Skin health and body health are more closely linked than you may ever consider. Let us dig deeper.

The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.

Let us examine some of the worst culprits – and then let us look at the foods that are good for our body, and can help us all have a glowing, healthy complexion. You are what you eat, and what you eat shows up on the skin.

Table Salt: Commercial table salt is chemically synthesised sodium chloride, along with other nasty additives that prevent it from clumping together. It’s bad stuff. Manufacturers make it worse by adding (for reasons we don’t understand) ingredients like aluminium and fluoride. So, this is the first ingredient that we would eliminate from any diet. The problem is that in processed food; we have no control over what kind of salt is used – and more importantly, how much.

What’s the alternative?

Naturally occurring salts from the earth contain sodium with over 80 different trace minerals, all of which play an important role in the body. So look for salts from salt-pans made by natural processes, or naturally occurring salts. This manufacturer is Scottish. This source is for Himalayan rock crystals, and are there are plenty of others to choose from; if you search on-line.

Oils for cooking: There are two important concepts to understand when it comes to fat consumption, where having a healthy Omega-3:Omega-6 ratio is important for controlling inflammation in the body and regulating metabolism. Consuming highly processed vegetable oils contributes to disease by neglecting both of these important concepts.

Read the label on everything you eat, is our advice. When you eat out, ask the restaurant what oils they used to cook with, and more importantly, how often do they change it? Corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil and peanut oil are vegetable oil culprits that you must avoid.

If we are cooking (gently browning) meat or fish at as low a heat as possible, we will use coconut, or avocado oil. Coconut oil is a great source of healthy saturated fat that is safe for cooking up to 180 degrees C. Avocado oil is delicious, nutritious, and easy to use. It’s rich in oleic acid, polyunsaturated fats, carotenoids, and other antioxidant-rich nutrients that are linked to improved heart, skin, and eye health. More importantly, avocado oil when cooking has a smoke point of up to 260 degrees C, not that we would ever cook at such a temperature.

The king of all oils, in our opinion, is Olive oil, especially Koroneki from Greece and Picual from Spain, that have the highest content of polyphenols of any. Polyphenols work as anti-oxidants in the body, and can be found in higher quantities in fruits and vegetables, beans, cereals, and soy. Other sources are blueberries, cherries, strawberries, blackberries and spinach. And surprisingly, you can even enjoy the benefits of polyphenols in a cup of green or black tea, coffee, and even chocolate.

Processed Meat or the alternative Grass fed? There isn’t any choice here. Highly processed meats like delicatessen meats, cured meats, and any kind of meat that comes from sub-standard animal-living conditions should be avoided completely. If you are a meat eater, buy it from an accredited butcher, someone who can tell you where the meat came from, i,e, from field to table! This article explains why processed meat is bad for you.

If you must buy it in a supermarket, then read the label. If it is organic and ideally pasture-raised, that’s what to look for. What the world should be looking for is meat that comes from animals that have been raised humanely in pastures, and fed the diet they are meant to eat. For beef and lamb this would be grass; for organic poultry, this would be things like insects, seeds, berries and others that can be foraged in a natural environment. Eating this way allows these foods to be more nutritious and contain a more favourable omega-3: Omega-6 ratio.

Embarking on a Healing Diet

Sometimes the most daunting thing about beginning a new way of eating is becoming fixated on all the worst foods you can no longer eat. So, after you get a general idea of the most important worst foods to avoid, it’s best to focus on these key guidelines for the foods you should eat.This NHS article explains.

A healing diet focuses on a style of eating that stabilises blood sugar, dramatically lowers inflammation, reduces exposure to environmental toxins, and floods the body with nutrition on a daily basis. As a simple starting point, we recommend 3 key rules for a healing diet.
(1) Food is the fuel that keeps your body running — and nutritional food is the fuel that keeps your body running well.
(2) What you eat impacts your energy levels, your immune system, your strength and even how quickly your wounds heal.
(3) Make sure that none of the food you eat is processed.

The ingredients in our resipes come from this list:
Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples, apricots, black plums, black raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, grapefruit, red grapes, kiwi fruit, lychee, mangoes, nectarines, oranges, papaya, peaches, pink grapefruit, plums, pomegranates, raspberries, strawberries, sultana, raisins, and watermelon.

Our vegetables come from: asparagus aubergine, broccoli, broccoli, tender stem, cabbage, capers, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cherry tomatoes, cherry green beans, kale, onions, pork, Choi, red and black skin, tomatoes, Saint Marzano, tomatoes, sauerkraut, spinach, spring greens, Swede tangerine, tomatoes, turnips watercress.

We really like mushrooms, chickpeas, lentils, peas, soya (we will explain what’s best), white beans and red kidney beans.

Our meat selection features mostly organic chicken thigfhs; however, we also offer organic lamb and venison, as we’ll explain.

In seafood we like anchovies, sea bass, bluefin tuna, cockles, grey mullet, hake, halibut, John Doherty, mackerel, Mediterranean Sea bus (not farmed), rainbow trout (wild), red mullet, salmon (wild), sardine, swordfish, tuna and mackerel.

In nuts seeds, whole grain bread, we would select almonds, barley, Brazil nuts, cashew butter, cashews, flaxseeds hazelnuts, pecans, peanut nuts, pistachios, pumpernickel bread, pumpkin seeds, rice, brown sesame seeds, sourdough bread, sunflower seeds, and walnuts.

We don’t eat a lot of dairy, but if we do, we would select from Camembert cheese, cheddar, Gouda, Parmigiano Reggiana and Stilton.

We exclusively use soy milk from Mediterranaean pastures and Canadian plaions, unlike US cattle feed produced from rain-forest destroyed land.

Herbs are frequently used by us. These include basil, oregano, peppermint, rosemary, saffron, sage, thyme, turmeric, parsley, chives, dill and coriander.

Olive oil: Koroneki and Picual are our favourites.

The moment olive oil is poured into a glass bowl set against a wooden background

Indulgence: Dark chocolate made without sugar.

Beverages: black tea, chamomile tea, cloudy apple cider coffee, cranberry juice, green tea, oolong tea, orange juice (make your own) pomegranate juice, red wine and beer from a small brewer, (all of which in moderation).

What’s the secret to navigating life successfully? The framework we are discussing is suitable for various diets. The trick is to combine a list for shopping and plan your cooking so that you have meals ready to go throughout the week. Make a pot of soup often. Roast your vegetables or steam them. Try and have several vegetarian dishes every week. Make your food shopping or delivery service such that it can bring you fresh produce to your door, and if you have to snake keep some healthy items such as nuts and fruit with an easy reach. Search for market gardens and organic producers locally. There are more out there than you would think.

Of course, if you are working your way through an illness, always discuss any changes in your diet with your doctor.

Explore food you haven’t tried yet because discovery is part of the joy of life. But first of all, let’s get you into the kitchen. That’s our plan for next week.

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