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Clear ANY Skin Problem Naturally - Nourish Your Skin
June 27, 2009
Hello dear friends!

Welcome to your Week #3 third step of our free Natural Beauty Makeover program.

Week #3 - Nourish Your Skin

This weeks lesson will show you how to nourish your skin, which will not only help your complexion to glow with health, but will help clear up skin inflammation. Did you know that some skin rashes are the result of a nutritional deficiency?

What you will learn:

  • How feeding your whole body nourishes your skin
  • Specific foods that are nourishing for your skin
  • A simple way to feed your skin that will benefit your whole body!

First Let's Review

Last week we introduced you to facial exercise. Facial exercise helps you to tone and firm the facial muscles, which reduces wrinkles and sagging, and also creates a healthy and glowing complexion. Some people even notice that their skin rashes and irritations begin to disappear!

How was it for you to do the facial exercises? Are you seeing or feeling any results yet?

If you missed last week's lesson, you can find it here: Lesson #2 - Natural Facelift

I'd like to hear how it's going for you. Please feel free to drop me a line, or better yet, go ahead and create your own Natural Beauty Journal to let me know how you are doing. I'll be sure to read what you've shared!

If at any time you have questions or are feeling stuck, please don't hesitate to contact me! You can reach me most easily through your journal!

Simply write about your experience here at your Natural Beauty Journal and I will be able to see your comments and respond.

Feeding Your Whole Body

Skin is the largest organ in our body. Did you know that your skin reflects the health of your whole body? If your skin is itching, breaking out in rashes and getting inflamed all the time, it is trying to communicate! It is saying "listen to me, listen to me!" :-)

So, one of the best things we can do for our sensitive skin is to pay attention to the signals our body gives us throughout the day.

For example, if you eat a burger and fries for lunch, and then feel bloated and tired by the afternoon, what is your body saying?

Our digestion and our elimination have everything to do with how our skin looks. When we eat a lot of sugar, refined foods, and heavy saturated fats, our digestive system ends up becoming sluggish. We don't eliminate toxins easily and so our skin ends up reflecting this by trying to release the toxins through inflammation.

Sensitive skin may be difficult to manage, but in some ways it is a blessing. Your skin is "talking" to you on a regular basis, telling you that it needs your attention. If you really listen, and make an effort to give yourself healthy and nourishing foods, and to keep your body away from as many toxins as possible, your whole health will benefit!

I can't tell you how many times people have been shocked when they learn how old I am. And the thing is, I am by no means a beauty queen. Far from it! I don't pay a lot of attention to my appearance, but I have tried to take care of my body and my health. Looking younger is just one of the benefits!

Foods for Healthy Skin

Eating for healthy skin is actually quite simple. The hard part is changing our old habits! Here are some basic guidelines for eating for healthy skin.

  • Abundant fruits and vegetables
  • Abundant live, raw foods
  • Abundant leafy green vegetables
  • Proteins like legumes, lean organic meat and some fish
  • Healthy fats
  • Whole grains
  • Minimally processed foods
  • Abundant pure, clean water

Eat nutrient rich foods, not empty calories. Read the labels on the foods you eat! We recommend avoiding canned and processed foods, preservatives, dyes, and excess sugar and salt.

Eat plenty of fresh raw vegetables and fruits - provides critical enzymes, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber. Enjoy veggies and fruits of all colors! The most colorful ones generally have the most nutrition. Red, blue, purple, orange and yellow ones all provide important vitamins, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants.

Remember to eat plenty of green veggies like spinach, kale, collards, and chard. These are powerful foods for healthy skin and body.

Healthy fats provide you with essential fatty acids in the right balance. Foods such as avocado, nuts and seeds, salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines have the highest amounts.

Eat whole grains for fiber, nutrients, and to keep your blood sugar more even, which prevents wrinkles!

Make sure you eat enough healthy and easily digested proteins. Tofu, legumes in combination with whole grains, fish, organic eggs, and organic lean meats are good choices.

