Skin mapping to evaluate our inner health. How many of us look into the mirror every morning and really love what we see? Every woman I`ve spoken to, without exception, is dissatisfied with some aspect of her complexion-puffy eyes, dark circles, tiny wrinkles, breakouts, large pores... need I continue ?

Well, what if I told you that after reading this you`ll be able to go out and take immediate steps toward making dramatic improvements in your complexion, and that most of those steps won`t cost a dime? All it takes is a little understanding of the critical link that exists between good nutrition and beautiful skin .

Face mapping to determine dietary trouble spots. Experts have long known that our complexions mirror our inner health.

Dark circles and puffiness under the eyes signify adrenal and kidney imbalance.  Adrenal glands produce the variety of hormones that our body needs to mitigate injury, inflammation, or microbial attacks. They are also responsible for regulating glucose levels in our blood. What many of us don`t realize is that the adrenal glands are also the first to become fatigued by metabolic waste caused by poor digestive function. So a longterm solution for balancing out our hormones is to improve how our body digests our food.

Bumps and breakouts around our chins and on our foreheads signify that our kidneys and/or liver are working too hard. Our kidneys and liver process and detoxify every substance that is introduced into the body, deciding what to do with them as they pass through. The liver utilizes the same amount of energy to process toxins as it would healthier compounds. If the workload becomes too heavy, vitamins and nutrients that we take in as supplements or food may not be adequately processed. They become wasted, leaving our bodies deprived of vital nutrients essential for cellular function. So in essence, there exists a direct relationship between liver and kidney health, and our digestive function.  

Congested pores, breakouts, and discoloration in our cheeks represents a poorly functioning digestive system-"good colon; good skin ". Our digestive tract represents the factory where food is turned into fuel that our bodies rely on to survive, and its basic physiology wasn`t designed to digest most of what we eat today. Cave women didn`t cook foods, for one thing. Raw foods are rich in digestive enzymes that assist with breaking down food once they`ve been eaten. Cooking our food destroys these enzymes, making digestion that much more difficult for our GI tract to perform. Cave women didn`t eat meals consisting of several different food groups eaten at the same time. They were either meat-gorging after a successful hunt, or they were grazing on vegetation until the next successful kill brought in more meat .

Proteins require acid for digestion; starches require alkalinity. Put starches and proteins together into the stomach and digestion is completely stymied. Sluggish digestion eventually results in undigested food particles that are small enough to pass through the intestinal wall, but not small enough to be absorbed by our bodies as nutrients . As a result, these rogue particles become metabolic waste that our immune system then tags as unhealthy invaders. Once tagged as invaders , these particles take on the status of allergens, thus triggering immune responses in our bodies that previously didn`t exist .

Lastly, cave women didn`t eat processed foods high in refined sugars , processed fats, and synthetics. All of these are extremely challenging to our digestive system, and can result in the release of more metabolic waste into the body .

Adrenal glands, liver, kidneys, stomach, colon - What do all of these root cause organs have in common? They are all directly affected by what we eat and how well we utilize our food. The basic function of each of our body`s organs involves responding properly to dietary decisions that we make 24 hours a day. They take what we ingest and either turn it into fuel for our body and brain, or they send it to the waste station .

Problems in our complexions are red flags that we`re making these organs work way too hard to deliver the goods .

Nutrient-robbing eating habits reflect themselves in our faces . Our civilized diets reek havoc on our digestive process. The result is an overloaded immune system: over-worked adrenals that can no longer balance our hormone production; a taxed liver that can no longer get rid of the toxins that find their way into our bodies; and a digestive tract that can no longer deliver vital nutrients to the rest of our body . Worse than this, our diet is completely undermining what should be a beautiful complexion !

3 Easy Steps Towards a Radiant Reflection:

There are three quick and easy steps that each of us can take that willresult in almost immediate skin benefits, and a happy, radiant reflection looking back at you in the mirror.  

In order for skin to begin to heal itself, certain conditions must occur. On a cellular level, we must

1.        decrease inflammation,

2.        accelerate cellular repair, and

3.        maximize hydration

This can be easily accomplished through three skin-improving habits. These are: 1). properly combining our foods, 2). Cutting back on inflammatory foods, and 3). Using nourishing skin care products that feed the skin from the outside in .

Food Combining-maximizing how we utilize our food by properly combining our food groups . Food Combining simply means not eating starches and proteins in the same meal. Food combining maximizes our body`s absorption of nutrients from the foods that we eat. The result-our bodies become well-oiled biological machines with high energy levels, great circulation, high immunity against infection, and of course, beautiful skin .

Inflammatory Food Alert-Simple changes in diet mean radiant changes in our skin health. Cutting back on inflammatory foods means limiting intake of the following foods to 20% or less of our overall intake :

- Dairy

- Sugar

- Fried Foods

- Concentrates

- Coffee (it`s the acid in coffee, not the caffeine that`s inflammation-causing)

- Alcohol

- Carbonated beverages, including sparkling water

- Chocolate

These foods are irritating to the digestive tract, resulting in an inflammatory response, and represent the root cause reasons for almost all health concerns that we experience-especially those concerning the skin .

Nourishing Your Skin From the Outside In

Use skin care products that contain ingredients that nourish the skin on a cellular level. They`ll contain ingredients such as peptides , anti-oxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and botanical extracts or essential oils that support cellular repair and eradicate oxidative damage caused by airborne toxins like tobacco smoke, pollution, and UV. They`ll also contain emollients to help the skin retain moisture , keeping the skin plump and hydrated. Natural emollients include oils from plants or seeds, vegetable glycerin or fats like shea butter, cocoa butter, or persea butter from avocados. Laboratory-enhanced plant-based emollients and skin hydrators that are particularly beneficial include allantoin, sodium PCA, or sodium hyaluronate. And of course, always use sunscreen at an appropriate SPF-not higher than SPF 30 in most situations .

So, finally, we have control over what we see in the mirror every morning, and the answer is as simple as understanding how we are feeding our complexion through our food choices as well as our skin care product selection.

About the Author of the article: MaryAnn Groark is an Internationally Certified Aromatherapist,specializing in Cosmetic Science and Skin Care.  Her work in this industry resulted in her induction into the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC), and the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapists (NAHA). 

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