Monday, March 12, 2012

Wiggle, Jiggle, Glow

Let's talk about  dermal fillers. 
Better yet, let's talk about soup. And Jello.
Last year I read a book called Deep Nutrition, Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food, by Catherine Shanahan MD and Luke Shanahan. Read my thoughts about it here.  
Here’s Dr. Cate on mineral-rich soup stocks for skin:
Better yet, let's have Jello.
“The highest quality skin care products contain the collagen-building ingredients your skin needs to restore itself. Even skeptical doctors agree that regular use of these expensive products can have impressive results.  However, skincare expert Dr. Dennis Gross, MD warns that it’s not an overnight solution.  “It takes time, molecule by molecule, to build collagen fibers.” Dermatologists advise patience and regular application to get anti-wrinkle creams in contact with skin as much as possible.  Why not also feed your skin from the inside?

If a cream containing two or three collagen-building nutrients can help your skin, imagine how effectively you could nourish and rebuild your dermal collagen if you ate a meal containing dozens of dermal growth factors. The nutrients in bone stocks switch the genes for collagen manufacture to “on.”  This effect is magnified by vitamins A, D, E and C, and a few common minerals.  Whether in a skin cream or your soup bowl, the same natural ingredients help you look young. But when you ingest them, you infuse all the layers of your skin, and all the other tissues in your body, with rejuvenating nutrients. “
Word.
According to Weston A. Price Foundation President and prominent nutrition researcher Sally Fallon Morrell, stock not only contains gelatin, it has “minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons--stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.”

Now, I will admit to being a regular consumer of that broken down material from cartilage and tendon. I take daily hyaluronic acid and silicon supplements for the health and hydration of my skin. They’re not cheap but they and a good skin care regimen work well to decrease the giant chasm that too many years of refusing to wear glasses has etched deep between my brows.  Still, nutrients from real food are always best since they work together synergistically in a way that isolated supplements never can. For the health of my skin, my hair, my digestion, and my overall body, I make and consume many quarts of mineral-rich, nutrient-dense, and delicious broth every week, for soup broth and as the base for sauces.  I also channel Betty Draper and make a great big jello-mold every week for snacks and kid lunches. Yes, gelatin is just powdered bone broth, without the savory flavor. And it’s actually a health food.

A good gelatin makes beautiful, smooth, cellulite-free skin.  It’s one of my favorite “beauty treatments” and it’s easy as can be.

My recipe is over at The Slow Kitchen.  What are your favorite “beauty foodie” staples?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Detox Not Botox Redux

Spring is here and that can only mean one thing: Apotheca's annual Detox Not Botox EVENT. (Okay, it's more of a series than an event but EVENT-all-caps has a certain advertising-lingo grandiosity, hasn't it?)

This is our third year of offering the package, and through the previous two we have talked to countless clients who report their skin, weight, and energy levels have improved until long after the program is over.

Here's what Detox Not Botox at Apotheca ISN'T:
  • It is not a cleanse or a fast of any kind
  • It is not a crazy diet or prescribed eating plan of any kind
  • It is not something that involves chemicals, fillers, or anything bad for you

Apotheca's Detox Not Botox is a hand-picked series of good for you treatments to lower stress, smooth your skin, get you into a regular movement practice, and just take care of you. In this reset button for springtime wellness you get:

  • One 60-minute detox facial treatment with lymphatic drainage facial massage

  • One 45-minute skincare for the back treatment with our amazing Swamp Dust detox mask, featuring Pacific coast seaweed, French green clay and an amazing blend of essential oils sure to banish back acne and get your skin glowing for Spring.

  • One 70 -minute massage for stress relief or Integrated/ deep tissue massage with full-body dry brushing

  • Two private yoga sessions

  • Our own delicious herbal tisane, custom-blended for the season and made from the highest quality organic nutritive herbs, for you to take home. 

To reap the full benefits of the program and to get a jump on your springtime wellness routine it is recommended that you complete your series within three weeks of beginning.



Regular price: $470. Package price: $423. Buy this package before March 15th for the reduced rate of $399!

Go to our secure booking page and select Detox Not Botox from the package drop down menu. 

For those of you who are doing your own springtime dietary reset, why don't you come over to Apotheca's brand-new sister blog Slow Kitchen: The Home Cooking Project to read all about Kirsten's crazy food-obsessed past, follow her adventures in radical dining in, get delicious whole food recipes, and share what you're eating and how you're feeling. There will be a really great giveaway on the Slow Kitchen blog next week, so be sure to join it today and stay tuned.

 Happy Spring!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Happiness


“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” ~John Lennon