Thank you both SO much for the responses — I am so sorry that I did not check back sooner! You are absolutely right, and I have recently begun to include some grains and feel much better. And you are right about the coffee and water — I’m not great at hydrating during the day. I try to sleep with nothing on my face, since I wear makeup (not good, I know) during the day, and just assume that my skin needs to breathe. I have been experimenting with Argan Oil, but mostly to support the Berber women’s collectives which produce it. I also use an Omega 3 oil Formula (and ingest Omega 3) since I assume that my skin will uptake oil better than any cream — as it is more like that which we naturally produce.

I have been doing something lately and I really do think that it is making a tangible difference with my skin (even better since I have recently bought an all glass tea kettle so that the acids don’t react with the metal). I slice and simmer ginger, a cinnamon stick, a little cayenne powder, and some lemon (or lemon rind) for about forty minutes, and then sip all evening. It is really tasty (and pink! ( : ) and I have noticed my skin looking much clearer. I vary the recipe every so often (orange rind instead of lemon rind, or infusing some nettle tea in the end, or chamomile or whichever variation works for you.) It is tasty, inexpensive, and the volatile compounds are at their freshest.

Thanks again for the response and I so appreciate all your help and support!

Best,

Carolina (or Carolyn — depending on the language I’m speaking at the time!)

Thank you SO very much for your response. Since having been diagnosed with high blood sugar, a little over a year ago, I have mostly cut out grains completely, and yes do eat a mainly raw food diet (easy in the summer months in California). I do eat some mozzarella or farmers’ cheeses on occasion with salads — but do mainly eat raw produce and am lucky enough to enjoy a great variety. Also, beans and nuts.

My guess is that 80% of what I eat is composed of raw vegetables. I also have begun to drink unsweetened coconut milk, and aloe vera juice mixed in water. My biggest vice: daily strong espresso (about four shots in the morning). Organic coffee.

Every so often (maybe once weekly?) when I eat out, I will eat some grains. Rice with sushi and/or a slice of bread. Ditto for alcohol: I don’t keep alcohol at home but will have a glass of wine, perhaps twice a month. No bread or pasta at home. No meat, either.

And lately since I have become worried about my skin, I swear that it has gotten older-looking! Am trying not to fixate. ( : It used to be that my skin looked a decade younger than my age, but now people are gauging my age more or less accurately, and so I know that there is a difference. Alas.

Thank you again SO MUCH for the response.

Best,

Carolyn

We’ll do a bit of research into this for you. There are certainly people who have reversed their wrinkles, but we’ll have to check in on UVA damage for you.

In the meantime, consider the fact that eating as much fresh, raw, organic vegetables as you can will definitely not accelerate your UVA damage, while eating any sort of sugar, junk food, refined carb, and cooked meat will definitely not help you to reverse UVA damage.

A.G.E.s in cooked animal products are a large contributing factor to why we get wrinkles (see http://houseofverona.com/how-glycation-causes-wrinkles/ for more on why) so cutting these out will help to slow skin damage, period.

When you say you have a clean diet, how would you describe it? Vegan? Raw? That would help us answer your question.

Thanks!

Yafa

Jessie Moore, RHN for the House of Verona, has this in response to your question:

“Try to think of your health and wellness not only on one dish, snack, meal or even day, but as a whole. As for the doritos…MSG, food colouring, salt, corn, sugar, fried fat…not to mention the highly allergenic foods, dairy, gluten and corn…. that will always be challenging to your health no matter what you eat it with.”

MSG, sugar, and fried fat are proven wrinkle-creators, so you might want to consider dipping some celery sticks or cucumbers into your avocado dip instead!

If you still want a crunch, you can try making your own healthy chips:
- If you have a dehydrator at home, slice up zucchini or sweet potatoes and dehydrate them. Taste like chips!
- Make raw corn nacho chips by blending together flax seeds and corn, and dehydrating them (if you have one) http://goneraw.com/node/1676