Natural Skin Care for Prevention and Healing Sun Damage

Last week I wrote some quick tips for caring for your skin within a whole food - whole health lifestyle: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2015/5/17/holistic-skin-care   (yes, go back and read it if you missed it. Skin care begins on the inside my friends!)

This week: Natural Sun Screen & After Sun Skin Repair Recipe

I avoid commercial sunscreens as they are loaded with chemicals; the chemicals in the base lotion as well as the chemicals used for the sun screen affects. Any chemical put onto the skin that can alter cellular function in a way to stop sun burning... hmm, sounds like a chemical I do not want on my skin changing the way my skin cells function.

Natural sunscreens with zinc and titanium dioxide you ask? Nah, I will pass on them as well. First of all the base lotions, again, are loaded with chemicals I do not want on my skin. The zinc and titanium are sticky and white filmy on the skin. Yes, they make nano particle zinc and titanium sunscreens but I will pass on them as well.  Read on for my sun protective recipe.

My Natural Sunscreen Recipe

To make a natural sunscreen I start with an *organic, unscented lotion (no chemicals in this base lotion) and fill a 4 oz glass cosmetic jar almost to top... leaving room for:

1/2 - 1 tsp. organic instant coffee powder and 1/2 - 1 tsp. organic cocoa powder. Mix both into lotion very well. 
And essential oils, see below.

*Check massage supply websites for organic, unscented base lotions. You can buy them in 8, 16, 32, and 64 oz sizes. Read labels carefully to make certain you are comfortable with the ingredients going on your skin and therefore into your body.

And...

1 tsp. Wild Pansy extract powder and 2 droppers of wild pansy extract tincture. Again, mix in well. 

I use this sun protective lotion on my face, neck, and hands. I am very aware that I can not slather this on, head to toe, and think for a second that I can spend all day in the sun and not burn my skin. Life and sun exposure just does not work that way. This is my preventative for any more sun damage to my face and neck. I figure my teen years, living in the sun all day, have done enough damage. Now I do damage control.

I also try to do these things most of the time:

1. limit my sun exposure during the high, hot time of the sun 11 AM to 2-3 PM

2. Wear a wide brim hat when I am out in the sun

3. slather my face with my aging and sun damaged skin lotions.

Aging & Sun Damaged Skin Lotion

Summer Base: Aubrey Organic Aloe gel

Winter Base: Aloe plus 1-2 tsp. organic, unrefined, extra virgin olive oil (if you can make a comfrey infused olive oil... even better)

Using a 4 oz. glass cosmetic jar, fill it up leaving head space for olive oil in winter and drops of essential oils.

Anti-aging essential oils to add 6-8 drops of each (as per the Male Herbal by James Green)

• Lavender

• Frankincense

• Carrot Seed

• Immortelle (Helichrysum italicum)

I also add a Rosemary essential oil, 6 drops

The Anti-Aging Team of essential oils

Use on your face and neck after washing with water only in AM & PM. Apply a little extra around eye area to crows feet.

The aging skin remedy can also be made by adding the drops of essential oils to 4 oz. of the above mentioned unscented, organic lotion.

I sometimes add essential oils of rosemary or oregano as they all increase circulation to the skin. Increased circulation means more oxygen and nutrients to skin cells and better removal of cellular wastes.
Peppermint, in very small amounts, also aids circulation. Peppermint does cause / exacerbate reflux and it will bother reflux in your face lotion. If reflux is an issue, skip using peppermint.

The finished sunscreen and sun repair remedy.

Skin Care the Whole Food Way (and support for teen acne)

Those who know me know that my eating habits revolve around only real, nature made foods for this gal. No Ho-Hos, Twinkies, Doritos, and sodas for me.

I take care of my skin in this same Wise Woman way. If I would not put some substance in my digestive tract, why would I put it on my skin?

Call to Action: Take a very close look at the ingredients in the products that you slather on your scalp, face, arm pits, and overall body skin to cleanse, moisturize, deodorize, medicate, etc.

