By: Shreelata Suresh
Ayurvedic healers contend that clear beautiful skin on the outside happens only when your insides are clean and toxin-free and you follow a strict daily and weekly external cleansing regimen. With these timeless beauty secrets from Ayurveda, you can keep your skin looking and feeling clear, healthy and radiant.
Your skin is like a mirror: it reflects what's going on inside. Blemishes, eruptions, patches and sallow skin are often related to inappropriate diet or lifestyle choices that lead to accumulation of dietary toxins, called ama in Ayurveda. Following a skin-friendly diet, making sure your digestion-absorption-elimination cycle is efficient and supplementing with skin-friendly herbs help your skin look clear, radiant, healthy and youthful.
In general, choose foods that are appropriate for your constitution and the season. Eat lighter meals, space out your meals so that one meal is digested before you introduce another into your system, and choose whole fresh foods.
Here are seven simple dietary recommendations that will help keep your insides cleansed, and lead to a clear glowing complexion that will turn heads:
Start your day with a mug of hot water into which the juice of half of one lemon has been freshly squeezed. Lemon is anti-bacterial, promotes regular elimination and helps flush toxins from your system. If your skin tends to be oily, a second drink of lemon water in the afternoon can be helpful. Vata and Pitta skinned individuals can start the day with a handful of raisins that have been soaked in water the previous night. Raisins help promote regularity.
Have two or three herb/spice tea breaks during the day. Choose from fennel, mint, cumin, fresh ginger root, aniseed, cardamom, rosehips and cinnamon. Ayurvedic herbs that are known for their cleansing properties include Neem, Indian Sarsaparilla, Turmeric, Indian Madder (Manjistha) and Marshmallow Root. These herbs cleanse the blood and help support the liver in its efforts to keep your system free of toxins.
