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How to Rejuvenate Your Cells With Dietary Supplements

May 5, 2009 – 4:28 pm

Obsessed with anti-aging goals, cell rejuvenation has become a key topic of our interest. This article introduces the latest theories to cell rejuvenation and the easiest way to start rejuvenating your cells. By following these principals and adjusting your diet and lifestyle accordingly, you gain a higher chance of success with youthful cell expression and overall cell rejuvenation.

Things You’ll Need:

  • Anti-inflammatory dietary supplements (in the form of marine Omega-3 oils, triglyceride form)
    Anti-oxidant dietary supplements (in the form of green tea EGCG and Resveratrol)
    Mitochondrial metabolites (in the form of alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl L-carnitine)
    Anti-glycation nutrients (in the form of l-Carnosine)

How to Rejuvenate Your Cells Easily with Dietary Supplements

Step 1:
Start taking high dosages (3000mg ~ 8000mg daily in 3 doses throughout the day) of high quality Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids such as found through this link: http://nordicnaturals.com/en/Products/Product_Details/98/?ProdID=1469 or http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-Fish-Oil-1-000-mg-CoQ10-30-mg-60-Softgels.  Nordic Naturals indicates that its omega-3 is available in triglyceride (fat) form (more smelly, more prone to break down and rancidity, but the kind that our body uses), versus a cheaper, purer (less smelly and longer shelf-life) ester form.  Omega-3 in triglyceride form is most bio-available, where your body can readily store it or convert it to the EPAs and DHAs that it needs to keep cells young, healthy, and low on inflammation.  Vitacost, on the other hand, does not indicate whether its oils are in triglyceride or ester form, but you can still take them.  Omega 3 fatty acids from marine sources are the strongest anti-inflammatory dietary supplements available to your cells. They are important to take on a daily bases in high dosages because of their immediate effect on softening cell membranes and “setting the stage” for the antioxidants you will be taking in this cell rejuvenating regimen.

Step 2:
Take a good synergistic, plant-based antioxidant formula daily. Start with 300mg of green tea extract with at least 50% EGCG (the most potent active in green tea for antioxidant protection) and Resveratrol at 100mg per day. Adding antioxidants to your diet is currently the most basic, most effective safeguard against oxidative stress and free radical aging and if you’re not taking antioxidants regularly, start now.

Some examples of a good antioxidant formula may be found through the following links:

http://www.skingeek.com/journaling-my-nutritional-supplements-vitamin-log-4-29-2009/

http://www.skingeek.com/super-nutritions-antioxidant-power-ingredients/

Step 3:
Include mitochondrial metabolites that help improve the efficiency of cell functions and extend the youthful lifespan of cells. Include 300mg of alpha-lipoic acid and 150mg of acetyl l-carnitine in your daily supplements regimen. These two supplements can be found at major grocery stores or health food stores and should be an important staple in your dietary supplement.

Step 4:
Lastly, include a potent anti-glycator, such as l-carnosine (at least 500mg daily) in your dietary supplements. Anti-glycators are extremely important in keeping your collagen and protein structures from cross-linking (an expressing of aging) and remaining soft, flexible, and young.

Tips & Warnings

  • Removing negative influences from your lifestyle is beneficial to your efforts in cell rejuvenation. These include stopping smoking, wearing sunscreen, exercising, sleeping well, and eating clean, healthy natural produce.
  • This article is not intended to be medical advice and not for diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions. Seek advise of your professional medical care provider for medical illnesses.

 Resources

Skin Geek | Active Ingredients as Supplements + Foods, Anti Wrinkle, Inflammation, Beauty Food, Anti-Aging | Comments (3)

Sweet Toothing: A Sugar that Suppresses Appetite?

May 4, 2009 – 1:28 pm

A new article on RealAge.com has announced that there is a superior Sugar That Staves Off Hunger.  It claims that the sweetener glucose can trick your brain into “feeling full” while the sweetener fructose leave you hungry for more.

Another related discussion regarding sweets and sugar has sparked a lot of interest, where the beauty asks: “How do I cure my sweet tooth and my after dinner dessert cravings?”

http://www.innerrewards.com/topics/health-wellness/discussions/how-to-cure-a-sweet-tooth/

Skin Geek answers:

Not all sugar is pure evil.

First of all if you’ve already eaten a meal, your blood sugar level should be already high and additional sugar will not cause an insulin spike (which encourages fat storage and inflammation in your body). It may add to the calories but your body won’t go crazy converting that sugar to fat. I also feel that sweets after a meal helps me digest the heavier, more oily foods a little more efficiently. Something to do with carbs burning faster and your body cannot efficiently process protein and fats without a little bit of sugar and simple carbs (fuel!).

