The Best and Worst Foods For Your Skin

First impressions are everything, which is why it’s so important to put your best face forward. The latest research shows it’s not just what you put on your skin that matters—it’s what you put in it. Eating habits can either make or break your complexion, which is why you should be more cognizant about your diet. Here are my top recommendations for foods to consume more of and foods to avoid entirely.

Eat more:

1. Fish

Want to keep wrinkles and redness at bay?  Then it’s time to make fish a staple in your diet.

Due to being rich in omega-3 fatty acids, fish is powerful ally when it comes to reducing inflammation and promoting hydration. Dr. Leslie Baumann, certified board dermatologist and founder of Baumann Cosmetic & Research Institute, recommends consuming wild fish as opposed to farm-raised fish whenever possible, since it is higher in omega-3s.

2. Berries

Most of you will be delighted to see that berries made the list. Not only are they sweet and nutritious, they’re also highly nutritious. Berries are loaded with antioxidants, which are known for combating free radicals. Several studies have linked free radicals to accelerated aging. 

3. Green Tea

While we’re on the topic of antioxidants, green tea is a potent source of polyphenols, an antioxidant with powerful anti-inflammatory properties.

"Of all the antioxidants known to mankind, the components of green tea are the most potent," says Dr. Hasan Mukhtar, a professor and director of research in the dermatology department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. "Antioxidants are those agents which can counteract the effects of oxidant radicals."

Steer clear of:

1. Dairy

I know, hard to believe, considering most of us grew up with the ever-so-popular “Got milk?” commercials. But it turns out, that was just clever marketing.  

New evidence has emerged that shows a link between dairy and several inflammatory skin conditions, including acne, rosacea, and psoriasis. Researchers are still unsure as to whether it’s due to the naturally occurring sugars that are present within dairy or the hormones that go along with it. Either way, this is one food group you want to avoid.

2. Refined Sugar and Processed Carbs

Even if you can eat donuts, bagels, cookies, and French fries without putting on a pound of weight, you’re still damaging your skin at the cellular level.  That’s because refined sugar and processed carbs cause an immediate spike in insulin. When that happens, it sends your body into overdrive, which translate to inflammation, irritation, and a loss of skin elasticity. What your body needs is a slow, steady release of energy. Ditch the sweet treats and white bread and instead opt for whole grains and fresh fruit.

3. Alcohol

While there’s research to suggest that a glass of wine a day is healthy, at the end of the day it’s still poison. Your body treats it as a toxin and as such, actively has to work to get rid of it. Some people can see the effect this has on the skin immediately, in a reaction known as flush. But even if you don’t see the effects right away, you will years down the line.

One word of note: I realize that there are situations in life that make it next to impossible to avoid one or two of the bad food groups listed. My suggestion is to make exceptions only on special occasions (a new job, a birthday, a family get-together). In the effort to stay healthy, don’t neglect your mental health by trying to adhere to too strict of a diet.

Good luck on your vibrant skin journey!

One More Reason for a Daily Cup O’ Joe

Coffee may help improve memory, in addition to a wide variety of other health benefits.
Image: Shutterstock

If you keep up with news, perhaps you’ll have heard this little tidbit: drinking coffee may be a boon to memory, according to a study out of Johns Hopkins University. You know how I love my coffee (one of the many reasons I love living in Seattle)—and now, I can love it even more.

Researchers showed study participants a series of images and then either gave participants 200 milligrams of caffeine or a placebo. Twenty-four hours later, the participants were asked to identify the images during a similar lineup. Those that had been given caffeine were better able to identify the images.

Caffeine has been the focus of many health and wellness studies. These studies have suggested that drinking coffee can have some incredible benefits:

Coffee can…

• Raise our energy levels (duh)
• Make us smarter
• Help us burn fat
• Improve physical performance
• Give us several important nutrients
• Lower our risk of Type II Diabetes
• Protect us from Alzheimer’s and dementia
• Lower our risk of Parkinson’s
• Keep our liver from developing cirrhosis
• Improve our mood and fight depression
• Lower our risk of certain kinds of cancer
• Reduce the risk of stroke
• Improve longevity
• Give us much-needed antioxidants

I never used to drink coffee, but over the years it became an acquired taste. It’s funny how our taste sometimes changes over the years. In this case, I’m so glad it did. I love my morning cup of coffee on taste along, but all these added benefits are great, too.

Are you a coffee drinker? What keeps you coming back to it every day?

