Aging Skin
Wrinkling and sagging skin? Forget topicals, even that moisturizer, because you are only moisturizing dead skin. The best moisturizer does not cost a dime..it is water. The creams used topically that are sold as moisturizer will help the skin to FEEL better and help to hold what moisture is in the skin but they will do little to aid in restoring the skins support structure. Unless you get to the root of the problem of the sagging and wrinkling you are fighting a loosing battle.
Wrinkles and sagging occur from collagen collapse. Collagen and elastin are the support structure of the skin. Period. Collagen is found throughout the body but we will speak of it here only as it pertains to skin. Tanning causes inflammation destroying collagen but there is another inflammation that occurs very deep within the body known as glycation/a.g.e. This occurs because there are too many refined and/or high glycemic foods eaten. This sets in motion a chain reaction of a type of cooking from within. This excess sugar from the diet occurring from eating too many refined foods attaches to proteins and creates a stiffening or an attack on the support structure of the skin, the collagen.
I would often tell my skin care clients that the wrinkle they see today started long ago and now they needed to do two things.
1.Stimulate the body to produce more collagen.
2. Learn how to eat to prevent the collapse of that collagen.
For number 1. Find a darn good aesthetician. For number 2. Stop eating refined, overprocessed foods and foods high in sugars. Realize that eating these foods are not just causing wrinkles and sagging skin they are responsible for a host of diseases which I will speak to in later posts.
To make an impact on skin, eat fresh vegetables, fruits, and fish. Eat whole grains and raw nuts. Enjoy salads with romaine, spinach, kale and any of the fancy spring mixes out there with all the herbs you can stand. And one more thing....drink lots of pure water but in between the meals to not dilute enzymes as the food digests. Do not forget the perfect omega 3/6 ratio in olive oil, with addition of lemon for a dressing. I have a mixture of ground flax seed and add to this granular lecithin from the health store. I keep it in a bag in the refrigerator and toss a couple tablespoons over my salad. Watch the glow come back to the skin and in fact the entire body.
If I were to leave you with one piece of advice to making all of this simple. If man altered the food..(i.e. processed or boxed).....I do not eat it. It really is that simple.
Norma Jean
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Beginning
I lost a cousin recently to pancreatic cancer. This is not the first time that I have lost a member of my family to this horrendous disease. First it was my mother who died of breast cancer at the young age of 43. Now it is my 59 year old cousin that is gone....
I have spent over 40 years in the business of skin care. Years ago, as an aesthetician, products and treatments were the main focus of skin care. In fact, even today, I see that little has changed and that is too bad for today's aging woman, for if wrinkling and sagging are not tackled from within the body there is little any topical product or treatment can do.
Our skin will often show signs of aging that is occurring in the body. Those unsightly brown spots known to those of us in the skin care industry as hyper pigmentation, excessive wrinkling, signs of rosacea; so much of what we see externally is also occuring inside the body and if it affects the skin, it is affecting the other organs too.
I will share with you a time of illness, when during a yearly physical I told the doctor, "please..no shots of cortisone for the pain and no anti-depressants." I had not been able to stay focused at that point in my life, but that had to change and I knew it. I was going home to gather my strength, and do what I needed to return to health. Just like anyone else, I have times in my life that I do not feel like doing what is best concerning lifestyle choices. That is OK, as long as I catch myself, aware of what this body of mine is trying to tell me; and get control. This is how I know that what I have to say is worth writing about. I not only saw my health turn around once, I saw it happen again, and both times, the lab work proved what I thought. I not only felt better, there was the proof that I needed. I was better. No miracles here, except the miracle of what the body can do.
As my body ages I make choices to slow that process down so that I can live free of dis-ease as long as possible. This is where it gets complicated for many. It is all about choices. We hear one day that we should do this or that, and then the next week or month, the so called data, some of it scientific, changes. When it comes to the body, who really has all the answers anyway? The body is so complicated that new things are learned about it all the time. How many times has one been told the end is near only to defy science and live longer than expected? It is my belief that God created this wonder called the body and only he knows when that time is over here on earth.
I am tired of programs whether they are diet or health related, that are either too difficult to do, or too complicated to understand. Many people and many companies are out after our hard earned dollars selling us the latest exercise gimmick, new diet book, or anti-aging pill. There is no need to spend any money. Place trust in the body and learn the importance of including the foods that are in the best diet and health book ever written...the bible.
There are no chemicals and preservatives in Gods foods only what man puts in there. It is man that has taken these foods and altered them. God did not add excitotoxins to foods to make them more palatable as they destroy brain cells. I can tell you what those chemicals and preservatives did to me...they caused me pain. I could hardly get out of a car or walk without pain. Could hardly pull myself up the stairs without pain and had leg pain so badly at night that I could not keep my legs still. One day, I even noticed the whites of my eyes beginning to yellow until I stopped all chemicals and preservatives and stayed away from any foods altered by man. It took time and I had to make sacrifices, but one day I awoke, and the pain was gone.