Next, I just found this little gem: www.realage.com//ct/eat-smart/food-and-nutrition/tip/8618 where they claim that glucose can help reduce hunger while fructose leaves you hungry for more (warning: high fructose corn syrup is the major sweetener in most processed foods and bottled drinks… so stay away from these!). If you’re craving sweets, good traditional desserts and sweets that use only natural ingredients should be totally satisfying and enjoyable without too much damage to the system, so you don’t have to feel so guilty… Live a little ;)

Skin Geek | Fat Loss & Weight, Beauty Food, Anti-Aging | Comments (0)

Mineral Makeup Frenzy - Do Mineral Makeup Really Last Forever?

April 30, 2009 – 1:17 pm

Mineral makeup has been the rage in cosmetics for quite a while now, touting brand new skin benefits that leave traditional powders and foundations “in the dust”.  The “true” mineral makeup is 100% dry (no liquids, moisture, oils, fats, emulsifiers) and of 100% inert composition (minerals only, no organic compounds), making it “unable to harbor bacterial growth” and rendering anti-microbials,  preservatives, and masking agents like fragrance obsolete and unnecessary.  It all sounds like good news for skin on paper.  But how does it play out on a day to day basis?

Can we really finally stop worrying about contamination, germs, and expiration when it comes to makeup and ditch the old wive’s warning that “makeup will ruin your skin!”?  Can we, as Bare Escentuals claim, really “sleep in our makeup” from now on without the makeup removal paranoia and OCD cleansing routines we have regimented ourselves with?

I found this link http://www.signatureminerals.com/ingredient-comparisons.html  and discovered that most mineral makeup products are not 100% pure minerals.  They contain corn starch and vitamins (which could harbor bacteria growth) which though aren’t bad for skin per say, could go bad.

For the mineral makeup wearers out there, do you feel that mineral makeup improved your skin?

How long do you keep your mineral makeup around for and do you ever notice change in color, texture, wear, etc?

Skin Geek | Active Ingredients in Cosmetics & Skincare, Organic Skin Care, Allergies Irritations Sensitive Skin, Adult Acne | Comments (0)

Journaling My Nutritional Supplements Vitamin Log 4 29 2009

April 29, 2009 – 3:24 am

I haven’t updated my vitamin log in a while and have finally gotten around to “filing” this one.

Funds have been astringent so I have been particularly keen in getting the best deals while maintaining the highest quality of regimen possible in a minimal funds situation.

First of all, to maximize absorption of my carefully selected vitamins and nutritional supplements, I take digestive enzymes prior to meals and swallowing my standard 12 pills.

Next comes the green tea EGCG, from Costco.  Costco used to carry pure green tea extract in 300mg dosages (50% EGCG).  Now Costco in my neighbourhood only carries the “FAT BURNER” version, which includes other herbal extracts that contain high levels of natural caffeine.  Either way, I am after the EGCG so, it doesn’t matter what the bottle label is marketing the green tea to.  300mg of green tea extract at 50% EGCG is plenty to protect from general oxidative and free radical damage.  I take 1200mg daily.

Next, I require myself a very good synergistic blend of all the most powerful antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and plant extracts that come in an easy to take formula.  I recently finished a bottle of new antioxidant blend formula that I haven’t tried before aptly named “Enhanced LIFE PRESERVER, Serious Antioxidant Protection,” made by Vibrant Health and purchased at the Berkeley Bowl grocery store.  I’ve stuck to my Super Antioxidant blend from Whole Foods (forgot the brand will fill in tomorrow) for more than a half dozen rounds and it was time to change up the formula.  The Enhanced LIFE PRESERVER ingredients list is here: http://www.vibranthealth.us/lp.html  and the nutrients that got me to favor this formula include: Tocotrienols, multiple versions (water and fat soluble) of Vitamin C, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, a nice, basic nutritional co-factor profile and good plant extracts repertoire.

Prior to this awesome Vibrant Health formula I might have gone with something like this: http://www.vitacost.com/Natures-Answer-Antioxidant-Supreme

Or choose one that has low beta carotenes and vitamin A (vitamin A causes complications for me) and instead relies on more phyto chemicals and plant extracts for a wide spectrum and synergistic antioxidant blend.

