Healthy Skin – A Beginner’s Guide

Our Skin is our body’s biggest organ. It helps protect us from the environment, prevents us from losing too much moisture and helps us regulate our body temperature.

The skin is the last organ to be nourished because it is furthest away from the digestive organs and the way that it looks can tell you a whole lot about what is going on inside your body.

Is your skin glowing and radiant? You’re probably taking care of yourself and experiencing good health. If not, you can take steps to give your skin what it needs to be healthy from the inside out.

Creams and lotions can help contribute to the skin’s healthiness, but what you put into your body is far more important.

The food you eat and how much water you drink along with having a calm clear mind all play a big part in the health of your skin.

First let’s look at what doesn’t help?

The primary cause of skin damage and skin aging are poor nutrition, internal toxicity, dehydration and over exposure to sun, using commercial chemical soaps, smoking, bathing in high chlorine-filled water, exposure to extremely dry, cold weather and fungal invasion.

A breakout of the skin, e.g. acne, can be an indicator of problems with the liver – in particular with the processing of cooked fats.

Facial and skin acne are almost always associated with eating cooked oil (margarine, hydrogenated oil, cooked polyunsaturated oils etc). Cooked oils and margarine are often incompletely broken down and end up collecting in the bloodstream, clogging fine capillaries, causing hormonal imbalances and acne.

Eczema is often the result of the organs being so filled with toxic materials that the body is forced to push excess toxins into the bloodstream, making it necessary to eliminate them through the skin.

Facial wrinkles such as Crow’s feet around the eye and upper lip are caused by free radical damage.

Emotional issues and anxiety are often involved with acne. Releasing supressed emotions surrounding a past relationship or stressful event can do wonders to rid a person of acne.

What does Help?

From the Inside  

According to the American Academy of Dermatologists (AAD), the following vitamins, antioxidants and other nutrients help nourish our skin. [1]

Get to know the A-C-E of vitamins, and you’ll be on your way to healthier skin.

• Vitamin A helps repair skin tissue. Without it, you may notice dry, flaky skin. Get vitamin A by eating fruits and vegetables, especially carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, squash, apricots, mango and cantaloupe.
• Vitamin C helps counter the effects of sun exposure. It reduces the damage caused by free radicals, which destroy collagen and elastin. You can get vitamin C from organic fruits and vegetables.
• Vitamin E helps reduce the harmful effects of the sun on the skin. Stay with 30 IU per day or less, as any more can be harmful.
• Omega-3 and Omega-6: Raw-plant-based fats and oils can replace cooked fats and oils. Walnut oil and flax seed oil all contain omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, which help keep the skin lubricated and looking healthy.

Emotional Issues:

There are many great ways to release suppressed emotional issues. It really helps to find someone who is trained in how to do this and knows what they are doing.  Emotional issues usually stem from a first cause and build up from there. For more on how this works: click here.

From the Outside:  

While time in the sun can be fun and healthy to a degree, too much sun, like too much eating, can be very damaging. Over-sunning causes free-radical collagen damage to the skin.

Heat, humidity and chlorine are the main culprits of external skin damage.

Heat and humidity can bring on rashes, and chlorine is very drying.

Before applying sunscreen, lather on some lotion! Try to find lotions that are natural and chemical-free. Read the ingredients and look for those with vitamin E, and natural plant oils, like olive, grape seed and jojoba.

Ensure that the skin products you use are paraben-free, allergy-tested, non-comedogenic (will not clog pores), free of synthetic oils, not tested on animals and fragrance-free. And, they are suitable for your particular skin type.[2]

Skin Treatments:

New York Times best-selling author, David Wolfe recommends the following natural skin treatments:

For Dry Skin – Avocado Mask:

Puree one ripe avocado with 6-7 drops of a fresh-squeezed ripe orange. Add one tablespoon of hemp oil. Massage this mixture into the face and neck. This mask has excellent effects on any part of the skin. After application, lie down and relax. Rinse off with lukewarm water after 20-30 minutes.

For Oily Skin – Cucumber Mask:

Peel a cucumber. Finely grate it. Lie down, relax and apply the cucumber to the face and neck. After applying, place a warm towel over the face. Relax for 20-30 minutes. Rinse off.

For Tired and Sagging Skin – Aloe Vera Mask:

Fillet a small piece of aloe vera, exposing the inner gel (interestingly, this inner gel is where Glyconutrients come from). Rub a thick layer of this inner gel over the face and neck. Lie down and relax. This mask may be applied before sleep and left on throughout the night. Rinse with lukewarm water in the morning.

Further Reading

Eating For Beauty by David Wolfe

Recipes For Beauty by Katie Spiers

You might be interested in:

Comments

comments