I don’t think it’s any huge secret that we all have the occasional skin “challenge.” It starts in your teens with breakouts, and we all go on our own individual “journeys” with various bumps, rashes, and eventually, wrinkles. I’m thrilled to have made it to the age that I can have all of the above, sometimes, all at once.
So, it pays to feed that skin, all along the way. When I’m sensing a scruffy pallor to my face, or a new eruption on the way, I try to head it off with some skin-nourishing foods. Carrots are an all-time skin all-star,loaded with antioxidant carotenoids, which protect and heal the skin, and even work to protect you from sun damage. The big guns, though, are below.
I lucked out at the Farmer’s Market and scored these locally grown, just harvested roots. They even came with a healthy length of ginger leaves, which went right into the juicer. (Waste not, want not!) Turmeric is an amazing medicinal and culinary ingredient, famous for its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial properties. Turmeric is also lauded as a brain protector, which isn’t a bad side effect for my vanity, either. The ginger, in it’s fresh, juicy glory, fights inflammation, aids digestion, and boosts immunity. I LOVE the flavor of ginger, so I have a tendency to just double the amount called for in a stir-fry recipe, because I want it to be assertive.
The apple is no slouch, either, with pre-biotic fiber that will help my good inner bacteria to flourish. The skins are packed with antioxidants, that have been shown to help the whole cardiovascular system.
I have to say, this juice was so tasty that I could hardly believe that it was “good for me,” but that’s the great thing about plant-based healing. If you are doing it right, you don’t have to eat or drink anything too weird. I learned that lesson along the way, so that you don’t have to. I have choked down some healing herb teas in my day that smelled like a blend of pond scum and socks, so it’s infinitely better when your healing potions taste like a glass of jazziness.
To your health!
Turmeric Carrot Skin Tonic
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
2 inches of fresh turmeric root
2 fat inches of fresh ginger
1 big apple, skin on
4 big carrots ( I had the lovely Beta-reds, use what you have)
Juice it all and drink.
