Five ingredients in your kitchen to use for better looking skin...

If you were to stop by my house while I’m making my green smoothies, you might just see avocados. On my face. After putting an avocado in my food processor, I will take the inside of the avocado skin and smear it on my face. Avocados are good internally as well as externally for your skin, as I’ve learned. Which made me curious as to other things that would also be good for your skin. So I was excited to listen to a podcast with Dr. Trevor Cates, a nationally recognized naturopathic physician and author of “Clean Skin from Within: The Spa Doctor’s Two-Week Program to Glowing, Naturally Youthful Skin”. She believes the key to healthy skin is inner and outer nourishment with non-toxic ingredients. She discusses in her book five natural ingredients for your skin that you can get straight from the kitchen:

Avocados

As I mentioned, I use avocados on my face and have noticed a difference in my skin. They are great for hydrating the skin as they are rich in vitamins A and E, and mono-unsaturated fats. Avocados reduce inflammation of the skin when applied topically and can do the same internally when eaten. Honey

A natural humectant so it helps hold in the moisture on our skin and helps with pH. Some honey is more therapeutic than others. For example, Manuka honey is particularly therapeutic. The great thing about honey, besides tasting great, is that it has many anti-microbial benefits. It naturally helps with things like acne where you have an imbalance in the skin micro biome. Be sure to use raw honey. Oats They have a great anti-inflammatory and soothing properties for the skin. This makes it especially good for people with irritated skin, eczema, hives. It helps healing of those kinds of skin issues.

Papaya & Yogurt Papaya is great due to the enzymes it contains; the greener the papaya the more enzymes there are in it. The papain in it helps as an exfoliant. So be careful if you have sensitive or inflamed skin; better to use a ripe papaya. If you are looking to really exfoliate your skin, use a green papaya. Yogurt is very soothing. It has lactic acid and probiotics which can help with the skin micro biome and the pH of the skin. You could make a mask using the yogurt, papaya, and oats. Blend together and put on your face for up to 10 minutes. Dr. Cates recommends doing this mask at night due to the papain in the papaya can create some photosynthesis that makes people more sensitive to the sun so better to do at night. Other key points Dr. Cates makes: • The health of our body shows up on our skin • The skin is our largest organ, it gives much information about overall health - when you are on the right track with your health, it shows up on your skin • If you aren’t on track with your eating, that’s a good indication that there is an imbalance and there may be a root cause behind it • It’s not just how your skin appears, but it is understanding what’s really going on behind the issue so you can address the root cause • It’s important to cut out the toxic ingredients in personal and home care products Back to making my green smoothies…I just may add some papaya and yogurt to my skin... To your journey, Lisa Schaffer GreenNote Fitness P.S. Check out my Facebook page for inspiration. P.P.S. Discover GreenNote Fitness recommendations for recovery, supplements, protein bars & powders, nutrition, equipment, books and more. **Do you have a friend that would benefit from this information? Please forward it to them!**