Beauty Within, Beauty Without

The Healthy Way to Looking Good

They say 'beauty is only skin deep', but real beauty actually emanates from within – and it runs far deeper than the skin. If you feel rested and healthy, it is likely to show in the shine of your hair, the brightness of your eyes, a clear complexion and the colour of your cheeks. It is no coincidence that people often remark on someone ‘looking well’ if they are looking good, and the reason for this is that beauty on the outside starts from the beauty on the inside.

Detox – Flushing the Uglies Away

Detoxifying the body is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your face. In general, people are said to consume more than a kilo of artificial toxins every year. It’s an astonishing figure, but thankfully the human body is a remarkable instrument. Blessed with a complex system of organs, vessels, and tissues, the body will clear away the debris of normal life – such as waste, toxins, and pathogens – as long as its organs are able to do their job. If they can’t, you’ll get to know about it. For example, if the liver is struggling to clear an overload of toxins, it can result in a host of problems such as low energy, hormone imbalances and skin problems such as acne, psoriasis, or tired looking skin. The same goes for the digestive system; if it isn’t functioning properly, toxins will remain in the body for longer resulting in bloating, tiredness and general sluggishness. Again, the build-up of toxins can lead to skin breakouts.

So, the simple truth is that to look good on the outside you need to eliminate the bad from the inside, which means detoxification – and if you are going to detox, you need to prepare your body by clearing the channels that allow it to flush out all those toxins. Imagine your organs as drainpipes; they need to be unclogged and open if any detox programme is to be successful because detox is actually the process of driving toxins out of the body through these organs. For this reason, drainage is imperative to wellness. “Drainage is the process of organ preparation,” explains our resident Naturopathic Practitioner Wellness Coach Dina Gavarieva. “A lot of people think that if they drink a couple of green juices a week, they will detox their bodies, but a proper detox procedure requires time, effort and a lot of patience. “You cannot start detoxing out of the blue, you need to prepare your body for detox. “If the detox is done without preparing the organs, people will experience headaches, nausea, feelings of being unwell, chills and flu-like symptoms. This is because they are mobilising toxins in their tissues, but the toxins are not being excreted because the organs are still clogged. So, the toxins will redistribute in the body. This way of detoxing is incorrect and unsafe.”

Eat Smart to Look Good

At Neomed, good nutrition is the foundation stone on which good health is built and the first break you can give your body is to eliminate all the foods from your diet that are linked to premature aging such as processed foods, refined sugars, dairy products, artificial sweeteners and gluten. While there is a huge list of good foods to savor, there are a number of core foods that will give an extra boost to how you look on the outside, and top of that list is cabbage. It may not sound very glamorous, but the humble cabbage is credited with helping to tackle crow’s feet, which are a sign that you may have high cortisol levels, something which can cause the skin to break down faster, leading to wrinkles. The adrenal gland is responsible for making cortisol, and by incorporating anti-inflammatory and vitamin A, C and E-rich foods like cabbage into your diet, you can lower cortisol levels. As an added bonus, red cabbage has six to eight times more vitamin C than green. For the best results, try to incorporate cabbage into your diet three to five times a week.

Another amazing beauty food is watercress. This salad staple can even out a patchy skin tone, which is often a sign of poor circulation or not enough blood, oxygen and nutrients getting to the skin. Poor circulation is a common and major problem and can cause a number of health issues from hair loss to darkening of the skin. Watercress has a high amount of iron, which helps your red blood cells carry more oxygen to the body and the skin. Additionally, it is rich in calcium and iodine, which can help prevent a dull complexion. For brighter eyes, add beets to your diet. Beets are high in iron and contain the antioxidant betacyanin, which supports liver and lymphatic health. A natural colon cleanser, beets can remove toxins and congestion from the body, including in the capillaries traveling to the eye. Elsewhere in the kitchen, coriander helps to remove heavy metals that enlarge fat cells, increasing the appearance of cellulite. Parsley also has similar anti-cellulite effects, as does citrus fruit. The citrus fruit provides a boost of vitamin C, which can help repair skin collagen. For the best results, eat citrus fruit in the morning on an empty stomach.

For anyone wanting a facelift, reach for the walnuts instead. Walnuts are filled with healthy omega-3s which can help to strengthen your skin and make it more resilient. And if hair loss is a concern, try eating more tahini. Made from sesame seeds and loaded with zinc and calcium, tahini is an easily absorbed form of protein that your body can use to nourish hair follicles. All of this is good news for visitors to Cyprus as tahini is a popular starter dip at our tavernas and restaurants.

Infusion Therapy

At Neomed we offer a number of infusions from nutritional and alkalising to vitamin and mineral – and though they are designed for therapeutic administration and illness prevention, they also have many beauty positives. Take our vitamin infusions, they are formulated with powerful antioxidants that can boost collagen production, aid the skin’s ability to heal and have anti-inflammatory properties that are ideal for the treatment of acne and rosacea. Alkalising infusions are great for bringing the glow back to skin and hair. Often our body is simply too acidic thanks to a poor diet and stress, but alkaline minerals have a neutralising effect so your body regains its natural balance to reveal a luminous and healthier look.

Live Well, Look Well

One of the major obstacles to looking ‘well’ is stress and, of course, ill health, but there are many positive, lifestyle changes we can make to combat stress and incorporating exercise into our daily routine is a must. Sport increases endorphins, dopamine, adrenaline and endocannabinoid, and these are all brain chemicals associated with feeling happy, feeling confident, feeling capable, feeling less anxious and less physical pain. Exercise is also the most natural way to gain a clear complexion, fewer wrinkles and strong, healthy hair because it improves blood circulation to the extremities — the fingers, fingernails, toes and toenails. Exercise improves the strength of the circulatory and respiratory system, which means improved oxygenation.

And last, but not least, your body needs sleep. Sleep patterns can be easily disrupted for all manner of health and lifestyle reasons. So, if you suffer from insomnia seek professional advice to discover whether there is an underlying medical cause or whether it’s due to an inability to switch off from the day’s events. If your lack of sleep is due to stress, meditation or yin yoga are excellent ways of allowing your mind to unwind to allow sleep.