When you’re a Green Queen, you get pretty excited right away when you realize how much clearer, healthier, and brighter your skin becomes on a diet of greens, but of course, there is no end to the lovely raw food tricks you can use to make yourself feel and look royal. So today, I’m happy to share with you a contribution from the lovely Lisa. Just try to keep your fingers out of your toiletries!!
- by Lisa Bolard
Before I got serious about going raw, I didn’t give any real thought to the fact that the skin is the largest organ of the body. I’ve since realized that as a major organ of your body, what you put on it should be given some importance. It might not be the same as ingestion through the mouth, but your skin gives and takes nutrients and harmful substances, and it should be accorded appropriate consideration. Vibrant skin is the result of a healthy body, and no chemical process or makeup can be a substitute for healthy skin.
There are many ways to care for your skin that do not involve costly products (most of which have all manner of unhealthy ingredients). It is key to remember that no matter what you topically put on your skin, it will never be healthy if you eat and drink an unhealthy diet. Removing processed foods from your daily food intake and adding high water content foods to your regular diet will go a long way to improving your skin. The second thing to remember is that it is ideal to only put things on your skin that you feel good about putting in your mouth.
If you want to evaluate your existing skin care products, here is a list of things that you should avoid in any skin care (or makeup) product:
- Mineral Oil, aka paraffin, paraffin wax, petrolatum (these prevent the skin from breathing)
- Dioxane - a derivative of coconut
- Fragrance
- Parabens, such as methyl, proply, butyl, ethyl papaben (these all create long shelf life)
- Alcohols: ethanol, ethyl alcohol, methanol, benzyl, isopropyl alcohol, SD alcohol (these dry and strip skin of natural cover that protects against moulds, viruses and harmful bacteria
Here are some foods that have helpful properties for the skin:
- Almond oil: for dry skin, removes old pimple scars
- Apples: good for preventing fine lines, treats itching or cracked skin
Apricots: use juice for sunburn, itching, or eczema
- Cucumber: use juice for skin eruptions
- Honey: Use 1 tsp with water for blemishes - also adds a nice glow
- Paw Paw: Use as a rub for glow; or use juice of the entire fruit for pimples, whiteheads and acne
- Potatoes: grate and create poultice for blemishes; wrinkles, blackheads
- Tomatoes: Use for 1 hr on face for pimples
RAW FOOD RECIPES FOR BEAUTY
Shrinking Large Pores: 1 Tbsp tomato juice with a few drops lime juice; Use for 15 minutes
Whitening Lotion: 1 Tbsp cucumber juice with few drips lime juice; dash of turmeric powder for 30 minutes
Tonic for Sensitive Skin: 1 Tbsp cucumber juice and 1 Tbsp milk, few drops rose water; use for 15 minutes
Tonic for Oily Skin: 1 Tbsp apple juice, 1/4 tsp lime juice; Use for 20 minutes
Cleaning Pores: massage peach skin/peals on skin every night; don’t rub off; also tightens muscles to prevent sagging
Cleansing Lotion: 1/4 tsp lime juice plus 1 tsp milk, 1 tsp cucumber juice; use on face for 15 minutes
Wrinkles: Mash banana and add 2 Tbsp warmed honey and make paste
Removing Scars and Blemishes: Orange or Tangerine juice; blanch and grind almonds and make paste with the juice; optionally mix in 2 Tbsp milk, 1 Tbsp carrot juice; apply thickly on face/neck for 30 minutes
Astringents: A few tablespoons of any of the following, boiled in water: Geranium leaves, oak bark, pine needles, and sunflower leaves
Basic Skin Food: one avocado mashed, 1 tsp flaxseed oil, 1 tsp honey all mixed until smooth and creamy; Apply to face and use for 15-20 minutes, then rinse with warm water
Maybe you’re making a point this year of increasing your level of raw, but you know that somewhere down the line there’s going to be moments and opportunities for entertaining with friends and family. Planning a party can be stressful enough, but when you are planning a party to start and establish a raw family tradition for your not-so-raw family, all the existing paradigms go out the window.
2. Create Meal Plans
Come up with a party plan and creative displays that will leave a lasting memory in their hearts along with many laughs too. It’s okay that they’re unfamiliar with raw food. You can take the opportunity to show them. People are often nervous and afraid of things they don’t understand. You can help them.
You know those days when you wake up craving something sweet and decadent? Well, that happened to me this morning. Work has been so insanely busy over the last two days, I’d gotten home too late to get to the shops to stock up on yummy fruits and veggies. I wandered into the kitchen this morning to be greeted by a mountain of chocolate cookies and cakes my sister had brought over the night before. All that remained in ‘my’ corner of the kitchen was one solitary avocado…Was I tempted by the cooked food? No! Thanks to the lessons I’ve learned on my 
The avocado provides a good dose of lutein, which helps to maintain healthy eyesight. It’s also rich in potassium, vitamins B, E, and K and a good source of monounsaturated fat (giving the smoothie a wonderful creamy texture).
Cherries are rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, and folate; one study (by the University of Michigan), suggests that they are good for fat loss, particularly belly-fat.
The mint aids digestion, while the cacao offers an abundance of health-giving nutrients - antioxidants, flavonoids, catechins and above all, the wonderful mood-enhancing theobromine, making you feel all loved up and happy!
Thankfully my parents now stock up more on the things they’ve seen me use in smoothies (though… I have yet to see her come home with seaweed of any kind). Still, I do tend to have less variety when I travel. My smoothies are often bananas and spinach or bananas and mixed greens. Yes, variety is better, but if finding kale is difficult or if my mother, in her sincere efforts to be helpful, is going to stress out about “having something already” for me and looking in the store for persimm-a-somethings, then I will choose to be simple for a few days. The “it’s still better than a cheeseburger” mantra gets me through any worries.
Chances are, if you keep your smoothies simple, your non-green friends and family may actually be willing to give one of your smoothies a taste test. Once they see for themselves how yummy they are, you may have opened the door a crack for them to make their own health improvements.
There haven’t been extensive studies on the medicinal value of this herb, but it’s been used with great affect by people for several conditions which afflict the liver including cirrhosis, jaundice, hepatitis, and gallbladder disorders. It can be helpful in detoxing the liver, and can reverse liver damage, and protect against damage from agents such as alcohol or other toxins that tend to lodge themselves in the liver.
I never knew eating raw snacks could be this good! Take a step back all you prepackaged, synthesized flavored treats. I’m here to tell you that I have found a new, get me through the cravings, snack.
Tropical Tune-up and Relaxer