Would you put all of the ingredients in those products onto your plate?

Every ingredient will soak through your skin and be circulated around to every body cell. That's correct, every chemical becomes part of your cell makeup.

So what is a wise person to do to avoid all this crap in their skin care products?

1. Read ingredients like a chemical, refined ingredient detective, just as you do with your food.

2. Buy 100% natural products.

3. Make your own skin care products. 

4. Re-evaluate all the products you keep in cupboards, drawers, and medicine cabinets.  Are all of these lotions, potions, gels, sprays, deodorants, etc. really needed? I bet you can pare down to the bare necessities and save $$$ as well as chemicals on and in your body.

Good Skin Care Consists of:

• Whole Food Feeding your body to prevent skin diseases, rashes, aging (wrinkle), and pre-mature degeneration of the skin. If you understand these whole food principles... skip clicking on the link back there and move along.

• Whole Health Lifestyle Choices: Your skin is one of the first areas of the body to show signs of poor nutrition and lifestyle habits.  The advice about the link above is the same here... if you are well versed in whole health living just move along.

• Wise sun exposure. We need skin exposed to the sun to make Vitamin D. What we naturally make in our own skin is readily available for the body to use. Low quality Vit D supplements are not so easy for your body to use and add to toxic build up.

• Avoiding soap. I know, sorry on this one as I am certain I will be ruffling some feathers. Your skin has a slight acid mantle. This acidity is your first line of defense against foreign invaders (i.e. micro-organisms). Soap is alkaline. Soap on the skin changes the acid PH and decreases your skins immune function. Your skin has to work harder to repair this acid mantle. Keep soap out of the picture and you protect and assist your skin as it goes about the task of covering and protecting your beautiful body. On another note: the slightly acid mantle of the skin keeps bacteria at bay... natural zit protection. 

Occasional zits are one thing, acne is a whole other issue. Acne is a symptom of an unhealthy interior, poor food choices, a liver that is taxed and needs nourishing. 

Onto Teen Acne... (truly anyone's acne will benefit)

I cannot emphasize the need for real, whole, natural foods to care for teen acne (to care for everyone all the time). If a kid is eating junk food crap that food is what is creating their cellular health, every body cell, and the toxins in junk food are excreted through the skin (through your digestive tract and urinary tract as well). Unhealthy skin is a symptom of unhealthy diet and lifestyle.

Yes, kids will have some zits with the craziness of teen hormonal shifts and their growth spurts. Acne can be seriously diminished and also prevented by a healthy lifestyle. Healthy living also balances teen hormones so they are not so all over the place. Modern living and eating has wrecked havoc on human health, teens included. See good skin care recommendations above.

Using low dose anti-biotics and birth control pills to deal with teen acne is an attempt at quick fixes that has disastrous long term consequences: serious disruption of healthy gut microbes, anti-biotic resistant bacteria, nutritional deficiencies, and so much more. Teen's skin (and bodies) are so much healthier when we function from a space of natural healing and avoid caving to quick fix pharmaceuticals with long-term damaging effects.

Teen Medicinal Infusion (Herbal Tea) OR Tincture

To compliment a whole food diet clearing toxins from the body and helping to heal acne, you can make your own herbal tea or tincture. Teas are easy to make and use within 30 minutes. Tinctures take a month or so to prep but last years.

To properly make herbal teas, infusions, go to this link

A simple formula I made for my kids, when they were teens, is my Zit Zapper Potion.

• Red Clover for blood cleansing

• Burdock & Dandelion Roots for liver nourishment of the detoxification pathways

• Stinging Nettle Leaves for cell nourishment

• Milk Thistle Seeds for liver nourishment to build liver health

To make a tea, see link above, you will have to follow the instructions for a decoction when infusing the hard plant parts of the Burdock & Dandelion Roots & the Milk Thistle Seeds.

