Mother, 64, and Daughter, 34, often mistaken for SISTERS!

Mother, 64, says she and her daughter, 34, are mistaken for SISTERS - but claims her age-defying looks are down to meditation not surgery
 Harriet Johnston For Mailonline  7/18/2019

Angela Paul, 64, from Bradford but now living in California, credits her amazingly youthful looks down to her lifestyle, and says meditation has kept her looking young.  Angela Paul, 64, from Bradford but now living in California, credits her amazingly youthful looks down to her lifestyle, and says meditation has kept her looking young.  A glamorous 64-year-old mom says people automatically assume she's been under the surgeon's knife because they can't believe how young she looks.


Model and relationship coach, Angela Paul, 64, originally from Bradford, England, but now living in California, says her youthful looks are down to a diagnosis in her 20s of lupus, which made her pursue a super-healthy lifestyle. 


After being diagnosed with the inflammatory disease she decided to take greater care of her health, and claims a better lifestyle helped ease her symptoms without medication - using instead meditation, exercising, nutrition and mental health. 


Now in her mid-60s, Angela said she is often mistaken for her daughter's sister, and regularly approached by men half her age who want to date her.  


She claims meditation and staying away from eating meat are the biggest factors in keeping her looking young. 


The 64-year-old beach bunny says she is often chatted up by men half her age and mistaken for her daughter's sister - her daughter Arielle is 30 years her junior
Angela started working as a full-time model at the age of 16, but decided to quit when she became a mother. 
When she was 30, she gave birth to Arielle, now 34, and dedicated most of her 30s to raising her daughter and traveling with her husband, Alan, 69. 


In her late 20s, doctors told her she had systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a long-term condition that causes inflammation to the joints, skin and other organs which changed her path and persuaded her to practice a super-healthy lifestyle.  


Her appearance has attracted a lot of positive attention from men half her age who approach her, and some negative comments from people who accuse her of undergoing cosmetic surgery, which she insists is untrue.


"There really is no big secret to aging gracefully at 64; genetics help, but more than that lifestyle is a big predictor on how well one ages," Angela said.


She said: "For me, aging well has been a lifelong undertaking; I started practicing self-care when I was a young model through nutrition, exercise, meditation and mindset. The younger one starts taking care of oneself the greater the payoffs later on in life.


"In my early 20s, I felt full of life, with confidence and energy, but in my late 20s I was diagnosed with lupus that fortunately I was able to treat without medication.


"It was however a wake-up call to significantly pull back on my high-paced life. It was after this diagnosis that my meditation practice and disciplined self-care became the foundation of how I live my life."


She explained: "I was 30 when I gave birth to my only child after a grueling 36-hour labor and emergency Caesarean birth. It was an absolute joy to be a new mother and most of my 30s were dedicated to raising her and traveling with my husband and daughter for his work."


Angela was diagnosed with lupus in her late twenties and she decided to ditch her fast-paced lifestyle in favor of living better.  Angela was diagnosed with lupus in her late twenties and she decided to ditch her fast-paced lifestyle in favor of living better.

 
She treated the disease without medication, and instead turned to 'meditation practice and disciplined self-care' which she said are the 'foundation to her life. 
"It was an incredibly rewarding experience as a woman, but it was also a time of questioning and I became uncertain about what I wanted to do creatively moving forward. While it was a beautiful chapter in my life, it was also a time of transition of not really knowing who I was besides being a wife and mother. I had no desire to model full time anymore as I'd been doing it since I was 16 - but I was trying to figure out how to define and express the next version of myself in this new chapter."


Angela said her mother had "beautiful skin and thick hair' that runs in the family."   


 Angela claimed she was 'full of life' before her lupus diagnosis in her twenties.
Angela gave up modelling when she became a mother in her thirties
She added: "Growing up in England with a lot of rain I didn't have much exposure to sun which was a blessing really. I never smoked or drank much in my teens and 20s so that helped, and I was always big on getting adequate sleep. To me sleep is my number one health and beauty aid.


"Also, as a model I knew all about the benefits of skincare; staying out of the sun and the best and most effective beauty products to use."


