Healthy Skin Year Round

We love skin. It is such an important marker of your overall health, and as compounders, we work with many dermatologists and physicians to support healthy skin.

Your skin is the window to your gastrointestinal, hormonal and nutritional health. Being the largest organ in the body, it has some significant responsibilities.

• Elimination and detoxifying
• Making vitamin D
• Protecting our body from outside assaults

What many people forget is that healthy skin starts from the inside out. No matter how much you spend on skin products, you will not get the results you want if your overall health is not addressed. Many factors are involved in getting that healthy glow, with good nutrition being the foundation. Diet, water, stress and rest are essential in addition to skincare products and sun protection.

Foods Your Skin Loves

These are the powerhouse of nutrient-rich foods. All the ones with bright, beautiful colours, antioxidant-rich and full of all the good stuff your skin will love.

All leafy greens – kale, Rapini, Spinach, Collard greens, Swiss chard, Arugula

1. Berries – blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries
2. Yellow-orange fruits and vegetables – Bell Peppers, Lemon, Pumpkin, Squash, Carrots, Sweet potatoes
3. Fish – the fattier, the better – Salmon, Sardines, Mackerel
4. Nuts and seeds – Almonds, Walnuts, Sunflower seeds
5. Clean proteins – Chicken, fish, turkey, eggs

More water! As a whole, we don’t drink enough.

Water deserves its full page, and we gave it one, so read up on how much water one should drink. We are all made of water, about 55% of our bodies for women and 60% for men. We need to maintain that balance for our brain and body to function well. Dehydrated skin will appear dry, flaky, and more prone to wrinkles and damage. Somehow, drinking water is one of the most challenging habits to maintain.

Coping with Stress

Who doesn’t deal with this? It is inevitable – unless you live on a mountain top with clean air and food and not a care in the world – but the differentiator for how our body will handle a stressor is how well we cope with it. Your mom could misplace her keys and freak out to the point where no one wants to be around her unless there is a security or a life coach. Whereas, you could lose a friend or family member and cope so well everyone is wondering what you are on and wants some of it. Either way, the stressors exist, but each person's stress hormones vary. Stress hormone – Cortisol – is not kind to our skin. Cortisol causes dryness, wrinkles, acne, redness and tired-looking skin.

Coping mechanisms can drastically turn things around: Walking, Exercise, Yoga, Meditation, Sleep and whatever healthy lifestyle habit that gets you focused on the present moment, remind you to be grateful and be kind yourself.

Sleep!

Insomnia has got to be one of the top 3 complaints I see in my office. We all need sleep, but it eludes many of us. Certainly, sleep disturbance is a complex issue since many reasons can cause sleepless nights.

A great place to start is making sure you have good sleep hygiene, a clean diet with good quality protein, avoid any foods you may be sensitive to, no caffeine after 3 pm and meditate at bedtime.

What will you commit to adopting in 2022 to ensure you have glowing skin?