Skincare is a Touchy Subject - 4 Ways to a Better Glow

Skincare | Beauty Products | Toxins | Gut Health | Fermentation

I’m going to link skincare, beauty products, toxins, gut health and fermentation. Sounds crazy, right? Stick with me here.

Did you know that the average woman applies about 170 chemicals to her body DAILY?

We use all sorts of lotions and potions and creams because we think we are doing something beneficial for our skin, help us look younger and feel more confident in our skin.

We drop tons of money searching for miracles. We slather creams, lotions and potions on our bodies hoping they will get rid of eczema, acne, papery, dry skin, red, sore and itchy skin, and wrinkles (and in the short term they sometimes do), but, when in fact those very products could be part of the problem.

There are chemicals in our food supply and in our beauty and personal care products. There are chemicals in our air, water and soil as well. These chemicals could be in the form of hormones in our water, milk or meat, they could be preservatives, BPA lined cans, artificial colours in cosmetics and food, plastic cookware, chemicals in our cleaning products and the list goes on.

We’ve grown to like and rely on our conveniences, but they come with a price.

Let’s look at the cosmetic industry.

This industry spends billions and billions a year convincing us that their latest serum or lotion is going to be life-changing.

And in essence, they’re not wrong. But maybe for the wrong reasons. You see, the problem is many of our personal care and beauty products are laden with preservatives, colours, and perfumes.

And our body has to deal with toxins in some form or another. It's designed to naturally detoxify those chemicals. But ask yourself this, what happens when the system becomes backed-up and sluggish?

When the toxic load becomes too much, we start to see health issues arise.

Issues like acne, skin blemishes, and thinning hair are more noticeable. The skin is a window into the state of your overall health. It’s giving you signals that all may not be well. If you don't like what you see in the mirror, you may not like what's going on deep inside either.

There are numerous ways to start supporting your natural detoxification and elimination body systems (notably the liver, kidneys, lungs, lymphatic, colon and skin).

4 ways to help your body manage toxins and achieve a healthy glow:

1. Reduce the amount of toxic exposure. We can’t eliminate all toxins, but we can start to reduce certain ones, thus allowing our body to manage the others. Start to replace conventional cosmetics and personal care products with healthier options and the overall toxic load decreases.

2. Increase nutrients that support those body systems. Skin health starts from within. Look for foods that are nutrient dense and reduce foods loaded with refined sugars, colours and unhealthy fats. Consume fermented foods to help bring diversity to your gut microbiome. To help you select foods with lower pesticide levels, check out the EWG's Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 List.

3. Reduce overall levels of stress (cortisol is a stress hormone that left unchecked can wreak havoc on hormonal function, so the body needs to remove excess cortisol). This means daily movement combined with lifestyle habits that help you relax, such as hobbies, saunas, massage, belly breathing, meditation, walking, and getting outside and into nature settings.

4. One of the most important ways to support both the detoxification and elimination processes is to be properly hydrated. Most of us are chronically dehydrated. It’s an easy fix – drink more filtered water to help your body flush out the toxins that it packages up for removal.

And finally, we’ve all heard that fermentation has many benefits.

But did you know that some of those benefits support other microbiomes in the body, not just the gut?

In fact, all of your microbiomes affect one another.

For example, when the gut microbiome is out of balance in favour of harmful bacteria over beneficial, then your skin microbiome will likely feel the effects as well.

It stands to reason that when you help the gut, you are also helping the skin microbiome. How can we support our gut microbiome?

Many of us are still not taking full advantage as to how fermentation can help us.

We can help the gut with exposure to probiotics, but not just any old probiotics. Diversity of strains and quantity matter. That means it’s in your digestion's best interest to consume a number of different types of fermented foods throughout the week. Include foods like sauerkraut, unsweetened, plain yogurt, miso, kefir, tempeh, kimchi and any foods that you ferment as well.

If you’re like me, you have women and girls in your life and when you give them cosmetics, lotions or other beauty products, you want the peace of mind that those products are safe.

You want to know which chemical offenders to avoid and which healthier and cleaner alternatives to look for. We all want glowing skin that is vibrant, smooth, and healthy.

I certainly don’t want to give anyone anything that has the potential to cause harm. And as I noted, many, many beauty products are loaded with toxins that can do just that. Endocrine disruptors can affect our hormone function, our gut health, and our microbiomes, including our skin microbiome.

I’m combining my Fermenting for Digestion – So You Can Bake Your Cake and Eat It Too workshop with my Love the Skin You’re In – A Guide for Menopausal Skincare eBook because fermentation and skincare are linked because the gut microbiome and skin microbiome are linked.

I want to show you that fermentation doesn’t have to be time consuming, difficult, complicated or expensive. In fact, the complete opposite is true. I want you to feel confident that you are doing something wonderful for your health, including your skin health. This combination of fermenting for digestion and healthy skincare practices is a classic example of an ‘holistic’ approach to healthcare.

I’m giving away my Love the Skin You’re In – A Guide for Menopausal Skincare eBook to anyone who registers for my Interactive, Online Workshop:

Fermenting for Digestion (for Beginners) – So You Can Bake Your Cake & Eat it Too!

Sunday December 4th – 1:00pm – 3:00pm ET (10:00am – 1:00pm PT)

Click here to learn more

---

Don't forget to join my Facebook group BUSY BROADS RE-ENERGIZE & THRIVE for ongoing support, information and accountability for for all of us 'middle aged' women. BBRT is for anyone struggling with hormonal imbalances and gut health issues. This includes a very wide range of symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, unwanted weight gain, hot flashes, night sweats, digestive issues (gas, bloat, constipation), adult acne, thinning hair, dry and itchy skin and more.