Detox for Your Skin!

November 2, 2015  

Check out this article we found by Katherine Ponder from Beautiful You magazine on detoxing to help your skin.
You've heard about the detoxes for your body, but what about for your skin? Detoxing centers on what goes into your body and subsequently will affect the condition of your skin.

Eat Clean and Colorful

Eliminate processed foods as often as possible. Processed foods include refined sugars, dairy, gluten, GMO's, and artificial sweeteners. Honey is a great natural sweetener and an excellent substitute for sugar and/or syrup. Also choose colorful foods. Dark, leafy greens such as kale, mustard greens, seaweed, and spinach are power-boosting foods that deliver nutrients to your body and eliminate toxins. Citrus is believed to fight the appearance of cellulite as well as repair skin collagen because it's high in vitamin C. Fresh fruits and vegetables such as cranberries, apples, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli, watercress, and cilantro all contain a great deal of antioxidants to help repair your body and skin.

Healthy Fats

Consuming healthy fats supports normal hormone levels and increases vitamin absorption. These fats also make you feel more satisfied and therefore less likely to go in search of unhealthy fats, which ultimately make your skin look puffy and doughy. Include nuts, salmon, lean chicken, olive oil, and avocado on your grocery list.

Watch What You Drink

Drink warm, root-derived teas such as nettle, ginger, burdock, dandelion, or sarsaparilla. These can boost effectiveness of your body's natural filters - the kidneys and liver. They can also reduce puffiness in the skin around your eyes and improve digestion and reduce bloating. Drinking plenty of water is the easiest way to help your body cleanse toxins every day!

Play Spa at Home

Treat yourself to economical treatments at home that mimic the expensive stuff, both in quality and efficacy. You can give yourself a facial with hot water, a clean cloth, and essential oils such as citrus, tea tree, or mint. Add the oil to a bowl of hot water, soak the towel in the mixture, wring it out, and drape it over your face for 10 minutes. This will open your pores and prepare your skin for a facial mask.

Choose mask formulations specifically for detoxifying, such as a mud mask, or make your own with natural ingredients, including honey, oatmeal, avocado, cucumber, and citrus fruits. Follow up with a quality moisturizer or a natural moisturizer such as jojoba oil, which mimics the skin's naturally produced sebum.

Exfoliate

When you're detoxifying, your skin may need a little help sloughing off the old. Use an exfoliating scrub, or make your own with oatmeal, lavender buds, or finely ground almond shells.

Exercise

Working up a sweat is a natural detox for your skin and your entire body as toxins are released through your sweat glands. Incorporate yoga, Pilates, running, etc. into your daily routine.

Sleep

If you do not maintain a consistent sleep schedule that rewards you with 7 - 9 hours of peaceful sleep, your face will reflect it. Dark circles under your eyes, as well as puffiness and a generally tired appearance are telltale signs of lack of sleep.

Stay the Course

Once you're looking and feeling great, don't slide back into old habits. Continue all your new habits and reward yourself with fabulous sunglasses to protect your eyes, a new gym outfit to stay enthused about exercising, or even that dress you've had your eye on.