The Skincare Diet You Didn’t Know You Needed

skincare diet

Are you treating your skin like an afterthought? Did you take its supple resilience for granted until it was too late? 

Your body’s largest organ is so much more than the barrier between you and your environment. It influences your health, your appearance, and your confidence. So don’t make the mistake of nourishing yourself with a skincare diet that’s no better than a bag full of Halloween candy or a McDonald’s number 5 combo meal.

The right skincare diet has the power to rejuvenate your skin. You can reverse those sagging cheek bones and dark circles before anyone realizes they existed! 

And don’t worry. A skincare diet is nothing like the “trendy” Hollywood diets that force you to survive on green tea and crackers for a week.

Instead, a real skincare diet encourages you to enjoy rich, nutritious foods, superior plant-based skincare products, and empowering lifestyle habits. 

The Importance of Caring For the Skin You’re In

Perky skin used to be effortless, but you were too young to appreciate what you had. Now you’re in your 30s, 40s, or beyond, and you really don’t like the changes staring back at you in the mirror. The wrinkles, dark circles, and droopy skin didn’t appear overnight, but you can no longer deny the signs of aging marring your complexion.

The internal structure of skin changes (usually for the worse!) as we get older. Collagen, elastin, and muscle tone lose their momentum and slowly surrender to gravity and time. When those internal changes combine with external forces like UV rays, dehydration, and toxins, your skin takes the brunt force of the trauma. 

But that doesn’t mean it’s time to wave your white flag and surrender! Far from it. Now is the time to adopt a better skincare diet that enriches and revitalizes the skin you’re in. 

What is the Function of Your Skin?

Your skin is the unsuspecting superhero of your body. In addition to defining your unique appearance, the body’s largest organ serves manyvital functions:

  • Balances water and electrolytes
  • Regulates body temperature
  • Protects underlying tissues and organs from damage
  • Supports vitamin D synthesis
  • Provides a shield against harmful substances

More than 1,000 nerve endings, 20 blood vessels, and 650 sweat glands cover each square inch of your skin to help the epidermis serve its duties. But this is a double-edged sword. Any toxins that infiltrate your skin’s protective barrier gain immediate access to your bloodstream. 

Although you can’t always control the toxins in your environment as you workout in the gym or sit at work, you can control which products you apply directly to your skin. Unlike the toxins that enter your body in food, which the liver quickly traps and excretes, toxins entering through the skin travel directly into blood vessels. Worse yet, most toxins are lipid-soluble and easily attach to important fatty tissues throughout your body. 

The moral of the story? It’s your job to preserve your body’s protector with the best skincare diet. 

Skincare Diet Lessons From Our Paleolithic Ancestors

Our Paleolithic ancestors lived during the Stone Age, a full 2.5 million years before the age of industrialized farming and chain grocery stores. They ate what nature had to offer: plants and lean meats.  

We have a lot to learn from the cavemen! Plants are jam-packed with the essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that support glowing skin, strong nails, and luscious hair.  It would be crazy not to use skincare products formulated with such powerful ingredients.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants support skin health by eliminating free radicals before they have the chance to contribute to premature aging. Uncontrolled free radicals attack fatty tissue, DNA, and proteins throughout the body, which explains why oxidative stress is associated with atherosclerosis, inflammatory conditions, and multiple skin imperfections. 

Pecans, blueberries, strawberries, and kale are just a few antioxidant powerhouses that also taste incredible. When the nutrients from these whole foods find their way into your skincare products, your skin can more effectively combat toxins and chemicals. 

Vitamins

Even with air and water, you can’t survive without vitamins and minerals. Your body can’t synthesize its own vitamins — with the notable exception of vitamin D — so foods and supplements are the only sources of these crucial nutrients. 

Just like a vitamin deficiency leaves the body weak and vulnerable, the skin also suffers when it's deprived of vitamins. Consider the incredible impact of these vitamins on your complexion, appearance and skin health:

  • Vitamin C supports collagen production, decreases cell damage, and supports the healing process
  • Vitamin E reduces UV damage to prevent dark spots and wrinkles, prevents dryness, and limits inflammation
  • Vitamin K may improve the appearance of stretch marks, spider veins, scars, and dark spots 

You can’t always rely on the vitamins in your food to reach your epidermis, which is why it’s so important to use plant-based skincare products rich in the vitamins your skin needs most.

Improve Your Skin Quality With These Easy Habits

Before you start your official skincare diet, you need to build a strong foundation with these easy habits. It doesn’t make sense to adopt a perfect skincare routine, only to undermine your plant-based products with other crappy choices. Use the following quick tips to improve your skin quality and get ready for the ultimate skincare diet. 

