Like many girls, my skin can get dried out and throughout my life I have used lotions, creams, and oils to try and make my skin supple, smooth and soft. Last year, I picked up Natalia Rose’s book, Raw Food LIfe Force Energy: Enter a Totally New Stratosphere of Weight Loss, Beauty, and Health, which I highly recommend for people wanting to lose weight and detox. The book includes some raw, cooked, and fish-based recipes, for those who are not prepared to be 100% raw vegan, but want to include more fruits and vegetables in their diet. Ms. Rose also describes natural techniques to keep your body looking and feeling great.
DRY BRUSHING
Ms. Rose recommends dry brushing your entire body before showering in the morning. This will wake you up, remove dead skin cells, and help your body tone and remove cellulite. It does this by stimulating the lymphatic system and helping it to remove lactic acid and other wastes that can contribute to cellulite. It also increases oxygen in the body which helps to wake the body up.
At my Longs Drugstore, I was able to purchase a body bath brush with a long wood handle for only $4.99. I followed Ms. Rose’s technique and began first by brushing the tops of my feet, then up my calves, and then up my thighs. If there is any fat you don’t like on your legs, take a moment and brush those areas in circles to tighten and firm those areas.
Move to your backside and brush the buttocks upward. Again, if there’s any fat you don’t like, take a moment to brush those areas in circles.
Then go to your hands and start brushing up your arms. Make certain to brush the armpit area thoroughly as this is the major lymphatic drainage region. Then down your chest, down your breasts and slowly around the abdomen (circling the abdomen too fast can upset the digestive tract).
Finally, brush your back in downwards strokes. The whole process should take between 3 and 5 minutes.
Your body should feel alive and energized, and each day you brush, you will see your skin tighten and get softer and smoother.
Within a week of dry brushing, I had no need for body lotions and my dry skin problem was gone. My husband could not believe how soft my skin became so fast and started dry brushing his skin, too. He was amazed at how awake he felt each time he dry brushed his skin in the morning, and you will, too!
ALSO, RAW ORGANIC COCONUT OIL MAKES A GREAT SKIN MOISTURIZER AND CAN HEAL SCAR TISSUE IF USED DAILY!
February 25, 2008 at 8:09 pm |
I used to work at Leaf cuisine which is a Raw food restaurant here in Los Angeles. While I never went fully raw or even vegetarian…I remember how much I loved agave and raw coconut and goji berry “soda” and how good I would feel eating even just one raw meal a day. I need to start going back there and also stocking my kitchen with some of the products that I love…like agave. I actually prefer it to sugar.
I am so heading to cvs and buying a body brush tomorrow. Thanks for the wonderful tips.
February 25, 2008 at 8:10 pm |
just got myself a brush to give this a go (my skin is horrifically obnoxious during the winter…i like to say that it looks like the ground of sarajevo:) but i was wondering how important it is to do this just prior to showering?
essentially, i don’t usually shower first thing in the morning, but sometime later in the day, depending on my schedule so what would you recommend for body brushing?
February 25, 2008 at 8:23 pm |
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