• I chop the roots into very small pieces and put them in the blender with the Thistle seeds. I blend quickly into rough chunky powder and then use for the decoction. I would chop 1 Tbsp of each of the 3 hard herb parts and make about 1/2 gallon of the tea.

• After VERY gently simmering the hard parts for 20 minutes or so, shut off heat under your pot. Add the tablespoon of Stinging Nettle leaves and tablespoon of Red Clover flowers. I have both of these measured out and ready in a bowl. I use my fingers to break them into smaller pieces before putting into the root / seed decoction.

• Once the soft plant parts are in the pot, stir gently, put pot cover back on, and let it sit and steep over night. The heat is off under the pot, no simmering of the soft plant parts.

• Strain & refrigerate. Squeeze all tea from the wet plant parts.

• Drink 2-3 cups daily. Measure out 6-8 ounces at a time, not a 12-16 oz. mug.

To make a tincture:

• have 2 tablespoons of each of the 5 herbs in this formula

• toss all into the blender and gently blend into soft, chunky powder

• add 8 ounces of organic 100 proof vodka to blender and swirl around to get the plant pieces off the sides of the blender pitcher. No wasting plants!

• Pour the plant vodka mixture into a pint or quart canning jar. Plastic lids work better than the 2 piece metal lids as the alcohol tends to eat up & rust the metal.

• Get all materials out of the blender

• label your jar with the herbs in it, date you made it, and the vodka you used. Store the bottle in a cupboard away from heat and light.

• gently swirl the contents every day for at least a month.

• After the month, carefully strain to preserve all of the liquid. Squeeze the herbs to get every last drop of your precious tincture.

• Store the finished bottle in a cupboard away from heat and light.

• Start of slowly taking 10 drops 2-3 times daily. After a week up to 20 drops 2-3 times a day. 3rd week: 30 drops 2-3 times a day. Skip one day a week. If some days you take twice and other days three times, that is perfect!

• Now if you want to get really fun, learn how to make tinctures with the phases of the Moon. Some are made from Full Moon to Full Moon, some from Dark New Moon to Dark New Moon. Herbal medicine making is a gift to your healing adventure.

Teen Skin Wash

Put into a clean 8 oz jar:

• 3/4 cup water

• 1-2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (the raw, unfiltered variety)

• Optional: 1-2 drops of tea tree oil or oregano oil

• Keep cover on tightly

• Shake this jar well before using every AM & PM. Simply wet the corner of a thin cotton cloth (thick, fluffy wash clothes absorb too much of the liquid and waste it) and wipe across your entire face, neck, back, shoulders... wherever pimples plague you.

• If you are showering, shower before using this vinegar wash.  Splash your face with clean water, skip the soap, before applying if you are not showering. 

Another Homemade Product suggestion:  add 1 - 2 tbsp. of unrefined sea salt to above liquid and use as an underarm deodorant. The salt, vinegar, and essential oils work to prevent bacterial growth in your arm pits. Bacterial growth is what creates odor.  This will not prevent perspiring like antiperspirants do. Antiperspirants are a whole other toxin to learn about, consider not using, and get out of your life. Stopping a natural process, perspiring, is never a wise choice. Perspiring is one way your body rids itself of toxins. Having bowel movements is another. How healthy do you think you would be if you used a daily anti-BM pill? 

Questions, comments, some tried & true skin care thing you do? Please share in the comments.

More skin articles to read:

• Naked sun time

• Naked skin care: apple cider vinegar products that maintain your skin's acid mantle (yes, you can also make your own!)

• Secret face lift for making your own lotion

Stay tuned for next week's blog post on making your own natural sunscreen and anti-aging face cream.

Wild Leek Soup... Yummy!

Wild Leek, Herb, & Local Veggie Soup

Simple and took me about 20 minutes to make, 
including the cleaning time for the wild leeks.

