Radiant skin is a tell tale sign of health, and what you see in the mirror reflects your diet and environment.
Having a clean diet and lifestyle enhances both skin colour and texture, bestowing a healthy glow that turns back the hands of time.
Here are my top 5 tips for glowing skin this winter:
Drink plenty of good quality water.
I’d suggest drinking approximately 2.5 Litres per day depending on your size, constitutional makeup and lifestyle.
We tend to drink less water in the winter, turning to hot drinks like cocoa and coffee, but don’t forget that your skin needs hydration from the inside out. Warm water with lemon can be very refreshing and hydrating at the same time, dump a whole wedge of lemon in your water to ensure you get all the goodness from the pith and skin.
I like to keep a pot of herbal tea next to me as I work, I’ll drink around 1-2 Litres of herbal tea on a good day J Note; Boiling tap water does not eliminate harmful chemicals, so use filtered water for your tea.
Add orange fruits and veggies to your daily diet.
Beta-carotene, an orange plant pigment, ignites a healthy glow that begins on the inside. Yellow-orange fruits and dark green veggies are packed with a family of pigments called ‘carotenoids’.
The body converts beta-carotene into active vitamin A — or retinol — which is required for healthy eyes, reproduction and skin. Beta-carotene zaps aging by acting as an antioxidant or substance that reduces oxygen damage caused by UV light, pollutions and other environmental hazards like smoking…which brings me to my next tip. Don’t smoke kids!
Be warned! Over time, a daily dose of 20 milligrams of beta-carotene — the amount found in about three carrots — can cause the soles of your feet, palms of your hands, your nose and even the whites of your eyes to turn pumpkin-yellow in colour. Although nontoxic, it’s not a good look.
Ditch the Caffeine
Like sodium and alcohol, caffeine dehydrates our bodies. Caffeine makes the liver work overtime, which causes toxic build up in the body. When our bodies are in toxic overload, low-level toxins make their way to your skin and disrupt healthy skin function.
While we can sing coffee’s praises as a laxative, it is a diuretic, which means it causes you to lose hydration, which has a direct effect on your skin.
Dehydrated skin causes inflammation (redness) and premature aging (collagen loss). Additionally, without enough water flushing your system, toxic build up in the skin can also cause acne.
Dump the dairy
If you are acne-prone, be wary of how much dairy you are consuming. Milk is one of the worst things to consume if you want to maintain clear skin, it is often loaded with hormones, negatively effects the production of sebum, and glues dead skin cells together.
Stay away from processed sugars and artificial sweeteners
Aside from causing dehydration and creating acne, sugar causes inflammation, producing enzymes that break down collagen and elastin, resulting in sagging skin and wrinkles. Digested sugar permanently attaches to the collagen in your skin through a process known as glycation. Aside from increasing the effects of aging, glycation can also exacerbate skin conditions like acne and rosacea.
The solution? All Things in moderation.
Overall, consuming too much coffee, and all the milk and sugar that may be in there, will age you faster than you want. So, what do you do? My motto: less is more. Wean yourself off slowly, but try. Try hard. Drink more water to flush out toxins and combat dehydration.
Consume less caffeine or switch to decaf or herbal tea. It’s not easy, but worth it in the long run.
It’s all about balance and moderation. Minimise some of the habits that are detrimental to your skin and see how it responds for at least two weeks. Listen to your body, read your skin!
To make an appointment with our Wellness Expert:
Bondi Beach: 02 8897 0077
Bondi Junction: 02 9386 4411
Email: [email protected]
