Holistic Beauty from the Inside Out (12 page)

Instead of sugar, sweeten things up with honey. Truth is, it is highly calorific—but it is a fantastic, nutrient-rich alternative to sugar and sugar products. Opt for a local, unprocessed variety or New Zealand Manuka honey. Eating local honey may also help ease hay fever—but make sure you are not allergic to bee products first. A teaspoon of honey stirred into a large glass of water with an added squeeze of a lemon makes an easy detox drink. It boosts up your skin glow, detoxifies the liver, and jump-starts your metabolism so you use up your calories from food more efficiently.

The second big change you can make is to replace simple carbs with complex carbohydrates, which provide more body-cleansing fiber and sustained energy release. Complex carbs include whole grains such as brown rice, oats, millet, barley, lentils, quinoa, buckwheat, and whole wheat, as well as root vegetables, legumes, squash, and pumpkin. Not only do they contain lots of fiber, but they also provide essential minerals such as bone-strengthening magnesium and antioxidant selenium.

Selenium is extremely important to maintain the youthfulness of your skin as well as minimize the risk of skin cancer. Skin-wise, it helps thicken the skin and reduce sun spots and other signs of long-term sun damage. Along with vitamins C and E, selenium wards off free radicals that damage the skin’s DNA and may lead to skin cancer. As selenium prevents and in some ways reverses the skin damage by UV rays, it reduces the thickening of the skin caused by excessive sun exposure, so the skin remains smooth, elastic, and soft. Selenium can be found in nuts, seaweed, and sesame seeds, but you can also top levels of this mighty antioxidant with
supplements. For best results, your antiaging skin supplement should contain generous amounts of selenium lycopene, lutein, beta-carotene, and a natural source of vitamin E.

Molecules of silica (silicon) give strength and hardness to skin, hair and nails. Silica is the most abundant mineral in Earth’s crust. In the human body, silica is part of some of the most resilient human tissue such as arteries, tendons, eyes, joints, and skin. Silica helps form collagen as it is part of the collagen-building amino acid proline; it also forms keratin and hyaluronic acid, vitally important constituents of a healthy skin. As a mineral, silica is a quartz crystal, so it has very definite crystalline structure. Homeopaths believe that silica promotes wound healing and reduces scars, which may be due to silica’s ability to penetrate deep into the dermis and “patch things up” with increased collagen formation. It also helps draw toxins out of the skin. Silicate clays montmorillonite and kaolin are great for skin detoxification and rejuvenation. You can also boost levels of silica in your body naturally with silica supplements or by increasing the amount of fiber in your diet. Whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and mushrooms are great sources of readily available silica to nourish our skin and hair.

Zinc is another essential component of healthy skin, but don’t think its only task is to keep you pretty. Zinc participates in the creation of vital enzymes that regulate each and every function and reaction of our bodies. Unfortunately, our ability to absorb this vital metal reduces with age. Zinc is also essential for a healthy hormonal balance, lactose digestion, liver health, DNA maintenance, strong bones, tough immune system, and smooth kidney function—to name just a few of its functions. Zinc also helps the body make good use of vitamin A coming from various sources, and this helps zinc and vitamin A work together to maintain your glowing complexion. Make sure you add zinc to your multivitamin ration as quickly as possible; this metal is one of the mightiest antioxidants helping you stay beautiful.

For ages, humans obtained zinc from grains, dairy, and meat, but technological progress depleted our soils of this vital element.

These days, fish and crustaceans are better sources of zinc than meats and dairy. Oysters, shellfish, and coldwater fish, especially herring, contain exceptional zinc levels. Animal sources, such as eggs and liver, contain fairly high levels of zinc but still lower than those found in seafood.

Zinc is better absorbed from animal foods rather than plant sources, so if you are a vegetarian you should think about supplementing your diet with zinc in the form of zinc citrate or zinc gluconate. Whole wheat, rye, oats, and beans are good sources of zinc. Pecans and Brazilian nuts are also good sources of zinc for vegetarians and omnivores. You can also consume zinc from cooking liquids, especially from vegetables. Zinc is readily soluble in water, so when you cook your grains or beans, much of the zinc is lost in water. Think twice about discarding that water from boiled beans or Brussels sprouts! Save it to make a batch of soup or a sauce for your next meal; cooking your rice or pasta in the water where your vegetables cooked not only saves time, but also adds flavor and nutrients to your meal.

THE BEAUTY OF FIBER

There is yet another reason to embrace complex carbs: they are incredibly rich source of another beauty essential, namely, fiber. “Roughage” is crucial for healthy complexion and trim, flat tummy as it binds to toxins and helps eliminate them from the body before they hit the bloodstream and reach other vital organs. Less stress for your liver means clear, healthy skin and less abdominal fat as your liver is the main organ of detoxification. Since fiber cannot be broken down by enzymes, it travels through the intestines, grabbing up all the dirty bits along its way. A sluggish, stagnant colon causes your belly to protrude and your skin to work double shifts eliminating toxins. And there’s yet another reason to eat lots of fiber-rich foods: this natural scrub for your intestines also helps reduce excessive levels of estrogen hormones in the body, which may help maintain glowing complexion and reduce the risk of breast
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and uterine
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cancers.

