For Clear Skin, and a Glow¬ing, Healthy Com¬plex¬ion

1. To lighten dark spots and acne marks, dab on fresh squeezed lemon juice, or apply organic grass-fed yogurt to your entire face and neck (leave on for 10 min­utes) to lighten and brighten your skin
2. Pre­vent and elim­i­nate black­heads, dry skin, and give your skin a dewy look just by drink­ing at least 2 liters (1/2 gal­lon) of fil­tered water per day – sounds like a lot, but it will do the trick!
3. Speak­ing of water, fil­ter your shower and sink water (my favorite is Envi­ron­men­tal Water Sys­tems) so you’re not dump­ing chlo­rine and chem­i­cals on your skin and hair – you’ll end up with soft skin and health­ier hair, and if you have asthma and aller­gies, it may help with that too
4. Use a lotion mask nightly (or in the morn­ing before apply­ing makeup), for a beau­ti­fully mois­tur­ized and glow­ing com­plex­ion (for more info on lotion masks, I highly rec­om­mend read­ing The Japan­ese Skin­care Rev­o­lu­tion)
5. Pim­ple Emer­gency! To heal a pim­ple quickly, apply 100% tea tree oil with a cot­ton swab directly onto the pim­ple every few hours, and apply vit­a­min E oil on the spot at night, about 1 hour before bedtime
6. Give your­self a glow, shrink pores, give your skin an antiox­i­dant burst, and even out skin tone with some cham­pagne and a cot­ton ball
7. Puffy face? Drink dan­de­lion tea and try a 3-minute Tanaka face mas­sage to get the lymph mov­ing and elim­i­nate puffiness
8. Pre­vent pim­ples and keep your skin smooth with gly­colic acid from a sugar scrub – mix organic cane sugar with your face or body wash in the palm of your hand, or try my DIY sim­ple scrub
9. Whiten your teeth by brush­ing with straight bak­ing soda (you can add some xyl­i­tol for a bet­ter taste – it’s a sweet­ener derived from birch trees)
10. For a quick glow, apply a few drops of olive, coconut, or jojoba oil to the tops of your cheek­bones and your brow­bones (where you would apply high­lighter or shim­mer cream)
11. Sleep on silk pil­low­cases to pre­vent hair damage/breakage and keep your skin look­ing youth­ful – I swear by silk, your hair and skin will thank you!
12. Take a qual­ity vit­a­min C sup­ple­ment to pre­vent early aging and help your body pro­duce col­la­gen – I love Health Force Nutri­tion­als Truly Nat­ural Vit­a­min C pow­der (I take 2 tsp. twice per day)
13. Keep your skin sup­ple and smooth by sup­ple­ment­ing with fish oil – I use Carl­son Labs Cod Liver Oil (liq­uid) in lemon flavor
14. Eat 1 cup of leafy greens daily (prefer­ably steamed, juiced, or blended for best diges­tion) to keep your com­plex­ion clear and under-eye cir­cles at bay
15. You can use sugar exter­nally, but avoid eat­ing it since it can cause break­outs (not to men­tion headaches and mood swings) – use raw honey, ste­via, or xyl­i­tol instead

{BONUS TIPS}

1. Stress dries out the skin and can cause break­outs, so try yoga, deep breath­ing, lis­ten­ing to relax­ing music, and read­ing good books like A Thou­sand Names for Joy
2. Fix cel­lulite quick by doing a cof­fee scrub – mas­sage cof­fee grinds into your cellulite-prone areas to tem­porar­ily smooth them out (be sure to wash off well)
3. Do weekly hot oil treat­ments on your scalp and hair to help it grow long and strong with­out break­age – olive and coconut oil work great
4. Red or itchy skin? Grind up some organic oat­meal into a fine flour and add it to your bath water for a sooth­ing, anti-inflammatory soak (you can also dunk a wash­cloth in oat­meal water and apply it to your face)