Youthful Skin – What’s The Secret?

My skin was a weak point growing up, eczema when I was young, spots in my teens and even hormonally in my 20s. Over the years, through my journey with health, my skin improved and I felt more confident in being make-up-free. Now in my 40s, I want my skin to continue to look healthy and age gracefully. I think we all want to keep youthful skin but without expensive creams and treatments. There are lots of inexpensive natural ways to replenish your skin and support healthy collagen production so here are my 10 Tips for Beautiful Skin

1. Focus on sleep
Sleep is the time that the body detoxifies from all the chemicals in our environment. If toxins are not eliminated with adequate sleep, you will often see them eliminated through the skin instead of through the usual channels of the liver and kidneys.

2. Avoid refined sugars and processed foods
These inflammatory foods create AGEs (Advanced Glycation End Products) or glycotoxins and in excessive amounts these create pathogens, the AGEs will age the tissues so avoiding them helps to keep the skin look young.

3. Stay hydrated
Water removes waste from the body, reduces inflammation, and helps to keep our skin looking plump and hydrated. Make sure your water is filtered to remove chemicals and impurities and aim to drink 1.5-2 liters per day. Filling a bottle and putting it on your desk or taking it with you helps to monitor your water intake.

4. Nourish the gut microbiome
An imbalance of unhealthy bacteria or other pathogens often express in the skin as one of the causes of acne or other skin conditions. Conversely, keeping our healthy bacteria abundant and inflammation low helps to improve our skin health and the elasticity of our skin by nourishing the cells, so consider regularly taking a probiotic or adding fermented foods to your diet.

5. Eat plenty of antioxidants
Protecting your cells from free medical damage (toxins), antioxidants help to keep our cells healthy including the skin cells, so adding plenty of berries, broccoli, kale, and spinach to your diet helps to keep your skin looking young.

6. Limit alcohol consumption
Alcohol is always the first toxin to be eliminated from the body, the liver must metabolise and remove it as quickly as possible. If the liver is overburdened with alcohol, it cannot safely remove all the other toxins that build up throughout the day. Alcohol is also a diuretic, meaning that we lose water that hydrates the skin but at the same time, we flush vitamins and minerals out of the body too.

7. Support with nutrients in food and extra supplements
Vitamin C supports collagen production (citrus fruits and kiwis), magnesium helps to remove free radicals and heavy metals (pumpkin seeds, cashews, leafy greens), and B12 removes harmful chemicals and preservatives (consider taking a B12 supplement if you are vegan). Zinc helps to protect the cells walls and for cells to divide so it is particularly helpful for skin health ( seeds, nuts and legumes).

8. Essential Oils
Essential Oils such as Frankincense, Myrrh, and Helichrysum have all been shown to help support healthy collagen production and reduce the appearance of sunspots and wrinkles. There are a lot of studies like this one on Frankincense reducing the redness and imperfections on the skin.

9. Use plenty of natural food-grade oils
Use natural oils on the skin to moisturise – cold-pressed oils such as black cumin seed oil, argan oil, jojoba oil and coconut oil all have many studies to treat rashes, acne and dryness, you can use these with your essential oils too.

10. Avoid expensive chemical face creams and cleansers
Expensive face creams and cleansers often have a big price label but they are usually chemical-based and actually disrupt our endocrine system. Currently, an unregulated industry, commercial face creams often contain synthetics and fragrances which are harmful to the health but also damage our skin cells.