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Beauty

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Anti-Stretch Mark Smoothie – How to Prevent Stretch Marks

Want to learn how to prevent stretch marks? Start with diet and nutrition! I drank this anti-stretch mark smoothie daily for preventing stretch marks during pregnancy effectively. It works from the inside out to keep you and your skin happy, smoothie, wrinkle-free and healthy! When I was pregnant, I was terrified of getting stretch marks like my mom. While there is nothing wrong with stretch marks and most women have them to dome degree, I was afraid of getting them. You see, my mom had the worst stretch marks from pregnancy. To this day, I’ve never seen anyone with worse stretch marks. They were long, thick, discolored and covered her from her belly button all the way around to her spine. She talked about how much she hated them constantly, and worse, how much she hated what pregnancy did to her body. So when we were thinking of getting pregnant,…

Wrinkle Reducing Berry Smoothie

Despite the title, no, this is not a smoothie for your face. Although that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I’ll have to try that. This smoothie actually works from the inside out to help reduce and even prevent wrinkles. Wondering how? COLLAGEN. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body. It makes up our skin, our hair, our nails, our joints, our cartilage, etc. At the age of 25, we produce less and less collagen. This is why we see more wrinkles, brittle bones, arthritis and less lustrous hair with age. One reason for both cellulite and stretch marks is a breakdown in connective tissue. Collagen helps our skin remain firm and elastic. Collagen helps the skin retain structural integrity. Remember that collagen is a protein, a protein that helps form the connective tissue of the skin. If it’s lacking or damaged, this will result in wrinkles (as well…

Five Things I Do Daily To Keep My Skin Clear, Hydrated and Healthy

Lemon water with coconut oil when I wake up. After I brush my teeth and tongue scrape (an ancient Ayurvedic way to detox) I drink a full glass of lemon water and take a tablespoon of coconut oil. Starting your morning out this way will improve your overall health, but your skin specifically. Here’s why. First, after eight hours of sleep (hopefully, you got eight hours, that’s another thing I do every single night to keep my skin healthy), the body is dehydrated. Drinking a glass of lemon water jumpstarts digestion. But adding the lemon also detoxes the liver – one of our main eliminatory and detoxification organs. This is because lemon encourages the liver to produce more enzymes, thereby more effectively removing toxins, waste, chemicals, unfriendly bacteria, etc. from the body. In turn, this not only improves digestion and detoxifies, but reduces inflammation as well. Guess what is at…

The Oil Cleansing Method For Clear, Beautiful Skin

When I first read about oil cleansing years ago, I thought one thing: Y’all are insane. How could adding oil to my seriously oily skin be a good idea? Wouldn’t using oil to wash my face not cause me to break out even worse than I already was? How could oil clean my face at all?! So I didn’t give it a try for another year or so. Until I had to see for myself what all the hype was about. Then my tune was more like: Holy sh*t. This actually works really well.  While oil cleansing might seem counterintuitive, it actually makes a lot of sense. Especially if you have oily or acne-prone skin. Let me explain. WHAT IS OIL CLEANSING EXACTLY? Simply put, oil cleansing is washing your face with oil. You can use a variety of oils, but one of those oils has to be castor oil.…

My Nightly Skincare Routine (for clear, healthy skin)

It’s no secret that I have problem skin. I talk about it often on this blog, on social media, and in real life. Having problem skin sucks! You can read more about my skin woes here, but basically, I developed severe acne in the fourth grade that took me well over ten years to clear. I did clear it via diet but was left with a lot of scarring and uneven skin – which I am now working to clear and have improved greatly. I’m very strict about my skincare routine. I never go to bed with my makeup on. I always cleanse, tone and moisturize. Most importantly, I never skip a step. My point is, with problem skin, you have to be pretty regimented in your routine to see results. They don’t happen overnight, but with repeated daily use over time, the results are amazing. So far, I’ve managed…

The Top Five Foods For Glowing Skin

I regularly see articles floating around the internet on foods to eat for clear, glowing, vibrant skin. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t quite accurate. Apples! Chia seeds! Watermelon! Almonds! While these are undoubtedly healthy foods, the reality is that they actually don’t do much for the skin. They might sound good, but there’s little science to back up their claims of these foods being beneficial for skin health (and before you suggest it – chia seeds and almonds are high in the omega-3 ALA, not EPA or DHA, which are the omegas beneficial for skin, brain and heart health). Below are five foods that should be incorporated into the diet regularly not just for clear, vibrant skin – but for overall health. They’re amazing for the skin! I actually started my own truly non-toxic, organic skincare line, Ancestral Organics. You can check out the products here, I have everything from products for…

The Most Detoxifying DIY Face Mask For Clear, Glowing Skin

I have a ritual every Sunday. I prop my computer on my toilet, turn on Freaks and Geeks, put on this face mask and relax while taking a detox bath. It’s such an awesome way to chill out and get ready for the week ahead. Especially with a super clean face and pores that aren’t clogged with grime (hey, it happens). For my acne prone skin with pores that just get bigger if I don’t clean them regularly, this has made a huge change in my skin. I always do this before bed, so I usually start my bath around 9. First, I exfoliate using sea salt and jojoba oil. This allows the mask to penetrate more deeply into the skin. I let the mask harden on my face and after removing it, immediately apply my homemade moisturizer (which I’ll be selling soon, so keep your eyes peeled!). My homemade…

My Long and Difficult Journey To Health

I think a lot of people assume that as a health coach, my eating habits are perfect and always have been. The truth is, there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to eating. My journey to healthy eating is a long, sordid affair of trial and error. A lot of trial and error. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money. I was raised mostly by my grandmother, who had to buy groceries (and just about everything else) for three kids on a very small amount of money each month. She did the best she could and I’m forever grateful. School lunches consisted of white bread with mayonnaise and cheap ham with hard, gelatinous chunks and a back of chips. It was such a treat to have bacon and eggs for breakfast, but more often than not it was cereal or cinnamon rolls from a can.…

Eat This One Food Daily To Improve Acne, Anxiety and Allergies

Back in the day, I had the worst acne along with anxiety so severe I thought I’d go nuts. Let me tell you what’s not fun: having a face full of painful, deep, cystic acne. Along with a constant feeling of dread and terror. I tried everything for both, topical creams, prescriptions, expensive “cures” and even Accutane for my acne, meditating and Xanax and Klonopin for my anxiety. Nothing worked for either of them. Luckily, I’ve never had allergies but it’s likely that I would have developed them had I not drastically changed my diet. By now you might be wondering what these three things have in common. What can you do to improve all three of these issues? Start eating fermented food. Stop eating unhealthy, inflammatory foods that are damaging to the gut. Growing up, I subsisted on a diet of white bread, white sugar, and margarine. Sugar bread was a…

The Healthiest Shot You’ll Ever Take

Thanks to the addition of apple cider vinegar, lemon and raw honey, these boosting power shots are the best collagen drink recipe ever. Consumed regularly, this easy-to-make collagen drink promotes glowing skin, reduces wrinkles and cellulite, improves digestion and strengthens the immune system! Shots, shots, shots! Collagen shots for EVERYBODY! And we are not talking about collagen injections. We are talking about the best collagen drink out there with tons of health benefits and a pleasantly refreshing taste. By serving this health-boosting concoction in little shot glasses, you can easily down your daily dose of collagen in the morning before heading off to work. Why this Apple Cider Collagen Drink is literally the healthiest thing you can put into your body: It improves gut function, strengthens the immune system, can help clear skin, improves/eliminates allergies and can even reduce and prevent wrinkles, stretch marks and cellulite! You’re probably wondering how…