• Early in the day I put out to thaw about 1 1/2 cups of each of these frozen veggies from my winter veggie CSA :

1. broccoli 
2. red, orange, and yellow pepper pieces
3. orange cherry tomatoes

• I brought 4 1/2 to 5 cups to a boil and poured into my Vita Mix blender.

• Add the white parts, set green leafy tops aside for later, of 15 or so wild leeks and blend into a puree.

• To the Vita Mix liquid add:

1. handful of fresh rosemary sprigs from the window sill herb pot 

2. handfuls of sage & oregano and the leaves off a long sprig (5-6 inches) of thyme - all herbs in the garden that are up and ready for use

• Blend all this green stuff into the wild leek liquid.

• Pour green liquid back into pot on the stove. Do not turn on heat again

• Add in the completely thawed veggies and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt.

• Cover pot and leave until dinner time. I made it about 1 1/2 hours before dinner so the flavors could meld together for a short while.

• Tomorrow night I will add a can of organic chickpeas to the leftovers to change it just a little bit.

Optional add ins:

• fresh chives scattered across the top after you ladle into the soup bowls.
• garlic chives blended into the broth.
• any fresh herbs you have in the garden. I have parsley but I did not want to disturb the small patch this early in the season.
• fresh, tender dandelion greens.
• wild violet leaves from the yard? 
• harvest wild violet flowers just before serving and sprinkle across the top with the chopped chives. Violets add in some awesome, local Vitamin C for spring rejuvenation!
• I would have added frozen sweet corn kernels and cauliflower pieces but I seemed to have used all of those frozen CSA goodies.

Serve with whole grain bread, butter, & cheese. If you are lucky, and we were, serve up a local baby green salad. Spring pleasure food!

Grab what you have on hand and create a simple spring soup to enjoy in this untimely hot weather! Share what you threw together and tell us if it was yummy!

You Are NOT What You Eat

 

Ok, so the story, as we have been told, is that You Are What You Eat. 

I truly love this statement as it says so much. If you stop and think consciously about this statement, you just might think hard and long about your food choices.

At the same time that this statement says so much... it does not say enough. Hence my title:

You Are NOT What You Eat.

Let me explain myself.

1. You ARE what your body digests.

• real food is required

• chew well: food must be masticated very well so your body can easily break it down (digest it) otherwise you will just be pooping out undigested chucks of food. Pity, seems like such a waste of good food! 

• strong stomach acid is required to break down food so you are able to use all of the nutrients in that real food you spend good money on. You want to encourage stomach acid not repress it with acid suppressing drugs.

• good microbial colonization of your intestinal tract is needed for certain biological activities; microorganisms perform a host of useful functions such as fermenting unused energy substrates, training the immune system, preventing growth of harmful, pathogenic bacteria, regulating the development of the gut, producing vitamins for the host, such as biotin and vitamin K, and producing hormones to direct your body to store fats (and so many more good gut bug jobs). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_flora

Let's move on with this You Are NOT What You Eat concept...

2. You ARE what your body can absorb.

• in order for nutrients to be absorbed, they have to be able to be digested. I will refer you back to #1 above.

• your small intestine must be healthy in order to absorb the nutrients from the digested food. Processed, packaged, factory made foods (and all the synthetic ingredients in them) damage the villi and micro villi that line your small intestine. Damaged villi do not absorb nutrients well. Ask your body's cells how they feel about this lack of nutrients coming at them? What destroys these precious little villi and micro villi you ask?

1. packaged food's synthetic ingredients
2. sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup
3. hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils
4. GMO food crops
5. gluten in people with celiac disease or gluten intolernaces
6. poor chewing... see above.

3. You ARE What Your Heart Can Circulate Around Your Body and Deliver To Your Body Cells.

• moving your body daily creates a strong heart, strong blood vessels, and strong muscles that all help to pump blood around your body. I could go on and on and write a whole book on the benefits of daily movement to your body's tissue strength and how this movement supports the movement of fluids, oxygen, and nutrients throughout your body. I will spare you the long story. Trust me, just get up and move. Dance and your body cells dance with you!