Nutrients for Healthy Skin

Vitamin C is in red, green and yellow peppers, oranges, lemons, limes, strawberries, broccoli and many other fruits and vegetables.

Vitamin E is found in wheat germ, avocado, and nuts and seeds.

Zinc is found in pumpkin seeds, quinoa, legumes, seafood, and organic meat.

Selenium is found in Brazil nuts, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, canned tuna in water, and shrimp.

Friendly bacteria is found in yogurt with active cultures.

How to Get More Veggies Into Your Diet

Sometimes it is difficult to eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables that our bodies need for good health. There are two fun and simple ways to eat more veggies and fruits!

Green Smoothies are blender drinks created with 40% fresh, raw green foods like kale, spinach, chard, and 60% fresh, raw fruits. These provide you with abundant fiber and all the nutrition that fresh, whole foods can give.

Although smoothie aficionados use high powered blenders like a Vita-Mix or Blend-Tec (which definitely work well!), you can also do this with an inexpensive blender.

Simply put a one or two cups of pure water in the blender, a handful of greens, some berries and other fruits of your choice, and blend. Drink within a few minutes of making in order to get the maximum benefit. You can also add other ingredients like ground flax seed, which provide healthy fats.

I can't eat a lot of fruits so I use more greens, less fruits and I sweeten the drink with Stevia, a low calorie natural sweetener that does not raise your blood sugar. It's delicious and satisfying!

Fresh Juices provide concentration whole foods nutrition because it takes a larger quantity of veggies or fruits to make juice. For example with a green smoothie you might consume a handful of greens and one apple, and a handful of berries. If you juice this same amount, the yield will be very small and so you'll need to juice a lot more of them to get a glassful of juice.

Sometimes I like to make a combination juice and smoothie ... for example I will juice 4 carrots, 2 stalks celery, a few leaves of kale and an apple. Then I add fresh, whole blueberries and spinach in the blender, with a little stevia if it needs a little more sweetness. This is a very potent drink, filled with incredible nutrition!

You will need a good juicer in order to juice effectively. My husband and I have a simple Miracle Juicer which is easy to clean, relatively inexpensive and does the job for our needs.

Supplements for Healthy Skin

Our foods today contain significantly less nutrition than they did a few generations ago. Modern farming practices have depleted our soils of valuable minerals, and combined with genetic engineering and increased toxins in our environment, our foods simply do not have the vitamins, minerals and antioxidant levels that they used to.

For this reason, it is helpful if you can to supplement your diet. I prefer always whole foods supplements to artificial ones, however you will need to find what works for you. Some people find that the new "raw" vitamin supplements to be more useful that regular multivitamins.

Some of the supplements that can help to create radiant and healthy skin for those of us with sensitive skin are:

Enzymes - these provide critical factors that help us to digest food, break down fats, deliver nutrients to other parts of our bodies, purify and clean our blood, nourish the brain and endocrine system, balance cholesterol and triglycerides, reduce inflammation and strengthen our immune systems. Unless we eat a mostly raw diet, most of us do not get enough enzymes. Enzymes help us to detoxify our bodies on a daily basis.

Probiotics - help to increase the amount of friendly flora in the digestive system. This improves digestion and elimination, strengthens the immune system and reduces fungal infections, allergic reactions and skin inflammations. This also may improve nutrient bioavailability and enhance immunity.

Essential Fatty Acids - These include Omega 3, 6 and 9 and are the healthy fats that reduce inflammation, improve brain functioning and help with maintaining overall good health and moist, healthy skin. When we don't get enough healthy fats our skin can get dry and irritated.

Antioxidants are found in most fruits and vegetables, but it is helpful to supplement your diet because these have such helpful benefits in preventing premature aging and protecting our bodies against toxins. Many natural foods have antioxidants, like green tea, blueberries, cranberries and other berries, mangosteen fruit, and even legumes such as small red beans, kidney beans and pinto beans.

Vitamins C and E can be useful in nourishing your skin and reversing the effects of sun damage on the skin. These vitamins are also useful applied to the skin in your skin care products.

