Best foods for healthy skin and hair

True beauty comes from health.

Best food for healthy skin and hair

1. Salmon and trout
2. Broccoli and spinach
3. Nuts and seeds
4. Berries
5. Spinach and other leafy greens

Beauty starts on the inside.

The food that we eat and the drinks that we drink determine how healthy we are. Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, famously said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Every aspect of our physical health is impacted by what we put into our bodies. Cells need certain nutrients to exist, generate new cells and perform their functions.

Without the right nutrients, our bodies start to deteriorate on a cellular level. Let’s jump straight into the best foods that will help you to look after the health of your hair and skin.

Which foods are good for healthy skin, hair and nails?

1) Foods high in Omega 3 

Omega 3 deficiencies are known to cause skin issues like rough, dry, oily or scaly skin. It can even cause hair loss.

Omega 3 is a fatty acid. Unfortunately, most of us don’t eat enough foods that are high in Omega 3, but eat too many foods that contain Omega 6 and Omega 9 (which come from plant oils).

Our bodies need Omega 3 to function properly. Omega 3 deficiencies can lead to hormonal imbalances, cardiovascular and circulatory problems, diabetes, depression and even dry or oily skin. 

Hormonal problems directly affect the skin – too much or too little of certain hormones like testosterone, estrogen and the human growth hormone (HGH) will directly impact how well the skin can keep itself moisturized.

Too much of one of these hormones can either flood your skin with too much oil or dry it out completely.

Hormonal imbalances explain why teens often struggle with pimples and acne when they hit puberty.

Foods that are high in Omega 3 will help the body to balance out hormonal functions. Without the right hormonal balance, your hair can also become too dry or too oily.

Good sources of Omega 3:

1. Oily fish like mackerel, herring, sea bass, salmon, sardines and trout
2. Seafood like oysters, shrimp, seaweed (spirulina is a form of seaweed) and krill
3. Seeds like chia seeds, flax seeds and hemp seeds
4. Nuts like Walnuts and almonds
5. Beans like soybeans, edamame and kidney beans

Give your body what it needs.

2) Foods that contain fiber

Fiber is the part of plant foods that we can’t digest. It is eliminated through bowel movements.

Although our bodies can’t break down fiber, it is very important because it adds bulk to the excretion process. Without enough bulk, our bodies don’t have enough matter to eliminate toxins and impurities.

These impurities, if left to build up, can accumulate in the body and wreak havoc on the skin - and block up hair pores.

Foods that are high in fiber will help your body to eliminate these impurities and let your skin glow with perfection. Cleaner pores lead to better hair growth.

Foods that are high in fiber include

1. Fruits like apples, peaches, oranges, lemons, bananas, pears, berries, and melons
2. Vegetables like pumpkin, broccoli, carrots and tomatoes
3. Leafy greens like spinach, lettuce, cabbage and bok choy

Use fiber to stay clean.

3) Foods high in anti-oxidants

Anti-oxidants keep the body fresh by reducing the negative effects of free radicals. Think of free radical damage as the general wear and tear that our bodies go through as we age.

Normal functions like physical movement lead to free radical damage on a cellular level - and unhealthy things like pollution, unhealthy food, smoking, alcohol, illnesses and unbalanced diets increase the damage caused by free radicals.

Free radical damage leads to premature aging and wrinkles. Antioxidants reduce free radical damage. Eating a diet high in antioxidants can reduce the appearance of wrinkles and other age-related beauty problems - like hair loss.

The best way to get a healthy dose of anti-oxidants is from raw plant sources, just like the ones listed above. Tea or coffee is another great source of antioxidants.

Find healthy things that you enjoy

4) Vitamin C

Most people know about Vitamin C’s ability to support immune function, but it does a lot more than that. Vitamin C is also responsible for helping the body to heal itself from wounds.

Vitamin C is a powerful anti-oxidant. It is also needed for the creation of collagen, which is what makes skin supple and flexible. Skin starts to sag as we age because less collagen gets produced.

