Is it possible to create and enhance youthful looking healthy skin by what you eat and drink?

YES!

In a series of blogs I will be offering general and specific guidelines using food, herbs and nutritional supplements for

• Healthy Skin
• Dermatitis
• Photo damage
• Acne
• Eczema & Psoriasis
• Thinning and Lax Skin
• Lines, Wrinkles & Edema -swelling

These tips will support your body to maintain healthy skin texture and tone.

Texture is related to smooth, glowing, hydrated youthful skin.

Tone is related to shading and even complexion of the skin.

Please don’t be fooled by how simple some of these suggestions are.

1. Drink more water – a minimum of four 8 oz glasses per day. Most people are dehydrated. Do your best to drink “optimal water” that is free of chlorine, toxins and contaminants and has a pH of 8.5 or higher. Store bought alkaline water is very controversial and most experts believe the alkalinity does not have a shelf life. There are excellent alkaline water purifiers for your home or office.
2. Eat more essential fatty acids -EFAs. Olive and Flax oil is a great source of EFAs which is also found in the nutritional supplement Borage Oil.
3. Eat a minimum of 4 cups of raw or steamed various colored organic vegetables per day to increase micronutrients and minerals.
4. Eat less or no fried food.
5. Vitamin C is an essential part of collagen which is important for skin integrity. Vitamin C is critical to help neutralize toxins and pollutants which many times show up in our skin. Vitamin C is heat sensitive and destroyed by pasteurized juices or cooking. In the winter months when we eat less fruit, Vitamin C can be found in kale and green peppers. Supplementation in a buffered form often is valuable.
6. Vitamin D is important for more than strong bones. Aging skin needs increased amounts of Vitamin D that is best taken in a supplement during the winter when we spend less time outside than in the summer.
7. Vitamin E is very important for skin health. Do not use synthetic forms of Vitamin E. Use a mixed tocopherol which will act as an antioxidant and combat aging and photo damage.
8. The skin is constantly being reborn with new cells.
9. Vitamin A is considered the most important nutrient for skin health. Foods high in beta carotene which gets converted into Vitamin A – think orange colored foods like carrots and squash, and Vitamin A rich foods like dark green vegetables help the skin cells renew.
10. Zinc is very important for wound healing. Zinc stabilizes cell membranes in the skin. Eat more fresh ginger and pumpkin seeds, and be mindful that sugar interferes with Zinc absorption.
11. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic is the 6000 year old  treatise on acupuncture and energy medicine. In this book, skin is thought of as a 3^rd lung.
    And the lungs are intimately related to the large intestine. For healthy skin, sweating, intentional breathing, healthy bowel function, and exercise is essential for radiant skin.

In future blogs, I will focus on how the ingestion, digestion and absorption of food is central to skin health. 

I will outline nutritional protocols using natural medicines for skin conditions like acne, eczema, psoriasis, photo damage, and aging.

I will include tips for healthy hair and nails.

What we think of as “normal” symptoms of aging has nothing to do with optimal functioning. We all have options to move toward optimal functioning by the choices we make.  

 

Please share these LOVE YOUR BODY “health notes” as a way to be engaged in conversations that make a difference for radiant glowing skin from the inside out.

For questions or comments, feel free to contact me:

DrBarry@DrBarryTaylor.com

www.drbarrytaylor.com

781 237 8505

Here is a link to read pages from my book:

https://drbarrytaylor.com/blog/products/book/

Dr. Barry Taylor, Naturopathic Physician

For the last 40 years, Dr. Taylor has been teaching health and healing in Spas, medical schools, colleges and high schools, as well as hospitals and companies that have a vision to support people to age elegantly. He does nutritional consulting for individuals from over 40 states in the US as well as Europe.