It’s the fall right now but winter is around the corner in New England.  We will go from balmy and 70 degrees one day to dry and 30 degrees the next.  When that happens, the first thing on your body to “complain” is your skin.

I’m going to let you in on a secret:  my skin is a source of stress for me.  There is very little in my life that bothers me quite like my skin does.  Now you know I am going to tell you it is all my fault—because I am my own worst enemy.  So I am a sun lover for sure!  Nothing I love more than lying out in the sun…in Aruba…on the equator…with oil on me…and a meat thermometer to make sure I’m not overcooked. Hehe.

Yeah, I know, read me the riot act.  But I am now paying for my over indulgence of the big fireball in the sky with age spots.  Now truth be told, it could be worse.  I could have a whole host of things cropping up left and right for as much as I abused the gift of the sun, but I do not because of my insatiable love of omega 3 fatty acids.  Besides keeping my wrinkles at bay and smoothing out the texture of my skin, EFAs provide the structure necessary for skin with “snap”.  You know, non saggy skin.  So let’s get right into it and talk about what you might be going through this winter:

Dry skin:

Ignoring the fact that you want to shower with molten lava and wash your skin with heavily perfumed soap, you may find that no matter what you do you cannot rid yourself of dry skin.  The first place to look is your diet.  Are you hydrated and are you eating fats?  You want to have at least ¾ of a gallon of water per day and at least 3 to 5 servings of a good omega 3 rich fat source preferably in the form of an oil.  A long time ago I was told by a well known naturopath that you should have as much oil as you can tolerate that leaves your skin moistened after coming out of the shower.  I can tell you right now, none of y’all will try that, so let me ease your burden a bit with this recommendation:  if one serving of good fat per day does not help, add a ½ serving per day until it does.  Give it as much as a week to kick in before going up in the fat and cut a little bit of something else out during the day to make up for the extra cals.

Greasy skin:

You have a sweet tooth, girl.  Knock it off.  Too much sugar and fat helps the body to form a layer on the skin that is shiny.  If you replace those sweets with EFAs, you will fair much better.  Feel free to share those sweets with the rest of us so we may help you to move on from your bad habit.  Hopefully it was brownies you were eating…I’m just sayin.

Bumpy skin:

Increase the amount of orange foods in your diet (Vit A) and ease off the dairy a bit.  These occur more as an allergy to a food and typically dairy is the chief offender.  I know you love your greek yogurt, but 2 in a day is a bit much.  Let’s diversify a bit, shall we?

Acne prone skin:

Just like the greasy skin, walk away from the processed fats and the refined sugar.  They are killing you.  A clean diet with adequate hydration should begin to give you some relief although it is not always the full answer.  Also, a vitamin deficiency will also cause your acne to come out more and you know how I feel about vitamins so this should already be handled! [giving you a hairy eyeball]  If you are an athlete, or as active as one, you will not get all that you need from food alone and then your body begins to give you a hard time.  Listen to it when it talks to you, it knows more than you do.;o)

Nutritionally there is more to it than just EFAs if you want to survive a rough winter.  Vitamin E, Vitamin C, zinc, Vitamin A and selenium all aid in keeping your skin soft and healthy and are abundant in a clean, varied diet.  If you can venture out of your zone and eat more than just the same two veggies and one fruit that you eat every day, you should be well ahead of the game.  Another thing to note is, all those vitamins and minerals also do well for you topically.  So if you can find a good moisturizer with any of those added, grab it.  The more back up you can provide your skin with, the better.

On a normal work day, I get up at 4 am and start my long arduous commute to work in my basement.  It could take me a whole 3 min. to get down there if there is a lot of traffic that morning.  If there is traffic, it’s always around my kitchen area where there could be something left out and in the way that distracts me from the task at hand.  I try to find alternate routes to work when that happens because I can really be bogged down in there for as long as 15 to 20 min.  I have a very clear objective in the morning: avoid the kitchen.

 I get up that early in the morning because I honestly want my brain as sharp as possible for whatever task is at hand that day.  I love that the house is as quiet as a church mouse and I have free run of the living room, kitchen (even though it’s a boobie trap) and basement.  It is honestly the best time of the day for me in terms of creativity.  That’s huge!  Because as we age we take for granted one of the most precious gifts we have been given—our brains.

Have you ever been mid sentence and just lost your train of thought?