Summer and the Sunscreen: A Tale of Healthy Skin

Protect your skin with the right kind of sunscreen!
Image: Shutterstock

Welcome to the first day of summer, lovelies! The summer solstice is today, and if you’re like me, you’re welcoming back that skirt-worthy, posicle-needing, Vitamin-D-rich weather with open arms. One thing I love about living in Seattle is that summers aren’t just two months of scorching-hot 95-105 degree weather. Instead, we sit at a completely bearable 80-90 degrees most of the time, with a few scorchers and a few cooler days in between.

But whether the sun’s out or not, there’s one thing that is necessary for any summer day—sunscreen. Particularly for pale-skinned people like me, protecting your skin from the sun is a must if you don’t want to endup with a nasty sunburn and potential cancer down the road. But sunscreen guidelines have recently been updated by the FDA, after the latest research revealed lots of new information on what’s actually effective against the sun—and what’s not.

I suppose this doesn’t really come as a “shocker” to me, since just a few summers ago I spent two days at a lake, slathering on 30 SPF sunscreen multiple times throughout the day—and still ended up with blisters all over my legs. Understandably, I was more than a little irked. I thought I had gone through all the necessary steps to avoid frying my skin, but it happened anyway. What went wrong?

I don’t remember the exact brand, or the exact ingredients in the sunscreen I used that day, but I have a sinking suspicion that the reason I burned was because the sunscreen wasn’t as up to snuff as the FDA is now saying it ought to be. Check out these suggestions, from an article in Women’s Health:

Summertime: Popsicles, sunglasses, fresh fruit, cocktails,
the sea, ice cream, and everything wonderful.
Image: Shutterstock

Put antioxidants on your skin every morning before using sunscreen. Serums with ingredients like Vitamin C, green tea, and resveratrol will help protect your skin from “free radicals,” which are produced by UV rays, among others. These free radicals damage your skin’s DNA and can even be produced by some sunscreens (zinc oxide does, though it’s far less harmful than the free radicals produced by straight UV rays). A few sunscreens even come with antioxidants built in, like Supergoop! SPF 30 Antioxidant-Infused Sunscreen Mist with Vitamin C.

Use two coats instead of one to ensure that you get full coverage. Most people don’t use enough sunscreen, so applying multiple layers essentially just gets you up to par.

Expired? Don’t use it! Just like medication that’s expired, sunscreen that’s expired isn’t guaranteed to work. Besides, with your new “two layer” rule, you should be going through an entire bottle of sunscreen each year. You should use about an ounce per application, and should reapply every two hours you’re out. Also be sure to keep your sunscreen in a cool, dark place, as allowing it to heat can make it go bad faster.

Wonder what happened to “waterproof” sunscreen? Yeah, it’s gone—because the FDA prohibited the claim. No sunscreen can actually be waterproof or sweatproof; they can only be water resistant for up to an hour and a half. To maximize sunscreen effectiveness while taking a dip, let yourself air-dry instead of using a towel to dry (and in the process wiping all your sunscreen off).

Enjoy your summer in the sun - once you're all protected!
Image: Shutterstock

Less than 15 SPF does next to nothing when it comes to protecting your skin. Even if you’re not burning, you are still damaging your skin with those free radicals and UVA exposure. That means you’re raising your risk of skin cancer and signs of aging, even if you don’t turn a nasty shade of pink. Oh, and the less you protect from UVA, the more damaged your skin’s immune system becomes—making it less able to protect from skin cancer down the road.

As I learned that day by the lake, sometimes sunscreen isn’t enough. I now have a nice wide-brimmed hat that I’m planning on wearing all summer to give extra protection. You can also invest in antioxidant pills, sunglasses with UVA/UVB protection, and other UVA/UVB protection gear. Also, don’t be afraid to stay inside during the hottest part of the day!
Dress for the occasion—and not just with your clothes. 

Use different sunscreens for different occasions. There are multiple types of sunscreen available, from ultra-strong 50 SPF to all-natural to sports sunscreen. You can also use a makeup primer that will help protect your face without having to goop oily sunscreen on.

Now that you’re all primed and ready, go get ‘em! Enjoy those summer rays, soak up the Vitamin-D, and stay protected while you do it!

Essential Home Remedies: Stomach

Last week, I talked about several easy home remedies to treat minor skin ailments like rashes and acne. This week, I’d like to go down that same road but for internal problems instead. When you’ve got a stomachache or suddenly find yourself feeling nauseous, it’s not convenient to make a trip to the store. Keep these items around the house for an all-natural solution to your problems.

