Aloeride® aloe vera

How does it make you feel when somebody gives you a compliment on how good you look?

How does it make you feel when somebody gives you a compliment on how good you look for your age?
Quite right, that wouldn't be a compliment!

So how would it make you feel when somebody cannot believe your age because you look way too good?

Lookin' better than a body has a right to  is that desirable Jane Fonda or Leslie Kenton achievement and this is what I wish for you. I'll give you practical advice that is fail safe. Understand why and how you age and you'll unlock the secrets to slowing that process down. Click here if you want to those beautiful skin tips straight away.

Wrinkles - where they form
In the diagram, underneath the solid orange layer on top are 'brick-like cells' below which there is a squiggly line. There the epidermis has an irregular surface with downward fingerlike projections known as rete ridge keratinocytes (pegs) which are the primary sites of attack in (premature) ageing. These rete ridge pegs do two important things:

1- they interface with upward projections of the papillary dermis, thus anchor the epidermis to the dermis and help prevent the epidermis from sliding back and forth on the dermis. As the skin (prematurely) ages, this dermal-epidermal junction tends to flatten, thus contact surface of epidermis and dermis can decrease by one-third. This loss increases the potential for dermal-epidermal separation, so sagging results. Now you know just how correct people are when they compain that their skin no longer feels nice and tight.

2- a second important function of these rete ridges is nutrient exchange. A benefit of their squiggly surface is that this dramatically increases contact area which improves the skin's uptake of nutrients from the blood vessels in the underlying dermis.

(take home message: the variables in above two points that you have control over are nutrient levels and circulation)

Wrinkles - how they form
Most skin changes relate to excessive free radical damage via pollution inside your body (endogenous) or environmental pollution (exogenous) or excess sunlight. Free radicals are reactive oxygen molecules that lack 1 electron, so they scavenge that electron from one of your body cells and thereby damage that cell. The tissue in your skin that gets damaged by free radicals is: 1) collagen including elastin fibres and 2) fats such as sebum (skin oil) and subcutaneous fat.

ad 1) Changes to fat are easiest to understand as you already know what can happen to butter, it goes rancid which is called lipid peroxidation and is caused by free radicals. And yes, something very similar happens to fat cells and fatty membranes in your body too. Often working in tandem, both water-soluble and particularly fat-soluble anti-oxidants must be abundant if you don't want to go rancid...
ad 2) Collagen, including elastin denatures and for elastin in particular this means that its 'elastic band' properties fade i.e. skin doesn't bounce back anymore (a simple if not depressing test for that is twisting the skin on the back your hand and see how quickly it bounces back to its original position).

(take home message: the variables in above two points that you have control over are intake of both water-soluble and particularly fat-soluble antioxidants, as well as the intake of collagen regenerative and replacement supplements like Aloeride® and fytoSil)

With (premature) ageing the rate of normal cell replication slows down, at age sixty you'll have some 80% less growth hormone than when you were twenty. From thirty onwards the output of human growth hormone by the pituitary gland declines. So, on top of cells being damaged by free radicals, the replication of normal (replacement) cells slows down... With (premature) aging both epithelial and fatty layers atrophy and become thin even if abdominal or hip fat remains abundant. Can you influence this process? Thank goodness you can and Aloeride® is one effective step to take.

Fine lines and wrinkles arise because of irregular thickening of the dermis (collagen damage by free radicals) and because of a decrease in the amount of water held by the epidermis (dry skin, possibly undemineralised thus not retaining). Deeper lines or furrows are classified as either dynamic or static. Dynamic lines such as laughter or frown lines appear with movement i.e. the activity of facial muscles. Static lines are unchanged with muscle movement. Eventually even dynamic lines become static.

Wrinkles - hormones in women and men
Hormones affecting the skin are produced by the ovaries* (females only obviously), adrenal glands*** and thyroid gland**.

*A dwindling level of oestrogen may initiate the peri-menopausal phase which results in drier skin, reduction of skin elasticty, increased wrinkles. If you'd say that this seems little different from what happens because of free radicals then you are correct. The natural remedy to free radicals and to improve hormone panels also are the same.

**One hormone affecting both male and female skin is thyroxin (thyroid gland): too much thyroxin shows a warm, smooth, sweaty, flushed skin whilst too little thyroxin produces a dry, coarse thickening of skin with reduced ability to sweat. A simple, basic DIY test is the Dr Broda Barnes thyroid test (click adjacent .pdf), if this indicates reduced thyroid activity you should increase your intake of the low calorie sea vegetable kelp and regularly test to see if your Barnes test improves. A Selenium deficiency may interfere with Iodine utilisation (T4 to T3 conversion); deficiency of vitamin A and E (fat soluble) and Zinc and Iron can exagerrate Iodine deficiency symptoms. Before considering prescribed thyroxin medication, a read of Dr.Med. Barry Durrant-Peatfield's book The Great Thyroid Scandal and How To Survive It might be a very good idea.

***Other hormones affecting both male and female skin are adrenal glucocorticoids, an excess of which causes thinning of the skin and loss of connective tissue support of capillaries. Patients on cortisone medication know that this causes susceptibility to injury and bruising. Other than making one feel old and fatigued, people under ongoing stress produce more adrenal glucocorticoids (fight or flight response) but they don't notice their loss of connective tissue support, it happens none the less!

(take home message: variables in the above that you have control over are intake of iodine containing foods e.g. kelp supplements and a broad spectrum nutrient intake with JuicePlus as a baseline intake)

Wrinkles - invaluable tips that prevent and repair wrinkles

1) Cleaning with soap is a fantastic idea when you are really mucky. But soaps dissolve fats, so the more often you use soap on your skin the more fats you dissolve. By all means use some grainy cleanser for microdermabrasion but try to leave those fats in your skin where they should be, don't dissolve them unduely. Of course the dietary intake of good oils is important and, as you can read from my lectures, good oils are great but work so much better when you ingest antioxidants that prevent them from going rancid...

