Urike Klein, Co-Founder of Jurlique, once said “Roses connect you to nature – to beauty within”. Those words, ‘beauty within’, are at the core of what makes us glow. A belief in our inner beauty, which translates itself into the way we nourish ourselves in life. The rituals we create in beauty and our skin. How we wake each morning and respond to the reflection gazing back at us in the mirror. Foods we choose to eat, so we maximize the nutrition in our body. All these little things reflect the beauty we see and feel within us.
Daily rituals in beauty might entail rising with a positive affirmation about life or ourselves. Creating time to give our skin some love as we prepare for the day. Sitting to eat a nourishing meal and being mindful of how and what we eat because the glow in our skin is also a reflection of what is going in. So with this in mind, what are those wonderful things we can put in, to create skin that truly connects and shines with our beauty within? Skin that is truly…good enough to eat.
WATER WELL
Hydration is the simplest yet most frequently missed component to nourishing our skin. Too often, we forget to drink, mistake our thirst for hunger or choose other drinks before water (juice, coffee, soft drinks), which deplete the hydration stores within our body. The way to resolve this is simply to include a few different ways to drink water throughout our day so we ensure our body and our skin feels the benefit. These may be:
Rising in the morning and drinking a cup of water with lemon
Preparing a delicious tea infusion and chilling it in a drink bottle
Keeping a bottle of water on the desk at work
Making herbal tea instead of regular caffeinated tea during breaks
Checking in with our body when we feel hungry and deciding if it is truly hunger or perhaps that we haven’t been keeping well hydrated
Include plenty of vegetables in our diet – they are full of H2O!
CLEAN EATS
I speak the importance of eating clean; nourishing whole foods frequently because I truly believe it is at the core of how well we move through life. When we eliminate processed foods, refined sugars, additives and preservatives from our diet, we feel the difference, we see the difference and our skin shines to show it.
Refined sugar in particular has a profound impact on the state of our skin, remove it from our diet and we start noticing a change. Doing so doesn’t mean we miss out on all the little treats and moments with cake and cups of tea either – to the contrary. We can enjoy these moments in a more positive light because we know what we are eating is good for our body. I’ll often take the old time favourites and put a healthy spin on them to enrich their nutrition and eliminate ingredients that don’t do justice to our health. Sweeteners such as maple, raw honey, stevia, coconut nectar and coconut sugar, dates and rice malt syrup are all wonderful alternatives to refined white, raw or brown sugar and it’s easy to make the swap. When we do life just gets better.
HEALTHY FATS
Remember this…make healthy fats friends in life. Always. Good fats, rich in Omega 3 fatty acids love our body inside and out, so we shouldn’t be afraid of integrating them frequently into our diet. It is these essential fats our bodies thrive on for energy, hormone production, brain function and truly radiate through our skin.
The richest sources of these fats often come from plants such as avocado, almonds, linseeds, brazil nuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, pepitas, olives and their oil and macadamias. Sound delicious? I think you know the answer to that question! They are delicious, nourishing and satisfy our hunger cravings when sprinkled throughout our diet. And their action on the skin is truly beautiful. Omega 3 fatty acids can contribute to the glow in your skin by providing natural moisture and improving skin elasticity
Still need convincing? It might be time to experience it with a little treat of Orange, Carrot and Almond Cake. My take on an old favourite, incorporating almonds, oranges, coconut sugar and carrots, topped with skin loving properties of pomegranate and calendula. It’s rich in essential fats, contains no refined sugars or gluten and is 100% wholefoods goodness to give your body some love within.