Have you ever been mid sentence and just lost your train of thought and who you were talking to lost it as well?

Have you ever put something down in the house and then for the life of you, have no idea where it is?  Only to find it a day later in a draw or on some obscure shelf?

Ever set up an elaborate color coding system for something in your house or your job and then not remember what it all meant so you had to start over or just scrap it?

Still can’t remember all the names of the parents of your child’s fourth grade friends even though you’ve known them all since your child was in PreK?

Do you remember a time when you were just flowing with creativity and so much around you inspired you?

Have you ever written up a long list of things to do so you could avoid forgetting it all only to lose the list somewhere in your house/office/car and not be able to check it all off?

 Losing your mind is not a normal part of aging; it’s a normal part of everyday neglect.  High stress, poor nutrition (even if eating all the “right” foods), being sedentary, being stuck in a rut and lack of proper vitamins can really do a number on your brain.  Eventually, it translates into poor cognitive response from your brain and you are left standing in Starbucks staring at the menu as if it changed from the day before and they added 10 new items! 

 It’s time to exercise your brain to keep it sharp as a tack and as pliable as clay.

 1)       Break the Chain!

I know it feels good to have a regimented schedule where we get a lot done in a day, but doing the  same thing every day is just as bad for us as eating the same thing every day.  Step outside of yourself at least once per week and do something different.  Learn something new.  Stretch your mind like you do your muscles and your wallet! My nose is always in a book or I am forever in a class of some sort.  Learn, learn, learn! 

2)       It’s Playtime!

Remember when you were younger and you would get those silly puzzle type books for Christmas or your birthday?  They would have connect the dots in them, crosswords, word play and etc.  Didn’t you just love those?  Good, go buy one right now.  Get on it and get cookin’!  Books like those are the “treadmills for the mind”.  You will be that much sharper once you do a few crosswords and word scrambles that challenge your current level of thinking.  Even if you do not get them right, you’ll be that much wiser.  Hurry up, Highlights is waiting for you.

3)       Power Foods to the Rescue!

Omega 3 oils, nuts, fatty fish and some white fish, chocolate (yes, I said chocolate) and tomato juice/sauce are all brain loving foods.  Get them in your diet.  Are you surprised to see the good fat there?  Honestly, I am going to start snorting it now and just cutting right to the chase.  Do we need any more examples as to why it is so important in our lives? 

4)       Ok Killah, Chill Out!

A bit high strung?  Working 25 out of 24 hours in a day?  Packing more in before lunch than an entire city full of workaholics can in a week?  Not good!  Back it down or you are priming yourself for a great brain frying event.  You are going to burn out faster than a cheesy incense stick purchased on a Manhattan corner!  And burn out means only one thing: fried brain cells.  Say hello to confusion, fog, mood swings, large memory gaps and more.  You need to get a handle on your situation now before you incur permanent damage.

Now all of this exercise is occurring outside of the gym and is very doable!  There are no excuses here.  Get to lovin’ and pamperin’ your mind right now and stop the leaky faucet in its tracks.  You may be so far gone right now that you don’t even know you lost your mind—now that’s a shame if so.  Let’s all hope for the best if this is you.  But if you have enough where-with-all about you to know it’s going down, then get on it!  A mind is a terrible thing to waste!  (As well as a good meal and an even better dessert.  Another post for another time, for sure!)

I have to say putting this series together has been awesome for me simply for the fact that I have had the chance to become reacquainted with the food that I recommend daily.  I speak food the same way all of you speak English:  fluently.  That’s a good thing and a bad thing.  Good thing because I know so much about food and its benefits so I can help my clients be successful; bad thing because I can sometimes become numb to the same things that I espouse.  So sitting down and analyzing the different ways to characterize food has been a blessing in disguise for me.

After going through light to dark for protein, dark to light for fruits and veggies, rough and ragged to smooth for starches, we have arrived at fats:  thin to thick consistency.  The thinner the fat, the better it is for you.

I am really loving how many people are tuning in to my blog every day getting to know a little bit about me as you learn “a lot bit” about food/dieting/etc.  One thing you will find as you come visit me every day is that I am completely obsessed with good fats.  No, I don’t think you heard me.  Completely obsessed with good fats.  If I could marry them, I would.  The only thing I love more than Omega 3 is butter.  And that’s saying something because I tried trading my 3 year old on the black market for a pound of butter.  Too bad they said he was only worth a tub of Country Crock.  Just know I’m holding out for more!

