Healthy Glowing Summer Skin
By Cara Statz
Healthy glowing summer skin: we all want it, but do expensive creams and magic pills really work? Here are some simple easy steps that have proven to be effective, efficient and won’t leave your wallet crying.
The natural alternatives listed below are great natural alternatives to help give skin that beautiful natural glow that will get you noticed this summer!
Watch out for saturated fats.
Foods such as meat products and dairy can lead to inflammation. The anti-inflammatory unsaturated fats, such as those from deep sea fish, avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and all seeds – particularly flaxseed, chia and hemp seeds. Increasing consumption of these foods will also increase selenium, vitamin D, zinc and other helpful nutrients that are for good skin health.
Benefits from fruits and vegetables.
Eating more fresh fruit and veggies will increase the intake of Vitamin C, bioflavonoids, iron, carotenoids and Vitamin E, which are important anti-inflammatory foods. This is such an important point for good skin health. Vitamin A (found in carrots, squash, sweet potato, kale, spinach to name a few) has properties to decrease breakouts of acne and keep the skin healthy. Combined with Vitamin D, naturally sourced in sunlight or butter, broccoli, avocado, kiwi, papaya, walnuts, whole wheat grains, these vitamins work to not only decrease the proliferation of acne, but also as treatment in mild, moderate and severe forms of acne as well as photoaging and certain types of cancers.
Healthy probiotics.
Eating fermented foods or taking a probiotic supplement can be very helpful. Studies indicate that some probiotics such as lactobacillus rhamnosus can reduce atopic dermatitis significantly. A healthy gut is a healthy body. Eczema can also be associated with a high incidence of microbes, such as candida, which are not beneficial in the digestive tract.
Sugar and all processed foods.
These have a vast impact on our immune health and our gut health. These foods will aggravate any type of allergy drastically and will increase inflammatory skin ailments. I have seen repeated cases where sugar was the worst culprit of all.
Water.
Filtered water aids detoxification and elimination of waste. The skin is a large eliminative organ and it is very important to drink plenty of water to flush out toxins. Eight to ten glasses per day is recommended in the Canada Food Guide, but if you are sweating a lot in the hot summer sun, be sure to replenish!
Exercise.
Exercise that gets you sweating also aids elimination through the skin and improves lymphatic circulation. Exercise helps reduce stress – a major factor for eczema – and exercise can function as a natural barrier, protecting against both environmental and internal stresses.
Natural Skin Care on the Outside:
If You Wouldn’t Eat It,
Then You Shouldn’t Put It On Your Skin
Often people forget that the skin is a two-way membrane and if the substance [you put on your skin] is fat-soluble, then it will absorb very easily into the lymphatic and blood systems. This is why hormones and some medications can be utilized as a skin patch due to the easy assimilation through the skin!
Excellent skin foods.
Coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, rosehip oil, argan oil, natural Vitamin E oil – and if it is good for your skin, it will also be good to put on your hair and even eat for improved skin health. It turns out that coconut oil is composed of an uncommon type of fat. Most animal and plant fats are made up of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). Coconut oil is made of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), which our bodies metabolize differently than LCFAs. Most notably, unlike fats composed of LCFAs, coconut oil doesn’t increase cholesterol in the blood stream. In fact, it decreases the presence of cholesterol in the tissues of organs like the liver, effectively lowering cholesterol.
Coconut oil has also been found to possess other healing properties, including boosting the health of skin and improving dry lips. Because of its MCFAs, coconut oil is easily absorbed by the skin. It serves as an emollient (a softening agent) and a moisturizer. Even more, coconut oil allows for easier absorption of vitamins, including the fat-soluble Vitamin E, an antioxidant that reduces the formation of free radicals that damage cells.
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Cara Statz’s ever-curious interest in mind-body connectivity began as a young child and eventually led her to a career in personal training and a degree in kinesiology; and she is currently completing her degree in naturopathic medicine. Cara has been a competitive athlete since the age of seven, participating in a variety of sports ranging from karate and swimming to, most recently, entering her first figure and physique show where she placed 2nd over all. Her multifaceted expertise on fitness, nutrition and holistic health, and her approach to mind-body care, gives her clients a whole body treatment plan, which ultimately leads to whole body transformations inside and outside.