A healthy diet with lots of Vitamin C will help to slow down the reduction in collagen production.

Good sources of Vitamin C include:

1. Peppers
2. Fruits like oranges, lemons, mandarins, tangerines and grapefruit
3. Leafy greens like spinach and lettuce
4. Vegetables like carrots, tomatoes and broccoli

Get enough Vitamin C

5) Vitamin E

Vitamin E is the most well-known vitamin for skin, hair and nail health. For this reason, many skin creams and hair shampoos contain this Vitamin.

Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant that helps to repair damage caused by outside factors like pollution, the sun, stress and harmful chemicals.

When Vitamin E is ingested though food sources, it will help to boost skin and hair health from the inside out. It is also really good at softening skin. Vitamins play a huge role in overall skin, hair and nail health.

Good sources of vitamin E are:

1. Seeds like sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds
2. Nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, Brazil nuts, pecans and cashews
3. Fish like salmon and trout
4. Fruits like avocado, mango, kiwifruit and apricots
5. Berries like blackcurrants, cranberries and raspberries
6. Vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, spinach, butternut and turnips

Choose healthy food.

Top foods for hair and skin health 

After reading through this article, you might have noticed that there are some foods that will benefit your skin and hair in more than one way.

Salmon, for example, is a rich source of Omega 3 as well as Vitamin E. By combining the different ways that our bodies need different nutrients to look after our skin, we can see which foods benefit our skin in more than one way. 

This is the list of my favorite foods for skin and hair health:

1. Salmon and trout (Omega 3 and Vitamin E)
2. Broccoli and spinach (Fiber, Antioxidants and Vitamin C)
3. Nuts and seeds (Omega 3, Antioxidants, Fiber and Vitamin E)
4. Berries (Anti-oxidants, Fiber, Vitamin C and Vitamin E)
5. Spinach and other leafy greens (Fiber, Antioxidants, Vitamin C and Vitamin E)

External features like the skin and hair reflect internal health and well-being. By looking after your health, you are helping your body to look after itself. 

Drinking plenty of water and getting enough exercise, for example, are other fantastic ways to let your hair and skin shine with ageless beauty. Stay Strong!

Exercise has many effects.

What happens when you exercise?

Your heart beats faster. Blood circulation increases and more nutrients are sent throughout your body. You may feel hot and start to sweat. Mental stress seems to disappear, you feel a light mental high from endorphins and you feel a strong sense of pride afterwards.

Some people are really fond of exercise. They make it a daily habit. Have you ever wondered what happens to your body when you exercise? 

We should all know that exercise makes you healthy and improves your efficiency in all areas of your life. Here are a few ways that it helps you out in a mental, emotional and physical way.

What are benefits of exercise?

1. Improves blood circulation
2. Reduces mental stress
3. Improves mood and makes you happier
4. Makes you sleep better
5. Reduces the risk of many diseases
6. Improves confidence and helps you to feel relaxed
7. Makes the heart strong
8. Exercise actually makes you a wiser person

Exercise is so good for you.

1. Improves blood circulation

There are many effects of exercise on the heart. When you exercise, your body needs more nutrients and your heart pumps blood faster throughout your body. This ultimately results in hotness and sweating. Non-exercising organs like your brain, skin and liver benefit from this extra blood flow.

2. Exercise reduces mental stress

If a person exercises regularly, it will reduce mental stress hormones like cortisol. It will also increase happy hormones like endorphins and serotonin. Endorphins interact with the receptors in the brain to reduce your perception of pain. This goes for both mental emotional and physical pain. Endorphins and serotonin also trigger a positive feeling in your body.

3. Exercise improves your mood and makes you happier

A lot of research has shown that people who exercise are happier than those who do not. It is because of the dopamine and serotonin (happy) hormones that get elevated naturally through exercise.

Our emotional state needs exercise.