Fat heals.  Plain and simple, it heals.  It makes what’s wrong, right.  It makes wrinkles disappear and periods resurface.  It calms aching joints and soothes a craving palette.  Fat is beautiful.  From long chain to short chain I just cannot get enough and am blown away when I find someone who won’t eat it.  Is it an Omega 3, 6 or 9?  Do you want it as an oil or as a solid?  Would you like to cure psoriasis or just fix a metabolism?   Whatever you want to do you can do it with fat.  And then if that fat is butter?  Awww sookie sookie now!  Where do I sign up?

So as I sat down to go through fats, I almost had to get up and bake a pound cake, slap a little sumthin’ sumthin’ on my dry elbows and down a fish oil cap…but I held out long enough to at least tell you how to work fats into your menu.

You should have a good fat every day.  Unless you have something going on in your life or you are preparing for something, there should never be a time when you do not eat a good fat.  They are just that important. 

A typical serving of good fat is 14 to 16g.  This is a tablespoon of oil, 2 T of nuts and seeds, ½ avocado, 1c soy beans or 3oz. of wild Alaskan salmon.  When we talk about “ordering” our food, I will address the fat mixed with starch question that I am asked quite frequently.  For now, we’ll just talk about fats and how great they are in your diet.

Thin is in:

Fish oil, flaxseed oil, Udo’s oil, hemp oil, pumpkin oil and walnut oil.  Why these?  Because they are Omega 3 rich.  Next, olive oil, avocado oil, peanut oil and almond oil.  Why these? Because they are rich in Omega 9.  Lastly, safflower, sunflower and sesame oils.  They are rich in Omega 6.

Meaty Thick:

Salmon and Avocado

Pasty Thick:

Peanut butter, cashew butter, almond butter, soybeans, nuts and seeds, coconut oil.

Here are the rules:

1)        Your ratio here is 3, 2, 2.  I would do 321 but that’s only 6 days.  Sorry for that extra day.;)  You may choose one from every type of oil to make 3, or you may choose 1 type.  You know I am going to recommend you vary it as much as possible.  But they are listed in order of benefit so keep that in mind.

2)       You must have a good fat everyday but are more than welcome to have more than one in a day.  If that is the case, start from the top with thin and add going down first.

3)       Do not cook your fats.  You may only cook with coconut oil on a regular basis.  You may use Pam to  grease a surface, but try not to cook with oil–even olive oil.  High heat damages the goodness of fat.

4)       Salmon must be Wild Alaskan and you may also have any fatty fish in its place. 

If you do not have fat in your diet and you add it in, you are in for a treat.  If you do have it in your diet, make sure you are mixing it up.  Nothing beats the shine of your hair or the softness of your skin when you are filled to the brim with good fat. 

I hear a mango coconut protein shake calling my name right now!  WOOHOO!!:o)

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I often speak about a “metabolic cup” that we have all been given.  This is a special cup.  Not the ‘over-the-top’ cup that Lil’ John walks around with while pimping his gold teeth or the Stanley cup from hockey.  No, this is a special cup.  It houses our beauty and our ability to be resilient and when we drain it of everything it has…we turn into pumpkins!

Have you ever found yourself saying something to the effect of, “I used to be able to eat anything”; “I used to always have good skin”; “I can’t do that anymore since having my kids”.  All of these are statements reflective of a cup that is emptying out faster than it is being replenished.  Caffeine, artificial sweeteners, sun damage, processed food, damaged fats, no fat, high carb/sugar and so on deplete your cup faster than you can say ‘Oil of Olay!’  You don’t really seem to notice until one day you are up 20 pounds but cannot seem to lose it no matter *what* you do, you have age spots or your skin is so dry you begin to flake while speaking to people. 

You can begin to restore your metabolic cup today if you like and there is only one food item that can do that for you:  Good Fats.  I love, love, love good fats and there are really only five out there:  nuts, nut butters and seeds, fatty fish, oils, soy and avocados.  If you can work a good fat into your diet everyday you can drastically reduce the emptying of your metabolic cup.  Salmon on a salad, avocado on a sandwich, nuts and raisins, real olive oil and vinegar as a dressing, soy nuts and Udo’s oil are all ways to work a good fat into your day.  If you want that dewy skin look or if you want to limit the amount of lotion you have to use after a shower, get some good fat in your diet today!