154: Secret to Radiant Skin and a Healthier Body: From Detoxification to Skincare Regimens | Solo Episode

Modern living is so hard on our bodies, we get exposed to so many things on a daily basis, whether it's pollution in the air or our tap water that has pharmaceutical drugs and pesticides and fluoride, chlorine, heavy metals, there's pesticides in our food, there's BPA also in our food in the plastic containers that's holding our food. I mean, the list goes on, right? And I don't say this to scare you because I mean, there's only so much that we can do, but one of the things that I think is really important that we do is we protect our liver. We take things that not only protect our liver, but also support the detoxification pathways of the liver. One of the ways that I do this is I take liver reset from organify. It has tripfala in there, it also has dandelion extract and milk fissile and artichoke. These are all things that are known to protect the liver and we want to make sure that we're protecting and taking care of our liver because all of these toxins are being filtered out through our liver. And this also helps with the removal of excess toxins and helps to support the detoxification pathways of the liver. So I'm a huge fan of all organify products. Everything is organic, also glyphosate residue for you, which we know is huge. If you guys want to save on liver reset or any of the products that they have on the organify website, make sure that you go to organify.com slash real foodology and you are going to save 20%. I'm always seeking ways to improve my fitness, boost my metabolism and get that perfect glowing skin. I mean, aren't we all right? Well, I've stumbled upon something truly amazing. It's called arm-ra-clostrum. Clostrum has been long regarded as a superfood that my mom actually got me on years ago because it's really good for the immune system. But then I found arm-ra-clostrum and I am obsessed. It's not just a supplement, it's actually a whole food superfood. It's a proprietary concentrate of bovine colostrum. And if you're wondering what colostrum is, it's the first nutrition that we receive in life packed with over 200 essential nutrients. Since I started using it, my skin feels so vibrant and fresh. It's like I reactivated my hair growth and reduced the puffiness on my face. And I haven't gotten sick once since I started taking it. There are peer reviewed studies that show that colostrum is more effective than the flu shot wild, right? Now, here's the magic. Arm-ra-clostrum strengthens immunity, ignites metabolism, fortifies gut health, and powers fit his performance and recovery. It also helps with hair growth. I've shared this a bunch on my Instagram. I went in to see my hairdresser recently and he was pointing out all of the new hair growth that he was seeing. I definitely think it's from the colostrum because it's the only thing that I have changed. And it's sustainably sourced from grass-fed cows that we love. I usually mix it with cold liquids. And my favorite thing right now is to mix the watermelon flavor with matcha. And then I add a little lemon electrolytes in there. It tastes like a watermelon lemonade. It's so refreshing and it's sugar-free. It's so good, especially in these hot summery days. But make sure you do not mix it with anything hotter sugary because I can affect those bioactive compounds. All right, so here's a great news for all you listeners out there. We've scored a special deal for you. Get 15% off your first order of arm-ra. Just go to triarmra.com, slash real-foodology, and use the code real-foodology to get this offer. Again, that's tri-arm-ra. T-R-Y-A-R-M-R-A-D .com slash real-foodology to get on this offer. I hope you guys love it. Hi friends, welcome back to another episode of the Real Foodology Podcast. Today is another so episode. So I have no guess today. It is just me. And we're going to go over my entire skin journey. I was inspired to do this episode by you. My followers on Instagram, I have been getting DMs from people asking me what kind of treatments I do, what kind of skincare I use, asking me to go through my skincare routine. And how do I get my skin looking so clear and so bright? Well, my skin was not always this clear and bright. Okay, so let's back it up to, when I was in high school, I was very lucky that I had pretty clear skin. I didn't really deal deal with acne or anything like that. But I always kind of had these dark circles under my eyes. And they were always just something that haunted me. And I could never figure out how to get rid of them. So fast forward, I go through college. Pretty much the same. My skin doesn't really change. And then when I was 22 or 23, I decided to go vegetarian. I would say for the first six months to a year, it was amazing. I lost weight that I wasn't trying to lose. I felt energy and I felt so good and I felt like I was doing really good things for the animals. And then all of a sudden, I started getting this really crazy cystic acne all over my chin. And you know, I had not figured out the dark circles under my eyes either. So I was dealing with this really just like horrible, deep, deep cystic acne that was really, really painful all over my chin. And then my skin just looked dull. Like looking back on my photos, I looked inflamed and I looked like I was lacking vitality. Like I didn't have this life force anymore because my skin looked so like gray and dull. Now, at the time, I did not make the connection with being vegetarian. It wasn't until much later after talking to many experts and talking other people about their own personal journeys and their experiences that I realized that what happened was I was dealing with a major hormonal imbalance. And I figured this out towards the end of being vegetarian. But again, I still had