4. Exercise helps with better sleep

Physical activity improves sleep quality and increases deep sleep duration. Exercise may also bolster sleep in other ways because it reduces stress and tires you out.

5. Exercise reduces the risk of some diseases

Regular physical activity improves overall health, fitness and quality of life. It also helps in reducing several diseases like cancer, anxiety, depression, heart disease and diabetes. 

6. Exercise self-improves confidence and makes you feel relaxed

Regular exercise can increase self-confidence by improving body image. While exercising, you're likely to strengthen and tone your body. Seeing these results can greatly improve your self-esteem and help you feel better about the way that you look.

7. Exercise makes your heart strong

Just as exercise strengthens other muscles in your body, it helps your heart muscle become more efficient and better able to pump blood throughout your body. This means that the heart pushes out more blood with each beat, allowing it to beat slower and keep your blood pressure under control.

8. Exercise makes you wiser

During exercise our body releases endorphins which increase the ability of the brain to sort out priorities. It allows us to concentrate and block out distractions. It improves your capacity of remembering and hence you will start to remember more things than before.

Your brain needs exercise.

What happens when you don't exercise?

1. Skin looks horrible without blood circulation
2. Shortness of breath and poor cardio-vascular health
3. Sleeping issues
4. Brain fog and mental decline
5. You get sick more often
6. Muscles get weaker over time

No exercise will harm your health.

1. A bad complexion

Exercise improves blood circulation. Skin cells get the nourishment that they need through exercise. If you don’t exercise, you will have more wrinkles and acne. You will also have a dull face.

2. Shortness of breath

If you don’t exercise, your body will get tired after doing a small amount of work like a short flight of stairs or running for the bus. Even cleaning your house will have you taking breaks to catch your breath. Simple tasks become much bigger chores than what they actually are.

3. Sleepless nights

If you don’t use your energy throughout the day, you’ll have a hard time going into sleep mode even though you feel tired and lethargic.

4. Mental fog

Your brain won’t be on the top of its game if it doesn’t get enough oxygen and other important nutrients (because of poor blood circulation and shortness of breath). Without regular exercise, you will find it harder to concentrate at work. Suppose, you came into your room and you forgot why you came?

5. More sick days

If you are living a lazy or lethargic lifestyle, you are going to suffer through more sick days because your immune system is not as strong as it should be.

6. Weak muscles

Without exercise you’ll find it difficult to hold a grocery bag. Even standing for a long time will wear you out. You will feel the constant need to get more rest.

Conclusion

After reading this, I really hope that you understand why it is so important to exercise regularly. I’d like thank all my readers who stand to benefit from this article. Stay blessed!

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The Health Benefits of Sweating

You sweat while you work out, while in the sauna and throughout the day because of heat. Sweat is the body’s way of cooling the body down because of the cooling effect when water evaporates from the skin. In the cave man era, humans were able to run for long periods of time - longer than most animals – because their ability to sweat. Sweating prevented them from overheating, which would lead to collapsing, feinting and even death.

Sweat is smelly and unattractive, but is essential for life. Here are a few benefits of sweating:

• Sweating Prevents Death. 

This is because of its ability to cool the body down. If humans could not sweat, then more than 70% of the human population would die within one week. Scary statistics…

• Sweating helps to detox the body. 

Sweating allows the body to release some of the toxins that it needs to expel through the skin. This detox method can release up to 30% of the toxins and impurities that the kidneys and liver would otherwise have to deal with. This eases the burden on the kidneys and liver, allowing them to perform more of their other bodily functions like energy, nutrient and hormone control, metabolism and release.

• Sweating is good for the skin. 

Sweating opens up the skin so that it can receive some of the nutrients and minerals from within. This includes lipids and oils that moisturizes dry skin and also allows the skin to release excess oils that might cause pimples and blackheads. People who sweat more often have better looking skin than those who sweat less.

• Sweating can be used as an indicator to the level of effort used during exercise. 