Eat a Healthy Diet

If you’re honest with yourself, you already know that a dinner of roasted chicken and broccoli makes your body feel a whole heck of a lot better than a party box from Taco Bell. Every step you take to embrace clean eating choices ultimately reflects back on your skin.  

Contrary to what so many dieting fads would have you believe, you never (ever!) need to starve or deprive yourself to eat healthy. Cut out refined, processed foods, limit your sugar intake, and feast on these delicious options:

  • Lean protein
  • Fresh vegetables
  • Fresh fruit
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Legumes
  • Low-fat dairy

Your journey to better skin really needs to start with the way you nourish your body.

Detoxify

A real detoxification uses a blend of herbs, nutrients, juices, supplements, and nutritious foods to enhance your body’s natural detoxification mechanisms. The ultimate goal of a detox is to purge excess toxins from your body. 

By performing a detox program at least once a year, you actively pull toxins out of your organs and cells to reduce inflammation and help them perform optimally once again. This results in brighter, more vibrant skin.

Sleep More!

If you don’t already sleep eight hours a night, start now! Every single second that you’re asleep is another minute your body has to repair itself. Consider all of the dynamic activity that takes place while you’re getting your beauty sleep:

  • Blood flow increases to deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells
  • Skin rebuilds damaged collagen
  • Tissues initiate growth and repair
  • Hormones recalibrate to reduce stress and inflammation responses
  • Energy is restored

When you skimp on quality sleep, the evidence shows on your skin. That next episode of your favorite Netflix series can wait. Give your body the rest it needs to look and feel restored. 

Stop Using Water-Based Skincare Products... Now!

Seriously, guys. I can’t say it enough. Throw your water-based skincare products in the garbage, right where they belong. Water in your skincare is just like sugar in your diet: harmful and toxic. 

Water-based products dehydrate your complexion by pulling moisture out of your skin. Even worse, most products use standard tap water instead of filtered water. When the water evaporates, it leaves behind high concentrations of toxins and heavy metals on your skin.

Although you may not see the toxins and heavy metals accumulated on your face, you’re sure to notice their side effects like wrinkles, dullness, acne, and discoloration. 

This is exactly why any product containing water as the first ingredient should set off a red warning light in your mind. Don’t fall into the trap of spending money on a water-based product with a flawed formula that will never deliver on its promises.  

Get Some Vitamin D 

Vitamin D, the “sunshine vitamin” is the only vitamin your body can produce itself. Make sure you nourish your body with enough vitamin D through supplements and the sun itself. As long as you use a natural sun protector, your skin can soak in the rays safely. 

In addition to its vital importance to your overall health, vitamin D has the ability to reduce psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, acne, and many other inflammatory skin conditions. 

Sweat It Out

Decades of clever antiperspirant commercials have us convinced that sweat is the enemy, but in reality it’s one of the simplest ways to detox your body. 

You’re equipped with 2 to 4 million sweat glands across your body for a reason! As soon as your body temperature rises, those sweat glands release salty liquid to keep your internal temperature as close to 98.6 degrees as possible. This leads to important benefits:

  • Prevents overheating
  • Pushes toxins out of the body, including heavy metals, phthalates, and BPA
  • Protects immune system by killing viruses and bacteria
  • Cleanses the pores

Research even shows that some toxins are released through sweat more than in blood or urine. All the more reason to hit the track, gym, or yoga mat to sweat it out.

Try "Face Yoga"

Your biceps and quads aren’t the only muscles to atrophy when you skip your workouts a few weeks in a row. The facial muscles that define your appearance also become weak, brittle, and droopy as you age. 

“Face yoga”, a collection of simple exercises, easily tones and strengthens cheekbones to keep your face looking looking lifted, healthier, and younger. Gravity, shmavity. 

Try these simple facial exercises while you’re driving or making dinner:

  • Pucker your lips
  • Jut your chin out while looking up at the ceiling
  • Gentle sweep your fingers across your forehead and apply light pressure

There are plenty of other facial exercise ideas online. Just remember that results don’t come instantaneously. It may take months to notice tangible results, but it will be worth it when you turn 55 and still look 35!

 The Best Regimen For Healthy Skin

It’s finally time to make your new skincare diet a reality. The key is finding a balance between what you put into your body and what you put on your skin. Balance is surprisingly easy to achieve when you master the five pillars of beautiful skin, cut sugar out of your diet, and use a jade roller every morning. 

1. Master the Five Pillars of Beautiful Skin

After dedicating more than a decade to formulating pure, natural, plant-based skincare products, I’ve identified five core pillars of beautiful skin. Hydration, blood flow, muscle tone, collagen, and elastin are the most fundamental elements of youthful, healthy skin. 

