Bring Back That Pregnancy Glow!

One of the things I absolutely loved about being pregnant (other than someone else carrying my grocery bags ofcourse), was when someone said,' Omg girl, you are glowing'. It didn't even occur to me that that was just a 9 month shindig. If you are like me, however, looking after yourself has become a nonessential. You probably have trouble squeezing in a little, 'me time', let alone an elaborate skin care regiment. But I discovered a little bit can go a long way, and when you look good, you feel good and your mojo has that butterfly effect...

So here's what works for me - 

1. Honey I Shrunk Skin Care - I spash some water on my face, plop a teaspoon of honey  (Organic Honey or Raw Honey is best) on my palm and massage it into my face. Then I go about giving my little munchkin her daily massage which takes about 10-15 mins. Thats about all the time the honey needs to work as well, and I just wash the honey off my face with water. It works because honey is a natural anti-microbial agent and also an antioxident. Definately sets the tone for my day. Or if you still have some of that pregnancy mask, massage a little bit of 'yogurt' ( organic, full cream yogurt) into your face instead, the milk fat helps remove impurities, the lactic acid helps disolve the dead cells and lighten that mask a little everyday. 


2. Spice Up Your Life - I add a little 'oregano' to almost every meal. Oregano is a very potent antioxident, hence really good for your skin. To put it is perspective, on a per gram fresh weight basis, oregano has demonstrated 42 times more antioxidant activity than apples, 30 times more than potatoes, 12 times more than oranges and 4 times more than blueberries (whfoods.com).


3. The Nut Job - My snack bag is a mixture of 'walnuts' - full of omega 3 fatty acids , 'brazil nuts' - excellent source of selenium (do not consume more than one a day), 'raw almonds' - high in vitamin E and manganese, 'pumpkin seeds'-  contains manganese, magnesium and zinc, 'sunflower seeds' rich in vitamin E, vitamin B 1, manganese, selenium etc and 'goji berries' - which add an almost chocolate covered berries flavour to my look good/feel good concoction and oh they have 10 times more antioxidants than red grapes and 10 to 30 times the anthocyanins of red wine (gojiberrieshealthbenefits.com). 


4. Ketchup! Thats Right - Organic Ketchup is high in Lycopene, another great free radical enemy you want to be friends with... so dip and dunk!


5. Sweet Sweet Potatoes - Steamed / baked/ sauteed sweet potato is a popular side dish for us, very high in beta carotene which has excellent free radical fighting properties to get the glow going.

So be a 10 minutes- a- day honey, rub oregano on everything you like, steam up those sweet for your skin potatoes, go nuts every once in a while and you will ketch-up on that glow!

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