Although people sweat differently (i.e. some people sweat less after high intensities of exercise while others sweat a lot even when they are not exercising.), without sweat people could push past what is safe because we could be overheating without realizing it. The dangerous effects of overheating progress until death.

• Sweating decreases water retention. 

Sweating gives the body an opportunity to get rid of some of the excess water under the skin. This excess water looks like cellulite, can make people look bloated and hides muscle definition. Sweating also gets rid of sodium, which is an important mineral but can cause health problems. People who follow a typical westernized diet consume too much sodium (the amount of sodium needed is 2400 mg. The average American consumes 7800 mg a day).


People who don’t engage in exercise and therefore don’t sweat often enough tend to have higher levels of toxins in their bodies. They are also more prone to duller looking skin which is more likely to breakouts with pimples or blackheads or whiteheads, rashes, redness, inflammation and flaking.
As healthy as sweating is, sweating too much can cause the body to lose precious nutrients like water and electrolytes that the body cannot survive without. Make sure to replenish water whenever you sweat to stay hydrated and eat a good diet that is rich in minerals and electrolytes. Mineral and electrolyte dense foods are foods like fresh, raw produce (like vegetables, leafy greens, fruit, seeds, nuts) red and white meat, fish and seafood.
It is commonly believed that those who sweat more are healthier than those sweat less. The fitter you become, the more you will sweat as one of the ways that your body becomes more adept at cooling itself down.

Sweating might not be the best thing for your image and it might make you feel uncomfortable, but at least you know that it is a healthy thing to do. Keep hydrated and make sure your diet / supplementation includes the minerals and electrolytes that are lost from sweating. STAY STRONG!

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How to Get Rid of Freckles Naturally

Can you get rid of freckles without surgery or cosmetic procedures? The short answer is yes.

Freckles… freckles… freckles. People who don’t have freckles and sun spots wish that they did. For those of us who do have them, we’d rather do without these 'beauty spots'. Freckles are nothing more than concentrated deposits of melanin (the pigment in our skin). The bad news is that the cheaper and most natural freckle removal methods won’t take freckles away overnight. The good news is that there are things that we can do to make them fade away over time - to the point where most of them eventually disappear. Here are a few solutions that you can look into to get rid of those sun kisses.

Ways to get rid of freckles at home

Lemon juice

Lemon juice is very healthy thing to drink regularly. Lemon juice, though, acts very similar to a kind of bleach when it gets into contact with the skin because it is acidic. Because of its acidity, it works as a mild exfoliation; removing a small portion of the lop layer of the skin where it is applied. This removes a part of the dead skin cells from the outer layer of skin and encourages the skin to make more new, younger-looking skin. People use lemon juice to lighten the color tone of their skin and freckles, and sometimes on other areas like the arms and torso to soften tan lines. Because of lemon juice’s ability to lighten the skin, it is a great tool to help fade freckles away. Some freckles will even fade to the point where they are no longer visible, although some will fade but still stay slightly visible. Unfortunately, this takes time and will take more than just a few days to work effectively.

Directions and use:

Dab undiluted lemon juice onto the skin to lighten up tan lines or freckles before going to bed and let it dry out. Wash off in the morning after waking up and repeat every night. The skin should start to lighten and freckles can fade – sometimes to the point of disappearing – after a few weeks. If your skin is very sensitive, dilute the lemon juice with water. On your first night, try it out on a small patch of skin to determine how sensitive your skin is and to see whether you have a negative reaction to it. All skin types are different and some people might get burnt from the acidity of too much lemon juice at once.

Exfoliation

Exfoliating the skin removes the outer layer of skin which is made up of dead skin cells. Frequent, thorough exfoliation helps the skin to rejuvenate itself - even to the point where the concentrated melanin deposits (freckles) are removed and new, spot-free skin can replace the area.

Directions and use:

Be careful if you are using another exfoliation method while using the lemon juice method mentioned above. DO NOT use another exfoliation method directly before are after the lemon juice method. This will damage your skin. Depending on the sensitivity and tolerance of your skin (which will improve over time), you should wait from 5 days to 1 full day (and night) for using another exfoliation technique.