not, I had still had not made the connection between being vegetarian and my skin and what was happening. But I did eventually figure out that what was happening is I was dealing with a major hormonal imbalance. I got a blood panel done. My progesterone was very low. So I started on a low dose progesterone that I did for probably a year or two that helped balance out my hormones. But then you know what helped me the most was eating meat again. Okay. So at this point, I am living in L.A. I had gotten rid of the cystic acne. Thank God by not eating vegetarian anymore. I started eating organic breastfed meats. Oh, this is actually another important thing to say to about the cystic acne. Oftentimes people dealing with acne also have a clogged liver. And this can happen for so many different reasons. Our livers are overburdened with just all of the different environmental toxins that we're exposed to on a day-to-day basis. The pesticides, the pollution in the air, stuff in our tap water, the endocrine disruptors that are in our skincare or lotions, all of our makeup. And you know, it can take its toll on our livers and our livers can get backed up. So one of the ways that I was able to also help with my acne is I started taking calcium deglucrate and glutathion. Glutathion is the body's master antioxidant. It helps to flush out excess estrogen through the liver. It also helps with the detoxification pathways of the liver. And calcium deglucrate also holds on to excess estrogen and helps flush it out. So I think that also played a key role. But you know, as always, if you start taking anything new, I always recommend getting blood work and talking to your doctor because this is not medical advice, but that is what really helped me. Okay, so fast forward. Now at this point, I'm living in LA. My skin is clear. But it was just really like dull and gray. And I thought I was doing all the skincare stuff, right? I was buying all the stuff at Sephora. I was buying the non-toxic stuff. And I just felt like, yeah, like my skin just, it lacked this like vitality and brightness. And I had hung out with a girlfriend of mine who many of you guys probably know and hopefully listen to her podcast because it's amazing. Kelly LeVec. And I remember one time sitting down with her and I was like, can you just, can you help me figure this out? I feel like my skin is just dull and gray. And I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Like, what can I do to help with that? And she goes, oh, go get a laser nun. She's like, I do a laser. And then I exfoliate a couple times a week. She exfoliates a couple times a week. Let me clarify that. And then gets lasers. I don't know how often she was getting them. So I can't clarify on that. But she was like, get this exfoliator. And then go to Kate Summerville and get a laser. Now before I started recording this, I was on the website of Kate Summerville. I was trying to figure out what laser I got. I couldn't tell you guys. I'm sorry. It was probably at this point, seven or eight years ago now. My guess would be, oh, I lost it. The, I think it was called the Moxie laser. But again, don't quote me on this. But that was the first step that I took to start to revitalize my skin. I think lasers are, if you can afford them and you have access to them are an amazing tool to help get that brightness back in your skin. Now, of course, there's so many different lasers. And over the years, I have gotten a bunch of different ones. And again, this, I'm just sharing my whole journey and everything I've done since like my mid 20s that I think over time have really helped me. So that would be the first start was getting that laser from Kate Summerville. And essentially what it does, what, what a lot of these lasers do. I mean, there's different variations of different stuff and they do different things. But the general rule of thumb is what they do is they create injury to the skin. And then what happens is that it initiates this reaction for your body to heal. And then also promotes collagen growth because a lot of what happens as we age is we lose collagen, especially in our faces more than anywhere else is where we really see it. And so if you can stimulate that collagen growth, you're going to see a dramatic change in your face. So I started with that. And then I would say maybe like a year or two later, I got a vampire facial. If you don't know what that is, essentially what they do is they draw some of your blood and they spin it and they pull out all the plasma. And then they do a micro kneeling on your face with your plasma. And again, what that does is that it causes injury to your skin, stimulates the collagen, stimulates your body to go an overdrive to heal. And as a result, you end up with like brighter skin. And I noticed a huge difference. I ended up doing that twice. And I also did with I did with that something called PRP. And what they do is they inject a little bit of your plasma under your eyes and sometimes in like your smile lines. And essentially it's like a nontoxic version of filler. Now I will say it doesn't work as well as filler. But it's your own body's plasma. And when you put that, for example, under your under eyes, it stimulates that collagen growth. And I noticed a huge difference because I also on top of having those dark circles on my eyes, I had bags. I had just kind of like hollowed out a little bit under my eyes. And I've had these most of my life. And I was always trying to figure out ways to get rid of them. And I will say the PRP really helped. In fact, I am finally going to probably get more PRP again this year. And the last time I got it was five years ago, I think. So it's really lasted a long time. But I'm starting to kind of see the hollowing come in again. And so I want to get more PRP to stimulate