5 bad habits to change for healthy skin

Your skin reflects many things about you. Here are 5 bad habits to change for healthy skin:

• If you live an indoor life, hunching over the TV or the computer, and venturing outdoors only to lock yourself in your air-conditioned car, you are likely to have pasty, dull and flaccid skin.
• If you frequently experience stressful living or working conditions then your skin will be pale and you will have telltale dark circles under your eyes, as stress drains the blood from the smaller blood vessels in the skin, to direct it to the major organs. You will also have more spots, as stress hormones cause the little buggers.
• If you drink no water, you will have bags under your eyes and your skin will lack youthful plumpness.
• If you don’t get enough sleep you will have more wrinkles and skin impurities, as your body won’t have that vital time to do repair work.
• If you are eating and drinking things that do not agree with your system, you may have sensitive skin that easily reacts with a red, itchy or angry rash, or an outbreak of small, red pimples.

So how does skin mirror our habits?

The skin is an alternate route when our regular filters are overworked. Toxins that are not removed from the body via the bowel, liver, kidneys or lungs can “overflow” into the skin. If you are constipated, skin problems can become worse – and people with intestinal disorders often have problematic complexions. The condition of your skin can therefore reflect the state of your liver!

Toxins that are being thrown out via the skin instead of the bowel or urinary tract are at least leaving the body. Using medicated creams and lotions to prevent this elimination does not help at all and can create further problems. For example, it is common to see asthma developing once eczema has been treated with steroid creams.

Bear in mind that skin ingests what is put on it, it does not just remain on the surface. The health of your skin also depends on the nutrients being brought to it in the bloodstream; so deficiencies of zinc, vitamin A and essential fatty acids may show up as dry flaky or irritated skin that is slow to heal.

External irritants can cause contact dermatitis, so it’s safer to wear gloves when using harsh detergents. Better yet, choose from the many that contain only natural ingredients that will harm neither the environment nor you.

If you blood circulation is poor or your lymphatic system sluggish, it will be difficult for your skin to receive nutrients or remove wastes via the bloodstream. In these situations, regular, brisk exercise will help reverse the situation both for flushing toxins out through the sweat glands and boosting the circulation. 

About aging

We all age and only characterless people have no lines on their faces (no, really…)

You could practice deliberately blanking all expression from your face, neither laughing nor frowning and doing your best to minimize thoughts, to preserve your youthful features. If you’d like a featureless, thought free life that’s one option, but laughter lines aren’t bad things; it’s the cigarette lines, alcohol lines and burning­ both-ends-of-the-candle lines that are the problem!

So how are you going to keep your birthday suit in good enough condition to see you through quite a few more birthdays?

• Drink water! Skin keeps water out, but we need quite a lot of water inside, to plump up the skin and make it fresh and dewy­ looking.
• If you’re drinking a lot of coffee and alcohol but not much else, think about cutting down and interspersing other drinks with the vital H₂0.
• Get some exercise – get the blood flowing to your extremities.
• Don’t smoke. Just don’t. Each cigarette is another wrinkle line. . .
• Skin brushing with a bristle brush will help improve circulation and remove impurities.

Some supplements can help as well:

• Silica is the nutrient that holds the water in your skin. The more silica you have, the more plumped up your skin will be and the fewer wrinkles will form
• Vitamin C acts as cement for the skin cells, so if you have plenty of it your skin will be healthier and deteriorate less. This is why we’re always telling you to eat fruit and vegetables, which are packed with the stuff. If your intake is below optimal and/or you live in a polluted place, smoke or are exposed to smoke, or lead a stressful life, you should take vitamin C supplements as well.
• Vitamin E keeps youthful elasticity in the skin and does great things for your heart at the same time.
• Stinging nettles – as tea or tincture if you are prone to red, itchy rashes and your skin fires up easily. It’s great for treating heat rash; so take it on holiday with you.

Tips for specific skin conditions

Tips for specific skin conditions

• Allergies play a significant role in eczema. In infants especially, milk appears to be the most common allergic food. Avoiding milk and cheese for a few weeks can bring relief. Eczema sufferers also appear to have a deficiency of essential fatty acids. Taking Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) can rectify this problem. Applying EPO externally can soothe irritated patches, as can the Bioforce 7 Herb cream. This mixture of soothing, healing herbs such as calendula, chamomile and arnica is especially good for cracked, sore skin. If your eczema flares up as a result of stress, use a vitamin B complex and soothing herbs such as Valerian.
• Relief for psoriasis can undoubtedly be found with changes to your diet. Wheat, dairy products, coffee, sugar, alcohol and citrus fruits can all worsen the condition. There are a number of nutritional supplements that can help when taken in conjunction with the dietary measures. B vitamins, Omega-3 fatty acids such as VegOmega-3, zinc and vitamin A are all important for psoriasis sufferers. Boldocynara can be used once the condition has improved to cleanse the liver and encourage detoxification.
• There are several ways of treating acne naturally, all of which have been used successfully. Diet is again important in this condition – the skin must be nourished by wholesome, nutrient-rich foods. Junk foods and dairy products should be limited. Using a vitamin B complex will help strengthen the skin as will zinc and beta-carotene. Vitex is a good option if the acne is clearly related to hormonal development, in teenagers of both sexes. Echinacea Cream can be used to counteract infected or inflamed spots.

Improving skin conditions then, is very much a matter of working from the inside out.  You can boast about your healthy lifestyle with the display of your beautiful skin.