3/7/15

Nutrition & Self Care for Healthy Skin from Ladies Who Know


Hi all!  This week I've got a guest post from two of my favorite ladies - health coaches Beth Wittig Clayton and Kimbre Lancaster - who have tips for using food and more to help clarify and fortify your skin.  Enjoy! xo Erin

Hi there!  Beth and Kimbre here! We are health coaches here in NYC and have been avid users of Erin’s Faces products for years. As health coaches, we love the fact that Erin creates products that are so beautiful, so luxurious for the skin and all-natural. Her products are one of the first that we will recommend to clients looking for a healthy and safe way to beautify and clear their skin. As nutritional and lifestyle experts, we also help our clients to find ways to start at the center of it all and nourish their bodies with foods that naturally help to clarify and rejuvenate the skin, while also focusing on lifestyle suggestions that set them up for success. When you bring incredible natural products together with self-care and nutrition, amazing things start to happen; you have happier, healthier, softer and clearer skin.
 
KIMBRE’S EASY RECIPES FOR HEALTHY SKIN

Guys! We think a lot about what we put on our skin, but we sometimes forget that the things we put in our mouth effect our skin too. It's all connected. So here are some simple winter recipes that not only warm your spirit but make your skin sing. The goal here is to introduce foods that fight free radicals with rich antioxidants, help reduce inflammation and boost both oxygen and blood flow to the skin.  


Green Tea and Lemon Zest: Use a knife to carefully remove a section of the peel from a fresh lemon. Squeeze the peel, yellow side down towards the tea, and then allow the peel to steep along with the tea. The polyphenols and EGCG in the tea boost blood flow and oxygen to the skin, while the limonene in the oil of the lemon peel helps your risk of certain skin cancers.


Rosemary Roasted Winter Vegetables: Sprinkle fresh rosemary and cracked sea salt over chopped pumpkin, carrots and sweet potatoes. Roast these dice sized chunks at 350 until softened.This triad of sweet vegetables is packed with various carotenoids, and the rosemary not only packs a punch of antioxidants of its own, it's also another powerful cancer preventer.


Power Nut Mix: Mix together 1 Tbsp walnuts, 1 Tbsp Sunflower seeds and 1 Tbsp Dark Chocolate Chips. The Omega 3‘s and Vitamin E from the walnuts help the immune system fight inflammation and clear your skin, while the flavanols from the chocolate help improve hydration and circulation to give your skin that rosy glow.


Skin Happy Salad:  Mix a healthy portion of fresh kale (stems removed) with a drizzle of olive oil, a small dash of coconut aminos, some fresh chopped garlic, and a heaping tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Massage with your hands until soft. Massaging helps break down the kale for a more palatable texture, while mixing together all the flavors you just added. The olive oils polyphenols help control harmful free radicals, the coconut aminos provide seventeen different amino acids (plus vitamins and minerals), and the Vitamin B12 from the nutritional yeast helps prevent both dark and light spots from forming beneath the surface of your skin.


Happy Hour: Hit up your favorite raw bar for raw oysters in a half shell and ask for the house mignonette. This vinegary sauce traditionally contains raw marinated shallots. Raw shallots detoxify, making room for the zinc in the oysters to come in and improve the growth and functions of the skin cells themselves. Ask your server to help you pair this with a glass of light red wine to bring in resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant found in numerous studies to reduce and prevent the signs of aging. Be sure to stop at one glass, to prevent dehydration.

BETH’S SELF-CARE SUGGESTIONS FOR CLEAR SKIN


Hydration!  
Okay, this may sound like a no brainer but is SUPER important. The skin’s main function is to remove the toxic and metabolic waste through the body, and if there are more toxins than hydration in the body, the skin has to pick up the slack for the kidneys and liver. The PH of the skin changes, allowing bacteria to flourish.
 

Change your pillow cases every few days!  
I know! This is a lot. You may have to stock up on pillow cases. Pick natural fibers that are breathable as well. The longer you go, the more bacteria is depositing on your pillow case, and the more is flourishing as you put your head down to rest and re-depositing on your face, leading to inexplicable morning pimples.
 

Food Sensitivity Testing!
If you are sensitive to a certain type of food, the big ones being gluten, dairy, and soy, then oftentimes your body will let you know that there is inflammation breeding. Your skin will become more inflamed as your intestinal track does so.  Take the big allergens out of your diet for a couple weeks and add them back in slowly and one at a time, to see if your skin or digestion is affected. Knowledge is power!


Include MORE Omega 3’s and Antioxidants
Just as Kimbre suggested in her recipes, we need a healthy ratio ofOomega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids in order to keep inflammation at bay in our bodies. However, the Western diet isn't rife with Omega 6’s and pretty low in Omega 3’s, so we need to supplement. Bring in more fatty fish (salmon), hemp seeds, and chia seeds. Antioxidants in deep purple and red fruits and vegetables also fight free-radicals, which can increase inflammation. The more Omega 3’s and anti-oxidants you have, the less inflammation on your skin.


Lower your refined carb/sugar intake (Replace with sugar-stabilizing carbs)
The more sugar you are eating (or foods that metabolize as sugar in the body), the more insulin your body is producing. Just as sex hormones increase acne, so does the hormone insulin.
 
Get your hormone levels checked…
If you feel like you are doing EVERYTHING right and you are still getting pesky hormonal acne on your jaw line and neck, it may be time to go to the doc to test your androgen levels, especially if there is additional hair growth. This could be one of the signs of polycystic ovarian syndrome or testosterone/estrogen balances.  No need to worry! There are absolutely natural ways to treat this but it’s great to have the information. For more info, check out The Hormone Cure by Dr. Sara Gottfried. 

Rock On & Be Well,
Kimbre & Beth

Who are Beth and Kimbre?

Beth Wittig Clayton teaches people how to lose weight naturally without all the guilt and deprivation through fundamentally shifting their relationship with food, leading to new levels of empowerment not only in their bodies, but in their lives. www.bethwittig.com

Kimbre Lancaster is a professional actress and health coach who prides herself on helping clients creating space in their life to achieve their dreams, discover foods that fit their bodies individual needs, and naturally combat disease. Creatingthespace.org http://www.invisible-film.com

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