Many clients of SOL Impressions have acne breakouts and I’ve been sharing this smoothie recipe lately, so thought I would post here as well.
Acne is an inflammatory condition. Check out why this smoothie can help:
Barberries have been shown to help clear up acne (due to it’s active ingredient, berberine, a compound with anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties) and are very high in anti-oxidants, which have anti-aging benefits as well. If you just want the anti-aging benefits, you can swap the barberries out for goji berries instead, which are another highly potent anti-oxidant berry! Any berry will do though. Berries and their anti-oxidant benefits should be a daily part of your diet.
Why do we love anti-oxidants? Anti-oxidants neutralize free radicals that can cause not only aging, but pore-clogging oxidation. They also accelerate healing and can lessen hyperpigmentation in the skin. Anti-oxidants can be used topically in the form of Vitamin A, B3, C and E, but should also be ingested in the food you eat. Another amazing way to get high dose anti-oxidants is to drink green tea, black tea or white tea regularly — without dairy or sugar of course! Sip on your tea throughout the day or just add whole leaf tea to your smoothie for more benefits.
Flaxseeds are a most-amazing seed that are incredible for your overall wellness. For acne specifically, they can help balance hormones by providing lignans in a higher dose than any other seed or vegetable. They must be ground up to work though, so putting them in your smoothie is perfect. Since acne can be associated with hormone imbalance in women, flax seeds can help even out those irregularities. Lignans have other amazing benefits like providing healthy fat, fiber, blood sugar management, heart health and more. Don’t be afraid to go down the flaxseed rabbit hole and add 1-2 TBSP of flax seeds to your life daily.
There is a ton of healthy fiber in this smoothie and fiber is your microbiome’s favorite food. When your microbiome is happy and gets the whole foods it likes — a rainbow of fruits, veggies, whole grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, etc. — it creates anti-inflammatory compounds that soothe, normalize and bring your body into balance. On the other hand, when you eat foods that lack fiber or are very low in fiber — highly processed foods, dairy, refined sugar, fried foods, etc. — this supports an unhappy gut microbiome that creates inflammatory compounds. This can cause skin conditions, bloating, puffiness, sluggishness, fatigue, and over time can lead to disease. The bottom line is to eat what makes your gut happy, which will in turn reduce inflammation, help eliminate toxins, reduce leaky gut and lower inflammatory responses throughout the body. That is a great thing for acne sufferers.
Common spices available in your cabinet are potent anti-inflammatory superstars. Typically, turmeric, ginger and garlic are the touted as the best-in-class, anti-inflammatory spices since they contain bio-active compounds that inhibit inflammatory pathways in the body. Black pepper helps to aid in nutrient absorption. I just added turmeric, black pepper and ginger for taste , but feel free to experiment with other spices to get not only anti-inflammatory, but anti-oxidant benefits as well! Cardomom, cloves, sage, cayenne, and cinnamon have wonderful anti-inflammatory properties as well and could easily be added to a smoothie, chai or broth.
This smoothie is just one thing you can do to help treat your skin condition, but there are so many factors that come into play with acne — food sensitivities, mental health, genetic predispositions, health conditions, environmental factors and the list goes on! In the end, acne can have many different causes, but generally, it is an indication of imbalance in the body. Figuring out what is imbalanced takes some work. Could your skin care routine be better? Could your diet be better? How’s your mental health? Usually, healing a condition takes detective work and self work. Addressing nutritional needs can often be a good first step. I hope this post helps to inspire you!
Lots of love, Jules
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Now that it’s spring, I thought that it’s the perfect time to work on Sol’s first ever blog post! My name is Julie and I’m the owner of Sol Impressions Massage & Facials in Breckenridge, Colorado. I’ve been toiling away in this industry for over 10 years now and with all of that experience, comes knowledge! In these blog posts to come, I’d like to share what I know, explore interests and keep it local. It will be a smorgasbord of posts that will hopefully interest & delight you!