Ginger root can calm an upset stomach.
Image: Shutterstock

Nausea: It happens to the best of us: you’re doing fine and then all of a sudden you’re not. You’re nauseous and uncomfortable. No Pepto Bismol to save you? Try sugar—that’s mostly what OTC remedies are made up of, anyway. Have some sugary syrup (like from a can of fruit) or drink some (flat) soda. Ginger and peppermint are also natural stomach settlers, so having a ginger ale, chewing some fresh ginger, or even eating a Peppermint Patty can help.

Diarrhea: No one like to talk about it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. If you’ve got a case of the runs, try making some tea with pomegranate skin in it. Steep about 1 tablespoon in a cup of boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Oak bark works, too, if you boil for 3 minutes then let it steep for 30 minutes. Drink 2 tablespoons 4-6 times per day. Why do these remedies work? They contain tannins, which promote the production of mucus in the stomach lining and protect it from further irritation.

Pomegranate skin tea can help treat diarrhea.
Image: Shutterstock

Food Poisoning: If you’ve got food poisoning, you’ll need something to absorb the toxins. Brew some black tea and make some burned toast. Tannic acid and charcoal (the burned part on the toast) will help soak up those toxins and get you feeling better faster. However, if you have extreme food poisoning, go see the doctor.

Hangover Queasiness: Alcohol drains your body, dehydrates it, and generally makes it unhappy. If you wake up after a night of drinking and feel sick, try drinking a cup of tomato juice with a bit of Tabasco sauce. Sounds suspiciously like a Bloody Mary, I know, but hear me out. The antioxidants in the tomato juice and Tabasco will get your liver going again and supplies your body with much-needed antioxidants to kick-start the recovery process.

Has anyone tried these remedies? I keep ginger tablets on hand for queasiness, and I’ve used sugar to help relieve nausea before. Be sure to let me know if there are any other natural remedies you use for upset stomachs—who knows, maybe I’ll add them onto the list!

Stay tuned for the next part of this series: Sinus and Throat. I’ve got a few more home remedies to share that I think you’ll all appreciate. And with spring in full swing, natural allergy remedies will be ever so useful!

Remember that these are just suggestions to consider. Before treating yourself, be sure to consult with your doctor or other licensed health professional. Be sure to share your natural remedy experiences in the comments below!

7 Foods That Boost Your Metabolism

Water stimulates the metabolism.

Image: Shutterstock

One of the best ways to ensure that your body keeps on burning excess calories instead of storing them as fat is to keep your metabolism going. Many of us have jobs where we sit all day (guilty), and that’s B-A-D for your body. There are lots of ways to keep your body active during a typical workday, but today I want to talk about the foods (and drinks) you can consume to help.

 Water—no joke, when you get dehydrated your body’s metabolism slows down. People who drink plenty of fluids every day tend to burn more calories than those who don’t.

Salmon—Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids help our bodies build muscle. More muscle means more calories burned. Omega-3 is also thought to help reduce cortisol levels, which in turn would reduce how many calories our bodies convert to fat (this has not yet been proven).

Coffee—As long as you don’t overdo it, drinking coffee can be a great metabolic aid. Just one cup of coffee contains enough caffeine to speed up our metabolism by up to 15% and keep fat-storing processes at bay.

Hotter is better! Eat chili peppers to burn more calories.

Image: Shutterstock

Avocado—The essential oils, fats, and antioxidants present in avocados help keep our blood vessels healthy and inflammation down, meaning that our metabolism can function well. Avocados also have lots of fiber, which speeds up our metabolism as well.

Beans—Because our bodies have to work extra hard to process the fiber and resistant starch in beans, we burn more calories doing so. Studies suggest eating foods with high levels of resistant starch (beans, whole grains) can boost metabolism up to 24% throughout the day.

Chilies—Spicy foods that contain chilies also contain capsaicin, which boosts calorie burn. The hotter the better!

Green Tea—The combination of caffeine and antioxidants in green teas naturally stimulate our bodies and speed up our metabolism and increase fat burn. Various studies have suggested that drinking green tea on a regular basis can help people stay slim.

Green tea's antioxidants and caffeine can help us stay slim.

Image: Shutterstock

Other foods that you can eat to give your body a natural boost include almonds, apples, pears, broccoli, cinnamon, curry, grapefruit, lean meat, oatmeal, spinach, unsweetened soymilk, and yogurt. I don’t know about you all, but those are some of my favorite things to eat anyway!

For more information on these foods and others, check out “Surprising Foods That Fight Fat” on Health.com and “16 Foods that Naturally Boost Your Metabolism” on Organic Authority. I used both as sources.