Hydration

Hydration is the secret weapon you need to transform pruned, wrinkled skin. When dehydrated skin finally receives the moisture it craves, you can practically watch it inflate and reclaim its plump, supple shape. 

Well-hydrated skin is also less oily, so listen up if you have chronically oily skin! The oil glands on your face respond to dehydration by producing more oil. This physiological response is meant to defend the skin, but in reality it leaves you feeling greasy and unattractive. Once your skin is properly hydrated, those sebaceous glands will calm down and stop overproducing. 

Healthier, happier skin means less acne, discoloration, irritation, and other aesthetic problems. 

Blood Flow

Blood circulation is your body’s lifeline. It delivers nutrients and oxygen to cells throughout your body and then removes cell waste. Without strong and continual circulation, your skin becomes deprived of the nutrients, oxygen, and detoxification process it needs to look and feel youthful and vibrant. 

The effects of poor circulation quickly become evident on your skin in the form of:

  • Unattractive skin tone with dull complexion 
  • Skin discoloration like dark spots and uneven skin tone 
  • Acne and inflammation
  • Wrinkles
  • Dark eye circles

Fortunately, poor circulation is reversible and within your control! Improved blood flow instantly rejuvenates the appearance of your skin. 

Muscle Tone

Muscle tone is the key to strong, lifted cheeks and firm skin. On top of facial exercises, the Quiver is here to revolutionize your journey to better muscle tone!

This handheld facial device releases sonic vibrations that reach deep into your skin to stimulate muscle strength, boost collagen production, remove dead skin cells, and enhance the action of serums and moisturizers. 

You can literally feel your skin tingling after you use the Quiver — that’s youthful, lifted skin in the making!

Collagen 

Perhaps no other word is so closely associated with skin health as collagen. Collagen forms a thick, fibrous network of cells in the middle layer of your skin that functions like a mattress. If collagen production slows, the mattress deflates, leaving your skin looking gaunt and unhealthy. 

Unfortunately, collagen synthesis declines significantly as we get older. Research shows that the market of ongoing collagen production decreases by 68% between the age of 18 and 80. There’s good news to this, too: A solid skincare diet of whole foods, plant-based skincare products, improved circulation, and hydration automatically improves collagen synthesis and staves off the effects of aging. 

Elastin

Besides hydration, blood flow, muscle tone, and collagen production, firm skin also relies on elastin. This protein is found within the collagen in the middle layer of your skin. It gives structure to your skin, so it maintains a youthful elastic response. Using a skincare diet to accelerate collagen production enriches your supply of elastin as well; it's a win-win!

2. Cut Sugar Out of Your Diet

Sugar itself is not poisonous, but acts like a poison in the body, especially in its ability to trigger inflammation!

Sugar intake spikes your insulin levels and sends bullets of inflammation soaring through your body. Every time this happens, healthy cells become the victims. 

If you’re about to drink a soda with 48 grams of sugar, think of that beverage as 48 grams of inflammation and self-destruction instead. Sugar quickly destroys the elastin and collagen in your skin, which you know are critical for a youthful, perky complexion. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, blood flow and detoxification diminish as inflammation builds. Toxic buildup creates more inflammation, and the cycle of damage continues until it becomes visible through changes like acne, wrinkles, laxity, dull skin tone, and other imperfections. 

I know that steering clear of sugar isn’t easy. There’s a reason that experts say sugar is just as addictive as recreational drugs! But you might be surprised to realize how awesome you feel without sugar constantly provoking your internal systems.

3. Use the Jade Roller Every Morning

Does your face feel puffy in the morning? It’s not just your imagination! Use the cool Jade Gemstone Roller to sooth puffiness and inflammation that develops while you sleep. Talk about starting your day on the right side of the bed. 

Imagine a cold, ultra-smooth stone massaging your face and neck. Unlike bare fingers, it doesn’t pull and tug as it glides across your skin. This preserves your skin’s elasticity, reduces the appearance of wrinkles, and calms angry skin. 

Of course, the jade roller also supercharges the power of other skincare products. It works in harmony with serums and moisturizers to improve absorption of nutrients into the skin.

Signs It’s Time to Overhaul Your Skincare Routine

Find a photo of yourself currently, five years ago, and ten years ago. If you don’t like what you see, then it’s time to overhaul your skincare routine with a better skincare diet. What do you have to lose?

Get back to the basics and switch to real, plant-based skincare products you can trust to nurture your skin back to its former radiance. Dull, tired, sagging skin will become a thing of the past!

 

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