Next is Omega, the biggie for me.  If finance and diet permits, I would be downing Omega 3 (EPA and DHA) all day long.  One of the most expensive omega 3 fish oil supplements in the retail market are those by Nordic Naturals, which carries a spectrum of highly concentrated, natural triglyceride form of EPA and DHA (the best kinds of Omega 3 fatty acids you should be taking in abundance!).  I was willing to splurge on this one (especially their best formula, “Ultimate Omega”) even in financial limitation not just because the saleslady at the stand in WholeFoods Palo Alto was superbly friendly but was also patient, working through all of my “amateur’s questions” and the saveur’s qualms.  I ended up buying a liquid form and a gel capsule form, comparing all the dosages, concentrations and composition of Nordic Natural’s vast spectrum of Omega 3 products.  You can see it all here: http://nordicnaturals.com  Since discovering this company in 2005 I have been convinced that they carry some of the highest quality omega 3 fatty acids for dietary supplmentation around commercially.  They were the first to claim molecular distillation, pharmaceutical grade, and the first to add natural lemon and natural Vitamin E to their omega 3 formulas.

Skin Geek | Active Ingredients as Supplements + Foods, Beauty Food, Anti-Aging | Comments (1)

Non-Surgical Cosmetic Treatments

April 28, 2009 – 9:14 pm

Re: Non-Surgical Cosmetic Treatments

Dr. Taylor of http://www.InnerRewards.com has posted a beginner’s article on Non-Surgical Cosmetic Treatments and I have posted a response to her to solicit more professional guidance for my non-surgical cosmetic treatments concerns.

For the past five years I’ve been seeing online literature for a non-injection mesotherapy, which uses magnetic waves to push ingredients like DMAE and vitamin C into deeper dermal layers. Regular mesotherapy is used in cosmetic surgeries and very proliferate in Asia and Europe where they inject chemicals into fat pockets (such as eye bags and neck folds) to dissolve the fat and restructure faces for a more youthful contour.

Non-injection mesotheraphy on the other hand, seems to be more about using DMAE or nutrient-based fat-emulsifiers and do not require any needles or injections.

I cannot find much US websites or clinics offering this service, but I have had something similar done in Vancouver, Canada.

What are your views and analysis of non-injection mesotherapy? Please advise thank you I appreciate your expertise!

 http://www.innerrewards.com/topics/medi-spas/articles/ir-non-surgical-cosmetic-treatments-472

Follow this link and stay tuned to hear what the doctor has to say for this!

Skin Geek | Beauty Inventions, Eye Care Eye Beauty, Contouring Lifting Shaping Sculpting, Anti-Aging | Comments (0)

Rashes and Bites: Need an Instant Skin Perfecting Body Lotion

April 26, 2009 – 9:59 pm

My arms have been the recent victim of allergy attacks, bug bites, and dermatitis rashes.  Despite exercising mental restraint and disciplin I STILL keep scratching the itches and end up with bloody patches all over my arms. 

How inopportune that work just switched to Spring uniforms, requiring me to bare my not-so-toned, bruised, and all-scratched-up arms.  It’s not until my fellow coworker with their 20 year old beautiful arms waving in my face, and another male coworker commenting that my arms aren’t looking too pampered, that a lightbulb went on and I realized how out of shape and scratched up my arms look.

In a panic, I rushed to the restroom to apply some moisturizer… ANY moisturizer.  Anything that will make my skin look even a tad smoother.

That’s when I realized I am in need of a VERY GOOD, very healing, non-greasy, and instantly toning body lotion for my limbs.

I need a recommendation.  Please respond to this post with your suggestions!  Thank you!

Skin Geek | Inflammation, Dry Skin | Comments (1)

Guilt-Free Sugar Binges?

April 14, 2009 – 6:22 pm
Sugar is bad.  It must be accompanied by loads of anti-oxidants, anti-glycators, and anti-inflammatories or it will accelerate aging as well as trigger onset of a host of other diseases, including diabetes, obesity, cavities, heart diseases, and inflammation related degeneration. 

According to “The Wrinkle Cure” author Dr. Nicholas V. Perricone, we must banish sugar, rice, honey, breads, pastries and pastas from our collective food-awareness.  These practically “evil” substances scoring high on the glycemic index are labeled to be facilitators of pathological aging and a host of age-related symptoms, signs, and diseases.  Under-optimized sugar metabolism in the body, aka glycation, is theoretically, one of the direct contributors to every physical sign of aging, including stiffening arteries, wear and tear of membranes, malignant fat build up, unbalanced cholesterol profile, hardening of protein and collagen structures, and other horrors relating to senescence.

Paying homage to commercial anti-aging wars I developed a severe antioxidant and dietary supplement dependency, fickle and pestilent fetishes for various health foods, and a love-hate sentiment for sugars and starches.  At the closest to socially-acceptable level out of all my food-oddities, I eat like a grizzly bear: volumes of nuts, salmon (trout, too),  and berries.  I will crave and snack on honey when I can’t resist.