4. You ARE What Can Pass Across Your Body Cell Membranes. 

The nutrients in your real food that you have chewed well, were digested well, and absorbed into your villi and micro villi are only useful IF they can pass across the cell membrane and actually nourish your body cells. Complicated, eh?

• your cell membranes need healthy fat from real food to keep it strong and intact allowing nutrients into the cell and cellular waste products out of the cell.

• also, a daily dose of healthy protein keeps the cell membranes happy.

• avoid processed, packaged, factory made foods as they contain unhealthy fats (hydrogenated & partially hydrogenated oils, cheap vegetable oils high in omega 6 fatty acids), denatured proteins, and synthetic ingredients that confuse your body and interfere with this whole digestion - absorption - circulation - and transport across the cell membrane process (for more information head back up to #1).

You are SO much more than just what you eat. You ARE what you:

• digest

• absorb

• circulate

• pass into your each and every tiny cell

Deeper Dive Homework: look at your food and your bodily processes in a different light.  Feed your body whole foods.  Support all your bodily processes so you, in turn, feed your body cells well.

PS  Dandelions are a great digestive aid!

Comments and questions are always welcome! 

80/20 Deception

I compare this 80/20 eating plan to a license to kill.  I know, I am harsh, but let's look at the reality of this bold eating statement:

Essentially what this 80/20 statement is saying is:

• eat good food - real food - whole food 80% of the time AND
• 20% of the time just let it all hang out and eat anything you want (food products, fast food, and junk food that are not even real food, yikes!). 

This equation, in most people's hand, seems like it could be dangerous. Let me explain.

Questions:

1. Do you want to heal and thrive or just survive 80% of the time?
2. Do you want health professional who hold you accountable to good cellular health or health professionals who say, "Hey, go ahead, poison your body cells 20% of the time?"  (I warned you I am harsh. Achieving health is not something to sugar coat. This reminds me of My Holistic Momma's Dilemma post.)

If you were diagnosed with lung cancer would you want to be told?:

"Hey, 80% of the time... give up those cigarettes but 20% of the time, well just go for it. Smoke whatever you want."

Liver disease...

"80% of the time avoid alcohol but 20% of the time enjoy all of the drinks you want."

Car Care: Would you put gasoline in your car's gas tank 80% of the time and corn syrup the other 20% of the time? (This is just for perspective on this 80/20% thought line.)

Hang on good people, stick with me on this one... here comes the positive, loving, there may be some interim usefulness to this 80/20 thing.

Now do not get me wrong, if a person was on "the reverse 80/20 eating plan" and consumed 80% processed, packaged, and junk food... swapping out the eating habits to an 80% whole food and 20% not so whole food eating plan would be a huge improvement. This person would notice major shifts in their energy, sleep, colon health, mental alertness, digestive ease, moods and happiness... their 80/20 eating plan's healthy side effects would on and on.

For example: I have clients who give up eating any & all sugar for just 3 days. This means reading each label carefully for every conceivable form of sugar that food manufacturers use to hide the real sugar content of food. Truthfully, most clients will just go on a 100% "no packaged food" for 3 days to rid sugar from their lives.

100% of the time I get emails or phone calls with this general message: 

     "I cannot believe how much better I feel just from this one change in my eating habits. (Now remember, in getting sugar out of the diet they have also removed all packaged foods. Bonus healing effects happen with this double shift in eating.) I have better energy, fall asleep with ease, wake up feeling more refreshed, have no sugar cravings; the mid afternoon slump and moodiness has eneded, I just feel so much better."

Natural foods start the cellular healing process immediately! This is a 100% win win.

80% Junk vs. 20% Real Food?

Shifting to 80% Whole Food & 20% not so whole foods might be the shift that pushes one over the edge to get even healthier. Feeling good begets wanting to feel great!

