I have always loved chiles: chimyo, chipotle, jalepeno, red habanero, poblano, tabasco, cayenne - I'm addicted

I have ristras of chiles in my kitchen, and I've perfected mole (finally.)

Chiles are rich in capsaicinoids, which has anti-inflammatory properties. They are great for the immune system for kickers!

One of my latest and greatest finds is Teuscher chocolate with chile. It's absolutely delicious.

I eat many different homemade soups and stews, with lots of veggies, often different fish and shellfish, tomatoes, garlic, and fresh herbs. I often make bean soups as well. I serve this with a good whole grain bread and olive oil.

I can't live without dessert, so I try to use fresh fruits as a base. I'm known for my fresh berry tarts and I also like serving cheese for dessert. I guess the desserts are not exactly "beauty foods", but they make me happy.

If you drink milk only drink raw milk. Look up xanthine oxidase, it's an enzyme that can get into your bloodstream and damage your arteries and heart if cow's milk is homogenized.

Reduce your consumption of sugar, and reduce or avoid grains. Avoid starchy foods, and high glycemic index foods. Avoid hydrogenated oils, aspartame and MSG. Avoid caffiene and other stimulants. Look up the paleo diet, that's a really good diet, although you can add raw milk to it if you wanted.

I only eat non-starchy vegetables, chicken, some fruits, mostly kiwi, and raw milk. I don't eat any proccessed foods. I avoid grains and legumes. Eggs are very healthy and the best protein of any food if you aren't allergic to them. Which unfortunately I can't eat eggs.

Most people wont be as picky as me, but just do the best you can and the best your willing to do, it'll still help.

The two big things I avoid in foods are high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated (and partially hydrogenated) oils. Other than that, I also try to avoid foods with a long list of chemicals, unecessary colors, etc. Since I don't eat HFCS or P/HO, I also don't drink soda, most of the breads on the supermarket shelf, sugary "juice" drinks, candies, etc. I would rather have something with real fats and real sugar (or corn syrup even) than the hydrogenated or high fructose stuff. Sometimes I do use a sparing bit of real sugar, maple syrup, jam or honey. And I don't use artificial sweeteners. I use Stevia for the majority of my sweeter use.

I try to eat similar to a Mediterranean diet. I like whole grain breads, pasta (doesn't have to be whole grain since I eat it with things that slow overall glycemic response), whole grain cereals (I even eat Kix, Cheerios), original Triscuits, home-made pizza, nuts, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, peanut & sesame, etc., all fruits, veggies, cheese, yogurt (the plain kind to which I add fruit and Stevia), fish (not everyday because of mercury), beans, tea, coffee, dark chocolate, some alcohol, organic milk. I don't have red meat too often, and when I have meat, I don't make it a huge piece.

I treat myself to something pretty much daily. Tonight I will have a beef hotdog because we are having friends over for a weiner roast. And I have to have a s'mores too, while sitting around the fire! Yesterday I had chocolate ice cream (a kind with natural ingredients, not a bunch of fake stuff).

I drink plenty of water. I also take a multivitamin, extra E, C, and Selenium, and a slew of antioxidants/supplements. Getting some exercise and reducing stress helps skin too, of course. So that along w/the good skin care is making a difference in my skin. I also notice a change in how I feel.

HTH.

I've been following nutrition news pretty much my whole life and the diet I eat now is a lot like what Dr. Pickart describes in his book. It's also a lot like that recommended by Christiane Northrup in her books, and a lot like the Mediterranean diet everyone is so excited about these days.

But I think bottom line, if you were going to make only one improvement in your diet, the most important choice you could make would be to stay away from highly processed foods, fast foods, and the like, and try to eat foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Raw fruits and vegetables have the highest ratio of nutrition to calories of anything you can pick. Highly processed foods have a bunch of preservatives and other additives that our bodies really didn't evolve to cope with, as well as tons of sugar and other "empty calories." And food in its natural state has most of its vitamins and other nutrients still intact.

Then again, I might just be saying this because I don't like to cook. A handful of almonds and an apple don't require much prep time. :-)

Personally, I also stay as "organic" as possible. In the past five years or so I've read abstracts of some studies that have made me nervous. Cumulative blood levels of pesticides, chemicals from plastics, and a slew of other scary stuff are at record highs in the bloodstreams of US residents (and probably in many other parts of the world as well). I doubt it's completely coincidental that rates of cancer and other chronic degenerative and autoimmune conditions are also skyrocketing.

There's also some evidence (pretty good evidence, but quickly silenced, seems to me) that our bodies tend to store and conserve fatty tissue as a way to keep those scary chemicals out of our bloodstreams. (Most of those scary chemicals are fat soluble, not water soluble, and too big to be eliminated by the kidneys when attached to a carrier protein. The liver is really not designed for efficient elimination; the only way it can dump toxins is via the bile, and most of our bile gets reabsorbed in the intestine. Our bodies just did not evolve in an environment in which water-insoluble toxins were an issue. And I take medications, which only increase the load on my liver.) I personally wonder if this might be one of the dynamics of the "epidemic of obesity" we keep hearing about. But I doubt we'll hear much about it in the mainstream news, since there's so much more money to be made selling people useless weight-loss products than there is to be made persuading them to eat unprocessed organic foods.

