Natural healthy skin care tips

My keen interest in all natural skin care developed after growing up an 'all-natural girl' on the bee farm and then formally studying holistic nutrition.
Believe it or not, having beautiful glowing skin is a sign of radiant health. While certain creams and product can be used to clean and moisten the skin on the 'outside,' what goes 'inside' is what creates truly healthy skin.
It has been my experience that if you follow the steps below, you will be well on your way to having age defying, radiant skin.
I follow these steps daily and when I don’t my skin tells me.
The good news is that it just takes a little planning to have glowing, radiant skin.

Common Skin Complaints
I get a lot of email from people asking about natural skin care strategies and what they can use to achieve beautiful skin without all the chemicals and toxins in most main stream products.
I also get a lot of specific skin complaints such as eczema, acne, dull and sagging skin, rough and/or bumpy skin and what natural skin care products exist for these conditions.
The same moms asking questions about their 'adult acne' are asking me about natural skin care for their kids eczema. Kids can follow the steps below as well. Most young kids and toddlers are not suffering from hormonal related skin issues, so can remove the steps that are more for teens to adults such as low thyroid and hormonal imbalance.
But generally speaking if you follow the guidelines below everyday and develop more of an awareness of when your skin flares up, you will have a better understanding of your skin and what affects it.

My Top Ten All Natural Skin Care Tips

1. Drink Purified Water
Drink at least 12 cups of filtered (I only recommend reverse osmosis), re-mineralized water daily, preferably away from food for optimal absorption. Remember the skin is the largest organ and needs to be hydrated. Coffee, alcohol and caffeinated beverages dehydrate the skin, so increase your water intake if you consume these.
By the way, coffee, alcohol, chocolate and caffeine based drinks can sometimes trigger breakouts, so be on the lookout for that and possibly limit if necessary.

2. Exercise and Circulation
If you can move your body for a minimum of 20 minutes a day, you are well on your way to getting a nice glow. Your blood is your body's transport mechanism of nutrients to your skin so the more you circulate your blood through your body, the more vibrant you will look. Also, sweating everyday is a great way to detoxify through your skin.

3. Nutrition and Diet
Your diet plays a huge role in achieving beautiful skin. If you can manage to eat small meals though the day balanced with protein, good fats (vegetable fats, non-hydrogenated) and low glycemic carbohydrates (whole grain, colorful, non-processed), you will be giving your body what it needs to be balanced from a stress standpoint and a blood sugar regulation. 

Foods to Add for Beautiful Skin:

• Berries - Blueberries, Raspberries and Blackberries are wonderful for healthy skin.   Strawberries are as well but be sure to eat organic strawberries only.   Strawberries are heavily sprayed with pesticides.
• Bee Pollen has vitamins and unique properties linked to great skin! Plus it is a great snack to help balance blood sugar levels which also aids in great skin.   For more on using Bee Pollen for Skin health, read my article here.
• High Alpha Whey Protein (this protein is highly absorbed and helps create smooth skin)
• Borage Oil - I recommend GLA Skin oil, which contains Borage.
• Raw Fruits
• Big, leafy green vegetables.
• Collagen Plus - this is a precursor to collagen and is vital for keeping your skin firm and your hair and nails thick and strong.
• Royal Jelly for hormone balancing (when your hormones are balanced, skin doesn’t sag or become dull).

Foods to Avoid:
Some of the foods to avoid are:

• Chemical sweeteners like sucralose (sold under the name Splenda), Aspartame and Acesulfame potassium (sold under Acesulfame K or Ace K)
• Processed sugar.  Look for sucrose, glucose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup on the label and avoid)
• Milk chocolate.  It's loaded with sugar and dairy, which have been linked to acne.   If you are going to eat chocoate, only eat 70% and up Dark Chocolate, which has actually been shown to be quite healthy for the skin. 
• Shellfish
• Common Allergens.  Sometimes citrus fruits, wheat, dairy and soy can trigger common food sensitivities which can cause a flare up.

