Holistic Beauty from the Inside Out (14 page)

If you make one dietary change to achieve glowing skin for many years to come, make it this: buy organic whenever you can.

Chapter Four Quick Tips Nutritional Do’s for Glowing Skin

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables. They are full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Colorful fruits and vegetables provide more antioxidants than pale-colored ones.
   Eat at least two different vegetables with lunch and dinner every day
   .
   
2. Drink more water, diluted juices, and green tea
   . Eat lots of water-rich fruits and vegetables, which are a better source of hydration as the water in plant cells is better absorbed by the body.
   
3. To maintain collagen and elastin levels,
   consume good-quality protein from organic or ethically farmed meat, oily fish, beans, nuts, legumes, and soy products
   .
   
4. Eat fish twice a week
   . Choose smaller fish varieties and avoid farmed fish.
   
5. Add healthy oils
   rich in anti-inflammatory omega-6 essential fatty acids to your diet and eliminate all processed fats and oils from your meals.
   
6. Eat more fiber
   in the form of oatmeal, oat bran, dried beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, artichokes, apples, oranges, grapefruits, and whole grains. You can also add bran flakes to any ground meat or vegetable stew recipe.
   
7. Cut down on sugar
   , which speeds up skin aging and contributes to weight gain. Replace sugar with stevia or honey and gradually “teach” your taste buds to enjoy less sweet desserts. Replace simple carbs with complex carbs.
   
8. Eliminate trans-fats, artificial dyes, synthetic spices, and preservatives
   from your foods.
   
9. Use spices, fresh herbs, and garlic
   generously to add vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to your meals.
   
10. Go organic
    . If organic dairy, eggs, or meats are not available, choose free-range options.
    

Nutritional Don’ts that Ruin Your Natural Beauty

1. Don’t eat heavily processed foods
   that are “enriched” with stabilizers, preservatives, and other synthetic junk.
   
2. Don’t skip meals
   , especially breakfast.
   
3. Don’t eat fried foods
   . Bake, broil, or grill foods and make sure your meats do not burn.
   
4. Don’t clean your plate just to be polite
   . Eat only as much as you want. Do not eat leftovers after your kids are finished with their food.
   
5. Don’t crash diet
   : not all of the newest diet crazes will produce sustainable weight loss results, and many diets can actually damage your health and good looks.
   
6. Don’t buy food in tins and cans
   : the plastic lining of cans leaches dangerous phthalates into your food. Opt for glass packaging. Purchase dried legumes, and soak overnight before cooking.
   
7. Don’t use hydrogenated fats in cooking
   . Hydrogenated fats may increase free radicals in the body. Olive oil or butter is a better choice than margarine.
   
8. Don’t consume foods and beverages that are overloaded with sugar
   . And don’t make the mistake of thinking that diet drinks are healthier for you. Artificial sweeteners that are used in diet beverages are known to disrupt your health even more than sugar does.
   
9. Don’t shop on an empty stomach. Set some time aside to plan your meals for the week ahead. Shop at farmers markets and food co-ops, where you can get fresh, local foods.
   
10. Don’t get discouraged.
    Be kind to yourself
    . Eating healthy will not become your habit for life if you look at it as a burden.
    

FIVE

Become a Natural Beauty

Y
ou already know that to take care of your skin in a holistic way, you must take good care of your whole body. Glowing skin begins on your pillow, on your plate, and in a glass of water or a cup of green tea. As you now know how to treat your skin and hair from the inside out, let’s learn how to nourish our beauty from the outside as well.

Long considered an impermeable barrier, our skin is now perceived as a doorway for many chemicals, good and bad. Chemicals with large molecule size cannot be absorbed, but smaller molecules can penetrate the body without any diffculties.
⁸⁸
Medical science has developed new drugs delivered through the skin directly to the circulation. There are many drugs marketed as transdermal patches, for example, scopolamine (for motion sickness), nicotine (smoking cessation), and estradiol (estrogen deficiency). Scientists believe that skin itself—and especially the outermost layer, the stratum corneum—can play the role of a reservoir for chemicals.
⁸⁹
In a recent study, Swiss scientists found that even without use of
penetration enhancers, human skin absorbs up to 10 percent of all toxins applied to its surface.
⁹⁰
Another study from 2007 discovered that some chemicals are better able to penetrate the skin; for example, up to 60 percent of parabens applied to the skin surface were found in the epidermis after eight hours.
⁹¹

It is important to choose cosmetic products with the same care with which we choose our food. This chapter explains the two basic concepts of holistic beauty: “Less is more,” and “Skincare is food for the skin.” To begin our journey into holistic beauty, let’s first learn its most important principles.

10 COMMANDMENTS OF WHOLE BEAUTY

The words “natural” and “organic” have become so ubiquitous on product labels, we nearly forget that not all products are created equal. We have to watch out for false claims and loud promises with extra vigilance. As you adopt a holistic approach to beauty, it’s time to subject your beauty routine to more scrutiny and to question whether you actually need all those primers, polishes, and potions.

Holistic Beauty Commandment 1: Always check the label

As someone who spent many years trying every skincare product on the market and is now blending natural ingredients for a living and for fun, I can admit: skincare today
is
rocket science, with some of the worst ingredients better off belonging to the rocket fuel tank rather than to our skin. Of course you can continue trusting clever marketers who would have you believe that all their potions and cleansers are good enough to eat, or you can stop falling prey to false claims and take matters in your own hands. There’s no way around it: always read the label. If it involves buying a magnifying glass, buy the magnifying glass. Do you research your options when you purchase flights or car insurance? Your skin deserves the same amount of effort.