Quite frankly, I know I am not saying anything that most people do not already innately know: Your body needs real food to thrive. This is nature's plan. Being reminded of these cold, hard facts is a story that not everyone wants to hear. Learning, relearning what we innately know, means something has to change. A shift in lifestyle has to be made. This creates discomfort.

Try this fun field trip to take on a cold, cloudy, North Country day: 

1. slowly wander through your local grocery store and take 1 item per food category off the shelves in each section of the store,
2. read all ingredients carefully, and
3. decide if any or all ingredients seem like anything nature intended to be in your body contributing to (or detracting from) your body's cellular health.

What are your thoughts on the 80/20 Eating Plan?

Spring Fling with Nettles

Stinging nettles poking out of the ground, 4/16/15.

I grow nettles in the "flower" bed up against my home. I have been asked on many occasions: "What person in their right mind would plant nettles in any flower bed and the bed right up against the house?" The answer is obvious to me; I am not in my right mind and who wouldn't plant nettles so close to the house? They are oh so close when I need them for soups. stews, stir fries, pesto, tinctures, medicinal infusions, etc.

Now here is the double edged sword with this situation: they are close at hand but these 'lil buggers like to run and take over the world just like mints. They create this under soil runner that, well, just runs, and runs, and runs spiraling out of control. I spend the spring pulling the renegade nettles out of the rest of the flower bed in front of my home. When I planted them, 5 years ago, I politely asked them to stay in their space on the side of the house. I even dug down into the soil and planted sandstone pieces to deter them from running. They out smarted me.

As aggravating as this can be, I do have a steady supply of spring nettles that I do not feel guilty about pulling. I snip the leaves to eat and plant the runners along the yard's edge hoping for yet more nettles to eat and make medicine with.

My bowl of nettle tops and leaves.

A close up of 2 nettle tops ready for dinner.

Nettles in the pan, a gentle saute' in butter is all that is needed.

The stems that I gently cooked first;  why waste the nutrients?

Cooked nettles waiting for me to consciously devour them.

The finished salad with nettles scattered across the top.

I have made mention of my Spring difficulties around food. All winter I graciously and gratefully eat local cabbage, root veggies, and squash. I save my frozen local summer veggies to tide me over when I can no longer stand the thought of a root veggie and cabbage slaw. Yes, it does happen. (My winter leftovers are waiting to be made into sauerkraut when I can dig enough wild leeks to enhance this kraut batch.) 

I yearn for local food: asparagus, greens, fiddle heads, peas, strawberries...

To survive until the local food is bountiful once again, I buy food from California. There, I confessed. The above salad is Romaine lettuce, celery, carrots, and juicy red peppers from California. I also buy non-local fruits: mango, banana, kiwi, citrus, and canned organic pineapple. I am desperate for neatly gift packaged sunshine to tide me over to the local food scene. A ripe mango has a serious amount of sun waiting to burst out of its skin. I bow my head in gratitude to the people, the trees, and the soil that brings me these gems to keep me happy.

I plopped the above salad down in front of my kids, minus the nettles of course. They would have flipped had I expected them to eat Nettles! (They did each have a small spoonful that they chucked into their mouths and barely chewed before swallowing. Someday they will appreciate the things I have exposed them to...) Here was my salad response:

"Finally, a real salad. No more nasty cabbage - root veggie slaw! Yay!"

Poor kids, they suffer so.

"Wow, Mom broke down and bought something that didn't grow within 20 miles of our home."

When do they learn to not harass the person keeping them in food?

Tip for the day: Get outside. Snip some nettles. Hey, dig some wild leeks and saute' them together, ever so gently. Enjoy the taste sensation, the local wild food, and the spring nourishment for your body. Oh yeah, don't bother sharing with the kids!

To create your own female energy spring fling:

Join the Female ♀ Moon Cycle Wisdom Training

Tuition, this year, stays at $72 Bucks in honor of My Mom,

an awesome female, & her Birthday (April 17th)! 

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