OK,

So apparently I have good skin; it’s not something that I actually paid much attention to or maybe you are seeing something I am not as like all women I only notice the imperfections which annoyingly are growing with age!  Yet on reflection I do have many tips to share on how I have maintained my skin over the years.

I even recorded a blog!

I had some issues with my phone storage so please excuse the fact that this is a mash of four videos; the content I think you will arm you with plenty of strategies for your skin.

So, here is a summary of how I believe you can all have great skin.

Move you body, often, and preferably outdoors.

Adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Don’t smoke; learn to deal with stress; get enough sleep; follow good dental hygiene and avoid mercury amalgams and root canals when possible; limit junk and processed foods; drink filtered water; don’t drink excessively; avoid yo-yo dieting, extreme/ restricted diets or big fluctuations in weight; avoid extremes of exercise; live in a clean environment away from air or water pollution; and avoid the excessive intake of medication unless necessary.

Eat foods that not only nourish and protect, but form the structure of your skin.

Eat a wholesome, balanced, and natural food based diet; limit exposure to chemicals, additives, processed or unnaturally restructured foods (e.g. artificial sweeteners and processed fats) and fill your weekly shopping trolley with plenty of quality proteins, vegetables, and a mixture of dairy and plant based healthy fats. Limit sugars and excess fruits, follow the seasons and choose home-grown or organic foods when possible. Educate yourself about more unusual and yet highly nourishing foods such as bone broths and organ meats, herbs and spices, local hedgerow foods and fermented foods.

Shop with your brain in gear, and understand that what is written as marketing doesn’t always correlate with what is in the packet.

Make friends with your local butcher, fish monger and the local vegetable growers, farmers markets and direct to home online websites.

I have written extensively about how to eat for skin in my E-Book 7-Days to Fabulous skin here; if you would rather a more seasonal eating approach then you may like my spring, or winter detox e-books.

Go Natural

Choose natural skin care products made with minimal ingredients and free in so far as possible from chemical additives and preservatives (many forward thinking conscientious companies use plant extract and natural compounds to preserve their formulations). There is an abundance of Irish and international natural cosmetics producers out there now; have fun exploring them.

There are also helpful online sites such as the environmental working group and many more in the blogosphere(e.g. http://wellnessmama.com/5801/diy-beauty-recipes/) that provide advice and education.

Consider attending DIY make-your-own-skin care products courses and educate yourself on the world-wide web about cosmetics and skin care products, their ingredients and you and your family’s health.

Please remember that the most important way to achieve healthy skin is through the lifestyle that you live and the food choices that you consistently make.

Also understand that the cosmetics and beauty industry are largely unregulated. They thrive on you believing that you are less than perfect and that you need their product to be good enough and beautiful enough…… but are you not enough already? What is their product really going to do for you? Often it is how you view yourself and your self esteem that requires some love and attention.

Your skin is your gauge for internal health.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul; I would add to this by saying that the skin is the mirror of your health. Our skin reflects the health of the functions of several organs including the gastrointestinal system, the liver and gallbladder, the kidneys and even the lungs. All these organs are involved in detoxification and elimination functions and when these organs are over-whelmed (or in the case of the bowels blocked up and sluggish), or not provided with the nutritional factors to function optimally then this is reflected in the health of the skin because the skin then becomes the last resort route of detoxification.

Also the skin will reflect the adequacy of your nutrition. Poor skin health can tell a tale of nutritional deficiencies, a lack of dietary fatty acids and proteins or an excess intake of refined and fast releasing sugars.

Hormones are often discussed as the route of all skin evils BUT consider that hormone balance is often determined by the health of many organs and lifestyle  and environmental factors. So again, the skin is telling a story that bodes in our favour to listen to.

The skin is an organ of expression

Finally consider that the skin can be the playing field for emotions that we struggle to verbalise. Can you think of times that you with-held emotions only for them to express as spots, cold sores or discolouration… something to think about.

Take care of your skin, it’s doing its best to protect you.

Love,

Andrea

PS an article I wrote earlier this year for swimmers; and this is the current shampoo that I use.

I also wrote about skin allergies for those perplexed at where to start unravelling the cause.

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