I’ve decided that it would be apt for my first blog post to talk about communication. Communication is key and it is the the number one thing that we tell clients to do when they ask about what treatment to get. We have a wide range of modalities that you can choose, but often times, clients aren’t sure what’s best for them. In this case, we say, we will book you for a basic Swedish or Deep Tissue massage and once you meet your therapist, be sure to tell them what your expectations/ issues are and they will customize the session. Easy enough, right? Well, maybe not, I’ve found that when communicating about a massage, using the right language really helps.
Use the following terms to help you get your point across from the start and don’t be afraid to continue communicating throughout the session. I’ve found that massage can be broken down into two main categories: Relaxing and Therapeutic.
Relaxing:
Are you looking to space out on the table, relax your whole body and not think? That is a perfectly great treatment goal! Many people are overwhelmed with anxiety, depression, the constant demands of every day life… and just want to let go. In this case, tell your therapist that you would like a relaxing massage. Relaxing massages can be a wide range of things, but the most famous one is Swedish Massage. It is well known for long sweeping stokes and light to firm pressure. Another very relaxing massage is hot stone massage. In hot stone massage, the therapist uses warm stones and glides them over your body. Heat often helps muscles release, so this is a great treatment if you are feeling particularly tense. If you don’t want to get caught up in names, just say, “I’d like a relaxing massage” and tell them how you like the pressure.
Therapeutic:
Do you have pain? Tight muscles? Can you feel knots that won’t go away? If this is the case, you may want a therapeutic massage, which is often called Deep Tissue or Sports. Don’t be fooled by the names. Deep Tissue doesn’t necessarily mean deep pain and railing on the body. Sports doesn’t mean that you need to be training for a marathon. What it means is that the therapist is working out the kinks…. and therapists have a wide variety of tools in their tool box to help get at those issues. It might be certain stretches, fascial release, movement, working out trigger points, etc. Tell your therapist what feels tight, what hurts. Tell them what type of pressure you like and update them throughout the session. Do you want them to just work on specific issues or do you want a full body massage? Communicating these things key.
Talk or Don’t Talk:
I personally enjoy not talking during a massage unless I have something to tell the therapist. Many people feel uncomfortable saying this. Please don’t! It’s critical to the enjoyment of your session. Tell the therapist from the beginning: “I don’t want to talk unless there is something that I need to say.” On the other hand, if you like to chat, chat away! Many people find talking relaxing.
The number one complaint that we get if you look at our negative reviews online is that the therapist didn’t give enough pressure, didn’t work on the areas that needed the most work, didn’t do the type of massage that was expected. These are all communication issues! When I speak to the therapists about the online feedback, they often say that the client didn’t say anything during the massage, why didn’t they speak up? The bottom line is that the therapists aren’t mind readers and they won’t be offended by your comments. No feelings will be hurt because it is a professional transaction. The therapist wants to help, so speak up.
I read an article about happiness once that made a lot of sense. It said that happiness is when expectations are met or exceeded. It’s such a simple concept and completely applicable to massage. If you communicate what your expectations are, then your massage therapist has a chance at making you happy with your session.
Did you communicate and still didn’t get the treatment you wanted? This is where you need to check your expectations. If you think that every massage therapist is going to be perfect for your specific needs, then you are being unrealistic. Some therapists will be a good fit and some won’t. This is why you should try a few before going agro at my lovely little business on an online review site. The therapist that is perfect for me, may not be perfect for you. It is completely subjective. Our massage therapists aren’t robots. They don’t do the same thing on everybody. They may not be willing to give you the deepest of deep pressure if they don’t think that’s good for your tissue. Plus, their training isn’t standardized, they’ve gone to a variety of massage schools, have differing experience and use a variety of techniques. This is why it is best to keep an open mind, communicate the best that you can and try out different therapists till you find the one that meets your needs best.
Thanks for reading!
-Jules
Now that it’s spring, I thought that it’s the perfect time to work on Sol’s first ever blog post! My name is Julie and I’m the owner of Sol Impressions Massage & Facials in Breckenridge, Colorado. I’ve been toiling away in this industry for over 10 years now and with all of that experience, comes knowledge! In these blog posts to come, I’d like to share what I know, explore interests and keep it local. It will be a smorgasbord of posts that will hopefully interest & delight you!