As the largest organ in your body, your skin has a much larger impact on your overall well being than you might think. Understanding how your skin functions will enlarge your understanding of why good skin care is vitally important.
Your skin was designed as a protective barrier between your internal organs and underlying tissues, and the outside world. Healthy, undamaged skin prevents microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungus, and other substances from entering your body, making your skin a part of your immune system. It also acts as one of seven channels of elimination, excreting waste product and excess salt from the body. It helps the main organs of elimination (the liver, kidneys and intestines) to rid your body of waste buildup. Sweat includes waste product in a solution. While your skin is regulating body temperature and excreting waste, it is also preventing loss or gain of bodily moisture.
Your sense of touch is provided by your skin – yet another way of protecting you. When you feel the pain caused by touching a hot iron (as I did the other day), you jerk your hand away. Otherwise, you might have a really bad burn! And body temperature is regulated by your skin. Fat cells in your skin act as insulation against the cold, and when your body overheats, the small blood vessels in your skin carry warm blood to the surface to cool.
When you are outside, your skin synthesizes the use of Vitamin D3 in the presence of sunlight and ultraviolet (UV) radiation needed for absorbing calcium and phosphate, while shielding the body with its melanin pigments from dangerous UV rays. Of course, as with all things, moderation in exposure to the sun is important.
With all that your skin does to protect you from harm and disease, taking good care of it is the smart thing to do. So how do you take good care of your skin? And when you think of skin care, do you automatically think of cleansers and toners, moisturizers and eye cream? Yes, a good skin care system is vitally important, but it is only a small piece of the puzzle. Good skin care is so much more than what you put on your face twice a day. It starts with what you put in your body.
A healthy, well-balanced diet is the basis for beautiful, healthy looking skin. What you eat will work its way through your body and out to your skin, for better or for worse! The typical Western diet, generally rich is refined carbohydrates and sugars, produces too much insulin, which causes our bodies to make an excess of male hormones.[1] This imbalance is not good for anyone, but is particularly bad for women, causing the skin to excrete more oil. This potentially clogs pores and stimulates the growth of bacteria on the skin. And you know what happens next…ACNE!! Yuck!
Our high-carb diet also stresses our cells, which causes inflammation.[2] Inflammation in the body is the underlying cause of a host of diseases, but that topic will have to wait for another day. As for the skin, overall inflammation in your body contributes to more skin irritations, such as acne, dryness, and dermatitis…and to more wrinkles!
So, include organic foods in your diet whenever possible. Organic foods are free from extra hormones and antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides. Your cells need quality foods to be healthy, to keep growing and duplicating. Certain foods help reduce cellular inflammation, such as fish (preferably wild), and fresh vegetables and fruits. Whole grains and legumes are an often ignored part of nutrition here in the West, but are valuable to your body by adding important vitamins and proteins. Whole grains mixed with legumes make a complete protein[3], especially necessary for the vegetarian diet.
Taking a whole-food vitamin and mineral supplement, that is rich in antioxidants and essential fatty acids, is another excellent way to care for your skin from the inside out. This kind of supplement can minimize the effects of the toxic chemicals we encounter daily from household cleansers and pollution.
Antioxidants rid you of free radicals, one of the worst culprits of aging. Antioxidants can be applied topically, but the formulation must be able to permeate your skin’s layers for it to work. Antioxidant fruit beverages and fresh fruits can also be a valuble addition to your diet, as they also help to reduce inflammation. Antioxidants are either water soluble or soluble in fat or oil,[4] so make sure you know how your antioxidants digest best.
Essential fatty acids (EPA & DHA) are not only good for your cardiovascular system, but protect and keep your musculoskeletal, GI and immune systems functioning optimally as well, which keeps your skin healthy, too. “Deficiencies of certain vitamins, such as vitamin A, B-complex, and essential fatty acids are known to cause various forms of dermatitis and other skin conditions.”[5]
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but for those of us who haven’t done so well with prevention, getting ourselves the good nutrition we need can slow down, and to some degree, reverse the signs of aging. That seems to be very important in our culture, and with a bit of research, wisdom and perseverance, we can gain the best health we've ever had.
[1] skincarenet.org/article-1.html
[2] www.skincarenet.org/article-2.html
[3] faqs.org/nutrition/A-Ap/Amino-Acids.html
[4] smartskincare.com/nutrition/antioxidants.html
[5] smartskincare.com/nutrition/nutrition.html
Wendy Johnston of Freedom Marketing Group LLC specializes in educating people about natural health and wellness. She has been trying out new herbal remedies and dietary changes on her family for the last 20 years, eliminating quarterly trips to the doctor's office for her son's bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and ear infections. While she is not traditionally taught, her research and family experiments have gained her a fair amount of proven experience.