Holistic Beauty from the Inside Out (13 page)

There are thousands of antioxidant combinations in brightly colored fruits and vegetables, and some antioxidants exist only in a single type of plant. Some of them are especially helpful in achieving a glowing, resilient complexion.

Green tea contains antioxidant polyphenols that help prevent skin damage from excessive sun exposure. In this way, green tea can help prevent skin cancer if taken orally
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or applied topically
as a toner or when included in a moisturizer.
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You can strengthen the sun protective potency of your sun cream by lightly misting your skin with green tea and allowing it to soak in and dry before applying the moisturizer. Just one or two cups of green tea daily will strengthen your skin’s defenses against the sun.

Milk thistle is a well-studied antioxidant herb that contains a unique flavonoid, called silymarin. It is commonly taken by people with liver diseases, but recent studies show that silymarin also helps prevent skin cancer by neutralizing free radicals generated by sun exposure or less-than-pristine environment.
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Aloe vera contains enzymes that protect skin cell membranes from free radical damage. Perhaps this explains the soothing and healing effect that aloe vera gel has on damaged or sunburnt skin. There are many varieties of aloe vera juices in health food stores. Aloe vera juice has a very bitter taste, so it is usually sweetened with honey or agave syrup. For skincare applications, the unsweetened variety is better because it will be less sticky.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) helps maintain youthful energy production in all cells of the body, especially in the heart, brain, and skin. This vital enzyme can be obtained naturally from oily fish such as mackerel, sardines, and salmon, or from whole grains. You can also take it as a supplement.

Lycopene is a carotene found in tomatoes but also in other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons, and papayas. Lycopene is simply brilliant when it comes to skin protection against harmful sun exposure. When our skin is exposed to sunlight, it immediately suffers from photodamage and oxidative stress, which may lead to skin cancer. When applied to the skin or taken as a food, lycopene decreases inflammation, protects skin DNA , and reduces skin thickness, which is often a result of sun damage.
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The antioxidant activity of skin treated with lycopene was found to be ten times higher than untreated skin. Tomato paste is the best source of lycopene, along with carrot and tomato juices. You can also take a lycopene supplement—start taking it
daily at least one month before your summer vacation to greatly diminish the risk of sunburn and long-term skin damage.

FEED YOUR HAIR AND NAILS

Our hair and nails are the last to receive nutrients from food and supplements, but thankfully there are several phytonutrients and minerals that can make the “mane” difference to your hair. If our body doesn’t receive enough of them, hair growth can slow down and our locks lose that gorgeous luster.

Regular intake of vitamins A, B, C, D, and E is very important for natural development of scalp and hair bulbs, healthy protein metabolism, and tissue growth. But when it comes to hair, two elements are exceptionally important. One of them is zinc. Zinc may improve hair growth, strengthen hair bulbs, and prevent hair from falling out too quickly. Eggs are building blocks of glowing skin and hair, so make sure to eat an egg a day to keep the wig away. Make a small omelet, and throw in handfuls of fresh herbs from the garden or dried from the supermarket. So keep your zinc levels topped up, not just with eggs, but with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sweet potatoes, pine nuts, and oysters.

Of all B vitamins, biotin (vitamin B7) is especially important for healthy hair growth. Biotin has hair-stimulating effect and may even slow down hair graying or baldness. When babies do not receive enough biotin from their milk, they may develop cradle cap, crusty yellow patches around the scalp and eyebrows. Biotin also helps improve eczema, dry skin, rashes and red, sore eyes. Adults need up to 30 mcg of biotin a day. This vitamin is abundant in egg yolks, brewer’s yeast, whole grain rice, nuts, tomatoes, onions, and cabbage.

It’s easy to notice that oily fish, dark leafy green vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products contain most hair-friendly vitamins. Base your diet around these foods if you want to improve the condition of your hair naturally.

GOING ORGANIC FOR GLOWING SKIN

Once only in the realm of the most dedicated wellness junkie, organic foods are becoming increasingly popular, with every major grocery chain stocking organic foods, and a few even launching their own organic lines. It’s hard to argue the main benefit: foods with fewer pesticides are better for my body and for the environment too.

