So you wake up in the morning with a few extra wrinkles on your skin, or a blemish that wasn’t there the day before. 

Or maybe there’s a few extra sun spots or inflamed and itchy skin that just won’t go away. 

Crappy right?

There’s a good chance you’ll run over to the drug store and load up on a beauty product to help you banish your zit overnight or help to fade and diminish your wrinkles. And while you’re at it, you just might pick up some foundation to help cover up the blemishes, concealer to take away the under eye bags and some other fancy product to add a little bit of glow back to your complexion.

The problem is, although you may have skin issues and feel that applying something topically is the solution (yes, it helps), the real problem needs to be addressed on the inside. 

Beauty starts from within, and from premature aging, to wrinkles to acne, this is often a sign that your liver is overloaded with toxins and needs extra nutritional support. 

As your main detoxifying organ, your liver has over 500 functions in the body. From ridding your body of wastes, metabolizing hormones and assisting in digestion, your liver has a lot of work to do. B vitamins, vitamin A and C and minerals such as zinc, magnesium, calcium and selenium are all important for supporting detoxification and the liver.

This in turns leads to more gorgeous radiant skin. Vitamin C helps your body produce collagen, an important protein that helps strengthen the skin and smooth out fine lines. 

Vitamin A promotes cell turnover in the skin, and inhibits the activity of the sebaceous glands, which can help prevent acne.

Your liver can be responsible for issues such as acne, psoriasis, eczema and rashes. When the liver is unhealthy it attempts to flush out excess toxins and chemicals through the skin. Normally, the liver will work hard to flush out toxicity through the urine and stool, but your skin and even your breath (respiration) are other ways of eliminating toxins. 

Supporting your liver daily needs to become a top priority! From environmental toxins to antibiotics and chemicals in our food and the hundreds of synthetic chemicals in our beauty care products, our liver has to work hard, every minute of every day to filter toxins and excrete them. 

Supporting your liver and detoxification are one and the same thing!

Here’s my top detoxification tips for beautiful glowing skin and a healthy liver: 

• Drink 2-3L of spring water daily – it helps to filter out toxins through your body
• Eat vegetables, particularly dark leafy greens – which are loaded with magnesium and minerals for clear skin
• Be conscious of food quality – choose organic and local and avoid GMO, antibiotics and hormones
• Include lots of fiber (ie. veggies, flax and chia) – which help pull toxins out of your body through your bowels
• Take the right supplements – as mentioned above to support daily detoxification
• Remove processed foods and sugar from your diet – which impair the liver’s ability to detox
• Exercise (ie. sweat!) – one of the best ways to remove toxins and get blood circulating to your skin
• Include herbs and spices in your diet – they are loaded with nutrients and provide so much healing for the skin
• Get rid of toxic body care products – what goes on the skin goes in, so be sure to ditch the chemicals and choose cleaner products
• Ditch the alcohol – it makes you puffy and makes your liver work extra hard
• De-stress – more stress means more wrinkles, more inflammation, more weight gain and less of a glow. Manage stress effectively for younger and healthy skin (and optimal health overall!).
• Ferment to Prevent – this means eating fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir to support gut health, detoxification, immunity and metabolism. 

If you’re struggling with skin issues yourself, confused about natural beauty care, dealing with hair loss or even cellulite, join me in my 6-week online course, CLEANBEAUTYU. I’ll be guiding you through 6 modules, teaching you everything you need to know about your skin, hair, teeth and body. Plus, I’ll be diving deeper into detoxification and gut health, helping you understand the connection between internal health and external beauty. Click here for more information about this amazing program and get on the CleanBeautyU insider list today!

And before I send you off on your way, here are few of my favourite beauty foods that support detoxification and help to get those toxins out of your body:

• Broccoli – along with other brassica vegetables, such as brussel sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower, broccoli contain sulphur, that helps to support the detoxification process and the health of the liver. In fact, these fibrous veggies can help flush out toxins from your gut and contain compounds that help support the liver in metabolizing hormones.
• Turmeric – although this is a herb, it’s one we need to include more of in our diet. This incredible herb contains a boat-load of antioxidants that help to repair the liver cells, protect against cellular damage and assist in detoxification. Turmeric is particularly good at helping the liver detox from heavy metals and assist in hormone metabolism. Turmeric also boosts the production of bile and improves the health of the gallbladder.
• Citrus Fruits – Lemons, limes and grapefruits are all natural sources of vitamin C and contain many potent antioxidants. Like garlic, citrus fruits have the ability to boost the production of liver detoxification enzymes.
• Avocado – this incredible fruit contains glutathione, which is a powerful antioxidant that helps to protect the liver from incoming wastes and toxins. It also assists the liver in eliminating these chemicals from your body and protect against cellular damage.
• Spirulina — Spirulina has the highest concentration of protein in the world. It has 3x the amount of protein as steak, and it’s already in amino acid form. It also has the highest concentration of all the B vitamins…yaaassss!!