Drink & Eat Your Way to Better Skin: How H2O & Home Chef Help Me Maintain a Glowing Complexion

It's a naked faced kinda day.

I field a lot of questions about what brand foundation I am wearing.
And I am finally ready to reveal my secret: I do not own any foundation. Not one bottle or tube.

I take special care of my skin because I fear that otherwise my lifelong struggle with oily skin and acne might reveal its ugly self.

My go-to daily look is Carmex. Done.

And my standard "makeup" look is eye liner, mascara, lip gloss. Done.

It's just my bare skin.

Occasionally, I find a moisturizer with a nice illuminating shimmer in it such as Girl Meets Pearl, which has a subtle pink iridescent glow you can use as a highlighter or eye shadow base. I also adore Bobbi Brown Golden Glow illuminating moisturizer, which is great as a day moisturizer and adds subtle shimmer.

These illuminators come in handy on days when your skin just looks a little dull and you need a pick-me-up. But the real key to glowing skin starts on the inside.

That whole cliche -- garbage in, garbage out -- true story! And when you put good in, it shows on your skin.

So here's what I do to keep my skin glowing naturally, from the inside out.

• Drink Lots of Water! (And not much else)
• This is THE most important thing you can do for your skin. Hydration comes from the inside. While moisturizing is important, you can never drown your skin in enough lotions, balms and serums to make up for the damaging effects of lack of dehydration. Your skin is thirsty. Quench its thirst from the inside.
• I am no water snob. I will drink any brand and also fill my water bottle straight from the tap. No shame here. My favorite brand, however, is definitely SmartWater, for a few reasons: It has a fresh, crisp taste. I can get it in a liter-bottle that still fits in a cup holder and is sleek and sturdy, so it does not just collapse if you throw it in a gym bag or backpack. It has added electrolytes to aid in hydration. Plus, it's called SmartWater. I mean, come on. Marketing. Genius.

Post-workout morning hydration.

• Avoid the soda section at all costs! There is a ton of sugar in sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit-flavored drinks and the like. All that extra sugar wreaks havoc on your skin, causing clogged pores, pimples, and dreaded blackheads, and you just do not get the same level of hydration as you do with good old-fashioned water.
• I drink nearly a gallon of water a day, and that is about 95 percent of my beverage consumption. I do sneak in the occasional cup of coffee. Don't judge me. Caffeine saves lives. Possibly yours if run across me midweek when my energy level is sufficiently dragging from the marathon that has become my life. 
• Drink only 100 percent juice NOT from concentrate. And drink only an 8- to 10-ounce serving. While there are great nutrients and benefits, there's still sugar in it. Excess sugar is your enemy. I drink 100 percent cranberry juice from Northland; it tastes the best to me. Do NOT drink cranberry juice cocktail, which as a ton of added sugar. As far as OJ, I prefer Florida's Natural or Simply Orange. Both taste like you are drinking juice right from the orange. None of that manipulative labeling with "100 percent juice" boldly advertised then adding "from concentrate" in tiny letters.
• Keep the Processed Carbs to a Minimum.
• I rarely (Let's note the "rarely" here. I still eat 'em when the craving hits me!) eat bread, potato or tortilla chips, rice, baked desserts, etc. Your body processes that stuff just like sugar. And while carbohydrates are the body's quickest source of energy because they begin to break down immediately with your saliva, your body also burns through carbs quickly.
• Do not cut them out completely if you enjoy them; otherwise you'll be miserable and likely revert to old, bad eating habits or worsen the ones you had. Just limit the portion and frequency.

• Eat a Nutritious, Sensible, Energy-Filled Breakfast.
• If I have a very active day ahead of me, I need protein to power me through my morning. I usually cook a two-egg omelette in olive oil (a heart-healthy fat that is also great for your skin and offers an array of other benefits when consumed regularly) with feta cheese and an array of sauteed veggies such as onion, bell pepper, tomato, spinach, mushrooms. Eggs are a heart-healthy protein that provide a lot of nutrition and caloric bang for your buck. And you can load up on lots of nutrient-rich veggies without adding many calories. That's enough to fill me up, but if you need more, add a small apple, banana or yogurt, and you've got a protein-packed breakfast that will stay with you for a bit.
• Smoothies are a great option for a meal replacement for breakfast. Fresh or frozen fruit, juice and Greek yogurt in a blender make a magical delicious yumminess that gets me through a few hours on days when i do not feel like having something heavy for beakfast or just do not feel like cooking.

• Eat More Fresh Vegetables.
• Eating plenty of veggies provides your body and skin, the body's largest organ, with vital nutrients without adding lots of unhealthy fats or calories. You can eat a large volume of vegetables with very little caloric intake. 
• Eat the rainbow in veggies. Eating vegetables in a plethora of colors ensures you are feeding your body a variety of nutrients, all of which contribute to a healthy glow. So load up on dark leafy greens like spinach, red peppers, orange carrots, yellow squash, purple eggplant.
• Eat raw; eat cooked. I mix it up. I eat raw cucumbers salted and peppered with  Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar with "the mother," which is great for the gullet, and salads of many varieties with vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Or use the dressing of your own liking; just use the creamy varieties sparingly. For a preparation for vegetables that need to be cooked and are new to your pallet, cut them into bite-sized pieces and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 degrees to desired doneness, or saute on stove top to desired doneness. This gives you a way to taste the flavor of the vegetables, and you can always add fresh herbs, lemon juice or other seasonings to your liking once you know what the vegetables taste like in their most natural cooked state. Salt and pepper are the basis of building flavor while cooking, so I cannot and will not go without.

• Plan Meals.
• Planning meals means less eating fast food and heavily processed convenience snacks and meals that usually add very little good nutrients and a whole lot of bad. Starting the meal-planning process is the most difficult part. Once you have a routine and pantry items and other staples for your weekly and daily meal plans, things go much smoother.
• Enter Home Chef. With Home Chef, you can pick your meals, and Home Chef provides all the ingredients you need and step-by-step instructions to prepare the dishes at home. The only pantry items you need are olive oil, salt and pepper.

Home Chef Salmon with Romesco Cream Sauce & Sweet Potato Hash.

• They also provide a list of everything they send you and the amount of each ingredient, so you can recreate the dishes you like. You can even select vegetarian options, low-carb and even avoid specific meats you do not eat; for me, that's pork, bleck.
• Smoothies! You can add on smoothies for an additional cost, and these make a great snack or breakfast substitute. They usually include fresh and/or preserved fruit, Greek yogurt and either coconut or almond milk or fruit juice. 

Home Chef Hawaii Five-O smoothie with pineapple and mango.

• I have yet to have a Home Chef meal I didn't like, and the portions are very reasonably sized. And they are generous with the veggie servings. I usually have plenty of leftovers to have for lunch or dinner another day.

Home Chef Shrimp and White Cheddar Grits.

• Cardio, Cardio, Cardio!
• The body is its own self-cleaning factory. It purges much of the crap we put in it through waste such as No. 1 or No. 2, but we also lose toxins through sweat and exercise in general. Help the body push the bad stuff out with some good old cardio, for 30 minutes a day at least 5 times a week. Ideally, we would all do at least 30 minutes of cardio every day.
• Walk a mile, jog in place, dance, follow along with a YouTube video -- anything that gets your body moving. Do jumping jacks first thing in the morning or before bed at night.
• Throughout the day, be intentional about adding in cardio here and there. Park farther away from the store or doctor's office. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Place your phone or alarm clock on the opposite side of the room from your bed so you have to get up to snooze it or turn it off

There you have it. Now, go water yourself, and get your glow on!

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