How your food and eating habits are tied to your beauty habits

and why it’s time to rethink everything you buy

I think, in today’s world, it’s unbelievable how much research we have to put into keeping ourselves healthy.

A quick search for “How do you know if a product is healthy” brings up hundreds of millions of search results. You’ll find article after article with titles like “How To Read Food and Beverage Labels” or “Healthy or Hype - Navigating the Most Misleading Food Labels.”

It’s no wonder one of the most common stories I hear from people transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle is:

“I don’t know where to begin!”

Food is misleading enough. But once you start recognizing the difference between healthy and unhealthy, you’ll realize it runs deeper than food.

That’s where I found myself years ago. And it led me to some interesting discoveries.

Have you lost touch with the concept of beauty in midlife?

Is your connection between aging and beauty holding you back from proaging?

I Googled the word “beauty” just to see what it said. It didn’t surprise me.

We’ve tied age to beauty, but is it something you can only have in your youth? That’s what’s led us to a multi-billion dollar anti-aging industry that is not doing anyone any good.

As you focus on well-being and healthy aging, it’s easy to get confused …

We all start somewhere. For me, it started with healthy eating. When my dad died of a massive heart attack at 54, it led me down a path to conscious eating. But what I didn’t expect was to become thoroughly confused.

One step quickly leads to another. You start by eliminating something from your diet. For me, it was red meat. Then, you read a little more, discover something else, and make another change in your life.

Yet even with years of changing, it’s still easy to get overwhelmed.

For me personally, it started with an a-ha moment. I’d transitioned to vegetarian, eliminating all meat products from my diet. I’d incorporated organic living, removing chemicals from my food supply, and started enjoying cooking at home more than going out.

​​I became very conscious of what I put into my body.

Then, I read an article that changed my thinking. Maybe you eat organic fruits and vegetables to eliminate the chemicals that can harm your internal systems, it said. But what if those same chemicals you avoid internally were instead placed in something you slather on your skin every day?

Skin is the largest organ in your body. What you put on your skin slowly moves inside and impacts your health. It sounds logical now, but to really understand it, you have to start thinking wisely about what that means.

It’s not just moisturizers and lotions. It’s everything.

Sunscreen. Hand sanitizer. Soaps. Cleaners. Fingernail polish. Perfume. Deodorant. Foundation. Eyeliner. Lipstick. Laundry detergent. Paint. Building materials. That new car smell.

Surely, the companies that create all of this have thought about this … right?

Think again.

Right now, we’re at a point where 84,000 chemicals have been introduced into the environment since the Industrial Revolution.

Less than 1 percent of these chemicals have been tested for safety.

(Some revolution, right?)

That means these chemicals live in our environments, exist in the air we breathe, are nestled into every aspect of our food supply, are in everything we use in our daily lives, and we have NO IDEA what it’s doing to our health.

Maybe that’s why there’s an increase in inflammation, gut disruptions, hormonal imbalances, chronic disease …

Help! I’m more confused than ever …

When we’re overwhelmed with information, we fall back on what we know.

Yet there’s this tiny voice in the back of your mind that’s going:

• Is this what you really want?

• Don’t you know this is bad?

• Don’t you want to find an alternative?

And then the overwhelm starts up again.

Where do you start with this newfound knowledge?

The four things we’ll cover in the rest of this article are:

1. Moving out of the overwhelm

2. Creating your definition of “beauty”

3. How to break free and resist the marketing they throw at you

4. Choosing wellth defined by your guidelines (and ignoring the little voices and nay-sayers that are screaming throughout our society)

Moving out of the overwhelm

All you have to do is head to your local big box store to realize there are 10,578,396,395,683,202 items vying for your attention. Listen to the radio while driving to the big box store, and you’ll be presented with dozens of other ideas. Spend ten minutes on your favorite social media site - a gazillion more ideas are there for your choosing.

The point is that we live in an information overload, and that’s not going to change. Thanks to media, it’s more pinpointed than ever, with the deepest pockets moving their messages deeper and deeper.

It’s hard to overcome that.

Let’s talk about your beauty routine.

As women in our forties, fifties, and sixties, we’ve built skincare regimens up over years. We have products on our shelves; we use a variety of cosmetics, lotions, and potions to keep us looking our best. We love this stuff! Some of it we’ve been using forever; it’s a part of who we are.

Studies show that women average anywhere from 12 to 16 skincare products a day, each containing 200 or more chemicals distributed to different parts of the body.

Think one chemical is bad? How about 200 or more?

What’s worse, now think about each of those 12 to 16 products a day containing 200 or more different chemicals. (The math adds up to 3,200+ just from these products alone, in case you were curious.) These chemicals all move into your body, combine, and can further break down your health.

With cancers, infertility, allergies, neurological disease, and more on the rise, it doesn’t take much investigation to piece together that this is a potential problem.

Is now the time to be worried?

In short, yes.

One of the biggest problems stems from allowing these chemicals to be used without proper regulation. Other countries often take the “prove it’s safe before it’s allowed on the market” approach. The US takes the opposite stand and chooses to “allow products on the market until an ingredient is proven unsafe”.

Still look at your “good buy” the same way?

And remember, over 84,000 chemicals have been introduced into the environment since the Industrial Revolution. This isn’t a problem we’re going to wish away, or wait for companies to self-regulate. It’s a “buyer-beware issue, learn all you can, and make your own choices” situation.

