THE GREEN BEAUTY GUIDE
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A few weeks ago my daughter called me with a new tip about a
skin care book that is a "must  read." Therefore, I quickly arranged
for a friend to bring a copy to me here in Mexico. I've enjoyed the book very
much, so I am including an excerpt from it and you can see for yourself. The
title of the book is "The Green Beauty Guide", and the author is
Julie Gabriel.
The excerpt follows:
My true love is homemade· "edible" beauty.
Today, we have more than 100,000 chemicals in use in different
areas of our lives, and less than 5 percent of these chemicals have been
thoroughly tested for their long-term impact on human health. Every day we
learn about recalls of toys contaminated with lead, yet no one has ever
recalled toxic cosmetics. Cosmetics, unlike drugs, are not regulated by
governmental agencies. No one is questioning their practices or watching over
their shoulders, so they make their own rules about what to use in products we
rub onto (and put into) our bodies.
At the same time, no one has ever disputed the safety of a
product containing coconut oil, aloe vera extract, chamomile infusion, or green
tea. Plant extracts, juices, and essential oils have been a part of human
lifestyles for ages, and their safety has been vetted by millions of users down
through the centuries.
We are so obsessed with all the new lotions and potions that
promise to make our skin appear healthy that we don't try to make it truly
healthy. We are so eager to make these magic concoctions work that we do not
ask ourselves whether this chemical cocktail is actually making our skin
younger or any healthier.
"Healthy skin isn't a quick fix," says Susan West
Kurz, a holistic skin care expert and the president of Dr. Hauschka Skin Care.
"If you apply a cortisone cream, the blemish will go away, but the problem
still exists within the system." To support the normal functioning of your
skin and naturally maintain its youthful looks you need to first know how skin
works.
The average square of skin holds 650 sweat glands. 20 blood
vessels, 60.000 melanocytes (pigment skin cells), and more than a thousand
nerve endings. Being only millimeters thick, skin does a great job protecting
us from the outside keeping a constant body temperature, absorbing the sun's
energy and converting it into vitamins while shielding us from radiation.
Sebum, a clear waxy substance made of lipids, acts as a
natural emollient and barrier. It helps protect and waterproof hair and skin
and keeps it from becoming dry and cracked.
Our skin gets drier as we get older because it loses some of
its intercellular lipids after age forty. It is important to feed aging skin
with substances that resemble the skin's own oils. The moisturizers should
become oilier, but not necessarily heavier, as our skin ages.
Oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, as well as toxic
pollutants, enter our skin via three doors: sweat ducts, hair follicles and
sebaceous glands or directly across the stratum corneum. This ability of the
skin to absorb chemical substances so they can be spread throughout the body is
widely used in medicine. According to new estimates, our skin can absorb up to
60 percent of substances applied to its surface.
What happens when a potentially toxic substance passes the
skin's barrier? It ends up in blood vessels and lymph ducts located in the
epidermis and dermis layers. Since the skin is the largest organ in our body,
it soaks up contaminants in much larger amounts than the intestines or lungs.
Resource For This Article: Julie Gabriel. The Green Beauty Guide: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skin Care, Hair Care, Makeup, and Fragrances. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc. 2008
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| WHAT DOES "NATURAL" MEAN? |
 Savvy Shopping Tips
Perhaps the most insidious beauty myth of all is that products labeled "natural" actually only contain natural ingredients. Products with as little as 5 percent natural ingredients can librally make use of the moniker. Unlike food, the US personal care industry has no standards or regulations, so American companies craftily use poetic license with the word natural.
But all that will change. Spearheaded by Burt's Bees, and in colaboration with the Natural Products Association, a movement to create a standard requires manufacturers that want to call their brands natural to make products that contain at least 95 percent natural ingredients and contain no harmful ingredients. Starting in April, 2008 brands that made the cut now sport stickers identifying them as natural. And on the international front, England, Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium are working on creating a new European-wide system of natural and organic standards. Currently, Europe has at least five different regulation systems.
Resource For This Article: Natural Solutions Magazine, March 2008 |
FUNGI FOR YOUR FACE
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You might think of fungus as the last thing to benefit your complexion, but a growing body of reserch suggests mushrooms may soon play a starring role in luxe skincare products. Keep an eye out for lotions and potions infused with these skin-saving 'shrooms.
Tremella This mushroom, also known as SHIROKIKURAGE or silver ear, has a long history as a tonic for youthful skin. In China, an imperial concubine known for her unmatched beauty is said to have used it daily, and science now suports claims that it can soften skin. Tremella absorbs high amounts of moisture (up to hundreds of times its weight in water) and smoothes without a heavy feeling.
Mailtake Long overshadowed by oats and other grains, maitake mushrooms offer another healthy source of beta-glucan, a compound. known for its anti-inflammatory effects and antioxidant activity.
Shiitake Perhaps the best known of the beauty-boosting fungi, shiitake mushrooms are packed with a natural lightening agent called kojic acid, which brightens skin and evens out pigment problems like age spots by inhibiting production of melanin. you'll find it in face peels, under-eye treatments, and rejuvenating tinctures. -Josie Garthwaite
Resource For This Article: Natural Solutions Magazine, March 2008 |
LENTIL STEW WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH |
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 Active time 20 minutes
Slow-cook time 8 hours
Makes 8 main-dish servings
3 lg. stalks celery, cut into ¼ -in.-thick slices
1 lg. onion (12 oz.), chopped
1 lg. butternut squash (2 ½ lbs.), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-in. chunks
1 bag (1 lb.) brown lentils
4 c. water
1 can (14 to 14.5 oz.) vegetable broth (1 ¾ c.)
½ tsp. dried rosemary
Salt and pepper
1 oz. Parmesan or Romano cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler
¼ c. loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1. In 4 ½ -to 6-quart slow cooker bowl, combine celery, onion, squash, lentils, water, broth, rosemary, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Cover slow cooker with lid, and cook as manufacturer directs on low setting 8 hours.
2. To serve, spoon lentil stew into serving bowls; top with Parmesan shavings, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Makes about 11 ½ cups.
Each Serving About 285 calories, 20 g protein, 51 g carbohydrate, 2 g total fat (1 g saturated), 20 g fiber, 3 mg cholesterol, 420 mg sodium
Resource For This Article: The Mediterranean Cook Book |
| CLOSING THOUGHTS |
Did you know that more than 70 popular hair dyes contain ingredients from coaltar, a known carcinogen.
Check out skin care products for your face that contain mushrooms.
I made lentil stew last week and my husband delighted in it. "It's got so much more flavor than the lentil soup you bring home from the chicken store!" he said. I hope you enjoyed my newsletter today. To read these articles and more, please go to my blog. Why not look today? It will take only a few minutes of your valuable time.
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Your friend,
Janet Esther | |
