Ask Dr. Shiroko

Top 5 Natural Beauty Remedies
Looking in the mirror the other day, Jan noticed that there were little lines around her eyes that hadn’t been there before. They looked puffy and tired. She sighed. At 45 years of age she worried, “If I look so tired now, what will I need to do to stay looking young?”
We all want to look good. One of our big concerns with aging is the fear of looking old.
Thousands of dollars are invested annually in botox, face lifts, restalyne and other procedures to keep faces looking young. According to the US Commerce Department, in 2010, “Americans spent a whopping $33.3 billion on cosmetics and other beauty products.”
More than 20 years ago, I visited my mother after I completed acupuncture school. She was interested in maintaining her youthful appearance but wasn’t interested in medical interventions. I suggested that I could try doing an acupuncture facelift to see if it would help her to look younger.
Even after the first treatment her face looked younger. She was a willing guinea pig so I did five sessions over three weeks, with excellent results.
This began my search of natural remedies for beauty. Over the years I have discovered many all-natural, non-invasive solutions for staying and feeling gorgeous.
Here are my top 5 all-natural beauty remedies:
1. Acupuncture. Acupuncture is a great treatment method for many wellness improvements, including: stress reduction, energy balancing, pain relief and making yourself look young.
By placing needles in the face, you can balance your whole body in just the same way you would if you placed needles elsewhere. It’s much less expensive and less painful than plastic surgery, laser or injections.
2) Lots of Vegetables. Eating vegetables is especially important as you get older because the nutrients and fiber in these foods can help reduce high blood pressure, lower your risk of heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. They improve your appearance by hydrating your tissues and making your skin look bright and alive.
3) High quality skincare products. Natural skincare ingredients nourish the skin, improve color, texture and tone. Other benefits may include reduced skin pigmentation and puffiness.  
This is an area where I suggest you do research to find good products. Your skin is very absorbable and will take in any chemicals you put on it. A wonderful website –Environmental Work Group (EWG) has a whole list of many different products and their safety for your skin (http://www.ewg.org).
4) Stress management. Stress can damage your appearance in many ways. Look in the mirror when you’ve just had a fight with your husband or when you feel stressed; you can see that your face has certain lines of tension. Besides all the other damage stress can do to your organs, it makes you look old before your time. A simple remedy for stress in your life is to remember to be grateful for all the good things you have. Do this as a daily meditation. Obviously this won’t solve all of your problems, but it will make a change in your perspective.
5) Balance your hormones. Your hormones are the substrate of your youth. As we age and deal with stress, hormones begin to decline. Deficiency of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone can lead to a decline of our appearance. This doesn’t mean you need to take hormones to look young. There are many ways of balancing your hormones. But they do need to be tended to.
Real beauty is more than skin deep. It comes from the wisdom we gain as we go through the difficult times of our lives. When you let your love shine through your eyes and commit to making your life and those around you happier, you will never look old.
 
Dr. Shiroko Sokitch belongs to the Heart to Heart Medical Center and her column appears monthly. She can be reached at: dr*****@ht***.com.