Creating your definition of “beauty”

Feeling helpless? Want to just push it all aside?

I hear ya. And I get it. With such busy days, do you really want to get a degree in chemistry and spend hours analyzing your daily lifestyle to clean the toxins out of your life?

I’ve been there.

When my dad died in 1994 of heart disease at the age of fifty-four, I went on a quest for better heart health. I’ve spent oodles of time studying our medical and food systems, and how they relate to better health.

I discovered food and heart health are integrally related. It’s caused me to move to a strictly plant-based diet.

Yet the more I moved into healthy eating, the more I couldn’t help but continue asking questions: If the food I eat matters, what about the products I take in through my skin, or breathe in as I clean?

This is where YOU are today.

This is where YOU start today.

You only have to search to discover there isn’t a definitive answer for how people define beauty. Ask 100 people what beauty means, and you’ll likely get 100 answers. Because it can be:

• The quality of a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or mind.

• An attractive quality that gives pleasure to those who experience it or think about it.

• Qualities that give pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction to the senses.

• Grace and charm.

And I like those definitions.

But I also think beauty starts in the mind of the beholder.

The more you learn, the more confident you become about your choices. The more you care about what’s in your life, the less likely you’ll accept noise from those around you. That confidence allows you to use your critical thinking skills more, and make wiser choices … for everything around you.

You discover your inner beauty. It turns the world into a more beautiful place.

Don’t believe me? Give it a try for a bit.

How to break free and resist the marketing they throw at you

Wanting to change is a good thing. Making it stick is something else.

It starts by figuring out what your motivators are for real change.

Step 1 is to ask yourself: What would I do if I found out this product was terrible for me, or impacting my health in a big way?

You can’t find solutions if you don’t find the right questions. It’s the only way you’re going to change your daily habits. You can’t do that all at once. So start small.

I’ll give you an example. Many years ago, I started having a problem with canker sores. One would pop up, then another. I was at the point where I had four or five in my mouth at any given time.

So, I started asking questions. I did searches. And I found several resources that pointed to toothpaste as the culprit. A little ingredient called sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is the sudsing ingredient in toothpaste. It’s often derived from petroleum, and has a variety of human and environmental toxicity.

I looked for SLS-free toothpaste, and instantly had better results. I haven’t had a canker sore in years!

🪥Want to know what I use? It’s a great product called revitin. I’ve been happy with it for years!

Now, no matter how much the major toothpaste brands advertise their products, I know the real truth and how it impacts my health. I will never return to standard products because I know what they do to my health.

That’s where you start. Ask a question. Replace one thing. Pay attention to one ingredient. Switch out one product you use.

Work with that for a while. Discover how you feel.

And then move on to the next item in your life.

Remember, companies start, operate, and grow in different ways. The bigger they get, the more their core values change. Just because you love a product today doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way forever.

If a founder is bought out, or chooses to sell their line to a large conglomerate, you can better believe the formulas will change.

Choosing wellth defined by your guidelines (and ignore the little voices and nay-sayers that are screaming throughout our society)

Society is filled with “normal.” At some point, you will be confronted with people who question your decisions.

Have you heard of the “crab mentality”? When you’re out gathering crabs, you don’t need a box with a lid on top to hold them in; any bucket will do. One crab could easily climb over the others, up and out of the bucket. But instead of helping one out, the crabs at the bottom pull the others back. Stick together. Stay the same. It’s about doing what’s expected, not trying to break loose from the crowd.

People today are louder than ever. We’re a cancel culture filled with “I’m right, and you’re wrong.” You might have even experienced this already yourself.

It can be overwhelming to have the people around you wonder what you’re doing. Why are you questioning what you’ve always accepted before?

It can be absolutely terrifying telling someone you love that you no longer use certain products, or have changed specific beliefs.

Ever since my dad died almost thirty years ago, I’ve been on a quest for better health and wellness. It’s been an ebb and flow, getting to the root of mind, body, and spiritual well-being. Foundational wellth.

The biggest enemy of achieving foundational wellth is the so-called “monkey mind.” It’s the state of letting all of the outside chatter affect your inner being. The more control you have over it internally, the more well-adjusted you are as things around you flow.

What does it take to create that inner well-being? It changes depending on who you are and your approach to the world. But I’ve found what works is:

Connect with nature

I get out in nature every single day to connect with my inner self. Grounding with Earth’s energies is what helps bring peace to every moment of the day.

Nourish your body

Bodies need energy. As a society, we’ve found a way to make ultra-processed food and empty calories the mainstay to “fill” up and “keep” a body running … for a while. It’s not working. Nourishing your body with high-quality, wholesome plant-based foods takes it to a different level. The aches and pains diminish. You get clearer in your day-to-day living. It’s truly the starting point of foundational wellth.

International quiet

Solitude is a fantastic thing when you’re at peace with yourself. It starts with meditation in order to get in tune with your body and quiet your mind.

Journaling

Journaling helps with gaining clarity on what’s happening in your life. It allows you to work through every issue you have in a safe space, helping you get clear on your motivations and intentions.

Remember, this isn’t an easy process, nor is it one that doesn’t change from day to day. It’s consistently asking questions like:

• What is it time to say goodbye to?

• What is it I really want?

• What do I want to bring into my world?

• What’s my most important goal?

Only then will you discover what’s truly beautiful in your own life.