Everyone is different, but there is one way we are all the same. Unless we are altered by surgery we all possess the same digestive system. Complex meals (too many different combinations of foods) in an aging body do not digest well and further more, the organs of digestion will suffer...look at the statistics on digestive aids, and look at the cancers of the digestive system that are occurring. My cousin had pancreatic cancer at 59. On one occasion when I spoke to her she told me that she had suffered from digestive problems for years. When speaking to others in my family there seemed to be a sense of acceptance to what life hands us with this disease; that when cancer hits someone in the family that other family members have that chance too. Possibly, but I do not believe that.
I have read on more than one occasion that only 10 to 15% of cancers are due to heredity and even a percentage of these occur because we adopt the habits of our parents. The rest are from lifestyle. Imagine that. That means we can do something about this. We do not have to get cancer or diabetes or heart disease.
I wish I had been near my cousin to help her in any way I could. I do feel that we need to not only gather all the information we can, but to engage in a dialogue with our physicians and ask questions; lots of them, for if cancer rears its ugly head, it will take an army on all fronts to fight it. Being armed with information is being able to have a sense of control over one's outcome. The best defense is in PREVENTION and the front line of that defense is a healthy digestive system. If it is not healthy it will send you signs...heed them carefully.
God bless and good health,
Norma Jean
I have spent over 40 years in the business of skin care. Years ago, as an aesthetician, products and treatments were the main focus of skin care. In fact, even today, I see that little has changed and that is too bad for today's aging woman, for if wrinkling and sagging are not tackled from within the body there is little any topical product or treatment can do.
Our skin will often show signs of aging that is occurring in the body. Those unsightly brown spots known to those of us in the skin care industry as hyper pigmentation, excessive wrinkling, signs of rosacea; so much of what we see externally is also occuring inside the body and if it affects the skin, it is affecting the other organs too.
I will share with you a time of illness, when during a yearly physical I told the doctor, "please..no shots of cortisone for the pain and no anti-depressants." I had not been able to stay focused at that point in my life, but that had to change and I knew it. I was going home to gather my strength, and do what I needed to return to health. Just like anyone else, I have times in my life that I do not feel like doing what is best concerning lifestyle choices. That is OK, as long as I catch myself, aware of what this body of mine is trying to tell me; and get control. This is how I know that what I have to say is worth writing about. I not only saw my health turn around once, I saw it happen again, and both times, the lab work proved what I thought. I not only felt better, there was the proof that I needed. I was better. No miracles here, except the miracle of what the body can do.
As my body ages I make choices to slow that process down so that I can live free of dis-ease as long as possible. This is where it gets complicated for many. It is all about choices. We hear one day that we should do this or that, and then the next week or month, the so called data, some of it scientific, changes. When it comes to the body, who really has all the answers anyway? The body is so complicated that new things are learned about it all the time. How many times has one been told the end is near only to defy science and live longer than expected? It is my belief that God created this wonder called the body and only he knows when that time is over here on earth.
I am tired of programs whether they are diet or health related, that are either too difficult to do, or too complicated to understand. Many people and many companies are out after our hard earned dollars selling us the latest exercise gimmick, new diet book, or anti-aging pill. There is no need to spend any money. Place trust in the body and learn the importance of including the foods that are in the best diet and health book ever written...the bible.
There are no chemicals and preservatives in Gods foods only what man puts in there. It is man that has taken these foods and altered them. God did not add excitotoxins to foods to make them more palatable as they destroy brain cells. I can tell you what those chemicals and preservatives did to me...they caused me pain. I could hardly get out of a car or walk without pain. Could hardly pull myself up the stairs without pain and had leg pain so badly at night that I could not keep my legs still. One day, I even noticed the whites of my eyes beginning to yellow until I stopped all chemicals and preservatives and stayed away from any foods altered by man. It took time and I had to make sacrifices, but one day I awoke, and the pain was gone.
Everyone is different, but there is one way we are all the same. Unless we are altered by surgery we all possess the same digestive system. Complex meals (too many different combinations of foods) in an aging body do not digest well and further more, the organs of digestion will suffer...look at the statistics on digestive aids, and look at the cancers of the digestive system that are occurring. My cousin had pancreatic cancer at 59. On one occasion when I spoke to her she told me that she had suffered from digestive problems for years. When speaking to others in my family there seemed to be a sense of acceptance to what life hands us with this disease; that when cancer hits someone in the family that other family members have that chance too. Possibly, but I do not believe that.
I have read on more than one occasion that only 10 to 15% of cancers are due to heredity and even a percentage of these occur because we adopt the habits of our parents. The rest are from lifestyle. Imagine that. That means we can do something about this. We do not have to get cancer or diabetes or heart disease.
I wish I had been near my cousin to help her in any way I could. I do feel that we need to not only gather all the information we can, but to engage in a dialogue with our physicians and ask questions; lots of them, for if cancer rears its ugly head, it will take an army on all fronts to fight it. Being armed with information is being able to have a sense of control over one's outcome. The best defense is in PREVENTION and the front line of that defense is a healthy digestive system. If it is not healthy it will send you signs...heed them carefully.
God bless and good health,
Norma Jean
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