I am back. I have to be honest, I had every intention of getting an amazing newsletter out to you last week (with information I have just been itching to share!), but with jet lag, emails a plenty, private clients, strategy sessions, Ultimate Autumn Cleanse recipe testing (mmm…), and cooking demo prep and class… I decided to practice what I preach and my self-care took priority, thus delay of this snazzy note.

These past couple of weeks have been so wonderful, challenging, and beautiful. My husband and I took a trip to Scotland and Iceland (where my brother met up with us) to celebrate our 1-year anniversary and summer birthdays – woot woot!

Wedding Photo (left); Iceland Photo (right)

The trip gave me some much needed R & R to gather my thoughts and give energy back to all of the creative ideas and programs I have in me just bursting at the seams to offer you guys (and get me prepared for college football season). The trip also gave me insight into a couple health tips and tricks I am SO excited to share with you.

While walking around in Iceland, I was in awe of the beautiful women there – crisp blue eyes, sexy healthy figures (for the most part), and…. gorgeous skin! At first I kind of just stared (yeah, I was that creep), then I started to analyze and figure out what they were doing. After spending a week there, embracing their lifestyle, and eating their foods… I figured out the top 3 things they are doing to facilitate the glow, über longevity and health, and smooth digestion.

The first of the 3 tips… Sulfur (a.k.a. stinky eggs)

This isn’t about getting you to eat rotten eggs… I promise.

One of the main things almost all Icelandini’s (actually called Icelanders but that’s not as fun to say) do daily – take a sweet soak in hot springs. They have a pool in every small town (and I mean small). So, what exactly are they? (If you want to skip the geology and nutrition lesson for the how-to goods, head on down to the “Where can I get me some goodness?” section).

What are these hot springs? 

Oh you know… Thirty-five thousand feet below the surface of the earth, the heat of volcanic rock is released through thousands of fissures that spread out through the earth’s crust. When springs are flowing above these fissures, natural springs of water come to the surface and provide extremely mineral rich hot/warm spring water usually between 104ºF to 126ºF. Minerals in the water include sodium, sulfate, chloride, silica, potassium, calcium, fluoride, magnesium and trace amounts of many more, all of which are good for the inside and outside of the body.

Now that we’ve had our geology lesson…

Why is this good for our skin?

Well, most of our bodies are depleted of minerals due to…the foods we eat (read: coffee, refined flours, and sugar), lack of minerals in our soil and produce from mass agriculture, and stressed-out, overwhelming lifestyles. We need these minerals for our body and cells for function optimally. Since our skin is the largest organ in the body and absorbs much of the minerals through it when we take a hot spring soak, hot springs are fantastic! But, let’s get down to the focus of what we want… gorgeous, glowing skin.  Icelandini’s have this going on – big time. So which one of these hot spring minerals is especially good for the skin and contributes to the Icelandini glow?

Sulfur – which happens to smell like rotten eggs (okay hydrogen sulfide smells like eggs if we want to get technical).

Sulfur is a mineral present in our cells, in particular the cartilage and keratin of skin and hair, and helps maintain oxygen balance for proper brain functioning. Soaking in mineral rich water or eating a diet high in sulfuric foods provides benefits such as improving colon function, regulating blood sugar levels, increasing flexibility in muscle tissues, reducing joint inflammation, pain, and stiffness (especially arthritis), promoting growth of healthy hair and nails, osteoporsis prevention, and…. ta-da…. promoting healthy, glowing skin. Who wouldn’t want some of that goodness?

Where can I get me some goodness?

Now, I get that not everyone has access to these sweet pools. So where else can we get it? There are supplements, but not always the safest bet, most cost efficient, or easy to remember to take… but why not get it from….

WHOLE FOODS

Targeting our health from the inside out is one of the best things we can do for our health.

Foods high in sulfur include:

• cruciferous veggies: kale, cabbage, collards, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, kohlrabi, garlic, leeks, shallots, asparagus, turnips, brussel sprouts
• flax seeds (and most nuts and seeds)
• egg yolks (grass fed/free range please!)
• legumes (beans and lentils)
• raw goat cheese
• seafood

It’s easy to add garlic and onions to a lot of meals as they are big flavor builders, but as for the rest… choose 2-3 meals this week and include at least one of these ingredients. Overtime… you might get the Icelandini glow too. I’m working on mine…

This recipe is sneak peak for the Fall Into Fabulousness – Cleanses this October. I’ve kept the favorite recipes, played with some new ones, and came up with a whole new line up of seasonal fall recipes that you get to chow down on, cleanse while you are at it, and keep for future reference just by participating in the cleanse this fall.