that collagen and just kind of fill in some of that that sunkenness. So around this time that I had gotten the vampire facial, I started really, really getting into skin care. Because as we do, as we age, we start getting more concerned about fine lines and dullness and under eyes circles and all the things. And I started really paying attention to skin care. But I wanted it to be nontoxic. So I started using this brand called Agent Atora. I'm sure you guys have heard me talk about it so much because I am truly, truly obsessed. The woman who founded this company, she goes to France to formulate all of her stuff. And everything is of like the highest quality nontoxic. She spends years formulating like one product because she wants to get it right because she wants it to be highly, highly effective, but also really, really clean. So it's not endocrine disrupting and we're not putting our health at risk with all these products. So I started using her vitamin C powder a couple of years ago. And I would say the lasers and the vitamin C powder and then also using chemical exfoliators have made the biggest difference in my skin. And I'll kind of go through all the different ones that I've used. The biggest thing that helped me was starting to use vitamin C in the morning. Now there's a bunch of different ones. So you don't necessarily have to use the Agent Atora, but I think using vitamin C in the morning really, really helps to brighten your skin. And what I do is I use the Agent Atora vitamin C powder. I mix it with her hyaluronic acid, the hyaluronic acid rose toner. Hyaluronic acid is also another amazing skin care product that I started in my using in my lineup that really has helped with moisture and helping create that dewy look and skin. And I use the hyaluronic acid in the morning and at night. So I mix it with vitamin C in the morning. And then I put my serum over that, which is generally the Agent Atora Serum serum. But right now I'm using my my friend Holly. If you guys follow her wealthy belly, I'm using her Yara propolis honey oil right now. And it's absolutely amazing. So if you guys can get your hands on that, I highly recommend getting it. So using vitamin C in the morning has helped with dullness. And then at night, a couple times a week, I started using glycolic acid. Glycolic acid is a chemical exfoliator. But don't let the word chemical scare you away. My best friend Celeste Thomas, who is a holistic skin care guru. She's also an RN. She's very, very into all this kind of stuff. And she's a huge proponent for glycolic acid. Also lactic acid is another great one. And basically what they do is instead of you having to scrub with these little, you know, the granular like sandy stuff in the the face wash or whatever it is, this is just a serum that you put on that creates that same exfoliation without you having to like, you know, put like gritty sand on your skin. That was another thing that I had started out with years ago where the the exfoliators that were just like ripping my skin apart and creating more dryness. And I just felt like they weren't really helping. So these chemical exfoliators have helped a ton. Agent a tour has an amazing lactic acid face wash that I also think is really helped a lot. And then she also has a lactic acid. I believe it's called, yeah, it's called Holly Bright Mask that you put on that also has lactic acid. And it will give you that same exfoliator experience that you want. And the reason why you want to exfoliate is because, you know, over time, we have build up from all the different skin care and makeup and everything that we put on. And also just dead skin cells. And so it helps eat away those dead skin cells, reveals the brighter, doier looking skin underneath. And then I would say another thing that has really helped me a lot is using retinal alternatives. I have not gotten into retinal itself yet. I'm not fully opposed to it. I just prefer the cleaner stuff right now while I can get away with it still. My favorite one is from a non-toxic skincare company called Alpine Beauty. It's A-L-P-Y-N. And it's their wild nettle and niacinamide firming serum. It's a retinal alternative. And I really feel like it works. So I'm a big fan of that. I use that pretty much almost every single night. And I guess while I'm talking about night since I've given you my morning routine, I will also go through my nighttime routine with you guys. So watch my face. Right now I'm using clear stems cleansing gel, which I'm obsessed with. It gets all your makeup off. It's like, oh my god, your skin feels so clean afterwards. I'm also a huge fan of dyeing beauties, jelly cleanser. I also really, really like cocoa kinds AHA cleanser. And then I'm also a really big fan of agent and tours lactic acid wash, which I use still a couple times a week to get that chemical exfoliation. So I'll do that and make sure that I get all my makeup off. And then after that, I put on the Alpine Beauty wild nettle retinal alternative. And then from there, I put on my hyaluronic acid to lock in moisture. And then after that, I spray with a with a hydrating mist. Right now, my favorite one is the coq 10 toner from Indie Lee. It smells so incredible. And it's so hydrating and it's non toxic. I let that all settle in. And then after that, I put on a night cream. And this kind of changes, but I will be honest, the majority of the time I'm using either agent or or dye beauty products. Those are the majority of the ones that I use. And also Alpine Beauty. I'm a huge fan. Right now, I'm using the agent and tour face filter cream. Oh, actually, also while we're talking about it, agent and tour also has a retinal alternative. And that's actually the one I'm using right now, because I just ran out of my Alpine Beauty. So I'm using the agent and tour retinal alternatives. And then I'm also using the face cream right now. And then after the face cream, I'll put on my face oil right now. I'm using the agent and tour. Oh, no, I just finished the agent and tour face oil. And now I'm using the Yara from my friend Holly. I hope this is not too confusing for you guys. I will link all of the products in the show notes just so that you guys can go through and click through all the links. And you know, if you guys want to buy any of it, just so you're not sitting here the whole time with like pen and paper. I've really struggled with chronic anxiety most of my life. I've been really honest about this on the podcast as well as my Instagram outside of talk therapy and really addressing the root cause of my anxieties and getting to the root of my traumas. One of the things that has really helped me the most with my anxiety is taking CBD consistently. I am obsessed with this brand cured nutrition. Everything is organic. They use really high quality ingredients. And I know the founder personally. I love his mission. His desire and commitment to really high quality products is above and beyond any other CBD company that I have seen. Their commitment to quality is so high that they test all their products. So you can actually go to any of the products that you buy, look at the batch number, go on their website and see the lab results from that specific batch number. They test for heavy metal toxicity. They test for pesticides. Also, they show that the amount of CBD that they claim is in their product is actually in there, which shockingly enough, it's a huge problem with CBD companies. Many of these companies are claiming that they have higher amounts of CBD than they actually do. Some companies that are really sketchy are claiming that they have CBD when they don't have any at all. So quality control is really, really important. It's super important to cure nutrition, which is why I love this brand so much. Also, if you guys go to curednutrition.com slash real-foodology, you're going to save 20% make sure that you use the code real-foodology. And again, that is cured, C-U-R-E-D-nutrition.com slash real-foodology. Did you know that you may not be getting all the beneficial probiotic bacteria from some of your favorite fermented foods? For example, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut. Unfortunately, a lot of these probiotics and the good bacteria in these foods don't always survive the trip to your gut. This is why, in addition to eating those very healthy and nutritious foods, I also like to take a probiotic like seed. And the reason I really like seed is because, unfortunately, not all probiotics are created equal. A lot of probiotics on the shelf also do not actually make it to your gut. So, it's incredibly important that you're getting a good high-quality probiotic. Otherwise, those probiotics are going to be burnt up in your stomach acid and never actually repopulate your colon. That bacteria has a lot of stuff it has to get through. Digestive acids, bile salts, and enzymes. This is why I really like seeds DS01 daily-sendbiotic. It's nested in a capsule delivery technology that ensures precision entry through the small intestine to your colon. I love seed. It is well-backed, scientifically studied. I also have a podcast with the founder if you guys want to go back and listen to that and hear about what makes seed truly stand out above the rest. Also, can we just talk about their packaging for a second? Is someone who is really concerned about the plastic in our landfill? I am so obsessed with their sustainable monthly refill system. They give you a glass jar and a little mini travel jar as well. Then every month you keep that jar and they send your new refillable supplements in a compostable biobased pouch that you pour into that jar. This paper is made from algae that would otherwise damage fragile marine ecosystems. All around, you can feel really good about purchasing seed probiotics because you are also helping to offset all the plastic and all the waste that we have in our landfills. So if you guys want to try seed probiotics today, please go to seed.com slash real-foodology and use code real-foodology to redeem 30% off your first month of seeds DS01 daily-sendbiotic. Again, that's seedseed.com slash real-foodology and make sure to use code real-foodology. Now, the most recent treatment that I've gotten, I've gotten two of them now and I'm probably going to get one more that I have seen a change and I'm actually going to do a video and post this on my Instagram pretty soon because I really want to wait and see all the results and it takes about six weeks for you to fully see the results of it. Is a treatment called secret RF. Now, it's apparently very, very similar to Morpheus and I'm sure a lot of you guys have heard of Morpheus and what it is, it's a combination of micro-needling and a laser. So you're getting all the benefits that you get from a laser while also getting the benefits of the micro-needling with the, you know, the small injury to the skin and it's amazing because the downtime is really not that bad. You just have to, you know, kind of lay low for like a day and not really wear makeup. I mean, but you can still go out and stuff because you're not even that red. It's really crazy. Like you're kind of, I mean, you're definitely red when you leave, but I would say within the hour you go home and you're like, oh, I'm fine. It just kind of feels like a little like a mild sunburn. And then the next day, like, you're good to go, you know, they say 24 hours, you don't really want to put makeup on. After that, like, I would say within two days of me doing both rounds, I was full makeup, you know, filming videos again. So downtime is not too bad. You just want to make sure you have a ton of sunscreen on and you're not, you know, getting yourself in too much sun because you could cause some damage to your skin. I will say the interesting thing about some of these lasers and no one had warned me the first time I ever got it. Got it. There was that fractional laser that I did like years ago. And it creates this like grid-like structure on your face. I was making jokes because after the secret RF, who's calling them my grill marks, because they kind of stay there for a little while. I would say the fractional laser that I got years ago, those grill marks were there for like a minute. I was actually nervous because I was like, what did I do to my skin? They eventually go away. The secret RF ones, it took like a week or two for the grill marks to go down. And what I love about secret RF that I'm really excited about is around my chin and my jawline, my skin has just started to kind of sag a little bit, you know, the joys of aging. And it's not too crazy, but I don't want it to get to a point where I have jowls. And that's one of the amazing things about this secret RF and also the Morpheus is that it kind of it lifts everything up, lifts everything up, tightens it a little bit. And then you also get the benefits of, you know, helping with collagen production, helping with dullness of the skin. And it just helps your skin to look, you know, brighter and more youthful. All right, I hope all this made sense. It's kind of hard to do this in podcast form because I'm not in a video showing you guys all the different products that I use. But I was thinking about it the other day. I wish when I was younger that I had had someone lay all this out for me because I spend a lot of my 20s being really bummed about my skin, you know, with the cystic acne and the dullness, the grayness. I remember I was just loading makeup on when I was, you know, in my 20s, just trying to get like some brightness in my skin because I looked so dull and gray. And you know, I will say obviously, you know, the lasers really help a lot, the skincare really helps. But guys, you know, the biggest factor in all of this is your diet. And looking back when I was vegetarian, like I mentioned earlier, I was really, really inflamed. You know, I just was lacking this vitality, this life force because my body was really nutrient deprived, unfortunately, you know, and it wasn't until I started eating meat again that over the years, I started kind of seeing that vitality and that life force come back because my body was just screaming for nutrients for me. So if you struggle with this at all, I would definitely look into diet and, you know, of course, eating a whole real food-based diet also really helps a lot because we want to eat the whole rainbow, right? All the vegetables and fruit and just really whole nutritious foods. We want to eat foods that are alive because that's where we get all the nutrients from. And what we see in our skin is a direct reflection of what's going on in our bodies. So if we are not taking care of ourselves from the inside, it's going to be reflected on the outside. So I would say number one, that is the biggest, most important thing, and also staying hydrated. Starting to drink more water and putting electrolytes in my water every day really helped me a ton, making sure that I was drinking at least 80 ounces of water a day has helped me a ton with, you know, keeping the hydration in my face. And, yeah, and just making it brighter and doier. So anyways, well, I hope that you guys enjoyed this episode. If you liked it, please take a moment to share it on Instagram and tag me at Real Fidology. It means so much to me or write me a little message. Let me know how you guys are enjoying these solo podcasts and I'll talk to you guys soon. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the Real Fidology podcast. If you liked the episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know. This is a resonant media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. The theme song is called Heaven by the amazing singer Georgie. Georgie is spelled with a J. For more amazing podcasts produced by my team, go to resonantmediagroup.com. I love you guys so much. See you next week. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first. Do you suffer from IBS or other digestive issues? Are you looking for a new podcast to listen to? From the producer of the Real Fidology podcast, comes the all-new Health and Nutrition podcast digest this hosted by Bethany Ugardi. You may know Bethany as the face of the popular Instagram page Lil Sipper or you may have even read her book. Now you can find her wherever you get your podcasts. On Digest this, Bethany examines topics such as gut health, nutrition, the food industry, and highlights specific ingredients that can be beneficial or harmful to your gut health. She also explores non-toxic options in beauty, home and cooking essentials. If it has to do with your health, Digest this is talking about it. Each episode features an interview with health experts, doctors, and wellness advocates and delivers you information that is, well, easy to digest. Bethany also delivers a weekly segment every episode called Bite of Knowledge, where she highlights an ingredient commonly used in food, skin care, household cleaning, you name it, and gives you the lowdown on the benefits or dangers that an ingredient might have in your everyday life. From Botox, Potassium, Olive Oil, and Magnesium, all the way to those ingredients you can barely pronounce on the back of your cereal boxes, Bethany has you covered. There's a reason why it debuted at number two on Apple Podcast Nutrition Charts. Check out Digest this on your favorite podcast app. New episodes every Monday and Wednesday, produced by Drake Peterson and resident media.