I don’t know about you, but my mind is in two places right now.

Focused on warm, soul-comforting flavors (it’s been about a solid month of freezing temps here in Michigan so far!)

Devising my tropical escape.

This salad combo was born out of my fantasy today, so I thought I’d share with you guys because it was deciduous! Wherever you are, I hope you enjoy. Be sure to make this in a very big salad bowl— it creates a massive meal for 1– or share with a friend!

INGREDIENTS:

Salad

1 small cucumber
​1/2 apple
1-2 cups spring salad mix
6 small sweet peppers
1/2 cup of chopped pineapple
1/2 cup chopped baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
sea salt (to taste)
red pepper (to taste)
chipolte power (to taste)

Optional fats:
black olives
avocado

Dressing
​
4 tsp maple syrup
4 tsp lime juice
2 tsp fresh orange juice

​INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat a ceramic pan on low heat and add celery, peppers, mushrooms, sea salt, and chipotle powder. Simmer using water (as an oil-free option) for 20 minutes.

2. Add chopped pineapple to the pan and continue simmering for 5 minutes.

3. While waiting to finish cooking, spiralize your cucumber noodles (I used the ribbon setting) and chop up your salad.

​4. When done simmering and cooked to your liking, add warm veggies and pineapple to top your salad.

5. Sprinkle with red pepper, fresh apples and add dressing.

​There you have it! If you are near a beach, be sure to enjoy this there for me, k?

​The concept of using specific oils during seasonal shifts stems from ancient Auryvedic practices. For the fall transition, sesame oil is preferred to balance the excess element of Vata (air).
​

I tend to use what I have on hand, which right now is some almond oil!


Over the next few weeks I will be bringing in my favorite essential oil from doTerra that is created with warm tones of cinnamon, clove, thyme, and rosemary.

For dry, tight facial skin my very favorite remedy is the Medical Medium recommended Lagoon Essentials Pomegranate Seed Oil (if you have acne, go slow with the oils to experiment if they work ok for you!)
​

And of course a moisturizing, trusty lip balm is always key. My favorites are the ones I pick up at my local farmers market from the beekeepers. ♡


How are you nurturing your body through this seasonal shift?

If you haven’t noticed, I am a creature of habit and simplicity. So, when I find healing food combos that hit the spot AND don’t take long to make— you count me in!

I originally had created this Tomango Pizza Sauce as a raw dressing for the Free Your Glow Cleanse. But with Fall here, I have been craving more warming, savory meals. I morphed this dressing into a sauce and it’s delicious!

​Whether you make this raw and service it over zoodles or cooked over spaghetti squash (or some combination raw and cooked combined!), I hope you enjoy this recipe in whatever way it suits your fancy.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup mangos, diced
1/2 lime juice squeezed
1/8 cup yellow bell pepper
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/8 cup white onion
2 tbsp cilantro
2 tsp Pizza Spice ( I love the blend from Frontier Co-Op!)
​sea salt to taste
​
INSTRUCTIONS
​
Raw Dressing: Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Enjoy!

Cooked Sauce: Dice all ingredients. Simmer tomatoes for 10 minutes on low heat and then add in everything else (except for the lime). Simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve over spaghetti squash or a baked potato, squeeze a lime over the top + ENJOY!

My body handles stress much better when I am calling on daily selfcare practices that are calming to my nervous system, rather than trying to only implement them during times of high stress. preventative medicine is the best medicine.

What I love:

Going to sleep early. Did you know the body regenerates most between the hours of 10pm-2am and again from 10am-2pm? Sleeping during this window of time is key to boosting your immunity and restoring your spirit.

Turning my cell phone off at 9pm. The lights from our phones are so stimulating-- not to mention the endless content we are consuming. It helps me so much to take some time to disconnect from the outside world and connect within myself before going to sleep.

Taking magnesium supplements (or eating lots of mango). My favorites are Ionic Magnesuim sprays, Magnesium Glycinate and NueroMag. They all have different functions to a degree so I rotate my use of them throughout the week.

Brainwave entrainment. Linked here is my very favorite binaural audio entrainment, which has always helped me through times of high stress and anxiety.

Giving my face a massage. I began learning about the benefits of this from my esthetic mentors. Massaging our faces is actually a deeply self soothing mechanism that releases tension and helps us to unwind.

Stepping outside before bed + breathing fresh air. This simple but powerful intention and action gives me time to reflect on the bigger picture of life around me, and on nature’s ability to transform and let things go.

Journaling. Never underestimate the power of taking some time to write what is hard-- if it doesn't make any sense right now.

Have you tried everything to heal your acne, yet chronic breakouts persist? Sometimes the best way to figure out if there is a dietary connection to your skin irritation is to do an elimination diet to see if you can pin point any triggers.

