Superfood Skincare

The old adage ‘we are what we eat’ has never been more relevant to our health than it is now, everyone from Paleo pusher Pete Evans who proclaims ‘food is medicine!’ to your local GP agrees that eating well is beneficial to our health and wellbeing, but it is also relevant to our beauty routine. Beauty these days is less about slapping products on to mask imperfections and more about looking the best we can, caring for ourselves so that our skin glows, hair shines and the dreaded ageing process is slowed as much as possible.

Lee Holmes author of Eat Yourself Beautiful (Murdoch Books) says, “If you’re eating a diet which includes fresh and unprocessed foods, you’ll notice improvements in your external appearance. Eating real food provides you with the right nutrients to improve your health and give you more energy, which shows externally. Another key driver to having a healthy body and long term beauty and longevity is the importance of normalising your insulin and leptin levels, two fundamental hormones. If you consume too many inflammatory ingredients such as sugar it can lead to premature aging and age-related chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.”

Nutrient rich

With this is mind we’ve all got our nutribullets at the ready to blitz and consume as many superfood, nutrient dense, leafy green, in every colour in the rainbow foods that we can fit in a smoothie cup.

There’s no getting away from the buzzword superfood, the definition according to The Oxford Dictionary is ‘a nutrient rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and wellbeing’ and everything from the coconut to the humble tomato has been awarded the title. So we know they work their magic on our bodies internally but what about externally? Beauty brands are increasingly taking these foods out of our salad bowls and putting them into their products, it comes with a move toward more natural beauty products in general as we become more aware or at least more suspicious of what harm chemicals can cause. And there is genuine cause for concern, for example 1,4-dioxane is found in many cleansing products, it is a known carcinogen however you won’t find it on any ingredient labels as it is a contaminant that is created when common chemical ingredients react when mixed together.

Sylvie Hutchings created her organic skincare brand Scout Cosmetics because she wanted to know exactly what was going onto her skin.

“Most people forget skin is the largest organ in the body, the ingredients within any skincare or makeup product are getting absorbed and chemical toxins are very destructive whereas natural products, including natural plant and fruit extracts have nutritional value that help to support the skin. All the ingredients I use have been researched to ensure they repair, refine, and rejuvenate skin without potentially harmful side effects.”

The skin smoothie

So what superfoods should you be putting on your skin? It depends what result you are after but anything with high levels of Vitamin C is going to act as a good anti-oxidant agent for smoother looking skin and anything with anti-inflammatory properties will help to eliminate patchy spots and redness.

So, if you are someone who worries about what they put into your body a move towards more natural skincare is certainly worth some thought and next time you’ve got the nutribullet out you might want to consider saving some of that smoothie for your skin.

For hydration is hard to go past nature’s moisturiser, coconut oil, it contains a huge amount of fatty acids which deeply hydrate and condition the skin, try Natural Fiji’s Natural Coconut Body Oil (left), the fragrance free formulation provides all the benefits without leaving your skin feeling greasy and it’s gentle enough to use on your face too.

Scout Cosmetics are available from scoutcosmetics.com and Natural Fiji products from naturalfiji.com.au

Blueberry and honey mask

Blueberries are filled with anti-oxidants, honey is antibacterial and you don’t have to eat them to get the benefits. This super simple mask means they go directly into your skin. Try sourcing local honey for added health benefits, too, such as relieving hay fever. Ideally you want fresh blueberries, but you can also make this using frozen and thawed fruit.

100g fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons raw or coconut sugar

Put all the ingredients in a small food processor and blend until smooth. Add a generous layer to your clean face and let it soak into your skin for 15 minutes. Rinse clean with warm water. I would recommend making this and using it straight away or within a few days. Store in the fridge if not applying immediately and use once or twice a week. Makes 1-2 applications.

Recipe extract from The Art of the Natural Home by Rebecca Sullivan (Simon & Schuster)