Beauty & vitality

“Beauty comes from within” – how to help your skin look good

• In order to fend off harmful external influences and protect itself against infections, allergies, irritation and dehydration the acid mantel of your skin needs to be healthy and robust. So please don’t clean your skin with water alone, because it temporarily dries out the various layers and disturbs the barrier function. It’s better to include a oil-replenishing cleanser to the water.
• Create yourself a natural cleanser. Add two tablespoons of olive oil or linseed oil to a cup of milk, then simply add the mixture to the water at body temperature. Gently massage into the skin and carefully dab dry afterwards – do not rub!
• Moisturising your skin is essential. Make sure, however, that everything you use has a neutral to slightly acid pH value of approx. 5.5 to 5.7 – this will keep the protective acid mantle intact. Good skin care doesn’t have to be expensive, but the ingredients should be age-appropriate.
• Avoid too much UV light and make sure you apply a day cream with sun protection. UV light stresses the skin and causes it to age prematurely – and it also may increase the risk of skin cancer. Natural sun protection can also be eaten! This is where the secondary plant substances, such as those found in carrots and tomatoes, can help. Consistency is important: For at least 14 days, eat two tablespoons of tomato paste with a few drops of olive oil on your rye bread. This boosts your natural skin protection equivalent to using external sun protection of factor 3 to 4.

Healthy skin through healthy nutrition

• Healthy nutrition is medicine for beautiful skin. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables with deep rich colours: Blueberries, raspberries, elderberries, currants, eggplants, spinach and chard are particularly rich in plant antioxidants and protect the skin from free radicals.
• The right oils and fats, such as linseed oil, protect against your skin from drying out thanks to their poly-unsaturated fatty acids.
• Food rich in vitamin A (including many types of fruit & vegetables, egg yolk and oily fish like mackerel and salmon), increases skin thickness and improves the skin structure.
• Vitamin E prevents age spots and reduces the loss of moisture in the skin. It is particularly found in grains, nuts and vegetable oils such as wheat germ oil, corn oil and sunflower seed oil.
• And, as always, drink optimal levels of water for you! Water is the elixir of the skin.
• It's no exageration to say that good sleep is the be-all and end-all for a healthy glow. Sufficient rest and recovery supports all the regeneration processes in your body and skin.
• Treat yourself to an overall healthy lifestyle! Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, carrying too much weight, lack of sleep, stress and the wrong nutrition play an enormous role (up to 40 percent!) in how quickly your skin ages.
• And don’t forget that your skin loves exercise in fresh clean air!

How to help your skin with healthy nutrition:

Address your diet – in the case of psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease, improving food choices has been shown to have a significantly positive influence.

The causes of psoriasis can be genetic or due to environmental factors such as stress and medication. A diet aligned to illness supports and stabilises your body’s own defences. In this way healing the skin and mucous membranes more efficiently.

Therapeutic fasting can have anti-inflammatory effects and relieve itching and pain. One study showed that after a four-week calorie-reduced diet, the skin problems of the test subjects decreased significantly.

Eat and drink well: If you eat a balanced diet – whole grain & great protein together with enough fruit and vegetables – and if you drink enough, you’re giving your skin the optimal nutrient supply for health.

Remember: fats play an essential role in health so don’t avoid fat! Foods rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids ensure cell walls are flexible and supple. They are then able to absorb nutrients more easily and also release metabolic end products i.e. detox efficiently. So include high-quality oils, nuts, seeds and oily fish. Bon appetit!

If possible, eat natural foods: Study subjects with chronic urticaria (itchy skin or “hives”), for example, trialed a diet with no additives such as preservatives and colouring. They also avoided hyperallergenic foods such as pineapple, strawberries and apricots. Within three weeks, 70 percent of patients were symptom-free.

Be patient and consistent. Whether it’s due to illness or for cosmetic reasons – if you want to do your skin some good by changing your diet, a change in your skin won’t happen overnight. It’s an ongoing project that is rewarded with patience. So stay tuned – it’s worth investing in a healthy diet.

Tips for an excellent sense of taste

• If you think you have a poor sense of taste talk to your practitioner about having the right supplement such as a good multinutrient to boost your levels of nutrients such as zinc which are vital for a good sense of taste.
• Avoid ready meals and fast food if possible.
• Be curious and bring out your inner adventurous nature. Whenever possible try new and different foods or combinations.
• Make sure you have enough time to eat. Look forward to the creating your food and meals!
• Be mindful – always eat conscientiously, without letting yourself be distracted by your phone, television, the radio, reading, or work.
• Eat slowly and ‘feel’ the taste. Close your eyes from time to time and concentrate on the food in your mouth. How are you experiencing your meal now?

Feeling and touching belong to our primal experiences – before we were born, we oriented ourselves on these senses in the womb long before we could hear or see.

When we were babies and toddlers, we used our hands and mouths to explore the world.

Is something angular or round, smooth or rough, cold or warm, wet or dry, hard, fluffy or soft? We learned to distinguish all this with these senses and in the truest sense of the word, to really start to understand our world.

Using all our senses when we are eating really can open up a whole new way of enjoying our meals and getting the best possible nutrition from our food.

Sensitise your sense of touch – go barefoot

One unique way to intensify the sense of touch is to regularly go barefoot. Many health resorts and communities around the world now offer barefoot footpaths and hiking trails.

The evidence shows that by sensing various materials (pebbles, sand, grass etc) under the soles of your feet, intense sensations are experienced which encourage soothing relaxation and healthy grounding.

Walking barefoot on the beach or in lush grass is a wonderful way to relax at the weekends.