Winter Foods Rich in Antioxidants

Came across this slideshow on FitSugar highlighting 7 antioxidant-packed winter foods. Thought I'd pass it on for those of us who worry about eating healthily during the holidays and miss our summer berries. I was happy to see cloves on the list—here's to making a big batch of wassail!

New Satellite Image of Brown Clouds over China

Pardon this off-topic post. I have coal-fired plants on the brain and am feeling hopelessly frustrated.

Before going to bed last night, I read an article in Time about activists protesting the construction of a new coal-fired plant in Virginia—which will emit 5.3 million more tons of carbon dioxide into the air every year. (A 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Energy listed 151 new plants in the planning stages.)  I then awoke this morning to see this awful image in the New York Times of brown smog clouds above China, which has been building two coal plants every week.

What we seem to be tortoise-slow at understanding—or we would've acted much faster; we always do when something directly affects us—is that CO2 sucks for our health. From the Times article, "U.N Sees New Pollutant Threat":

"For those who breathe the toxic mix, the impact can be deadly. Henning Rodhe, a professor of chemical meteorology at Stockholm University, estimates that 340,000 people in China and India die each year from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that can be traced to the emissions from coal-burning factories, diesel trucks and kitchen stoves fueled by twigs."

"'The impacts on health alone is a reason to reduce these brown clouds,' he said, adding that in China, about 3.6 percent of the nation's annual gross domestic product, or $82 billion, is lost to the health effects of pollution."

Yes, the world's population is out-of-control and there's a massive demand for cheap energy. But I'm still shocked that new coal-fired plants—the dirtiest, worst polluters—continue to be built and that we've moved so slowly to mandate cleaner alternatives.

Having a new president and, hopefully, an administration, who don't pork-barrel with the energy industry should help enormously. But everyone must be a little anti-coal activist. Use natural sunlight during the day. Turn off your computer at night.  Don't buy the McMansion.  Turn down the thermostat a couple degrees. Incentive: You'll save money on your energy bill and will have more hydrated skin and hair this winter. Thanks for your help.

To learn more about the construction of coal plants in your area, visit here.

The Best Non-Drying Foaming Cleansers

It's a widely known fact in the beauty industry that Americans are obsessed with foam: foamy cleansers, foamy shampoos, foamy body washes. European and Asian women traditionally have used cleansing creams and oils, which don't strip skin like our detergent-packed washes. Not us. If it don't lather, it don't work!

I've read the articles that say that lather doesn't equal clean, it just equals lather, and that the best way to combat oil is with oil. I've tried best-selling oil cleansers, like Lavantine's and Shu Uemura's. But the heavy, un-clean feeling I was left with plus break-outs a few days later made me run for my Aveeno Ultra Calming Cleanser (a sudser that I used in my pre-green days).

Luckily, there are now lovely soap-free foaming cleansers that thoroughly remove makeup and dirt without drying. Here are the best natural ones on the market in my opinion.

For Dry/Normal Skin: John Masters Organics Rose Foaming Face Wash. This light latherer employs mild surfactants to gently cleanse, aloe and linden flower (an antioxidant) to soothe, and steam-distilled essential rose oil to rejuvenate. $19 at Whole Foods and beauty.com

For Oily/Acneic: Aveda Outer Peace Foaming Cleanser. InStyle recently named it the best cleanser for acne-prone skin, and I concur. Oat amino acids exfoliate without harshness, salicylic acid treats blemishes, saw palmetto extract reduces DHT-thus-oil production, and tamanu oil moisturizes and heals. Has a refreshing herbal-medicinal scent. $25 at Aveda concept salons and aveda.com
Runner-up: Clinique's Acne Solutions Foaming Cleanser

For Combo Skin: Evan Healy Tea Tree Gel Cleanser (click for review). I've gone through three bottles the past year. It's my all-time favorite cleanser.

The Benefits of Exercise on Skin and Hair

Hi everyone. I apologize for the lack of posts this month. I've been rapidly preparing for a move from New York to Chicago (happening this weekend), and my mind has been OCD-fixated on the presidential race. I've developed a need to refresh CNN.com every 15 minutes and Gallup.com every few hours, even though they only update their polls once a day....

But for 30 min this past weekend, I re-commenced beauty research. Specifically: the benefit of exercise on skin. We know that aerobic exercise reduces stress and flushes toxins from the body. But I was fascinated to learn in this article from WebMD that exercise can also:

• declog oil from pores
• regulate the production of DHEA and DHT, the male-associated hormones that cause acne and hair loss
• increase collagen production in the skin—leading to a plumper, more youthful visage (in addition to giving that rosy flush, of course)

Now my experience: I'd been so busy with the Chicago move and having goodbye meet-ups with friends that, completely pooped, I had traded in my twice-weekly evening jogs for half-awake Netflix movies. By the end of last week, I was blah and sluggish, and my skin was looking too sallow for comfort. I forced myself to fit in a 25-minute run on Thursday and Sunday. And crazy enough, my complexion has looked much healthier, and I swear I've lost less hair in the shower.

So hurray for exercise: free, multi-beneficial, and without a carbon footprint!

The Best Natural Acne Treatment

I've tried an impressive number of skin care products for this blog over the past year. But few have done more for my complexion than Quixtar/Amway's clear.now™Acne Treatment Lotion. Since using it a few weeks ago, my oily skin (which has become more finicky since living in gritty NYC) has been uncommonly and consistently clear and even-toned.

Beauty buffs migh know Quixtar/Amway as the Avon-like (but-bigger) company behind Artistry® cosmetics (which recently announced Sandra Bullock as its spokesperson). A friend who sells the line enticed me first to the company's best-selling Nutrilite^® Women's Supplements. They're packed with high-quality ingredients from organic farms in California, Washington, Mexico, and Brazil, and the fish oil in their omega-3 capsules is mercury-free. But back to the lotion.

Pretty factor: Toss the Proactiv in the recycling bin! Clear.now™ contains an ingredient called sodium chlorite—whose particle size is 200,000 times smaller than benzoyl peroxide's, allowing it to thoroughly penetrate pores and kill bacteria. While it's debacterializing, .7% salicylic acid breaks down pore-clogging oil and a bevy of botanicals—aloe, lavender, willowherb to name a few—heal, moisturize, and calm redness. The skin is left clear and decongested without the slightest dryness or ruddiness.

Eco factor: No petrochemicals, parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrance or colors, T.E.A., D.E.A., propylene glycol, silicones, PEGS, animal ingredients

To buy: $18. To get a 10% discount, e-mail me at ecopretty at gmail dot com, and I'll send you the contact info of my friend who sells the line.