Tips for Looking Great in 2008!

1) Drink 8-10 oz. of water first thing in the morning. We wake up dehydrated and the first thing many of us consume is a drink with diuretic qualities such as caffeine. Plain filtered water is the best wake-me-up-drink to start your day before anything else.

2) Breathe slow and deep before and after sleep for 10-15 repetitions each day. Oxygen has a tremendous ability to heal, regenerate, and bring elasticity to tissues of the body on the inside and out. I saw the face of a lady I know go from leathery & lots of wrinkles to smoother & soft looking once she stopped smoking and her lungs cleared up following a health scare. The body is designed to heal itself in the absence of harmful substances and when it has the support it needs!

3) Get your nutrition from your food, and supplement with a food-based multi-vitamin daily. Farmers are not growing their crops for the highest nutrient values, their focus is on uniformity and long shelf life, and then nutrients are reduced further with every step of processing. This is key when reading the Nutrition Label on foods and supplements... if the food source is not listed next to the vitamin, it is synthetic, which means not natural human to the human design. Humans are designed to eat plants which provide vitamin complexes, not individual vitamins removed from their native environment such as a fruit or vegetable. Processing like this is like taking left over pizza, separating the ingredients, and using them in other dishes for a meal another day - be aware of what you give your body on a regular basis.

4) Exercise several times a week to reduce stress. Deep lines can form on the face from too much stress and negative feelings. Exercise helps the body in numerous ways, not only does it help reduce stress, it increases oxygen in the bloodstream, activates chemical processes in the lymph to remove toxins that cause accelerated aging, and can help you sleep better. Exercise does not need to be strenuous, and if you make it a social activity you can multi-task! I feel it's a natural human instinct to want to hit, kick or yell when frustrated, so karate classes give my family an appropriate outlet for our stress, choose activities that you enjoy most!

5) Use water-based moisturizers for your skin. Wrinkles form from dehydration and muscles making creases repeatedly. Water hydrates the cells of the skin, not oils. Consider re-hydrating raisins in oil vs. water, which do you think will rehydrate to plump and smooth better? Avoid products with synthetic chemicals too, when you ingest foreign substances digestive enzymes may be able to filter them out before they enter the blood, the skin does not have such a mechanism when absorbing the things it comes in contact with.