Despite disciplined resistance to sweets and carbs, my sweet tooth and starch-cravings recently surfaced and threaten to destroy my decades of low-carb efforts.  All the beautiful pastries, sugar-crafted desserts, noodles, rice, pizzas, flatbreads, fried potatoes, and other assortments of doughy, starchy goodness that I had rejected throughout the years seem to be plotting anarchy and an invasion against my “healthy low carb” dietary profile.

The waves of desire to never stop eating frozen yogurts, flans, cheese cakes, tarts, and fresh baked cookies are driving me insane.

I am spinning all sorts of self-justifications in my mind, and over-compensating vitamin and anti-inflammatory nutrient intake.

How do I come up with a solution to this problem?  How do I satisfy these cravings but still feel wholesome, healthy, and energized, without the detrimental guilt that follow for days?

A couple of days ago I jotted down the following out of a random spur of inspiration.

“Got the Munchies?  Craving Sweets?

No Need to Feel Guilty and Stop Worrying:
Start Indulging in All-Natural, Vitamin-Packed Gummy Bears that Beautify your Skin and Body While Releasing a Burst of Delicious Flavors to your Tastebuds!

  • 5 Delicious, award-winning flavors: lychee, pomegranate, blueberry, goji berries, and Tokyo kelp that use only organic, premium pulps and juices
  • Bursting with the most advanced blends of active vitamins, antioxidants, nutrients, polyphenols, and other anti-aging warriors that keep the doctors away!
  • Natural sweeteners and coloring infused with fiber, polyphenols, and antioxidants, along with nature’s most aggressive microbe controllers keep the formulas fresh and effective, so that you don’t have to worry about refrigeration and shelf life.
  • 6 secret, potent formulas:  beautifying, anti-aging, slimming, detox, energizing, and calming, perfectly blended and balanced so that you don’t have to worry about taking “too much” of a certain vitamin.

Munch on these customized nutritional delights according to your needs and cravings… before you hit a decadent party, when stressed out about a meeting; when you’re on the run, tinkering in the office, before and after working out… or at the movies!

You can improve your eating habits the easy way, anywhere you are and whatever you’re doing!
These Vitamin Gummy Bears are also crafted so that you can:

  • Spread out your vitamin intake throughout the day: better absorption and optimized release, providing antioxidant protection all day
  • Eliminate bottles of unappetizing vitamin pills cramming up your medicine cabinet and never get finished before they expire
  • Have your kids and pets happily eating out of your hands without feeling they’re ingesting junk food!

I wrote this while munching on Omega-3 Gummy Bears by Lil’ Critters (found at Costco Wholesale and my number 1 munchie food), flavored perfectly with strawberry lemonade, cherry limonade and lemonade.  A week later I found Bissinger’s Gummy Pandas at Berkeley Bowl Produce (a current favorite grocery store), boasting fancier flavors and more advanced antioxidant and phyto extracts such as Green Tea,White Tea, Acai, Guava, Goji, Camu Camu, Blueberries, Pink Grapefruit, and Grapeseed.

http://bissingers.com/category/101.html?PHPSESSID=1d5b5df16e9e19fde487774695040770

In order to satisfy a craving, however, the Bissinger’s Gummy Pandas, while featuring better ingredients, more synergistic formulas, and exotic fragrances and flavors, did not “hit the spot” as the Lil’ Critters Omega - 3 Gummy Bears.  I’m guessing it’s because Omega 3 are fats, and most food cravings have some form of fat craving hidden in there, which the Omega-3 satisfies.

If I came out with a vitamin gummy like the one I wrote an imaginary “sales piece” for above, would you want some for yourself?

Skin Geek | Active Ingredients as Supplements + Foods, Inflammation, Beauty Food, Anti-Aging | Comments (0)

Big Appetite for Beautiful Skin

April 14, 2009 – 9:55 am

If you love food, love eating, and find it hard to stop snacking, you can take advantage of my own “Snack Menu” that focuses on high quality fats, proteins, antioxidant, enzymes, fiber, and polyphenol profile:

HORS D’OEUVRES

Flatbreads
Savory Nut and Seeds Crisps
Arberquina olive oil (Extra Virgin)
Pesto (Basil)
Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
Roe: Tobiko, Ikura, Uni
Seafood: Ankimo, all shellfish, smelts, sardines, all Pacific North seafood
Assorted seaweed salads
Any of the following salads: ceasar (with romaine), frisee, baby spinach, arugula, microgreens, mesculin, fennel, beets
Any tofu dishes
Cheeses
Wok fried Chinese greens

