Yesterday, I did a longish interview with an editor at one of the big beauty magazines (I’ll link to the article when it comes out).
She wanted me to recommend my “top 3 beauty tips” for the new year – based on my book Cortisol Control and the Beauty Connection about how stress/cortisol can lead to skin problems.
As we talked, I tried to make the point to her that not only would her readers LOOK better by following my tips, but they would also FEEL better (and athletes would PERFORM better) because the biochemistry of look/feel/perform is all related. That intertwined biochemical balance is really the common theme in all of my books about stress, vigor, weight loss, beauty, and performance.
What were my “3 tips” for her article?
1. Get Your Sleep. Too little sleep (6 hours or less per night) increases cortisol and leads you to higher levels of belly fat and deteriorating skin quality (not to mention fatigue and brain fog). It’s called “beauty rest” for a reason! You can’t “push through” inadequate sleep – so if you’re sleep-deprived, you are going to suffer in terms of appearance (more wrinkles and redness), appetite (greater sugar cravings), and mental/physical performance (sub-par).
2. Balance Your Diet. Every meal and snack should be a balance of lean protein, slow carbs, and healthy fats. I use the Helping Hand approach to eating to guide people in choosing the right balance. This approach ensures not only calorie control, but also biochemical balance of cortisol, glucose, inflammation, and other aspects of biochemistry that can help them feel and look better.
3. Up Your Exercise Intensity. Often referred to as HIIT (high-intensity interval training), this method of exercising takes only about 20 minutes and is more effective than a full hour of lower-intensity “fat-burning” exercise for how you feel and how you look. HIIT alternates hard efforts with easy efforts and is the most effective way to get your cortisol and glucose levels back in balance. HIIT is also effective as a general de-stressor and blood flow promoter – so it’s fantastic for your waistline and your skin tone.
I hope those tips can help you to Look and Feel your best in 2014!
Thanks for reading,
Shawn
