Hey Loveys!Happy Tuesday! Tomorrow is hump day already! Where has the time gone? It started raining last night after I finished my run (thank GOD) and it ended by today at noon.... until now, and it's pouring out again. April Showers Brings May Flowers, right?
So yesterday I did my longest run that I've done in a long time. I finished 8.1km in 52:10! It was so nice out when I was out, I got a really good sweat on, felt good the whole time and actually sprinted the last 200m of the run! I got back to my office and stretched the heck out of my legs. I think it's really good that I did because I'm not super sore this morning, however my shins are feeling a bit tender. I've had shin splints in the past and they're SO not fun to deal with. I don't think it's a shin splint however, because they didn't really hurt until tonight when I sprinted from the car into the LCBO (it's a Wine kind of night!) in my ballet flats. I hate running in shoes with no support. Once I ran in flip flops (not a serious run, just a dash from one place to another because I was cold) and a tendon in one of my feet popped out of place and caused me a lot of pain for a while. Ever since then I tend just to walk really quickly if I'm not in running shoes. Anyways - check out this run...
Not too bad! I might actually be prepared for the Toronto Yonge St 10km after all!! I've been feeling really "intense" in terms of wanting to workout lately, so today I hit my upper body hard with a different Trainer Friend that I have. I'm going to name him Second Trainer Friend. He was working out on his lunch break so I basically forced him into working out with me. I didn't want him to put me through a workout, I wanted him to join me in a workout and help push me hard during my workout. So he agreed and we got to it!
Is that hard to read? Sorry... if you click on it, it will get bigger and then you can read it :) Anyways, my shoulders are already sore... my biceps stretch out every time I extend my arms fully, it was an AWESOME workout! It was totally what I needed because it helps me get into my right head space for the rest of my afternoon. It totally worked!
Ok, so I wanted to share some informational tid bits with you today. Basically, things in my life have been fairly hectic for the past week or so, and when I get stressed my skin tends to break out. I normally don't break out often... however when things get insane, all of my pores seem to open up and all hell breaks loose. So I was a bit curious as to why this happens, and what the hell I can do to make it friggen STOP! Here are some informative findings:
* your skin's immunity is impaired when under stress, so it's more susceptible to sun damage which means you should be applying sunscreen more frequently if you're out in the sun.
* stress has been proven to worsen overall skin condition.
* stress induces the adrenal glands into overproduction of cortisol, a steroid, which in turn makes sebaceous glands produce more oil and makes skin extra oily.
* when people are stressed they tend to break out with inflamed, puss-filled (ew!) papules than just the simple white/black heads.
Wonderful. Turns out that's what's going on with moi. Now I wanted to know what I can do naturally to help clear my skin. I found some fairly obvious, and not so obvious, solutions!
1. Avoid sugar and dairy - if you're breaking out on the chin, neck or shoulder area it may be because your body is trying to get rid of stuff it doesn't want, and when that thing is dairy or sugar, it's common that the body tries to excrete it through the lower area of the face.
2. Avoid touching your face at all costs. Dirty hands = dirty face.
3. There are a lot of natural foods that can help clear your skin:
* apple cider vinegar or plain old rubbing alcohol as toner - since both are highly acidic, they get rid of dead skin cells and clean out pores very well, and most of the time works just as well as store bought toner.
* if you have a pimple you need to get rid of by tomorrow, put a dab of honey on it as honey is an antibacterial. Cover it with a band aid and sleep on it! You can also use honey as a face mask, leave it on for an hour and you'll see a better complexion the next day!
* brown sugar as a scrub - use it in the shower once your skin is damp and your pores have opened up from the heat. Scrub the problem area with brown sugar and it will clean out the dirt, dead skin cells, and oil that is clogging your pores. Apply a natural toner after your shower to really get the most out of this!
* egg white face mask - put 2 egg whites in a bowl and beat them until they are consistant. Brush it onto your face and let it sit for 15-20 minutes and the eggs will remove excess oil from your skin.
* ice - when pores are cold, they constrict and force anything that is in them, out of them. Put a bag of ice on the problem area for at least 10 minutes, and then scrub that sucker down and tone it up!
* garlic helps prevent breakouts - smash 2 peeled garlic cloves and get as much juice out of them as you can. Place the juice on your face and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. If you feel like it's burning, wash it off!
Say whaaat? Now you can have a fun spa night with all the goodies in your pantry! Haha, half this stuff I didn't know of before, but I'm so going to try it! I want to technically file this into a "Food For Thought" post since it contains ways to use food to help clear your skin.... Hmm... yep, you know what? I'm totally filing it in there! :).
If you haven't already done so, check out my giveaway! It really is a cool one and I'd love to get more entries since in my last giveaway I had about 1100 entires! :). The Rafflecopter below is how you enter - so get on it already!
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Q: How do you currently look after your skin?
Q: Would you ever consider changing up your skin care regime and use some of the above mentioned items?
