with coconut oil all the time and take inspiration from macrobiotics, where the whole ethos is to eat only food that is grown where you live. I try to steer clear of cakes, biscuits and sweets. If I’m feeling peckish I’ll have a handful of almonds or an apple.
Keeping yourself hydrated is exceptionally important. It’s makes such a difference when it comes to healthy, glowing skin. I stick to a lot of water and have replaced breakfast tea/coffee with green tea.
I love coconut oil. As well as cooking with it (and using it on bread instead of butter, which tastes surprisingly good!), I use it on my face and also in my shampoo. It does wonders!
Staying young at heart is simple. I make sure I keep up with what’s going on in the news – I think that if you’re curious about life then it’s easy to stay young. Keeping active is also really important. I don’t mean running miles, I mean getting out and about and doing things for other people and not dwelling on yourself. It’s important to be thankful for what you have.
I’ve been modelling since 1999 – 15 years now! I’ve loved every minute. Growing up I always wanted to be a model but wasn’t allowed. But fate has its way of turning things around and so when I contacted an agency about putting my son on their books it turned out that they were more interested in me!
Ageing isn’t as linear a process as people think. At times I’ve felt older than I am now. When I was in my early twenties, around the time of the Cold War, the world was quite a bleak place and I felt ancient. But if you treat yourself carefully there’s no reason to feel older than your years. I never think about my age – and for me, that’s the secret to feeling young.’