DO NOT exfoliate more than once in one session and DO NOT exfoliate for two days in a row. You need to give your skin enough time to rejuvenate and give the new skin which was recently underneath the removed layer time to adapt to becoming the new outside layer of skin. DO NOT scrub until your skin starts to go red or pink (this can lead to permanent damage) and DO NOT scrub until it starts to feel painful. I personally exfoliate until I feel a light tingle. After a good exfoliation, your skin will look polished and glow. DO NOT exfoliate more than twice a week. The reason why you should not exfoliate too much, too often or too hard is because the point of exfoliation is to remove the uppermost layer of skin which consists of dead skin cells and overdoing it will lead to the removal (and damage) of the healthy, living skin layers which you want to get as healthy and untouched as possible. This skin needs to look good and rejuvenate into better looking skin, and can only so this when it is healthy enough to do so. DO NOT focus on scrubbing freckles until they disappear or go lighter. This won't happen and you will end up damaging your skin. You will never notice an immediate difference after a single exfoliation. You can only work towards fading freckles in smaller intervals, since freckles are present in many layers of skin.

Just do a light scrub twice a week with a few days of ‘rest’ in-between sessions. After a few weeks (yes, it does take that long), the speeding up of skin renewal brought on by exfoliation will lead to the gradual removal of the concentrated melanin formations. Again, you will not see any differences after the first few exfoliations, but freckles can fade after a few weeks or disappear in a few months.

One of the most popular exfoliation methods is the use of exfoliation gloves that can be purchased at most supermarkets. These gloves don’t cost too much and can be re-used over and over again. You simply put the gloves on before going into the shower or bath and then lather them with soap and water (which creates a soapy lather like a scrunchy). Rub the skin all over your body with the lathered gloves in circular motions and rinse when done. Do not make the water too hot while doing this in the shower or bath, because intense heat can damage your skin.

Another popular method of exfoliation is through the use of pastes that contain a grainy or sandy substance that can buffer the skin's surface. You can purchase these pastes at stores or make them at home by using household items. Popular combinations include baking soda and water, salt (smooth salt only because the larger, coarse salt can hurt the skin) and olive oil or even mud made with clean, treated sand and water. Rub the exfoliating paste onto the skin in circular motions for a few seconds before rinsing off afterwards.

Some wonder whether exfoliation is a normal or natural process for the skin to go through. The truth is that it is more natural than you would initially think. In the jungle, our skins would naturally brush against trees, leaves, dirt and other things which they are now protected from with clothes and other comforts. Scraping against random things every day paved the way for new skin regeneration.

Increase general skin health

The healthier your skin is, the better it will be able to regenerate itself and the younger it will begin to look in general. This can speed up the methods above and slow down the formation of new freckles. Here are a few things that you should be doing to keep your skin looking as good as possible.

1. Eat a good diet

Eat a healthy diet that is balanced with enough carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fruits and vegetables. Proteins are needed build new skin tissue, fats are needed for proper hormonal function and moisture, carbohydrates ensure that your body has the energy that it needs, and eating fruit and vegetables gives your skin important vitamins like vitamin C. Make sure that you get enough fiber every day, so that your body can eliminate the toxins that obstruct nutrient flow and other key functions.

2. Sweat

Sweating is great for your skin. It helps nutrients to reach the surface and allows for the elimination of impurities that can get trapped in the skin or just below its surface. It also helps the liver to deal with other functions because it eases its detoxification load. Liver spots can appear on the skin when liver function declines.

3. Exercise

Exercise can keep your whole body (including your skin) younger for longer. This will improve your skin's ability to regenerate and stay supple. Other advantages of exercise like stress reduction, blood circulation, and nutrient delivery will directly improve skin health.