While reading The Clear Skin Diet by Randa + Nina Nelson, I discovered that so much of their journey mirrors my own experience while healing acne. A big thank you my friends, Eden Rose and Aida Qui, for bringing this book to my attention. Honestly, I am just so impressed with how they translated their experience and how similar my own experience with healing acne was.

My biggest take away from this book, is Randa + Nina’s exploration and concept of utilizing an elimination diet, a concept I also utilized extensively during my healing process— and ultimately what inspired me to write this post.

When you are dealing with chronic acne that persists despite major efforts, the first step is to become aware of common trigger foods that cause inflammation and irriation in the body. It is important to have a journal dedicated to tracking what positive and negative reactions occur during this time.

COMMON ACNE TRIGGER FOODS

Dairy
Eggs
Gluten (wheat, corn, oats)
Soy (tempeh, tofu)
Plant based Fats (avocado, nuts, seeds)
Oils
Supplements/Herbs
High glycemic fruits (peaches, bananas, apples)
Citrus fruits (lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruits)

These foods are based off foods that are listed in The Clear Skin Diet. They have made these suggestions based on the work on Dr McDougall’s Elimination Diet Guidelines. I would like to point out that trigger foods by no means indicate foods that are “bad” foods or anything to fear! It’s just simply that these foods may be either detoxifying your system too quickly, in turn exaggerating breakouts, or these foods may be triggering inflammation, due to a variety of reasons. It doesn’t mean you need to swear off these foods forever, but just means that your body may require a break from them in order to get into balance. You will find that many of these foods can be added back into the diet without negative side effects as time goes on. Especially fruits, which are incredibly healing for the body.

So, what would creating a baseline in an elimination diet look like? Let’s talk about it.

Creating a baseline means that you are eliminating the complexities of your diet and creating simplicity so that you can experiment.
​
The most important part of creating a baseline is having at least 2 or 3 basic carbohydrates that you know you do well on. For myself— sweet potatoes, potatoes and bananas were pretty steady carbs that my body did well with. Don’t get me wrong, I still had acne while eating very simply however I noticed that it got a bit better. As many of you know from reading my guidebook, from my baseline diet I would experiment by adding in some other foods in and I could tell within a few days if my skin was irritated by that food.

The Clear Skin Diet emphasizes brown rice and oats as a main staple. I personally didn’t do well on grains for quite some time, however others seem to tolerate it well. Being willing to experiment and discovering what works for you is really what this “diet” is all about.
​

I really love the focus foods that Randa + Nina give to their readers to focus on. They recommend starting with carb-rich cooked foods in order to create a baseline for yourself.

​The Clear Skin Diet recommends focusing on: “Rice (brown rice is preferred) Cooked green vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, swiss chard, lettuce, collards, string beans, asparagus, spinach. Cooked yellow and orange vegetables, such as carrots or sweet potatoes, beets, beet greens, chard, artichokes, celery, summer squash.” +

Sweet potatoes and squash have been such a blessing for me at certain times in my life, especially when healing from acne. I love they have recommended these gentle carbs as staples for a skin healing diet.

From my experience, foods that created minimal detox were definitely best. For many that will mean focusing on whole, cooked foods to start with. For others they may be able to focus on mostly raw foods. You will likely have an intuitive sense about where this balance is for you — or you may need to experiment some. It’s okay if you do, just be patient and willing to try.

In general, raw foods will stir up a lot of detox which can exasperate symptoms in the body which is why they are not always ideal for an elimination diet. This may not be true for everyone, some see their skin improve greatly just from going raw. However if you have been trying this for months without improvements, considering experimenting with cooked foods may be helpful.

The Clear Skin Diet guidelines are also strict against not consuming fats — plant or animal sources. In my personal experience, going low-fat helped me substantially. However I have never been completely fat-free for longer than a day, because it makes me feel really off kilter. But when I upped my fats from none to just a 1/8 teaspoon of hemp seed a day, I felt really good. The addition of that very small amount really did it for me. You may find that it’s way too hard to eliminate all fats at once, so you can gradually decrease them over a period of 6 months and feel so much better this way. It is perfectly okay to take your time. I highly encourage you to listen to your body and experiment with where you feel most balanced, and make changes in a gentle way that do not overwhelm your body.

I love that the twins recommend cooking your fruit— although I have never actually tried cooking my fruit! Although so more easily consume fruit now, I struggled with fruit as a trigger while healing my skin. Instead of avoiding fruit, The Clear Skin Diet recommends baking or steaming “apricots, berries, cherries, cranberries, papaya, plums, and prunes.” + This makes perfect sense as a way to receive nutrients but soften the fruits harsh detox effect.

If you desire raw fruits in your diet, try focusing on just low glycemic raw fruits like wild blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and kiwis. If you tolerate these well, you can begin adding in other raw fruits and see how you do.