Angela explained: "I love to exercise so that's been an integral part of my self-care, but I do believe my journey to healthy aging has been significantly enhanced by my long-time meditation practice."


Angela credited a 'long-time meditation practice' for her youthful looks, as well as getting plenty of sleep
Angela said that she is now often mistaken for being her daughter's sister when they're out together and receives flattering attention from men "decades younger" than her.  But she believes in living a healthy lifestyle for her own benefit rather than how other people see her.


"I think that we have to take care of ourselves from the inside first and foremost beyond the outer superficial means. I haven't eaten any kind of meat or poultry in 38 years but do love fish and sushi," she said.


"I eat organic as much as possible and prefer several small meals a day as it's easier on the digestion. I eat an avocado a day, drink fresh ginger with hot lemon first thing in the morning and limit myself to one coffee a day before noon."


She added: "I don't drink much alcohol but when I do, I prefer a little vodka than wine as it is cleaner and has less sugar. This maintenance has been my lifestyle for decades.


"I don't believe in extremes, but I do know what works best for my overall health and wellness from a lifetime of consistent dedication that's always been more about feeling good rather than just focusing on looking good. Looking my best then becomes a by-product of years of self-care and self-love."


She said: "As exercise has always been a staple in my life it has served me well throughout all my decades. My 40s were challenging as my mom was suffering from Parkinson's disease and dementia and I was also dealing with other family illnesses and deaths.


"Turning 50 was fabulous and in many ways I'm in better health physically and emotionally in my 60s than I was in my 40s. I've always loved to dance, but about five years ago I started taking Zumba dance classes four to five times a week."


The mother-of-one exercises with a Zumba dance class four or five times a week, and said it makes her feel 'alive, youthful and sexy'
Angela revealed people often react to her age with 'astonishment' and that she gets a lot of judgement from other women.
"People often comment that my daughter and I look more like sisters than mother and daughter. On Instagram men are often over the top with compliments," Angela said. "But as I know that's all superficial and not particularly 'real' I just don't let myself get attached to flattery or judgment which is also part of being a public person on social media."


She added: "Unfortunately, most of the judgment comes from other women which I find sad and a bit disconcerting even though on some level I get it. People react to my age usually with astonishment or with the subtle/not so subtle suggestion that I must have had a lot of cosmetic surgery done or must be anorexic - both of which is untrue."


The mother of one claimed she is against plastic surgery and has tried to desperately avoid it at all costs.
Angela said many people don't have the dedication and commitment to the lifestyle choices required to maintain youthful looks.
Angela, who is a writer and has written two books based around the beauty of aging, said she is actually against the concept of cosmetic/plastic surgery and has deliberately avoided it at all costs.


"I'm personally against cosmetic surgery for a few significant reasons; 1) I want to look like myself naturally as best I can. 2)I try to avoid surgery of any kind as much as possible," she said. "3) Vanity for me includes not having people wonder what I've done to myself if the surgery turns out strange and clearly like I've had some major work done. 4) There are many non-invasive and natural products and procedures that can help with aging for example I do facial yoga every day to tighten the jowls and chin. 5) I feel that encouraging women (especially young women) to age naturally is part of the message I espouse and strive to live by."


Angela suggested 'looking after yourself' in younger life can give you a good foundation for youthful looks.
"Apart from the Caesarean surgery the only cosmetic procedure I've done was to get braces on my teeth in my 30," she said.


Angela said she does 'facial yoga' every day and practices Zumba to maintain her youthful appearance.
The mother-of-one claimed she has never been under the knife and her youthful looks are down to healthy living and self-care.
"I'd have say that my best advice is to start looking after yourself as young as possible and you will reap the rewards later in life. It's also not about looking like anyone else, including me or any celebrity of the moment, or being thinner etc. It's about being the healthiest version of you that you can be," Angela said.


She added: "In popular culture and social media women are inundated with messages on how they should look so I really believe that it's important to stop comparing ourselves to anyone, and for me that has included not comparing myself to myself at a younger age."