FOR YOUR FINGERS

Goji Berries (dried, organic, from 99 Ranch Market)
Cocoa Nibs
Marcona almonds (Mitica, or Trader Joe’s in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and rosemary)
Mauna Loa honey roasted macadamias
Everyone’s Pistachios (Salt & Pepper)
Walnuts
Black Walnuts
Almonds, Almond crumbles, Almond snaps
Kirkland raw pinenuts
Sesame Snaps, Roxy’s sesame snaps

Lil Critter Gummy Bear Omega 3
Gummy Bear Fruits and Veggies
Bissinger’s Gummy Pandas http://bissingers.com/category/101.html?PHPSESSID=1d5b5df16e9e19fde487774695040770

Veggie chips
Green bean chips
maiitake mushroom chips (Whole Foods)
Trader Joe’s root vegetables chips

FOR YOUR SPOON
Oatmeal (old fashioned)
Organic Greek honey yogurt
St. Benoit’s honey yogurt
Red Mango frozen yogurt
Fraiche frozen yogurt
Congee (with a 1:4 grain-to-liquids ratio)
Soups: Lobster Bisque, Mirin Ginger Clam Broths, Cantonese “Bo-Tong”s

To Sip

Soy milk
Ginger Tea
Almond Milk
Hot Black Sesame
Green Tea
White Tea
Black Tea

Skin Geek | Beauty Inventions, Active Ingredients as Supplements + Foods, Fat Loss & Weight, Beauty Food, Anti-Aging | Comments (0)

Nuts for Nuts - Indulging In Super Healthy Fats

April 12, 2009 – 9:57 pm

When the low carb, low glycemic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant diet trend hit the market like a storm in the early 2000s, I finally found a justification to indulge in my almost “natural born” fiend for nuts and fatty foods. 

Ever since then I’ve adopted a predominantly low-carb yet high calorie diet, of which snacking non-stop on nuts and seeds became one of my major, AND my favorite, dietary habits.

I am most often seen enjoying every “crunch” of the following (I am seriously addicted to nuts!):

  • Mauna Luna’s Honey Roasted Macadamias
  • Mitica’s Marcona Almonds from Spain (or Safeway Select, marcona almonds with seasalt and rosemary.  Trader Joe’s Marcona Almonds are also okay, JUST DO NOT buy Marcona Almonds from Costco!)
  • raw pinenuts by Costco/ Kirkland (amazing! no other pinenut retailer has higher quality pinenuts in my long and varied purchase history for pinenuts)
  • most Chinese-style walnuts and pecans (usually very crunchy and only slightly sweetened)
  • black and white sesame (all sorts of sesame crisps and sesame snaps)

All nuts are not created equal, however.  There are ones that I am absolutely addicted to and can’t go a week without; whereas other nuts I would not touch even if I am starving.  There is also a discretion for different types of seeds and nuts with dieticians, doctors, nutritionists and whoever else has a say in what’s healthy and what’s not.  I don’t know whether or not the nut I’m addicted to are ALL healthy, I just know that I am not particularly hot for peanuts, which is probably the most inflammatory and least healthy out of all nuts.  Then again this is not to say that peanuts are not healthy.  Peanut butter is coming into the limelight with its own antioxidant studies; so don’t feel too bad if you sneak spoonsful of peanut butter at night!

In case you don’t know this already, walnut is the current king of all healthy nuts, boasting to have the highest concentrations of quality omega-3 essential fatty acids.  Lesser known is the variety of walnuts available on the market that provide different levels of not just omega-3 EFAs but also different polyphenol profile that may benefit different body types.

For women, black walnuts contain high levels of femme-friendly phyto-hormones on top of its excellent Omega-3 EFA profile, and for centuries Chinese royalty have used black walnuts in feminine-health related prescriptions.   Women who take black walnuts in rhythm with their menstrual cycles have reflected to feel healthier, sexier, and experience prolongment of their reproductive age.   

Black walnuts are smaller, denser, sweeter, less bitter, and crunchier than regular walnuts, and that’s great news for those who know they should eat more walnuts but are turned off by the softness and bitterness of raw walnuts.

Skin Geek | Active Ingredients as Supplements + Foods, Fat Loss & Weight, Beauty Food | Comments (0)

Foods That Make Your Skin Glow - For Beginners

April 10, 2009 – 1:55 pm

Here is a quick read that’s great for beginners into the beauty-food-game.

http://realage.typepad.com/food_bites/2008/04/foods-that-make.html

Great reminders for the veteran as well and fun to read!

Skin Geek | Beauty Food, Anti-Aging | Comments (0)
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