Beauty Boosting Plan

Most of us have days when we look in the mirror and simply despair of our appearance. This is the plan for those depressing moments. It'll instantly re-energize your skin and your hair, making them look much healthier, and also offers tips to help strengthen both of these in the future.

About skin and toxins

Skin is one of the first parts of the body to show problems from toxic overload. The main reason for this is that the body sees it as a non-essential organ; therefore, if toxins are wreaking havoc on the rest of the body, destroying nutrient stores and such like, the body diverts nutrients away from the skin to allow it to supply them to more vital organs like the heart and lungs. This is bad news for our looks, because the skin relies completely on nutrients for its health; if it's lacking in essential fatty acids that the body has diverted to the brain, for example, it will appear dry and lack lustre.

Smoking

Toxins can attack our skin in other ways, too. The healthy look of the skin depends on the circulation being able to supply it with the nutrients and oxygen it needs. Many toxins interfere with this process - the worst one being smoking, which constricts blood vessels and causes smokers to have a sallow, yellow complexion. On top of this, it's been shown in research that smokers in their 40s have the same number of wrinkles as non-smokers 20 years older. This happens, according to doctors at Nagoya City University Medical School in Japan, because smoking increases levels in the body of an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), the job of which is to break down collagen - the fibre that keeps the skin firm.

Alcohol

Another toxin that causes problems with the skin is alcohol; in the body this is broken down into acetaldehyde. This chemical first attacks collagen and elastin, but also alters the shape of the red blood cells circulating in the blood, thereby reducing the amount of oxygen travelling around the system.

Stress

Stress can trigger dull-looking skin because it wipes out the B vitamins our circulation needs to create healthy red blood cells.

Sunlight

When it comes to our skin, the real toxin is the sun. Dermatologists estimate that if we didn't expose our skin to the sun we wouldn't get a wrinkle until we were 60. As it is, most of us start to see the first sign of ageing in our early 30s, if not before. Sunlight causes problems because it allows high levels of free radicals to be formed in the skin, and these start to attack the collagen and elastin fibres that keep our skin firm. Just 4 minutes of sun exposure is enough to start this whole process happening. Sunlight also thickens the upper layers of the skin, which creates an unfortunate, dull, sallow appearance.

About hair and toxins

Toxins can also cause hair to look dry and dull, for the same reasons as skin -it's not seen as an essential organ. If the body decides the muscles need more B vitamins (because they are under stress), these will be diverted away from hair, cutting the supply of the fuel it needs to grow. Hair growth is also affected by poor circulation. It's been shown that you boost hair growth by 10 per cent through massaging and stimulating the scalp; it's not difficult to see, then, that poor circulation could impede growth by at least this much. Finally, hair has its own toxins to handle, such as perming lotions, chemical dyes, harsh shampoos and heat from blow-dryers. All of these are 'toxic' to the hair.

The solution

Detoxing your skin and hair is therefore a matter of reducing many of these toxins, or at the very least strengthening them against them (how to do the latter is explained in the second part of the plan). However, in the short term, you can dramatically improve the look of your skin and hair with intensive treatments, plus massage and other moves that boost circulation. So the plan starts with an instant-result programme to stop 'bad mirror days' in their tracks. Too much vitamin A.

While this nutrient may help skin, high quantities of foods that are heavy in vitamin A, like liver, can actually trigger hair loss; instead, get your vitamin A through foods containing beta-carotene (like carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes), since this doesn't cause the same reaction.

Eating your way to good hair and skin

Like so many elements of our health, what we eat can make the difference between good skin and hair and dull, dry versions. Skin and hair need slightly different things to thrive (see chart opposite), but this diet will aid both.

A day's diet at a glance

  • Start by taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement, plus 1,000mg of methyl sulfonyl methane (which converts to sulphur in the body) and 500mg of evening primrose oil. Drink at least one glass of water, and aim to drink another eight throughout the day.
  • For breakfast, have a bowl of bran or wheat cereal topped with skimmed milk, two tablespoons of blueberries and two of raspberries. Drink a glass of orange juice.
  • Mid-morning, have a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts or a low-fat yogurt.
  • At lunchtime, take another 500mg of evening primrose oil. Have a sandwich of two slices of wholegrain bread filled with 50g (2oz) fish, chicken or low-fat cheese. Top with lettuce or alfalfa sprouts, chopped onion, tomato, avocado and cucumber. Serve with a cup of tomato, carrot or vegetable soup.
  • Mid-afternoon, eat a piece of fruit.
  • Before your evening meal, take another 500mg of evening primrose oil.
  • For your meal, eat a 75g (3oz) serving of lean protein. Serve with 50g (2oz) brown rice, wholewheat pasta, jacket potato, new potatoes or wholegrain bread. Add equal amounts of a green vegetable and another vegetable. Living the detox life As well as integrating the diet advice into your normal life, there are three other essentials for good looks:
  • Use sunscreen. This is the most vital thing that you can ever do for your skin. You should apply at least an SPF 15 sunscreen 30 minutes before you go into the sun; even in winter, ultraviolet rays still break through clouds. If you have sensitive skin, screens that use titanium dioxide as a block may cause fewer problems than so-called chemical sunscreens. Hair should also be protected with sun-protective sprays because sunlight dries it out.
  • Stop smoking with the Stop Smoking Plan given on page 82.
  • Keep your skincare regime simple. If a product has more than ten ingredients, it could make your skin sensitive. Stick to products with short ingredient lists and keep the amount you use to a minimum. Even the most mature skin needs only a cleanser, a moisturizer, a vitamin C serum for the daytime and a vitamin A cream at night - plus sunscreen, of course.