​Randa + Nina also recommend to drink only plain water during this time, avoiding all other beverages, including coffee and teas. These beverages can be so stimulating to the adrenals which can trigger hormone imbalances.

​“Salt is the only condiment allowed—this means no salad dressings, lemon juice, mustard, vinegar, sugar, or other condiments. We want to prevent any allergic response and make the diet completely simple and basic.” +

I love the way Randa + Nina break this all down. The goal is to simply your diet so that you can begin to see what is working and what is not at this time.
​

​For myself, I added foods in pretty slowly over the course of a few days. I was super sensitive though, where I could tell with just a small amount. So for example, I would eat a cherry — and then if I did well on it, I would eat a few more the next day. Then, give it a day or so to observe any reactions.

The girls also bring up an important point that if you are a woman you are more likely to be more sensitive to triggers on your period. Therefore, it may work to your advantage to simplify your diet a bit more during this time.

To a a larger extent, breakouts may be unavoidable as your body heals, but it will get better with time. It is so important to understand that having breakouts in this process do not mean you are doing something wrong, but are a natural occurrence as your body is healing. A bad breakout doesn’t always mean that you need to reassess every little that you are doing. A lot of times it is just part of the process.

I love that Randa + Nina do not emphasize the use of supplements and herbs in the first stages of healing your skin. I remember taking so many out of desperation without fully understanding how any of these herbs were really helping me. For a while, supplements and herbs were too much for my body but as I healed with food, I was able to tolerate more of them.

As many of you know I did use digestive enzymes with great success while Inwas healing my skin. I have learned so much about the value of supplementation since this time and how different we all are when it comes to this— so it’s important to feel this one out for yourself. If you aren’t sure, you can eliminate supplements in the same ways you do food and then reintroduce them to see how you feel.

The twins do highlight zinc briefly, with Dr. Leila Masson explaining the importance of the mineral and the benefits she had witnessed of supplementing it for her acne patients. This information resonates with what I have studied from Anthony William, Medical Medium’s work. Zinc is highly supportive to the immune system so it may be worth keeping this one in your daily routine— or at least experimenting with it.

The Clear Skin Diet promotes a fully plant based diet, so the question of supplementing B-12 naturally comes up. They address this by stating:

“We encourage people to follow Dr. McDougall’s guidelines and begin taking a vitamin B12 supplement. We recommend you wait to start that B12 until after your acne has cleared, or up to two years. Research suggests a small percentage of people may be susceptible to acne outbreaks triggered by high doses of B12, like the dose levels found in commercial B12 supplements. This is why you should not begin B12 supplementation right away.” +

The truth about healing chronic acne is that no matter what diet you are following, it can take time. In The Clear Skin Diet, Randa + Nina do also seem to agree as they confirm that if you discover your triggers and find healing within 1-year, you are moving at a great pace.

Some will discover triggers right away and for others it’s just a matter of having some deeper healing to do. It’s really important to understand that it’s not JUST about the foods you eat, it’s about allowing your body time to recover and giving yourself time to let these healing foods work deeply for you.

​For example, it took me about 2 years of eating a low fat, high carb plant based diet, exercising regularly, going to bed early and moderating my stress through mindfulness practices to begin seeing improvements in my skin. There wasn’t a quick fix exactly, although there were crutches I found that worked to assist my recovery from breakouts along the way.

RELATED ARTICLES
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Do you ever put fruit on your FACE?

​I asked you guys this question on Instagram the other day and the responses were nothing short of awesome.

I mean, fruit is healing to consume so why wouldn’t it be healing to use it topically? I am thrilled to share a few fruity skincare remedies that are close to my heart today, along with some of the insightful tips YOU all offered!

​If you haven’t tried face food yet— it’s time to experiment.

​Every morning when I wake up, I squeeze one lemon into 32 ounces of water and guzzle it down. Every once in a while will take what is left over on my hands from squeezing the lemon and rub it into my skin. I do not wash my face in the morning, so I will rinse it off with water after 15 minutes and apply a moisturizer.

I call lemon the gentle refresher, as it is a mild exfoliant, hydrating toner, and even an oil busting cleanser— all in one. Some will be sensitive to lemon (you don’t want it to burn!) so be sure to test a small area of the skin first or combine the juice with water. You can also mix the juice to create a mask with honey, your favorite oil, or a facial clay.

Whenever I see lemon juice, lemon peel powder, or lemon essential oil in a cleanser or acne product, I trust it will be a pretty effective one.

​Caution: Be sure to rinse before going into the sun.

​Papaya! My love. Is there anything you don’t do?

Rich in proteolytic enzymes, papaya is a powerhouse exfoliator that helps to remove dry skin as well as cellular build up. This is an important step to take in order to ensure the effectiveness of your moisturizer.

