Why bitter foods are so good for your skin!

Spring has officially sprung and April is on our doorstep. Mandates are gone (well kind of), sun is shining, birds are singing, the winter wardrobe has been tucked away for the season, spring cleaning and house projects are taking up priority, first garden plants have been sowed and maybe sprouting at this point, motivation for exercise is increasing by the day, flower baskets are adorning window sills and front doors, patio furnitures have been dusted off, the BBQ is sparkling clean and ready for dinner parties. Sounds to me like you’re ready for summer! But i feel like something is missing…

That’s right, your very own body and skin! Most of us get so caught up in the spring cleaning excitement that we forget to spring clean ourselves. If you follow a somewhat seasonal lifestyle and diet then you might know that spring is filled with delicious green and bitter foods, such as asparagus, nettles, dandilion greens, artichokes, spring onions, arugula, and morels. What you may not know are the benefits of these bitter foods. Our body has built-in taste receptors for all of the major flavours like sweet, salty and sour but we have more taste receptors for the bitter flavour than all of the other six flavours combined.

Spring is the time of the year when our bodies naturally detoxify and clear the system of sluggish winter foods, and bitter foods help the body do exactly this by stimulating digestive secretions: saliva, hydrochloric acid, digestive hormones, enzymes and bile. They improve the breakdown of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, and enhance absorption of nutrients like vitamin B12 and iron. Bitters stimulate liver detoxification, boost anti-oxidant synthesis in the liver, regulate and stabilize blood sugar and curb carbohydrate/sugar cravings.

5 ways to aid the body’s detoxification processes in the spring:

Avoid congesting foods that diminish your life force - dairy, highly processed vegetable oils, white bread, fast foods, alcohol, artifical sweeteners, and sugar.
Include seasonal bitter and alkalizing foods with at least one meal a day and/or take a digestive bitter supplement.
Drink lemon infused water to aide digestion and flush toxins.
Increase your daily exercise to help fire up tired and sluggish muscles - this helps speed up the detoxification process through lymphatic flow and sweating. Saunas are a great way to achieve this as well.
Go the extra mile for some added benefits like doing a juice fast, a gallbladder flush, hot yoga, ocean dips, acupuncture sessions, infrared sauna, daily dry brushing / bodyscrubs / bodywraps, and herbal baths.

If at this point you’re wondering what all this has to do with skincare, let me tell you that it’s all connected. The way we treat our insides will directly impact how it shows on the outside, aka our skin. If you’re experiencing any of the following symptoms that is a sign that your body is in desperate need of above mentioned detoxification modules: age spots; acne; oily skin; redness; itchy scaly skin; greasy hair; hair loss; rosacea; finelines.

5 ways to support your skin through spring cleaning:

Bodyscrubs - an amazing way to improve circulation, slough off dead skin cells, stimulate lymphatic flow and drainage, improve skin texture, and reduce uneven skin and cellulite.
Armpit detox - helps decongest armpit follicles and lymphnodes from years of built up toxins from deodorants and antiperspirants.
Clay masks - clays are very purifying and helps draw out impurities from the skin, reduce oiliness, improve complexion, and reduce inflammation.
Switch to cleaner skincare products free from animal based and synthetic petroleum ingredients. Your skin has an absorption rate of up to 60%, and over 1500 toxic cosmetic ingredients that are banned in the rest of the world are still legal in North America, most famously parabens and formaldehydes. YUCK!
Gua sha and cosmetic acupuncture - which my good friend Stephanie Funk, a Nanaimo based acupuncturist and TCM practitioner, has touched base on in her partner blog post, linked here. With a common interest in holistic beauty, we decided to team up for a fun collaboration this spring, trading treatments for each other. It was my first time receiving cosmetic acupuncture (see picture below). The overall experience was very relaxing and pleasant, even with my face full of tiny needles. I definitely feel like my face was less puffy and bloated after the treatment. Highly recommend!