I grew up in Soviet Russia, where families routinely stocked sacks of potatoes, cabbages, onions, pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelons, and kept apples fresh during the winter in wood chips. Every autumn, my mother would pasteurize a hundred liters of tomato juice, and can countless homemade preserves and jams for the winter ahead, as there would be literally nothing else to eat. Pig heads (yes, complete with eyes and ears, to our naïve amusement) were the only meat available in grocery stores, so naturally, we didn’t feast on meat three times a day. Sausages, chicken, and decent bacon were a luxury. So were oranges and bananas. Schoolchildren were sent off to the tomato fields to collect tomatoes or sort corn by hand. I certainly do not want to romanticize that way of life because heaven knows there’s nothing romantic about waiting in a queue for hours to be able to buy a frozen, emaciated chicken and turn it into a feast for six using only onions and garlic. But we all understood that you don’t need a lot to eat healthily (my mother survived on bland porridge on
bad days and had a waist twice smaller than mine today), we were forced to live nearly vegetarian (which is good for your overall health), and we rarely suffered from food allergies or obesity (and I have thankfully passed allergy-free genes to my daughter).

Not many of us have to grow our own foods these days. We expect an endless supply of food all year round even if it means that our little luxuries such as strawberries in January or mangoes in February must come from faraway lands, resulting in greater use of fossil fuels. This side of organic food business doesn’t resonate with me: most often, people who crave organic blueberries from Chile in December are ones for whom organic is a trend, not the way of healthy eating. To me, eating organic means supporting local farmers, preserving the quality of our soil and water, and reducing the costs of keeping us healthy and youthful.

The exposure to pesticides is perhaps the main reason to switch to organic fruit and vegetables. Conventionally grown foods are eight to eleven times more likely to contain multiple pesticide residues than organic food. Even if a certain fruit or vegetable, especially those with thicker skin, such as avocado, are generally lower in pesticides, the long-term effects of exposure to multiple pesticides poses a health risk to which many consumers aren’t willing to expose themselves or their children. Pesticides are linked with cancer of brain, breast, stomach, prostate, and testicles. Grape farmers and vineyard workers in France have higher rates of brain cancer due to constant exposure to pesticides used in growing grapes for wine production. Childhood leukemia,
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reduced fertility,
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thyroid
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and pituitary disorders,
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lowered immunity,
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autism,
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and attention deficit disorder
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in children are all linked to high levels of pesticides in the conventional food eaten on daily basis. In addition to pesticides, health risks of irradiated and genetically modified foods containing antibiotics and growth hormones are still largely unknown.

Still, organic products can never be completely free from pesticides. In a world where persistent toxic chemicals pollute the
oceans and DDT has been found in Antarctic snow, toxic compounds from the atmosphere, soil, groundwater, and other sources may be beyond the control of the farmer. Instead of conventional, highly toxic, and often carcinogenic pesticides, organic farmers use natural pesticides, such as sulfur, copper, and pyrethrins. They are used sparingly and readily break down in the environment. They also use birds and other insect predators instead of chemical fertilizers, and take advantage of compost and beneficial soil microorganisms. In this way, organic farming makes us and the planet healthier.

Nutritionally, organic fruit and vegetables give you more goodness bang for your buck. Recent studies show that in addition to containing fewer toxic pesticides, organically grown foods provide more vitamins and essential minerals than their conventionally grown counterparts. Organic crops show higher levels of vitamin C,
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minerals, and antioxidants.
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Organically raised animals are fed a certified organic diet and never given growth hormones or antibiotics. Plums, peaches, pears, and potatoes have all tested for greater concentrations of nutrients, and animals that ate organic foods showed better growth and reproduction. Studies are now determining whether organically grown food will produce better long-term health in humans too.

Of course, there’s also a budget factor. At the first glance, organic apples, carrots, cereals, and meats are more expensive. Of course, using fewer pesticides means more hand-weeding, making labor costs higher, and organic fertilizers and compost are more expensive than chemical brew used in conventional agriculture. But when we buy seemingly affordable, conventionally grown foods, we don’t take into account hidden costs of eating chicken squeezed into tiny battery cages and fed fertilizer-soaked corn. All conventional food manufacturers must compensate for contaminated water supplies, toxic waste transportation, not to mention medical bills from farm workers who have paid with their health for “affordable” meals on our table. Researchers put the annual cost of environmental damage caused by industrial
farming in the United States at $34.7 billion.
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If all these expenses were included in the price of conventionally produced food, it would cost more than organic food.