Your skin may have suffered through a lifetime of too much sun and too little care, but that doesn’t mean that it’s too late to change your habits. Restoring your body’s largest organ to a vibrant and younger-looking state will take more than just slathering on handfuls of moisturizer after the shower, but that’s a good start!
Truly caring for your skin involves both an interior and exterior approach. Choosing the right foods to put into your body and the cleanest products to put on your body is absolutely essential for reversing skin damage.
So here are the top eight tips and tricks for restoring your skin health and regaining that youthful glow in as little as one week!
1. Go Orange
We’re talking foods here, not the fake tan type of orange! Bright orange vegetables, such as carrots and pumpkins, as well as salmon can work miracles thanks to their mutual Vitamin A content. Vitamin A is one of the central components of many anti-aging products as it inhibits the breakdown of collagen (the stuff that keeps your skin nice and firm). Eating foods rich in Vitamin A is the number one way to make your skin shine and shimmer.
2. Eat The Good Fats
Salmon can give you a double-dose of skin benefits with its omega-3 fatty acids; one of those highly touted “good fats” that helps keep skin on the supple side and decrease inflammation. You can also find this hydrating fat in flaxseed and walnuts, so feel free to get seedy or go nuts! Top that sweet potato off with some crushed walnuts and not only will you be rocking softer skin in no time but you’ll also be much more satiated.
3. Bust Free Radicals
Vitamin C is a major factor in healing wounds as well as forming proteins used to make your blood vessels, ligaments, tendons and the collagen in skin. Vitamin C doubles as an antioxidant, which helps stop damage from those bad guys known as free radicals— the all-time enemy to younger skin. Your body neither produces nor stores vitamin C so it’s very imporatant to get enough in your daily diet.
While we usually grab for an orange when we want a vitamin C immune boost, grab for a yellow bell pepper too! One of those guys contains a whole 341 milligrams (compared to 113 mg in an orange)!
4. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
Water plays a huge part in the condition of your skin, both inside and out.
Interior- Drinking plenty of water throughout your day greatly contributes to the overall suppleness of your skin. Many people notice that when they begin drinking more water some of their wrinkles actually begin to fade. Pinch the skin under your eye and pay attention to how quickly it bounces back. Is it slow to return to its original place? If so, you are probably dehydrated, which is one of the main causes of premature wrinkling.
Exterior- Surprisingly, showers and continuous soaking can suck your skin dry. Warm, shorter showers followed by the immediate application of a clean moisturizer can help keep it plump and supple. Try to avoid hot tubs and pools, as chemicals like chlorine also wreak havoc on our skin.
Water in the air is another factor. Itchy, dry, older-looking skin is often worsened by dry air. A humidifier can help immensely, as can avoiding spritzing on too much perfume or using antiperspirants or harsh/medicated soaps.
5. Skip the Booze
That nightly glass of red wine may be helping your heart, but it’s sure not doing anything beneficial for your skin. Alcohol is very dehydrating, which makes your skin more likely to wrinkle, crinkle and lose its elasticity. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but so does the caffeine in your morning cup of joe. Try to at least gradually work to limit your intake if your serious about younger skin!
6. Get Down With Ghee
Topical applications of various kitchen products can give your skin a beautiful boost. Enter ghee. Otherwise known as clarified butter, ghee can be used in high-heat cooking, but it can also be slathered on your skin. Don’t cringe! Folks use it all the time in India and it was even rumored to be Cleopatra’s favorite face cream.
The benefits of ghee come from its lipophilic action, or its ability to penetrate deep tissues and enter the cell membranes. Who needs those expensive synthetic skin care products when you can get a large, glorious, skin-plumping tub of ghee for much less? Younger skin here we come! Use it on its own or mix it with a tonifying healing herb to heal skin conditions. And if you have some ghee leftover following your body slather, you can always use it to sautée those carrots and pumpkin you’re planning on eating!
7. Ditch The Chemicals
Did you know that the majority of American women put over 500 chemicals on their bodies daily? How frightening! Many of these chemicals are quite harmful when used long-term and certain offenders like parabens can even alter your delicate hormonal balance. I can’t imagine there’s any women out there who would enjoy a more raging cycle of PMS or more debilitating hot flashes, right?
Lucky for us, the Environmental Working Group has a super handy cosmetics database that can be accessed online (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/). This database allows you to search their list of over 62,000 cosmetic products to view the corresponding ingredients and the product’s toxicity level. You can even download their App onto your phone and scan a product’s barcode in-store if you question the safety of some of those unknown words in the ingredient list.
To make things even easier on yourself, just use simple one-ingredient household and kitchen products. Pure witch hazel is a wonderful facial toner. Yogurt makes for a soothing face mask. Coffee grounds or white sugar can replace your expensive exfoliators. Coconut oil, ghee, and aloe vera are all fabulous moisturizers. Oils are also great for removing makeup and for use in healing. Check out our How to Make You Own Herbal Infused Oil for a variety of ideas. The options are endless!
8. Adopt Healthy Habits
One last place to seek rejuvenated, younger skin is in your general daily habits. Adequate sleep, daily exercise, and limited exposure to sunlight are all essential for maintaining and improving skin health. Washing your face twice a day with warm soapy water to remove makeup and accumulated dirt is also essential. The warm water opens the pores, and a gentle soap eliminates gunk and excess oil that may clog pores and dull your skin.
Most importantly, making the conscious decision to eat healthier will give your skin all the nutrients it needs to shine and be well-nourished. Changing your habits may be difficult initially but you will be so thankful in the long run!
Your Challenge This Week:
- Greatly increase your water intake. Carry around a water bottle and sip all throughout the day.
- Include an abundance of salmon, sweet potatoes, carrots, and oranges in your diet.
- Cut back on the coffee and avoid drinking alcohol.
- Replace you chemical-laden makeup with non-toxic products.
- Wash your twice face daily to remove impurities and use a moisturizer like ghee, coconut oil or aloe.
Even after just one week, I’m sure that your latest and greatest anti-wrinkle skin cream will be blown out of the water!
Bonus! Natural Skin Care Ebook
And if you’re still looking for natural remedies this is a wonderful ebook called Natural Glow my friend created. She utilizes all natural ingredients including yogurt! LOVE it!
How do you feel? How does your skin feel? Tell us!
