Feel Gorgeous! The Beauty & Health Connection

​Do you feel beautiful?  

I want Au Naturale Nutrition to be the first source of information you think of when it comes to the relationship between nutrition and beauty. That is my mission statement and what I will elaborate on in this post.  For you, my lovelies!!

I like to think I bring some glamour to the realm of holistic health and nutrition. You may have noticed that my tag line is "Radiate Beautiful Health".   My wish is that everyone can feel beautiful, look beautiful, and live a beautiful, vibrant life. I believe the best approach to beauty is by harnessing the power of nutrient-rich whole foods and living a holistic lifestyle.  I want you to positively glow from the inside out!

What I write about is designed to help you feel abundantly healthy, appear nourished, burst with energy, feel grounded in yourself, and radiate a confident, positive attitude. That's my definition of beauty. I'm not talking about the vanity type of beauty (style without substance); nor the kind that compares you to any ridiculous standard perpetuated by the media or advertising.  It is not attached to self worth.  There is absolutely no judgement or perfectionism involved - only self care and self love.   It's about nurturing your body so it will take care of you in return. It's self knowledge and self confidence. It's the beauty that's synonymous with the appearance of vitality, nourishment, and health.
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​Beauty appears differently across cultures, locales, and eras of time, and I embrace that. We're all very different and beauty is very individual. However, a common thread across all varying definitions of beauty is an appearance of health. This includes having facial symmetry, supple skin, lustrous hair, straight teeth, bright eyes, a waist-hip ratio that implies fertility in women, a muscular body composition in men, good posture, and intelligence.  I like to add having a pleasant personality.   

Youthfulness is also a common trait in physical attractiveness. However, I believe we can feel youthful (or not) at any age and that real beauty is not dependent on age.  We will all get older - if we're lucky.  Aging gracefully is the goal, and nutrition is a necessary tool. It helps us not age any faster than necessary. Beauty can be absolutely timeless.

I believe beauty starts from within, and inner beauty reflects who you really are and reveals what is in your soul.  It's how you'll be remembered no matter how pretty you look.  How you choose to behave, interact with others, and react to life can either support or hinder health and beauty. The thoughts you think and your attitudes and emotions will change your genes, affect your health, and eventually be reflected on the outside.  Outer beauty and inner beauty are intricately connected. Without inner beauty, outer beauty is fleeting. I think the expression "being ugly", which is used in the southern US to describe someone who is acting unkind, is very, very fitting.

My definition of beauty is holistic and encompasses the aspects of mind, body, spirit, and emotions.  It's a total lifestyle supportive of health and well-being.  It means controlling chronic stress, and getting plenty of sunshine, exercise, and sleep.  Fun and laughter are required.  It means having deep connections with others and with God and nature.  It means pursuing your dreams and putting your best foot forward.  It means nourishing your body to thrive and feel spectacularly beautiful. It all supports your physical, mental, and spiritual health and it unmistakably shows on the outside.
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Frankly, I like feeling beautiful. While some may think that the pursuit of beauty is not important or purely superficial, I disagree. While some may value beauty more than others, I know we all can appreciate the beauty in nature, art, and music.  It's why you make your bed in the morning; it just makes you feel "put together" and ready to embrace the world.  I also think we like to be happy about our own appearance when we look in the mirror; that it's natural and normal. We all want to be attractive in some way to someone else (and also loved for who we are deep down). This is what helps us find that special someone and experience romantic love, which is also beautiful. Attraction often results in making pretty babies, too, which is necessary to make the world go round.
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​​My nutritional approach to beauty is a simple concept: what nourishes your body to help it be healthy on the inside will also be evident on the outside. When the body is nourished and healthy, homeostasis is evident. This means you are balanced and feel radiant, strong, resistant, resilient, and can enjoy life exactly the way you want to. For example, it shows up as balance in your various hormones, weight distribution, and body composition.   It will be evident in your skin, hair, nails, teeth, and eyes if your body is detoxifying properly, if your body is utilizing ample nutrients, and if your digestion is good.  Nourishment also shows in your energy levels, brain chemistry, and mental and emotional health.

The opposite is also true.  Inflammation, oxidation, nutritional deficiencies, acidity, underlying infections, depleted enzymes, hampered digestion, hormone imbalance, toxins, and chronic stress will rob your body of health, vitality, and beauty. They will be written all over your face, literally, and make you appear older than you are and unhealthy. Poor nutrition and unhealthy lifestyle practices will zap your energy, cause weight issues, create hormone imbalances, deplete brain chemicals, progress the stages of disease, cause accelerated aging, and make you feel less than beautiful.

I believe that if we first pursue to be the healthiest we can be, beauty will most assuredly be a happy consequence. I can personally testify that I have made many unwise choices in the pursuit of my media-influenced definition of outer beauty, only to have them backfire and cause real health issues.  I wish I had valued my health, considered the long-term effects of my choices, and possessed the right information about nutrition. I did learn this eventually, and now it's my life's passion. It is my hope that someone new will come across my work looking for beauty tips and instead learn about the amazing power that nutrition has on beauty and overall well-being.  If you already have this awareness, I hope I can help you fine tune your nutrition. If you've come across my work because you feel your beauty is diminishing, shoring up your nutritional status will surely be helpful, too.
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Read much more in my free ebook, "Prettier by the Plate: Nutrition for Natural Beauty."  You're going to love it!

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​Source about the common traits of physical attractiveness: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_attractiveness

Read more about beauty & nutrition in my previous articles:

• Are You Struggling with a Poor Body Image?
• Be Beautiful with Antioxidants!
• Bone Broth Makes you Beautiful!
• Are Toxins Making You Fat? The Connection.
• Inflammation: The Spark that Ignites Disease

Which foods should you eat to feel beautiful? Whole foods!
Get my free e-book, Make a FRESH START with Whole Foods  ;-)

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