4. Drink enough water

Water will help to keep your entire body well hydrated and eliminate excess sodium. This will also hydrate your skin, but also ensure that there are fewer toxins that can damage your entire body and more space for nutrients to reach critical places - from the inside out.

5. Get enough sleep

Sleep is where the body recovers from damage and regenerates itself the most. When your body is forced to cope with less sleep than it requires, it focuses on performing functions that it deems most important for survival and is not able to do things which will ensure its best long-term state. Here are great tips for people who struggle to fall asleep.

6. Stress less

Avoid unnecessary stresses and take the time to do the things that you enjoy. This will help to decrease the amount of stress that your body has to cope with. Stress makes your body think that there is some kind of impending danger and alters its function in order to prepare for the perceived risk. When in a stressed state, the body slows down (and could completely halt) its repair and recovery processes. The steam room helps me to de-stress, sweat, recover physically and detox at the same time.

7. Avoid smoking and alcohol

Smoking increases the toxic load, decreases nutrient delivery and clogs up the body's recovery processes. This increases skin damage and decreases your body's ability to create new skin (or even maintain existing skin properly). The effects of alcohol are very similar. Both of these habits also hamper liver function.

8. Avoid sun damage

I love the sun. I believe that we were meant to be in the sun regularly - just like the rest of nature. This doesn't mean, though, that I let me skin get damaged by the sun. This would be counter-productive. Limit sun exposure, depending on your skin type. Do not stay in the sun for so long that your skin gets red (or even pink) - no matter what kind of skin type you have. Skin damage from the sun leads to freckle and spot formation. If you like to suntan (like me), get out of the sun before your skin goes red or pink. This lets me tan more frequently, avoid freckles and allows me to go brown sooner after every session in the sun.

Cosmetic and immediate procedures

Dermatologists (the skin doctors) offer freckle removal services. If you are interested in this method of freckle removal, ask your doctor for more information and ask for a referral to a good dermatologist in your area.

During a 30 minute to 1 hour session with the dermatologist, he or she will burn off the first (outermost) layers of skin on a freckle to instantly remove it. This does hurt, but the burning off notion takes about a second per freckle and a dermatologist could take off over 50 freckles in a single session. Your skin will need time (usually a few days to two weeks) to heal from this in the areas where the doctor has taken off the freckles. It will look like you have chicken pox with all the red marks. In some cases, scabs can form. After this process your freckles will be no more.

Another method of freckle removal uses intensive light pulses which penetrate through to the deepest layers of skin to break up melanin formations. After this light stimulation, the freckles start to break up and disappear after a day or two. This does not damage the skin or make any marks, and actually helps to make the skin look younger.

Well there you have it, who said you couldn’t have the body you want!? STAY STRONG!

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Train Oily Skin To Be Dry and Train Dry Skin To be Oily

I have had dry skin (eczema) my whole life. It sucks! But what if I could train my skin to be oily the same way that I train muscle to grow? If that is possible, what about the opposite - training oily skin to produce less oil? What if people with oily skin can decrease oil production the same way muscle strength decreases when you stop training? We train our muscles to grow by doing the opposite; breaking them down. We know that our muscles adapt as part of a survival mechanism, so why not do the same for our skin?

This idea is based on making homeostasis (the body's adaption mechanism) work to your benefit. 

What if the routine that people with oily skin follow causes them to get even oilier skin? And what if people with dry skin follow a routine that make their skin even dryer?

This is based on the idea that our bodies are constantly adapting to its environment and the demands that we place on it. Please note that this is just an idea and not medical or professional advice at all!

I have noticed that on online forums for people with oily skin; people are advised on what to avoid that causes more oil production. On forums for people with dry skin, people are advised on what to avoid that causes even dryer skin. What if the people with dry skin do what the people with the oily skinned should avoid, and vice versa?  