2) For skin the most persistent onslaught on wellbeing & looks is the pollution that is inside you (working away 24/7/365). Sooty air or brazen winds affect your skin but such conditions are temporary exposures for most of us. In respect of pollution skin can function as an inappropriate detoxification exit route. So the trick is to make sure that your physiological exit routes via liver-gallbladder-intestines (fat soluble toxins) and kidneys (water soluble including conjugated toxins) work well. To achieve the latter you drink 2 litres of (Brita filtered) water every day, this quantity may include green tea or white tea. To achieve the former you need a decent intake of Selenium, Taurine, vitamin C, B vitamins and other nutrients that fuel pathways of biotransformation via the liver. The other part of the same trick is to make sure there is little that pollutes you, keeping to a good-diet-for-you is a first step towards that.

3) Hydration is a very misunderstood issue and is permanently misused by opportunistic marketing. Talking about hydration without mentioning minerals is just taking about being wet, in fact it is a bit wet and well off the mark. Real hydration of tissue relates to mineral content (remember osmosis in physics) for water doesn't readily stay in tissue that does not contain sufficient salts. Slap moisturisers on your face until the cows come home, without mineral salts H₂O isn't going to stay there...  What hydrates skin for real: drink an appropriate quantity of pure water + ingest plenty of mineral containing foods = good skin hydration. Dehydration happens via perspiring so if you do lots of sport then your water intake should be reasonably proportional to this.

4) Feed yourself plenty of nutrients. You need them as building blocks, as anti-oxidants, as detox fuellers and so on. What nutrients ultimately are available for skin repair depends on what happens in the rest of the body and of course depends on your intake & uptake. I have held a lecture on this which you may find interesting, click here to see it. As a rule of thumb, the more of varied nutrients your body contains, the better it performs (the more fuel in your petrol tank the farther you'll drive).

5) Food goes into your digestive system and a propertion of that is uptaken into the blood. Now it is up to you how well that blood is pumped around. However many nutrients move from your digestive tract into your bloodstream is relatively immaterial if you subsequently do not pump the nutrient-filled-blood around. In my practice I have always explained it like this: if you have a problem site, then 5x more blood passing it means 5x more working molecules that can help it, particularly true in for instance inflammation of tissue but equally true for skin repair & beautification!

6) Local feeding, hurrah it is time for fabulous face masks:

Cooling Facial: Mix the capsule content of 2 Aloeride® capsules with 2 heaped teaspoons of curcumin (turmeric root powder) into 2-3 tablespoons of plain, natural yogurt (no whey as this may make the mask too runny). Apply to your face and neck (avoid eyes) and leave it on for 20 minutes, then gently rinse off with lukewarm water. Turmeric is a member of the ginger family and has potent anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antioxidant properties. It overlaps with Aloeride® which provides an even broader range of constituents. Aloeride® stimulates production of collagen, keratinocyte activity, wound repair, kills pathogens and of course by combining Aloeride® taken by mouth with Aloeride® containing face masks, you help your skin to nutrition from both sides (see diagram). Just relax and rejuvenate.

Dry Skin Facial: Crush the meat of a raw, ripe, organically grown avocado with a sturdy fork, mix in the capsule content of 2 Aloeride® capsules and apply this mixture to your face and neck (avoid eyes) and leave it on for 20 minutes, then gently rinse off with lukewarm water. Avocado contains high levels of unsaponifiable plant steroids (sterolins); vitamins A, D, E, K (fat soluble), B complex, C, beta-carotene; minerals Magnesium, Potassium, Copper, Iron, Calcium; all essential amino acids and then some; Lecithin (the cell membrane component phosphatidyl choline); and more than 20% essential unsaturated fatty acids. This mask may help diminish facial lentigos (liver/age spots) and your beauty inside out approach should include daily ingestion of good oils, a broad spectrum of oil preserving antioxidants and Aloeride® by mouth. Relax and feed your skin back to beauty.

Oily Skin Facial: Blend uncooked oatmeal (absorbent) with an apple (its malic acid dissolves fats) in a blender, add filtered water as necessary with possibly some fresh lemon juice (dissolves fats), mix in the capsule content of 2 Aloeride® capsules and apply this mixture to your face and neck (avoid eyes) and leave it on for 20 minutes, then gently rinse off with lukewarm water. French green clay is another favourite for oily skin, again because of its oil-absorbent property (mix ½ - 1 tablespoon powder to 1-2 tablespoon water). A diet review and hormone balancing should form part of your beauty inside out approach. Clay masks should be used in moderation. Only the fat-soluble toxins present in the oils these masks remove from the skin are removed.

7) Over-exposure to sunlight is unwise at the best of times. How well you bounce back from this is much helped by Aloeride® because of its significant skin repair enhancing properties. On the whole sunlight can do less damage if you (and thus your skin) contain an appropriate level of antioxidants. The Mediterranean diet for instance entails a high consumption legumes, high consumption of fruits, high consumption of vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly yoghurt, bit of cheese), low consumption of meat and meat products, and moderate wine consumption. In all it contains a lot of antioxidants and most locals don't do the "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun" routine, they have looooong lunches in the shade instead.

Your face is your calling card and an interesting question therefore is what would you like people to see? Beyond the quality of your skin we at Aloeride® hope you will also nurture that twinkle of benevolent mischief in your eyes.