Green Superfoods such as chlorella, spirulina, wheatgrass and barley grass provide chlorophyll which helps purify the body and natural Vitamin A which is necessary for moist and healthy skin. Without vitamin A your skin will get dry and flaky.

B Vitamins and Biotin - It's best to take B vitamins in a natural formula that contains all the B vitamins. Biotin is the most important for skin health. Even a mild deficiency of biotin can cause many sensitive skin symptoms including redness and itching, dermatitis and hair loss.

Minerals are essential to all aspects of good health, and essential to the health of your skin. We don't get enough of them because our soils have been depleted from over-zealous farming practices. Find a good natural mineral supplement and take it regularly.

Action Step #3 - Nourish Your Skin!

Add 2 additional servings of fresh, raw vegetables or fruits to your diet each day for one week. You can do this in a few ways.

  1. Make a green smoothie in the morning. Or, depending on your schedule this could be your afternoon or before dinner snack. This will give you two or three extra servings of fruits and vegetables! If you need protein in the morning, try a nice protein supplement powder. I like using the Nutribody Protein powder as it is very clean, it doesn't cause digestive problems, allergies or irritation. It's made from rice and pea protein and has 26 grams of protein per serving.

  2. If green smoothies aren't appealing for you, add an apple and some carrot or celery sticks to your lunch. Simple, easy and nutritious!

  3. Another way to add more fruits and veggies to your diet is to add a large fresh salad to your lunch or dinner. If you already eat salad, try increasing the quantity. Be sure to check the ingredients in your salad dressing and choose one that has pure and natural ingredients.

How did you feel adding two fresh veggies or fruits to your daily diet? Is your daily diet contributing to your radiant health? Let us know here at your Natural Beauty Journal.

If haven't set up your journal yet, set yours up here. It's fast, fun, and best of all free! :-)

More Ways to Nourish Your Skin

Eating well will make a huge difference in the appearance of your skin, and greatly helps your sensitive skin challenges. It may take you a while to find what foods feel best for your unique body. Take your time, go slowly and be gentle with yourself!

In addition to nourishing your whole body, there are some really simple and affordable ways that you can nourish your skin naturally, with ingredients from your kitchen!

I am a big fan of homemade skin care treatments, for several reasons.

  1. They use fresh, natural ingredients which are free from chemicals and toxins.
  2. You can make them in small batches so they are fresh.
  3. You can control the ingredients to customize treatments for your sensitive skin.
  4. Most homemade skincare recipes use just a few ingredients, which is really the best approach when you have sensitive skin.
You would be amazed at all of the things you can do with just a little bit of time and some fresh, natural ingredients!

For example, you can create your own homemade facial cleanser using milk or yogurt, which has natural and gentle alpha-hydroxy acids that cleanse and exfoliate without irritation to sensitive skin. Unless you have a milk allergy!

There are many natural receipes out there, and my favorite collection of natural anti-aging skin care recipes is from my friend Sue's new book Skinsational . There recipes are simple and very well researched, as Sue is an expert in anti-aging skin care. Another thing I like is that her recipes are very easy to customize for sensitive skin.

Have a Great Week!

Thank you for joining me in this weeks e-course lesson!

I look forward to seeing you next week!

Best wishes,



P.S. Did you know that many products that claim to be safe for sensitive skin actually have irritating, allergy producing or even toxic ingredients?

Some hypoallergenic products that claim to be all natural contain herbs, botanicals or essential oils which can cause allergic reactions and skin break outs for sensitive skin.

Even if you are not allergic to the herbs or essential oils, you may be allergic to the preservatives used to keep the herbs fresh, which are not required to be disclosed on the product label.

If you manage to find a product that is both chemically safe and also free of plant based allergens, it performs so poorly that you might as well use nothing!!

In my experience it is almost impossible to find a really effective hypoallergenic product line that actually makes you look and feel better.

I've only found one, after quite a number of years of searching for the right products for my sensitive skin. .



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