The usual routine of people with oily skin

People with oily skin tend to shower or bath twice a day because the extra oil created through their skin leads to an environment that breeds more bacteria and faster odor build-up. They generally don't moisturize their skin because they don't need to. They also use harsher soaps to feel squeaky-clean and fresh. By showering more often and using stronger soaps to get rid of all of excess the oil, their skin is stripped of its natural oils. The skin adapts by producing more oil to return to its normal state. This helps to control body odor, but they end up retaining their oily skin. Their bodies probably get used to producing even more oil to meet the daily demands placed on them.

The routine of people with dry skin

People with dry skin don't produce enough oil. This leaves the skin dry, itchy, and in extreme cases (like me on occasion) even painful and skin breaking open. In order to preserve as much of the natural oil already in the skin; they wash less often (only once a day), use gentle soaps (some without any fragrances) and moisturize after washing to replace the lost moisture. By helping the skin to retain moisture and by adding more moisture then what the skin produces on its own, the skin feels a decreased need to produce its own moisture since some oil is always kept in the skin - and more is added every day.

Are we babying our skins into doing the opposite of what we want? By seeking instant gratification, are we fighting a losing battle? 

Assumptions (for my dry skin)

From the above conclusions I assume that higher washing frequency, stronger soaps and avoiding moisturizing the skin when I can will strip the skin of its natural oils. I also assume that if I strip my skin of its natural oils, it will adapt by producing more of its natural oils. For those with oily skin, I assume that by keeping the skin more moisturized; it will decrease its oil production as there is less demand placed on it for more oil.

Changes in daily skin care

According to this idea, it could be possible that if people with oily skin limited washes to once a day, used weaker soaps and moisturized afterwards, their skin would adapt by to producing less oil over time. I also think that there is a possibility that people with dry skin could train their skin to produce more of its own oils by doing the opposite.

This would need to done in small steps over time because if I had to shower twice a day with the strongest soap I could find and try dry it out too quickly, I would definitely damage my skin (like over-training your physical body), making my condition worse.

My personal experiment

I decided to try this out and see if my idea could work on my dry skin. I usually shower or bath once a day with a light soap (and sometimes with just water if my skin is really dry or itchy on that day). I started by showering every morning with a light soap and bathing in plain water every night. I didn't use any creams, oils or moisturizes and just took fish oil pills to help my skin out (which I do from time to time anyway to protect my joints).

The results

After three weeks, my skin did feel oilier on its own and my skin was not itchy - at all. I must say that I am happy with the results so far. After some time I am going to start using a stronger soap in the mornings. Once I'm used to that, I will add light soap to my baths in the evenings as my skin learns to produce more oil on its own. Here's to hoping my next post will be complaining about oily skin!

3 simple ways for everybody to improve skin health

The following things can be done to help with problem skin, regardless of whether you have too dry or oily skin.

Exercise often

Regular exercise has so many benefits (find over 100 of them here), and one of them is healthy skin. Exercise teaches the body to regulate itself in more ways than one and keeps you looking younger - inside and out. It also keeps hormones in check, which can wreak havoc on your skin. To see how hormones are affected by strength training, for example, click here. 

Eat fresh fruit and vegetables

The fiber in vegetables help the body to eliminate toxins that either ends up mixed into oil in the skin or could block oil glands from working properly. The vitamin C is essential for skin maintenance. There are many, many other reasons why you should be eating fruit and vegetables every day.

Sweat it out

Sweating also helps to eliminate toxins and opens up skin glands. It releases oil from underneath the skin. Did you know that you can ease liver function by sweating out up to 30% of its toxins in a good sweat session? There are many other benefits, including improved muscle recovery. If you don't sweat enough during your exercise session (like me), steam rooms might be very beneficial.

Stay hydrated

This is probably the most frequently dispensed advice about keeping skin healthy. Water is needed for almost every function in your body, and having less of it gives your body a hard time at doing what it needs to do. Dehydration can even keep you sicker for longer when you have the flu or cold.

Who would like to give this idea a try and see if it works for you? If you try it out, please let everybody know in the comments below if it has helped you or not. STAY STRONG!

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