Festive eating can have a negative effect on your skin (psst read more on this in our past post here), and we get how hard it is to bounce back! So, we have come up with suggestions of how you can atone for your bingeing sins through exercise, diet and skincare. First off, exercise is the best way to detox and also lose weight at the same time. Getting your heart rate up will get your blood moving faster through your body, which in turn will mean that more blood flows through important detoxification organs such as the liver and the lymph nodes. These organs can then function more efficiently in purifying and detoxifying your body of foods like alcohol. Moreover, you also take in more oxygen when your heart rate increases, and you perspire, which gets rid of toxins from within through sweat. Choose workouts that increase your heart rate (like swimming) and encourages sweat production (like hot yoga or Bikram Yoga).
On top of exercise, you can also make healthier choices in your diet in order to detox from within. Make small changes like nomming on the leftover oranges that people bring over or that you didn’t manage to give away. Oranges are a great source of vitamin C to boost your immunity as well as to recover from that pesky hangover! You can reboot your body by committing to drinking 8 glasses of water (2L) everyday, which will not only help replenish lost fluids from alcohol consumption, but will give you hydrated glowy skin.
Another secret to successfully cleanse is to take care of your gut health which will improve overall skin health, since the gastrointestinal tract is also a detoxification organ! Peppermint tea can reduce bloating and indigestion after a heavy meal, and probiotics can increase good bacteria in the gut, which can reduce skin inflammations like acne (source).
Another one of my favourite ways to kick off a cleanse is to replace my breakfast with a smoothie. Blend bananas, frozen blueberries, oats and almond or soy milk to make a creamy, vegan friendly smoothie that is easy to make and fills you up till lunch.
Most importantly, you must also take care of your skin after your days of celebration. No matter how tired you are, it is important to cleanse off make up properly and exfoliate thoroughly before going to bed. This helps reduce the number of clogged pores that come from wearing make-up all day and will reduce the potential of having a pesky zit or a breakout in the morning. If you consumed a lot of oily, fried or heaty snacks, you might experience breakouts. Use a clay mask to absorb sebum and purify the skin. If you also consumed alcohol, you can use a hydrating mask and also an eye mask to prevent your eye area from drying out and increasing the risk of having crow’s feet. So here you go. Here are some tips from Balm Kitchen to ensure you get a holistic cleanse after your festive eating.
The easiest way to kick-off your post-festivities detox is to make it a habit to properly remove your makeup at the end of your day. Do this with Balm Kitchen’s Cleanse combo. The power trio are the Floral Cleansing Water, Rejuvenate Cleansing Balm & Mask and the Bamboo Facial Polish. These superheroes work in combination to remove makeup, sunscreen, excessive sebum, pollutants and dry skin.
(photos courtesy of Toby Tan)