Choosing the right type of fiber for your body can be tricky. If you are not accustomed to ample amounts of fiber, then “hard” fibers, such as cellulose found in wheat bran and psyllium husks, can clog up your colon and cause even more trouble. To avoid this, you should slowly teach your body to operate under extra fiber weight with soluble fibers, such as pectin, gums, and mucilage, which form gels in the colon and have a gentler yet effective cleansing effect. Pectin is contained in apples, guavas, quince, plums, gooseberries, oranges, and other citrus fruits. Gums are present in oat bran, oatmeal, beans, and sesame seeds, while ample amounts of mucilage can be found in psyllium fiber.

Introducing more fiber is quite easy. An apple a day may not keep the doctor away, but three apples are more likely to do the trick. All nuts, seeds, and whole grain cereals such as barley, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, and whole wheat supply our bodies with ample amount of fiber along with vitamin E, magnesium, and other minerals and vitamins contained in their unprocessed form. For other foods, fiber and sugar content are interlinked.
Because of the food particle size, chocolate has lower glycemic index than brown rice—yet, of course, brown rice provides our bodies with much more fiber than chocolate! With other highfiber foods, there’s a battle between water soluble and insoluble fiber. For example, barley has a lower glycemic index and therefore lower potential to cause skin problems than whole wheat. So which sources of fiber are most beneficial?

When choosing natural sources of fiber, low glycemic index types should be your first option. The World Health Organization recommends that you take up to 40 grams of fiber daily. Barley, rye, peanuts, soy beans, and other legumes have relatively low glycemic index and therefore provide a good balance between fiber and sugar intake.

Fiber comes as a supplement too. If needed, for best results, take your supplements with a probiotic or after eating a natural yogurt enriched with milk bacteria, followed by two glasses of pure water.

However, be careful of fiber supplements. Sometimes too much fiber can cause as much problems as too little. When you overload your body with fiber, you risk depleting your stocks of iron, calcium, and zinc, which can be disastrous not just for your skin but for your overall well-being. To avoid this, the best option is to go easy on supplements, especially wheat bran, and eat instead a lot of various natural foods that are rich in fiber. Unfortunately, as beneficial as plant fiber can be to health, there’s nearly always a side effect of excessive gassiness. Gas production, as unpleasant as it seems, is actually quite healthy: it protects the gut from carcinogens, speeds up bowel function and even improves the health of cells that line colon walls. But when we eat too many fiber-rich carbohydrates (most often, legumes), the colon starts being loud. One of the options is to reduce the amount of gas-producing beans and members of the cabbage family in one meal and to never eat them together. I also found that eating small-sized legumes such as lentils is less problematic for the colon than larger varieties such as white, kidney, or lima beans. If you really must
use your white beans for a specific recipe, say, baked beans or a casserole, soak them overnight—this simple trick greatly reduces the gas factor. And remember that when you embrace fiber-rich foods, your intestinal flora will prosper, which, in turn, improves your body’s ability to deal with gas-producing foods without causing your belly to explode. Sooner or later your body will learn how to cope with beans or cabbage without becoming explosive.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK WITH ANTIOXIDANTS

When planning a weekly shopping list, aim for antioxidants. Environmental pollutants, smoking, drinking, a nutritionally deficient diet, and excessive sun exposure all generate free radicals—oxygen molecules with one electron which allows them to latch onto every molecule available. As long as they can hold onto the molecule, the destruction by oxidation begins. When our bodies become oxidized too quickly, they begin to age prematurely, with all the unpleasant side effects that come along with that. It is estimated that nearly one-third of all cancer deaths in the United States could be prevented through better diet, especially by increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants.
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Not only are antioxidants vitally important to ward off premature aging, they support your whole body’s functioning, which, in turn, brings a healthy glow that no bronzer is able to fake.

Some of the most important dietary antioxidants are green tea polyphenols, curcumin, genistein from soy, resveratrol from grapes, and lycopene from tomatoes and carrots.

When consumed regularly, they add to the mighty punch against cancers of the skin, prostate, breast, lung, and liver. They also keep your skin glowing and hair flowing no matter your age.

Fruits and vegetables with the most intense colors are highest in age-rewinding phytochemicals. It makes your life a bit easier as you approach the fresh produce aisle. Beetroot, aubergines, all kinds of berries, broccoli, spinach, sweet potato, kale, pumpkins, and butternut squash—as long as the produce is brightly colored, grab it and place it into your basket. No guesswork required!