First, see which proportion of ingredients sounds natural and how far they fall from the beginning of the list. All ingredients
in a beauty product are listed in order of the proportion that they are contained in the formula. If there’s water in the beginning, then you know this lotion contains lots of water, which isn’t necessarily bad. But if alcohol is listed close to the top of the list, this product is bound to be drying and harsh to your skin.

Some ingredients do not need to be used in large quantities to bring good or bad results. You only need a drop of parabens in your body lotion to put you at a higher risk for breast cancer, and you only need a dash of an antiaging peptide to do its magic on your wrinkles.

Do not be put off by strange-sounding eugenols, linalools, and other “-ools” at the end of the list—these are components of essential oils and are usually harmless unless, of course, you are allergic to them. But if you spot some tongue-twisting or clearly synthetic stuff such as ethylhexylglycerine or cyclosyloxane, not to mention any member of the Dirty Dozen list ahead, this product won’t do your skin or hair any good.

Holistic Beauty Commandment 2: Avoid irritants

You can instantly know there’s something wrong with a new beauty product if you notice burning right away, a new rash, redness, or skin flakiness after a few days. When skincare ingredients cause irritation and damage to the protective mantle of the skin, you become susceptible to sun damage, allergies, and even skin infections. Such ingredients include alcohol (especially denatured), menthol, camphor, lemon, and lime in any variation. All members of the Dirty Dozen listed later are potent skin irritants and should be avoided at all costs—not only by those with sensitive skin. Black henna as well as chemicals in conventional hair dyes are very irritating too.

Holistic Beauty Commandment 3: Listen to your skin

Skin types and age-appropriate skincare regimens are things of the past. These days, a twentysomething may have parched skin with visible lines after frequent sunbathing and rigorous acne eradication while some women over fifty have clear, unlined faces and bright eyes. When choosing skincare products, always take into consideration your current skin concerns. If your skin feels dry, go for gentle nourishing oils and natural emollients and humectants such as hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and glycerine. They help retain moisture in your skin by attracting it from the outside air. Because of the increased environmental burden on
our bodies, we need antioxidant protection starting at a very young age. To preserve your natural beauty, look for skincare products with natural oils, co-enzyme Q10, green tea, and vitamins A, C, and E as well as soothing plant botanicals. Remember that you cannot supply your skin with collagen and elastin from creams and serums. Instead, at any age, add age-resisting antioxidants to your diet and as carefully selected supplements.

Holistic Beauty Commandment 4: Don’t expect miracles overnight

Cosmetic manufacturers want you to believe that you can rub on some potion and wake up to glowing, flawless skin. So we treat the skincare as a magic wand. But in the real world, results are never instant. With a holistic approach to your beauty—that is, practicing stress relief, learning good sleep habits, following healthy diet and using natural skincare—you will aim for sustainable results in the long term. Instead of waiting for the miracle to happen, start making your skin and hair healthier over time, working against the clock. Of course, miracles
do
happen. If you switch from a terrible product to a good one, results are usually seen very quickly (and vice versa). If you apply zit-zapping tea tree oil on an angry blemish, you will wake up to see it “miraculously” decreased in size. If you use an exfoliating peel or a scrub, you will see immediate improvement in the skin texture as dead skin cells are removed. And, of course, a good night’s sleep works miracles for your eyes, your skin, and your mood. But if you aim for realistically gradual improvement to your looks, your self esteem and your general well-being will only benefit.

Holistic Beauty Commandment 5: Remember that price doesn’t always equal quality

Just because a cream is expensive doesn’t mean it works better. When you compare the ingredient lists of the ten most expensive anti wrinkle creams on the market, you will be surprised to see that most of them contain the very same ingredients. The difference lies in packaging, price of advertising and paid celebrity endorsements, and, of course, the perceived “value” of the brand. Most
cosmetic companies own dozens of brands, both “luxury” and “economy.” Do you think that luxury brands are blended in gold plated vats and hand-poured into crystal tubes by serious professionals in sterile spacesuits, while less expensive creams bubble in dirty buckets and are slapped into plastic tubs with rusty spoons? Well, not exactly. All of them are made in the same factory, in the same blending machines, using ingredients from the same supplier. Some creams and lotions are packed in pump dispensers each costing $10 and covered with layers of boxes and plastic; others are poured in simple plastic bottles costing twenty cents each. There are good and bad products in all price ranges—you need to read ingredients to see which ones work best for you.

An inexpensive rose water will do your skin more good than an expensive toner from a famous brand loaded with preservatives, petrochemicals, and artificial fragrances. Why bother with an expensive anti-blemish toner if plain witch hazel from a health food store is just as good? Why buy expensive eye patches if slices of raw potato remove eye bags and dark circles just as well? I am blessed to have access to amazing oils, hydrosols, and vitamins that we use to make Petite Marie Organics skincare, so instead of buying a new cleanser, I just quickly whip up a new one, throwing in some oils and clays if I feel my skin needs some purifying action, or soothing chamomile and calendula if it’s misbehaving. I decant into an old glass bottle and voilà! I am $10 richer. Fussing about famous brand names on the labels of your beauty products is so 1990. All you need is healthy, gentle ingredients for your skin and hair, prepared with minimum preservatives and zero toxic junk. Choose your products based on your skin needs, not to support your status or nourish your ego.