​The gentle exfoliation of papaya may feel as though nothing has happened at all, which is what makes it oh-so-gentle for our delicate facial skin.

I use this remedy a few times a week before bed. I will simply rub papaya fruit on my skin and let it dry. You are going to turn orange, but this washes off.

​I notice the results of this mask in the hydration of my skin when I moisturize after. My skin’s ability to absorb the hydration is increased and it just feels so dang good!
​

You guys really are the best. I learn so much from you! Check out some of the highlights and responses to the question, “Do you use fruit on your skin?”

So, I will definitely be trying this banana peel thing! Thank you all for sharing your amazing, bright and beautiful spirits.

Share this post with someone you’d like to have a spa night with! I wish I could have one with ALL of you. xo

​RELATED LINKS:

​HOW TO MAKE THE BEST SMOOTHIE OF YOUR LIFE
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​DIY NATURAL BODY BRONZER
•
6 TIPS FOR HEALING ACNE NATURALLY
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Educating our clients and the general public about the safety of these practices is imperative, especially if the state isn’t ready to acknowledge permanent makeup and tattooing as a trade, then we need to do that for ourselves.

That means creating more awareness around what this services should look like— and what it should not. A few common practices I have observed that should raise red flags on an artist are:

1. Not wearing a face mask.
2. Covering clients with blankets and giving them pillows.
3. Doing procedures in breakrooms, at home or anywhere there is people eating and socializing.
4. Opening drawers and pigment bottles while working.
5. Re-using brow pencils, surgical markers, and tools.
6. Not covering the work area (beds/tables) with a protective barrier.​

​
These common malpractices are just the tip of the iceburg of when it comes to important precautions that are not taught in schools or an online microblading training course. They are typically not intentional and a result of a lack of awareness and experience.
​

Respect is everything when it comes to building relationships with colleagues. This may come across as old school— but as a new artist, it is integral to pay respects to the hard work that this industry was built on. Remember that the artists who you are learning from have gone through a lot to help build the career that they are helping you achieve today. The opportunities that experienced colleagues provide can opened doors in unexpected ways as there is truly years of learning with this skill, most of which can not be taught in school.

​From experience I have witnessed how paying respect to the lineage and understanding the progression of the industry has kept me humble, hard working and honest about my expectations when I was a beginner artist.

These are just a few ways that together we can create something amazing, not only for ourselves but for eachother. We can create something by coming together and complimenting where we each are in our careers.

What do you think? If you are a microblading artist, new or an OG— let us know your thoughts below!

1. Blend 1/2 cup raspberries, 1/2 cup wild blueberries, and 1 cup coconut water together in a high speed blender.

2. Add 2 ripened bananas (brown spots are best!) and 1-1/2 frozen bananas. Blend together on high until smooth.

​3. Pour into a glass. Drizzle 1-2 tsp of maple syrup on the top. Insert your favorite straw and enjoy!

I learned a lot from Medical Medium about the connection between the adrenals and blood sugar. This is also why so many of us are sensitive to eating lots of fruit.

​Here are a few tips that helped me the most:

♡ Cutting out oils

Oil can really hinder the body’s ability to absorb carbs and sugars correctly. I stopped using coconut oil in my food, along with all the others. It was very helpful for me personally.

♡ Focusing on low glycemic fruits

Low glycemic fruits include berries, kiwi, and even watermelon. Watermelon actually has less sugar than an entire apple (thanks for that wisdom Medical Medium!)

You are likely to find that in a short time you will be able to tolerate more variety of fruits and MORE of them. Listen to your body to know what is best.

​This is everything! If you are sugar sensitive, be sure to pair all your carbohydrates with foods like celery, spinach, cucumber or dulse. This simple combining act will balance the sugars and help your adrenals big time.

Thisbis when paying attention to Medical Medium’s advice on eating Adrenal Snacks will come in handy for you!

♡ Sprinkle cinnamon on your carbohydrates

​Cinnamon is truly amazing for helping to balance blood sugar! Sprinkle a little on your meals for some extra assistance.

I love this DIY recipe for a body bronzer that works right away to naturally enhance my skin tone... and in a Michigan winter I can use all the help so can get!

The secret is cacao powder! Just mix a little with some shea butter or coconut oil — and glow on ☻
​

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup shea butter or coconut oil
3 tsp cacao powder
1 drop lavender essential oil (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

☼ Melt down shea butter or coconut oil, your choice of the two depends on your desired consistency. Coconut oil will be a thinner formula, where the shea butter will be a thicker body butter.

☼ After melting down, add in your cacao powder— remember this is cacao, not cocoa!— lavender oil and mix well.

☼ Enjoy as an all over body lotion!