Quick skin health for busy people

Our busy lifestyles sometimes leaves some self-care routines short-changed.  Since our skin is our largest organ and I care about my health, I need to take care of it just as much as eating healthy organic foods!

I have sensitive skin and used to have all kinds of eczema and breakouts as a teen, so I'm hesitant to use anything with too many ingredients. My days in college, people raved about witch hazel but it was too drying for my T-zone combination skin. Now, in Los Angeles with some of the desert weather, I need to be on top of cleaning and moisturizing my skin. And why not use a moisturizer with Vitamins C and E to protect my skin from cellular damage from the pollution and sun? I've been delighted to find this discounted kit (save 20%) that matches my healthy lifestyle that has aloe and other gentle natural ingredients for cleansing and toning plus my favorite vitamin anti-aging/antioxidant moisturizer! For busy people, it's a quick 3 steps of cleanse, tone, and moisturize.

A number of my fashionista friends talk about and take a supplement biotin for their skin health. However, with a little research, it's best taken in synergy with other vitamins and antioxidants for your best results for beauty from the inside out. I had an 70-year-old who had tried lots of different supplements for anti-aging, and she really loved this skin health formula! There's even a study about Pycnogenol that shows the impact for post-menopausal women -- which is exactly what my 70-year-old experienced, bringing down some of her puffy eye symptoms and more.

Staying healthy on vacation

Do you know someone who tend to get sick or feel tired from vacation? Staying healthy on vacation is not the easiest thing. Getting back from a short beach vacation that also had some beautiful waterfalls (see photo), I'm so happy I used my optimal health strategies to help me stay healthy!

First, the plane ride can be stressful with the altitude changes, crammed seating, and the nerves of flying. And if you have time zone changes, that's more stress on trying to manage your sleep! (If you need help with sleep strategies, do a search on my blog for sleep). In addition to my normal optimal health nutrition, I brought my bottle of astaxanthin, one of the newer and super-powerful antioxidants. Have you thought about how much closer you are to the sun when you're flying? That's a greater amount of radiation exposure which can cause cellular damage known as free radical damage (and I feel it as tiredness and lower energy). Astaxanthin really helps me stay closer to optimal energy as I get through flights and time zones, with NO JET LAG! It also has great anti-aging properties and encourages healthy blood flow. Well, my feet tend to swell uncomfortably on flights and I had hardly any swelling on this trip, as I've been regularly taking my astaxanthin almost every day for the past 8 months. I'm pleased to report my skin recovered faster from my mosquito bites than my old self and my traveling companion who had not been taking astaxanthin regularly. Read more about the reasons to take this super antioxidant here.

I was careful to bring a wide-brimmed sun-shading hat and put on my special sunscreen lotion. As Environmental Working Group has done some studies on safe sunscreen products, I prefer a zinc-based sunscreen, rather than the more conventional drugstore versions that have oxobenzone and other petrol products. I like Green Babie's Zinc sunscreen but you can choose any of the zinc-based sunscreens I found in the link. I think anything that's good for babies will be made with a higher safety standard and more gentle on my skin.

Even though I put on my sunscreen, I might have missed the window to leave the beach before noon when the sun is super strong, so I had a slightly pink and itch sunburn spot to my collarbone area. To combat sunburns or simply dry skin, I love my ultimate aloe gel! Not just any aloe gel, this one has emu oil which is usually expensive, squalene, and super-concentrated aloe. Immediate itch relief and the pinkness in my sunburn went away in just one day! (My results are unique to me and my body's responsiveness, but there is plenty of evidence in the science tabs of the links I've included.)

I also brought aloe powder and probiotics to keep away any grumpyness of traveler's tummy and a stronger immune system. No tummy problems at all on this trip! Success!

Where to get your Omega-3s

Maybe you don't know why you want to get your regular Omega-3 fatty acids. We need them for our heart health, healthy blood pressure and blood flow, vision health, support for enhanced mood, our good brain health (I want to keep my memory!), and to minimize inflammation. It's part of the "anti-inflammatory diet" and most doctors who pay attention to prevention and wellness tell their patients to take at least these top two suggestions: multivitamin and their omega-3.

Keeping your inflammation risks down also helps with healthy skin and healthy gums/dental health as well as keeping a healthy weight. Imagine your body as a busy ecosystem: if your body is busy putting out lots of wildfires (sending its resources to fight inflammation), it can't focus on growing healthy forests (healthy cells and tissue), right?

Unless you really focus on it, you cannot assume you're getting enough from your regular food, so it's good to have a high-quality supplement to keep up your levels.

These are the best ways to get your omega-3 via the healthier and less polluted fish:
* wild-caught Alaskan salmon (the best prices are in the freezer section at Trader Joe's and at the asian markets)
* small fish such as herring and sardines (I like the canned "smoked herring" from Trader Joe's)
* black cod (the best tasting cod I have picked up are from the Asian markets).
If you are in LA, Von's supermarket has $5-Fridays where there are select frozen meats and seafoods on sale. Getting your Omega-3s can be affordable if you shop around (and check out my suggestions above).

Please limit your consumption of farmed salmon. If the restaurant does not say wild, it is most likely the common cheaper farmed salmon, and you don't want it! There have been reports on how sick these farmed salmon are from being fed corn and other kinds of drugs. Limit your consumption of large predatory fish because they are likely to have higher levels of toxic mercury and contaminants. Also, we get plenty of omega-6 in our diets so we don't need to eat fish like tilapia that have high levels of omega-6. We need to be sure that we have the correct omega-3 to 6 ratios, and as we are chronically short on omega-3, why not keep it simple and just focus on getting more omega-3 in our nutrition?

Good luck with focusing on getting your omega-3, and please send any cool recipes or ideas my way!

Staying Cool with Healthy Nutrient Dense Foods

What's your personality when's it's hot?

When the temperature causes you to sweat while sitting still, some of us have very little motivation to chop your vegetables and turn on the stove to get a good home-cooked meal. So before you forget to eat well, use your blender and you can open a bag of mixed baby greens to start a salad. That's right, you can put together a great protein fruit smoothie (frozen berries blended with protein/fiber powder) to go with a healthy green salad with nuts and other favorite toppings! And you can do all this without chopping if you don't want to (think cherry tomatoes if you don't want to chop).

If you're at a loss for recipes, check out the latest from Eating Well magazine for yummy food that is good for your skin! What's your favorite summer recipe?