Also--bottled water? Not exactly the elixir of life. It turns out that water stored in plastic tends to leach out additives in that plastic(water's a great solvent) and that those handy-dandy bottles of water, if they sit around too long between the bottler and the consumer, can be full of xenoestrogens. Which are about as good for you as they sound.

Okay, I seem to be having an alarmist moment. Sorry if I'm freaking people out. (Trust me, I'm more alarmed than you are, because I happen to know I'm not really an alarmist at all. This is stuff that I've become persuaded of based on some provocative scientific evidence and my own knowledge of biology and chemistry. Just don't get me talking about nano!) But the thread says "health and beauty," and it seems to me that the two definitely do go hand in hand. In which case what's bad for health is probably bad for beauty too. And I'm as vain as anyone on these boards, I imagine, if not more so.

So--my buck-twenty-five cents. (Adjusted for inflation. :-)

--Viv

Hi, anyone drink or make kefir??? I have been reading a lot about it lately and wondered if it is really a cure all w/ skin???? I am interested in making some of my own if anyone has tips on where to buy the grains in the USA????

I made my own keifer for about a year, but got tired of the dealing with the ongoing process of keeping the grains culturing. It really is a responsibility of sorts to keep the grains alive, especially if you're going on vacation, etc. I really didn't notice any difference in my skin or general well-being, but some things are only noticable long term, of course. I found a site that listed people all over the world willing to share their grains and I found someone nearby who shared her grains with me. I'm sorry I don't have that site anymore, but below is a link to a Yahoo group that can help you find grains. Generally, people will give you the grains for free. Also, Dom's website (below) will give you more information than you will ever want to know on keifer. HTH

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Kefir_making/

http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html

I never care of the foods for my health, but now i want take bother and much concern about my health,
this thread will help me in to find natural food for the health and skin.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Skin Biology,

Hey this is really good discussion here.This is really useful for me.I got some new and interesting things after reading it.Thanks for sharing wonderful tips.

The was a study in Spain about 25 years ago that found periodic fasting markedly improved health of older persons.

I eat some fruit and vegetable and a glass of milk every day to keep healthy.

Sounds like Zuzu and I share a similar diet.

I dislike the taste of prepackaged foods, SO salty! It helps my family are commercial fishermen in Alaska, so I have fresh sea foods.

I don't have much of a sweet tooth though.

It's best to have a balanced diet, so at every meal I have one of each :

carbo
-----
- wholemeal and wholegrain bread
- wholemeal rice (brown rice)
- wholemeal oats
- wholemeal pasta


greens
-------
- one or more leafy vege (bok choy, spinach, choy sum)
- one or more non leafy vege (e.g. tomato, cucumber)

protein
-------
-legumes
-seeds
-tofu
-tempeh
-soy textured protien (STP)

others
------
-sweet potato
-pumpkin

fruits
------
always complement your meals with a fruit or two
vary your fruit on a daily basis


Supplements
------------
You can't get all and every vitamin from your diet
- COQ10
- ALA
- superfood
- Udo's Oil (Omega 3-6-9)
- 1000mg Vitamin C
- 1000mg MSM


Good practices
---------------
go for raw, steam, and lastly sauteed food (deep-fried and microwave food are bad)
add the alium family to your food on a daily basis - ginger, garlic, and onion (I hate ginger but I force myself to consume em')
green tea (no milk, no sugar)
cocoa (that's hot chocolate minus the nasties like sugar)
aloe vera
dried stuffs like prunes
nuts (all types e.g. almond, cashew, pistachio)
curry/chilli
herbs
portion control - always eat the same amount regardless if the food is delectable or bland (so you don't grow fat or obese)
stay positive and be happy (read that as applying mind control)
excercise
multi-grain and wholemeal snacks
sex
drink lots of water and make sure you take a leak a couple of times a day as the liquid would flush toxins from your body

Avoid or abstain
----------------
sugar - bad for you; get your sugar from fruits
don't smoke
don't drink - a little red wine is OK
say no to fizzy drinks like Coke and Pepsi
say no to fast food like McDonalds
say no to cookies, doughnuts, ice-creams (I know it's hard but if you wanna stay young and healty you gotta sacrifice
say no to preservatives, artifical coloring, and artifical flavorings
obesity/fat/plump - stay slim; folks who shed fat i.e. on yo-yo diet put a damper on their bodies
high GI food - eat these type of food sparingly e.g. potato, mango



That's my list

Oh for the record I have't taken any sick leave days for over 12 years!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wanglabs,

I eat fresh fruits and main soya diet. I diet is very beneficial for our health and I think green vegetables is so healthy diet for your body also.

Prunes/prune juice.

Don't laugh. I had major issues with constipation after having surgery in December. My doctor recommended this and it keeps my system "clean".

I eat food that is rich in Vitamin E - has anti-oxidant that keeps skin youthful.

I only eat organic foods and as much as I can full of veggies. Also, foods rich in collagen are also good for the skin such as carrots and sweet potatoes. Tuna and mackerel are also good to protect the fatty layer in the skin cells.

I spent almost a month at the ayahuasca resort and I mostly ate fruits. Can't say it did any good to my skin.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Skin Biology,