Beauty from the inside: what's worth it, what's not?

As I a hair colorist, I get to hear it all.  Here are a few of my favorite inside out beautification tips:

• A diet with anti-oxidants and omega-3 fatty acids will keep cells healthy and slow the aging process.  Fish oil not only keeps your skin and hair healthy but also reduces the risk of heart disease.
• Calcium and vitamin D keep our bones strong.
• A good night's sleep always works wonders.
• Exercise can lengthen your life, keep you strong, and stop the development of life-threatening conditions, such as osteoporosis.
• Making love often relieves stress, lifts spirits, induces sleep, and even counts as exercise.
• Biology face massage work with oil and collagen cream keeps eyelids from drooping and tones the face muscles.
• Self esteem - believe in who you are, express it with joy and enthusiam, feel secure, believe in the good of life, and never stop seeking growth and wisdom.  Self-esteem is "worth it" for your spirit.

Let's break this down into "inside" and "outside."

Inside

• A diet rich in anti-oxidants and omega-3 fatty acids will help keep your cells healthy and slow down the aging process.
• A diet low in refined sugars and dairy products will help limit acne breakouts.
• Just be sure you are getting enough calcium and vitamin D to help protect your bones.

Fad diets, including detox diets and the master cleanse, are not the way to go. You don't want to deprive your body of nutrients and other necessities. The body is very good at cleansing itself; you don't need a restrictive diet to do that for you.

Outside

Things you should be doing from the outside are:

• Applying a topical antioxidant and a sunblock every morning
• Using a retinoid cream every night

Your sunblock should have an SPF of at least 30, and if you are exercising or swimming be sure to reapply often.

Some people find retinoids irritating to the skin, so use it as often as you can while minimizing irritation. You can also apply a moisturizer to soothe any irritation. Moisturizers are important to keep the skin hydrated. The water you drink is important, but to get it to the skin you have to apply it directly on the skin in the form of moisturizers and lotions.

I would refer you first to my answer to a question about anti-oxidants on this site since it is very relevant to this question as well.

 Any beauty routine should include taking care of the inside of the body as well as the outside.

Keeping your inner body working well boils down to 2 major things:

1. Anti-oxidants like Co Q 10, resveratrol, bromelain, some of the berry extracts
2. A healthy dose of fish oil 

Above and beyond that you are skirting in unproven territory and the rewards are not ususally going to be justified by the investment.

 As a supplemnet designer, I am the first to admit that the health benefits of supplements taken internally are many, but one has to be realistic.

Working backwards from most effective in terms of producing dramatic and immediate results we have:

• Surgery,
• Botox and fillers, such as Restylane
• Radiotherapy, such as "Accent"

All of these are costly and have at least some potential side effects.

• Then you have creams, which generally produce some effect on fine wrinkles, but it's almost always short-lived and disappears when you stop using them.
• Finally, you have supplements taken internally which can augment and improve the effects of any and all of the above.

Stick with the list I gave you above and you can't go wrong!

Do your research when it comes to hot trends. There are great and wonderful things you can do from the inside out to improve your skin and appearance. But don't jump on and off every bandwagon that passes through. The key to external beauty is whole body health. The internal steps that will make your skin radiate are:

1. Drink plenty of water
2. Eat whole foods
3. Take whole food supplements (i.e. Garden of Life)
4. Avoid sugar, caffeine and excessive drinking
5. Don't smoke
6. Get plenty of exercise

Don't try every fast or cleanse on the market when they are hot. There are times in your life when you do need to do a juice fast or internal cleanse, but don't try it just to do it. If you have a build-up of toxins in your body from a period of heavy medication, or if you have had bad food habits and are making a change, a well balanced cleanse might be useful. But trying one cleanse after another will do more harm than benefit.

A healthy diet, exercise, plenty of water and clean living will do more to improve your health than any fad.

Externally, taking aromatherapy-based salt baths is a gentle method of detoxification that will not overload your system.