Get Glowing: Tips from an Expert

As a makeup artist, I love giving people that flawless "lit from within" glow.  But what a difference when the person sitting in my chair already has glowing skin to start with.  We all want it, but how can we get it for REAL? This was the topic of discussion at an exclusive Beauty Influencers event I recently attended with Dr. Jeanette Graf, renowned and well-respected dermatologist and former NIH fellow.   Beauty bloggers, tweeters, and vloggers (yes, that's a term!) were treated to cocktails overlooking Manhattan while learning about Dr. Graf's research, which has become quite a hot topic in the beauty world. It all started with some frequent flier patients at her dermatology office.  You know the ones - botoxed, plumped, peeled, lasered, and slathered with all of the best serums and creams - but STILL that glow eluded them.  The scientist in her decided to investigate and got busy researching and testing.  What resulted her groundbreaking premise that "our cells, and consequently our skin, can only function best when the pH balance of our bodies is at its proper level".  

She decided to write the book Stop Aging, Start Living (which I am really enjoying BTW) about this and detail exactly what people can put in their bodies to get their cells and skin on the fast track to glow central, while slowing down the things that make us age.  She challenged us to give her program a try and promised us we'd see immediate results.  I like the sound of that!

Most people experienced a complete life change in terms of skin glow, energy, healthful feeling, and brighter eyes in two weeks.  We were all given a set of pH testing strips (high school science class flashback) and were told not to get depressed if we had a low score because hers was quite low the first time she tested.  The goal is to get a reading between 7 and 7.5 and I rang in with a 5.5.  This is lower than the bad case cited in her book. Yikes.  [Note: The next day I grabbed a neighbor who has been looking radiant these days.  Everyone, including me, thinks she looks fantastic. She has reduced stress in her life and and only eats healthy stuff.  I forced her to put a pH strip in her mouth and it was a perfect 7.0! Maybe there's something to this...] 

Dr. Graf then outlined the three main things we need to do right now to try this. 

1.  Buy some greens powder which is sold in health food stores (her favorite brand is Greens First) and mix it with a scoop or two of fiber.  Yeah, it may look and taste nasty but it's the antioxident  power equivalent of TEN servings of fruits and vegetables.  So pretend you're on a  Beauty Survivor show, mix it with some 100% fruit juice, and down the hatch!

2.  Start taking mineral supplements with lots of calcium. We need it big time! Did you know that because of commercial fertilizers and acid rain, the veggies we eat today have up to 75% less minerals than they did 50 years ago? Even things like table salt have had all the minerals processed out of them (so you gotta use sea salt).  When she brought up salt I raised my hand to ask about my beloved sugar.  We all know it's bad, but why?  Alas, it is one of the big acid-producing age accelerators - especially refined sugars.  I was afraid she'd say that :(  Better to stick with raw honey (the kind that you scoop out) or alternative sweeteners like stevia, agave, fruits.  Even splenda and raw sugar is better than refined.

3.  Start taking probiotics - 5 billion colony-forming units per day to be specific (she prefers the refrigerated kind).  Wow, that sounds a lot but we actually need a lot of good bacteria in our gut to keep our immunity up.  Did you know skin issues like psoriasis (I have this myself), dermatitis, and acne are immune-related skin disorders?  These good bacteria also help keep the bad ones and yeast from producing too much acid in your stomach.There goes your pH reading if they do!

As for overall eating she had a lot of tips and the book is chock full of them too.  Think cave man and eat more like our early ancestors did: leafy greens, fruit, seeds, and roots, with occasional wild game (organic meat for us modern hominids). Eat real food, not from a package.  Eat organic food - remember those higher mineral contents.  Colorful food is good, beige food is bad.  Dr. Graf left us feeling inspired and I actually felt like this is doable.  And as I mentioned, I like the immediate results.  In the coming weeks I'm going to report about this.  Does anyone want to try it with me?  She also gave us a great swag bag full of products she uses in her dermatology practice.  Of course I will report back on those too.

As you can imagine, this was stylish crowd and  I had a great time putting faces to names I had already been following on-line. Hello The Informed Makeup Maven and twitter juggernaut  This That Beauty .  I was also introduced to new artists -hey Vintage Soul Beauty- and some young mavens of the video world.  

Chloe Beauty NYC and her BFF kept me completely entertained while we waited for Dr. Graf to inscribe our books.  And Musings of a City Girl told me about her surprising 25,000 YouTube followers who check in regularly to learn different makeup looks.  

These ladies were as smart as they are beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them.  Good luck to all!  Thank you to Gorgeous on the Go's PR Goddess Genevieve Santos for rounding us all up. And most of all, merci beaucoup Dr. Graf!