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Outer Beauty: Roopam
The outer signs of beauty -
your skin, hair and nails - are more than just superficial measures
of beauty. They are direct reflections of your overall health.
These outer tissues are created by the inner physiological processes
involved in digestion, metabolism and proper tissue development.
Outer beauty depends more on the strength of your digestion and
metabolism, the quality of your diet, and the purity of your
blood, than on external cleansers and conditioners you may apply.
General Recommendations for
Outer Beauty
As we will discuss, the key
to skin care is matching your diet and skin care routine to the
specific skin type you have. Meanwhile, there are some valuable
recommendations for lustrous skin, hair and nails that will be
helpful to everyone, regardless of skin type.
1. Diet: Without adequate nourishment, your collagen
layer thins and a kind of wasting takes place. Over time, your
skin can shrivel up like a plant without water from lack of nourishment.
To keep your skin plump and glowing:
A. Eat fresh, whole organic foods that are freshly
prepared.
Avoid packaged, canned, frozen,
processed foods and leftovers. These foods have little nutritional
value and also they are often poorly digested which creates impurities
that localize in the skin. The resulting buildup of toxins causes
irritation and blocks circulation depriving the skin of further
nourishment and natural cleansing processes.
B. Favor skin nourishing foods.
1. Leafy green vegetables contain vitamins, minerals
(especially iron and calcium) and are high in antioxidant properties.
They nourish the skin and protect it from premature aging.
2. Sweet juicy fruits like grapes, melons, pears,
plums and stewed apples at breakfast are excellent for the skin
in almost everyone.
3. Eat a wide variety of grains over different
meals and try mixed grain servings at breakfast and lunch. Add
amaranth, quinoa, cous cous, millet and barley to the wheat and
rice you already eat.
4. Favor light, easy to digest proteins like legume
soups (especially yellow split mung dhal), whole milk, paneer
(cheese made from boiling milk, adding lemon and straining solids)
and lassi (diluted yogurt and spice drinks).
5. Oils like ghee (clarified butter) and organic,
extra virgin olive oil should be included in the diet as they
lubricate, nourish and create lustre in the skin.
6. Use spices like turmeric, cumin, coriander,
and black pepper to improve digestion, nourish the skin and cleanse
it of impurities.
7. Avoid microwaving and boiling your vegetables.
They lose as much as 85% of their antioxidant content when cooked
in this way. Steaming and sautéing are best.
Caring for outer beauty through
knowledge of skin type
Besides these general recommendations
the key to Outer Beauty is to understand the difference in skin
types so you can gain the maximum benefit from your individualized
skin care regimen. MAV identifies three different skin types
based on which of the three main metabolic principles (doshas)-
present in everyone, but to different degrees- is most dominant
in your body. |
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