Could your complexion do with a spring-clean? Here’s how to freshen up with the right food intake. By Jessica MontagueI have a friend who glows from the inside out. Honestly, it’s like she has microscopic LED light bulbs embedded in her pores. And it’s not like she’s prepubescent, either; she happens to be in her mid-30s, with a one-year-old in tow. One may think that most women at this stage in their life would appear worn from the pressures of first-time parenting and lack of sleep. Not her.
Like many other women, I have continuously marvelled at the radiance – nay, luminosity – my friend’s skin evokes, and every time she gives the same, simple unassuming explanation: “I’m just really healthy.” I thought the response was a cop-out, that she had found some obscure and exclusive skincare range she didn’t want anyone to know about. She was in fact telling the truth.
Over the last few months in particular, there have been myriad health experts preaching how incredibly important our diet is when it comes to the state of our skin. One of those is
Emma Sgourakis, a nutritionist and cellular cleansing specialist who regularly travels to the US to work with detox specialist
Natalia Rose. According to Sgourakis, there is more than just a lukewarm association between diet and good skin. As she succinctly puts it, “Tweaking your diet is the best anti-ageing remedy out there.”
At the core of Sgourakis’s work is the premise that women can use specific types of food to unclog cells, which in turn boosts the body’s digestive and cleansing systems. A lovely little side effect of this process? More supple, younger-looking skin.
Sgourakis explains: “By eating unhealthy food over time, we accumulate residue in our cells. Compound that with other toxins from the atmosphere and different products, and our body becomes less efficient at performing everyday functions like skin renewal,” she explains. “When a person replaces an average diet with natural-based food, all the goodness from the fresh produce loosens the unwanted waste from the cells and draws it back into the bloodstream. The body is then able to flush this out of the system and you’re left with clean, fully-functioning cells.” So while food itself is not an actual elixir of youth, it can act like soap, scrubbing our internal organs clean.
So what should you eat to get this happening? Sgourakis starts clients on plant-based products and advises them to cut down on dairy, which she believes can encourage mucus build-up in our digestive system (although other health experts disagree on this). “I would recommend people start the day with a glass of water with freshly squeezed lemon, then drinking a large, freshly squeezed vegetable juice with lots of greens for breakfast. For mid-morning I would suggest eating low-sugar fruit like berries, green apples and grapefruits,” she continues.
“For lunch, it would be a large green salad made with a whole avocado, lots of leafy greens, herbs, goat’s cheese, freshly made dressing and grainy bread. For dinner, enjoy your choice of protein – chicken, fish or pork chop – but avoid mixing it with starch-based foods like potato or polenta as this can extend digestion time by three or four hours and clog up the system.”
Of course, if your diet previously consisted of items such as processed white bread, pasta, biscuits, muffins, takeaway meals and five full-fat lattes a day, you wouldn’t dive into an eating plan like this, whole hog. It’s always best to consult a dietitian before making any significant changes to your diet.
“The important thing to do is assess your past eating patterns and consider, ‘What’s a cleaner version of what I’ve been consuming?’,” says Sgourakis. Similarly, reducing rather than eliminating your intake of caffeine and alcohol is going to be more beneficial to your general health than going cold turkey.
It’s important to remember that this philosophy is not a quick fix which will automatically give you a spotless complexion overnight. “The chances are, you’ve been accumulating cell residue for decades, so it’s going to take a while to dredge up the waste and alleviate it from the body,” explains Sgourakis. When you do start to experience changes, the mirror will become your best friend. “When some clients come to me, their skin is dull, saggy and puffy, but after a few months their faces become firmer and more lifted.” She adds: “With the transformation happening at the deepest cellular level, the changes are more lasting.”
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