Choose the Face! (FtF for not JUST fat Girls)

First - let me begin by saying that I begin every FtF post with the premise that neither "fat" nor "old" is synonymous with "frump". If this is not a concept that you can wrap your brain around, then this is SO not the place for you. Okay, Luv Ya! Buh-Bye.

Moving on to the business at hand... While I have heard this little nugget attributed to many different people (Mae West, ZsaZsa Gabor just to name a few) and I am not sure who said it I think it is probably at least a little true - "At some point you must choose between the body and the face - choose the face". Look, what good does it do you to be completely ripped if your skin is like cheap leather? If the eyes are the window to the soul - do you really want them housed in a dried up crinkled mess of a face? Choose the face dahling! Choose the face.



There are some very definite ways you can help your face stay younger - and I am so not talking about strategically injecting poison into it to puff it up. Botox is a drug made from a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. It's the same toxin that causes a life-threatening type of food poisoning called botulism. OOO - OOO - pick me! Where do I sign up?!?!

Not.

So okay - Let's talk about some inside-out face/skin care There are two HUGE things that you can stop doing that will help your skin. Not just the way it looks but its overall health. Stay out of the sun (tanning booths too!!) and stop smoking. Nutritionist Maria Middlestead tells us:

"Most visible skin damage is due to excess exposure to ultra violet radiation from the sun. Simply compare the parts of your body that get the most sun, with the inside of your arm or other area which gets little sun. Tanning may be fashionable to some (like foot binding or whale bone corsets once were) but it indicates that the skin's defences have been breached and – like a browned piece of meat - pre-burn destruction achieved. In time the epidermis becomes leathery with wrinkles, furrows, brown spots, perhaps pre-cancerous lesions and skin cancer, which is the most common form of malignancy. ...The next worst behavior for skin damage is to smoke. Both tanning and smoking increase the production of free radicals. The immune system produces these aggressors to destroy intruders such as viruses. But in excess they indiscriminately hang around the body and vandalize cells leading to disease and premature aging."

Tanning is, I am sorry, just flat out crazy. It makes me nuts to hear people prattle on about how much they care about their body, how they work out - and then they go plop down on a tanning bed. Hello? Are you kidding me? And smoking - shouldn't we all be over that by now too? I know it is hard to quit. I've done it (incidentally, loosing weight is about a million times harder) I get it, but it is truly a battle worth fighting. Please, if you smoke - do try to quit. There are plenty of places set up to help you!

That is what you SHOULDN'T do... So what can you DO to help your skin? You should fight free radicals... so antioxidants aplenty! Eat your five a day... hydrate your skin - drink your water. Quit whining about your water already - make it a habit (it takes an average of 21 days to make a habit - don't try it a few days and then quit! Keep working on it. You can do it - there are like a million reasons why you need to drink your water. Pick one you like, and do it!) You need to eat your protein - without protein your body can not build or repair a damn thing. That includes your skin. You don't need to eat meat to get adequate protein... you just have to include legumes, nuts, seeds, grains and some vegetables in your diet.

You need fats in your diet. Not the black sheep/damaged fats (hydrogenated) - good quality fats... Ms. Middlestead tells us:

"Top quality dietary fats are needed for smooth, soft, supple skin. The sensitive membrane surrounding every cell of your skin - and the rest of your body - needs a mixture of high quality saturated fat (such as from egg yolks, coconut oil/cream, grass fed meat), monounsaturated fat (olive, avocado, peanut and most nut oils) and polyunsaturated fat. The latter category is broken down into two types: Omega 3 (dark oily types of fish, seafood, linseed) and Omega 6 (most seeds such as sunflower, sesame, evening primrose). Some foods contain both types including pumpkin kernels, walnuts, pecans, soy products, hemp oil. Omega 3 and 6 sources also provide the two EFA. If everything else in your diet was ideal but you lacked EFA, your skin would be dry (plus eyes and other mucous membranes), or excessively oily and acne prone (EFA encourage slippery sebum and unclogged pores), and you would age prematurely."

And you need to smile. I would rather have smile lines any day of the week over those dreadful lines one can get from too much scowling. Lighten up. Smile!

Let's review... You need to take care of your face, your skin... so you need to

1) Stay out of the sun (wear sunscreen, wear a hat, use a parasol - whatever it takes. Stay out of the direct sunlight. AND the tanning booth!!),
2) Please stop smoking. Make a solid effort. It IS hard - absolutely - but worth it. Please try.
3) Eat your five a day of veggies and fruits!
4) Include adequate protein in your diet!
5) Drink your water... no whining. Just do it!
6) Choose and include good fats only!
7) S-M-I-L-E (and because you have whitened your teeth you will do this proudly, yes??)

Okay, ladies - Choose your face... and have a fantastic day!

PS: I am going camping this weekend, so no one go off all in a huff if I appear non-responsive. I shall return! Promise!