4. Hormone Balancing
If you have low thyroid hormone and/or low estrogen, this can cause the skin to be thin and dull looking.
If you are having trouble ovulating, it could be that the egg gets stuck because of an imbalance in hormones. This can cause a PMS breakout before your period (ladies)
There are herbs and things you can take to address these issues.
To Help Ovulate and Balance Hormones use:

• Royal Jelly - I recommend freeze dried royal jelly capsules.  Take 1000 mg's three times per day for hormonal harmony.
• EstroSmart is a nutritional supplement that eliminates hormonal acne and helps to remove excess estrogen's from the body - both are good things for radiant skin.   I highly recommend this product for ALL women.   Virtually all of us are overloaded with excess estrogen and this product helps remove these 'bad' estrogens. 

Low Thyroid Can Cause Skin Issues:
If you have dull skin, cold hands and feet, bags under your eyes that don’t go away no matter how much sleep you are getting, weight gain that won’t budge, wake up in a pile of sweat or feel lethargic most of the time, then it might be a good idea to get your thyroid checked out. Ask your doctor to test your THS and ask for your number. If the number is above 5, they may put you on medication, but if it is above 2 and under 5 (in Canada) they will tell you that you are fine. If this is the case (your number is between 2 and 5, and you suffer from the symptoms above) I recommend you read my protocol for low thyroid here.

5. Omega Fatty Acids
The essential fatty acids and other good fats in the diet are required to help with the absorption of skin healthy vitamins. For example, Vitamin E, D and A all help the skin and are necessary for achieving smooth beautiful skin. But if there is not enough “good Fat” in the diet, you will not absorb the vitamins.
Good fats are also necessary to act as an anti-inflammatory and smooth out the skin. I love avocados, olive oil, Borage Oil (beauty oil), and Evening Primrose oil. These oils will make your skin look vibrant! 

6. Essential Vitamins and Nutrients
Be sure to take a good multi-vitamin with minerals and bee pollen everyday.
The combination of these will feed your skin what it needs for health, but also give you insurance for other conditions in your body too!

7. Clean the Skin With Honey
Never go to bed without cleaning your skin. Remember your skin is an organ and absorbs whatever you put on it. Sometimes, if we don’t clean our skin, the pores get clogged and leads to acne, blackheads and breakouts.
If you wear makeup, it is especially important to clean the skin daily.  Only use natural, organic cleansers.  I recommend this one.   Follow up with a natural organic toner. Be aware of the ingredients in your makeup. Either do not wear it, or use “organic and clean makeup”.

8. Topical treatments and creams
Just like cleaning the skin, hydrating the skin is also important.
I use the So-Ho-Mish Miracle Cream I use it as a day cream. This cream is so alive with raw, natural ingredients that when I apply it on my face, my skin literally tingles.   It is suitable as a night cream as well.
At night or for stubborn skin issues like eczema, I will use the Beeswax Skin Cream. It is a thicker, heavier cream, but it really helps problem areas or really dry patches. It works great on a babies bum for diaper rash or for eczema for a baby.

9. Cleanse the Bowels 
Poor functioning, slow moving or constipated bowels can cause a toxic buildup in the body and you can re-absorb toxins back into the blood stream.   This can lead to dull, dry, irritated skin among many other symptoms such as lethargy and headaches. You may want to consider doing a cleanse and increasing fiber intake along with magnesium and lots of extra water intake.
In Chinese medicine, skin complaints are often associated with a toxic liver and/or bowels, so sometimes doing a temporary “liver cleanse” and/or bowel cleanse is a fix for these issues.
Drinking Swedish Bitters is good for that, or some lemon in water before bed is a good thing for the liver too! Fiber is important to keep the bowels moving. Quite often when you add more fiber to the diet, skin conditions clear up.

10. Smile, Laugh, Breathe and De-Stress
Stress is a huge factor in how we look. High cortisol (the stress hormone) has been linked to a number of health issues including poor skin.
Laughter, breathing, sleeping and other stress reducing techniques will do wonders. When they talk about getting your “beauty rest” they really mean it!  Sleep balances your nervous system and allows for healing to occur that you will not get during waking hours. So get your sleep! You should get 7-8 hours every night.
For additional stress support, I can not recommend the product AdrenaSmart enough.   This product will boost energy, improve sleep quality and the ability to handle stress.
If you follow the steps above, you will be well on your way to having great skin - naturally! It takes time and there is no quick fix, but if you can commit to having beautiful skin, abundant health will follow!



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