Style: August 05, 2022

38 Style | Wellbeing
Get a winter glow
Dunedin naturopath Deanna Copland shares some tips – and one very delicious
recipe – to help with winter skin and wellness woes.
Cold air, dry indoor heat, low humidity levels, and harsh winds can all wreak
havoc on our skin, leaving our largest organ feeling dull and dry. These
factors make it harder for the skin to maintain its natural protective oils, which
act as a barrier against environmental influences. As a result, moisture gets
pulled from the skin, leading it to look and feel dry and cracked.
DRINK UP
What can we do to keep skin happy and hydrated? In cooler weather, we
often tend to drink less liquid and what we put into our body will impact on
the hydration levels and the general health of our skin.
Ensure that you drink plenty of liquids, such as room temperature water,
herbal teas, broths and soups. An estimate of how much we should be aiming
for is 25ml per kg body weight on rest days and 35ml per kg on exercise days.
There are some really pleasant herbal teas available – ginger and lemon is a
very warming one in winter, as opposed to peppermint, which is energetically
cooling so best in warmer weather. If you work from home, you can get
several cups of tea from one tea bag by continually refilling your cup, and
warm drinks are definitely more appealing when it’s cold outdoors.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
Try to increase the amount of good fats you have in your diet by regularly
having raw mixed nuts and seeds, avocado and oily fish such as sardines,
salmon and mackerel. Avocados are back in season so these are great to
incorporate in your diet. Even if you’re not fussed on avocado, I challenge you
to try the chocolate mousse recipe. Once it has been refrigerated for around
an hour, it loses all avocado taste.
Rough, dry skin on the backs of arms can be a sign of vitamin A and
beta-carotene deficiency, which can appear as rough, raised bumps on the
backs of the arms. Liver and cod liver oil are the best sources of vitamin A,
but egg yolks and leafy green vegetables are other options.
Orange vegetables such as pumpkin, kūmara, yams and carrots, are also
good sources of beta-carotene. A tasty snack idea is to roast carrots with
a little coconut oil until soft then add to homemade hummus. Hummus is so
easy to make – put chickpeas, including the brine from the can, garlic cloves,
olive oil and cumin seeds into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add
the roasted carrots. Have this tasty dip with veggie sticks and rice crackers or
in place of butter.
SO TOPICAL
Remember to exfoliate skin about once a week during winter. You can make
your own scrub using coconut oil and raw sugar and use it in the shower with
loofah mitts. The warmth from the shower will soften the coconut oil and
leave your skin glowing.
Try to limit your time in the shower, though, and avoid having it too hot as
this can strip extra moisture from the skin.
You may need to change a gel face cleanser to a cream one and tweak your
skincare regime to suit the seasons.
Some find humidifiers useful for adding moisture back into the air in your
home, so these can be really worthwhile for very dry skin conditions such
as eczema.
Heavenly raw
chocolate mousse
SERVES 3
INGREDIENTS
• 2 ripe but not brown avocados
• ¼ cup cacao powder
• ¼ cup maple syrup (check it’s not
maple-flavoured syrup)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil,
softened
• Pinch of mineral salt
METHOD
Mix all the ingredients in a food
processor until smooth and velvety.
Pour into Martini glasses or ramekins,
refrigerate for at least an hour. Top with
nuts, fresh berries or coconut flakes
before serving if desired.