How to Achieve Youthful-Looking Skin
Recently, two elderly women commented on how good my skin looks. One of them asked me if I’m 22 or 23 (I’m actually 45)! Well, that just made my day! In fact, a couple of college-age colleagues also thought that I look like an early 20-something. One of the elderly ladies asked me if I do facial massage every day. My reply was: “Not at all. I never go to facials and I hardly use any skincare products except for a little bit of argan oil occasionally. My secret is how I eat!”
As within, so without. Many women spend a copious amount of money on skincare products to make their skin look younger, brighter and smoothie. In Asia, edible collagen capsules and potions are extremely popular, besides all kinds of skincare products like skin-whitening lotions. But the truth is, radiant and youthful-looking skin is a product of a healthy internal system. The key is to work from the inside out through a healthy diet, and from the outside in through a toxic-free environment.
Following an individualized diet plan such as the Blood Type Diet, Genotype Diet or SWAMI will prevent the build-up of harmful lectins and other toxins in your body so the daily toxin-elimination tasks will be efficiency performed by the kidneys, bowel and liver instead of being left to the last resort—the skin (the largest elimination organ), resulting in different kinds of skin problems like breakout, acne, rashes and eczema.
One common skin issue that women experience is adult-onset acne, which is caused by hormonal imbalance. Eating according to your body type will help bring your hormones into balance and clear up your skin. I used to have periodic acne in my 20s and 30s—it was not only painful but so serious that I got scars on my face! No amount of astringent or topical cream helped. But after I switched to the Blood Type Diet, my acne problem completely disappeared.
Other skin issues like fine lines, wrinkles and dry skin are the bane of aging. But there are ways to slow down the signs of aging without relying on chemicals or plastic surgery. One way is to avoid sugar in your diet. Sugar attaches itself to protein, generating harmful molecules called “advanced glycation end products,” or “AGE” (uncanny coincidence, eh?). These molecules compromise the effect of elastin and collagen, which help maintain the skin’s youthful appearance.
It’s important to note that refined carbs also have the same effect. So if you want to maintain youthful-looking skin, cut down on refined carbs! Each blood type has different tolerance levels for carbs. Generally speaking, Type As have a higher tolerance for it than Type Os, the opposite of the spectrum. Complex carbs from vegetables and fruits are much healthier than processed or refined ones. Following the food lists in Dr. Peter D’Adamo’s book “Eat Right for Your Type” and the recommended portion size will take the guesswork out and make life much easier.
Exercising, sweating, sauna and lymphatic massage also help remove toxins from the body and clear up the skin.
Avoid the use of petrochemical-based skincare products and make-up. This will prevent the skin from being constantly clogged as well as prevent toxins from being absorbed into the bloodstream, causing further harm to the body.
Perhaps you have heard the saying that you shouldn’t put on your skin what you wouldn’t eat. Well, just as we absorb nutrients through the digestive system, our skin “eats” what’s being applied on it too. So give it the nourishment that is both safe and beneficial for your skin.
My Secrets
Now let me share with you my youthful skin secrets:
Besides eating right according to my body type and applying a bit of argan oil at night, I do use a minimum amount of toxin-free skincare products and makeup.
After cleaning my face with Dr. D’Adamo’s Genoma Rejuvenating Cleanser, I will usually spray it with the AGE-Inhibiting Toner.
For makeup, I like to use 100% Pure fruit-pigmented products. They are free from paraben and other harmful petrochemicals and consistently score low in terms of harmful chemicals on Environment Working Group’s Skin Deep database.
Lastly, I want to let you in on a nutritional supplement that I take daily that helps reverse the signs of aging—Trehalose Complex. It slows down the aging process on the cellular level and has helped me, among other things, reduce the pigments in age spots.
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