It benefits your belly, but what about when you apply it to your face?...
So it’s not the first time you would have heard the key to optimum health lies in your digestive system, and how having a healthy gut actually means better skin too. Well, new studies have shown that by adding probiotics to your skincare, actually applying them to your face, will help reduce inflammation and redness, calm breakouts and help to seal in moisture. This is all because it restores good bacteria, in much the same way it does when you digest it. Carla Oates, founder of The Beauty Chef is a great advocate of “beauty begins in the belly”. She says the first step to healthy, radiant skin is balancing digestive health and that fermented foods give you dense, super charged nutrition. “I’m a big believer that beautiful skin starts on the inside. It’s where hormones are metabolised, where we make our nutrients, where our immune system lies and toxins are eliminated, so it’s no surprise that when this is out of balance, it impacts the skin affecting its elasticity and collagen production.” Back in 2011, Oates launched her highly successful Inner Beauty Powder, which uses the fermentation process to create live beneficial bacteria to help restore the balance in the gut. She then realised this fermentation process could be added to skincare products, giving the same benefits to the skin. “My skincare products are literally alive with beneficial bacteria containing a variety of lactobacillus strains, and when combined with nutrients from super foods they nourish and balance the skin reducing inflammation and skin conditions like rosacea and acne,” she says. Don’t forget to add probiotic-rich foods to your diet too, as they are so rich in nutrients and help to achieve complexion perfection. Foods like kefir, miso soup, kombucha and fermented veggies are gut friendly and powders like Amazonia Raw Pre-Probiotic and Carla Oates Glow Inner Beauty Powder will help to give you that glow from within. Words: Sarah Brooks-Wilson Photo: Julie Adams Hair and makeup: Elsa Morgan Probiotic skincare to try:
