10 Ways to Detox Your Skin and Feel Rejuvenated ...

In any detox program, dairy is one of the top food items that have to be eliminated. This is because it is incredibly mucus forming and causes a range of problems, including skin and digestive issues. I know all too well about dairy’s mucus forming ability. I have had a dairy allergy my whole life, and if I do eat dairy my nose becomes congested, my digestion is off, and my skin breaks out. Even if you don’t have an allergy like I do, dairy is still mucus forming and should be avoided while you are following the various ways to detox your skin. Don’t worry if you like milk in your coffee or on your cereal because it can be replaced with unsweetened, vanilla almond milk, which is very tasty!

You will notice that I previously recommended unsweetened, vanilla almond milk. This is because sugar needs to be eliminated as well during your skin detox. Sugar can leave both your skin and your body looking and feeling drained. Kimberly Snyder, author of The Beauty Detox Foods, points out that sugar binds with proteins and fats causing wrinkles, and it taxes the adrenal glands causing dark circles and leaving you feeling exhausted and moody. Giving up sugar shouldn’t be too hard because it can easily be replaced with stevia, and after a few days you should start to feel and see the results of eliminating sugar!

All greens are great for your skin, and I personally love them in green smoothies! However, watercress is particularly effective in detoxifying the skin and body because of a unique compound it contains. Watercress has mustard glycosides which increase circulation and boost the body’s ability to clean out toxins. It is also high in the acne and eczema fighting vitamins A, C, and E. I am not personally a fan of watercress’s spicy nature, so I tend to mix it with romaine to blunt the bite. In an effort to detox my skin I plan on adding more watercress to my diet, and I encourage you to do the same!

Fermented foods like sauerkraut have wonderful health and detoxifying properties. Sauerkraut is full of probiotics that help decrease the growth of unfavorable bacteria, yeast, and fungi which results in clearer skin and feeling more energized. Fermenting cabbage also exponentially increases the B vitamins and collagen promoting vitamin C that cabbage naturally contains. If you want to try fermenting your own cabbage I suggest visiting kimberlysnyder.com for a step by step video on how to make a probiotic and enzyme salad, but you can also buy raw sauerkraut in the refrigerated section of most health food stores. Personally, I am very excited to try this and am making my own batch of sauerkraut this week!

Pineapple is a wonderfully tasty fruit that I have loved ever since visiting Hawaii when I was four, and I now know that it is great for skin health and total body rejuvenation! Pineapple contains bromelain, which acts as an anti-inflammatory, breaks down proteins, and removes toxins from the bloodstream. This not only means that your skin will look clearer, any inflammatory pain you have may decrease as well! I love knowing that eating pineapple is making body, skin, and taste buds happy all at once. I also love that it can even be used to make an exfoliating face mask by mashing some pineapple with a little coconut milk! Yum!!!

Adding lemons to your water is an excellent way to get the health and skin promoting properties of lemons into your diet. Lemons flush toxins out of the body by acting as a diuretic. This greatly helps your liver detox all your organs, including your skin. Lemon juice also gives you a quick shot of vitamin C, which helps increase collagen production, resulting in fewer wrinkles and fewer blotches! I know I would like to see the little lines around my eyes disappear! Aside from the detox qualities of lemon water, if you close your eyes and drink it you can pretend you are at a spa!

I drink a cup of ginger and turmeric tea every day to help with joint pain, and I was pleasantly surprised that my concoction may actually be benefiting my skin! Turmeric is a great spice for a variety of problems. The curcumin in the turmeric cleanses the blood, increases circulation, aids in tissue healing, and acts as an anti-inflammatory. All of these actions combined together help your skin to look its best and your body to feel its best! You can sprinkle turmeric in soups, or you can try my tea by boiling an inch of peeled ginger with ¼ teaspoon of turmeric for 10 minutes.

I adore herbal teas for their flavor, but they also have many healing properties. Milk thistle is the queen of detox teas because of the silymarin it contains. This funny sounding flavonoid helps the liver remove toxins that can cause acne, psoriasis, and eczema, which can be really pesky problems for any woman. The tea also has properties that can moisturize and heal redness, resulting in smooth skin with an increased glow. I have never had milk thistle tea, but it has so many detoxifying qualities that it is one herbal tea I will definitely be trying!

Dry brushing is as simple as it sounds, but it can have huge benefits for your skin and even other body systems. You can dry brush your entire body using long strokes going toward your heart on your limbs and using counterclockwise circles on your body. This method is meant to stimulate the lymphatic system so it can remove toxins from your body. Dry brushing also the advantage of removing dead skin cells and speeding up cell turnover, which is a great thing if you want glowing skin with fewer wrinkles! I am reminded every winter of the benefits of exfoliating when I have to scrub to remove the dry, dead skin caused by the winter wind, but this is certainly a detox tip that I should use year round!

When I was much younger, my friends and I would have sleepovers and put face masks on. It was so much fun, but I don’t have sleepovers or use face masks anymore, even though I would benefit from the masks more now than I did then. One of the best masks you can use is a bentonite clay mask because it has negative charges that bond to the positively charged toxins in your skin! This rather simple clay mask is a powerful detoxifier since it draws impurities out and calms irritated skin. I never knew how great clay masks are, but now that I do I will have to put on a 90’s movie to inspire my inner mask-wearing teen!

I love all things about health and all things about beauty, and when I get to combine the two in a skin detox I am over the moon. Each of these skin detox tips can help you look and feel your best. So, join me in putting on a clay mask and cozying up with some milk thistle tea! What are your favorite tips to detoxify your skin?

Sources:
Snyder, Kimberly. The Beauty Detox Foods. Ontario: Harlequin, 2013. Print, kimberlysnyder.net, essiac-tea-herbal-remedies.com, osmosis.com, wellnessmama.com