Cher’s secrets to heathy ageing
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/music/2017/05/71-year-old-cher-wears-turn-back-time-replica-outfit-at-music-awards/">Pop star Cher rocked out at the Billboard Music Awards yesterday</a></span>,</strong> proving at 71 years of age that she’s still as fit and healthy as she ever was.</p>
<p>When receiving the Billboard Music Icon award the singer, who turned 71 recently on May 20, revealed she could still hold a five-minute plank, an incredible fitness feat.</p>
<p>Although we don’t have the fame or fortune of Cher, there are some things we can learn from the septuagenarian pop star. So what are Cher’s secrets to healthy ageing?</p>
<p><strong>She doesn't smoke or drink</strong></p>
<p>The singer revealed that she rarely drinks and never dabbles in drugs.</p>
<p>"Being healthy has always been part of my life. It just works for me," she told Closer in 2013. "There are things I don't like that are unhealthy, like drugs and drinking, so I never got into them to begin with. I smoked cigarettes for a while and I'd have done drugs had I liked them, but they didn't agree with me. I'll only drink three of four times a year too."</p>
<p><strong>She follows a vegetarian diet</strong></p>
<p>"I don't like meat and so most of things that I like are healthy for you," she told Hello! in 2013.</p>
<p><strong>She chooses her food carefully</strong></p>
<p>At 71, Cher shows no signs of slowing down, still taking to the road to tour and perform. To keep in such good shape, Cher carefully picks and chooses what she eats and does not.</p>
<p>"I try to avoid foods with a high fat content because they make me sluggish and keep my weight up," Cher wrote in her 1991 book, Forever Fit. "Dairy products are not good for us. I weaned myself from whole milk to nonfat milk – if I'm having milk at all. I think cheese is one of the worst things for the body. It doesn't digest well, and most cheeses are too high in fat and cholesterol."</p>
<p>Instead Cher focuses on the foods that give her energy and vitality.</p>
<p>"I've been concentrating on eating the foods that Robert [Haas, her co-author] has stressed as being terrific: brown rice (not white rice), legumes — lentils, pinto, navy, lima and kidney beans—vegetables, pastas, fruit," she wrote. "Pastas give me a lot of energy, and so do fruits like bananas, papaya and nectarines, because they have a lot of sugar but it isn't refined."</p>
<p><strong>She loves to exercise</strong></p>
<p>It’s no surprise the pop star has a regular exercise regime, but she’s constantly changing it up and learning new things to keep it interesting.</p>
<p>Cher learned how to surf at age 60 and previously spoke about playing Wii Tennis.</p>
<p>"I exercise about five times a week because it's something I've always done and I just enjoy it," she told Hello! "I try to play the age card with my trainer but she just doesn't go for it."</p>
<p>She told E! News in 2010, "You have to work twice as hard. You have to be in the gym all the time. But I like it. When I was young I was a tomboy. I played sports ... And I'm learning to surf right now. I like that kind of stuff, thank God."</p>
<p><strong>She swaps junk food binges for healthy alternatives </strong></p>
<p>Like anyone else, Cher has had the occasionally junk food binge. But after suffering from sugar overdoses, she’s discovered healthy treats to tide her over.</p>
<p>"I have had some bad binges while making movies. At the end of The Witches of Eastwick, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and I really went crazy. We'd go from one of our trailers to the other stuffing ourselves with Pepperidge Farm Cheddar Cheese Goldfish, M&Ms, Cokes and Hershey's Kisses," she wrote in her book. "Then Michelle and I found out we could microwave sweet potatoes in four minutes, and that changed our entire lives. We lived on sweet potatoes, baked potatoes and Caesar salads."</p>
