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Talking Wellness with Peter: Eating a Healthy Breakfast

In this video, Dr. Peter Borten shares a bunch of easy and yummy variations of “jook” (Chinese for porridge) that will send you on your way feeling nourished and full… Read More

Here's a favorite from the Best of The Dragontree archives! We'd love your input about what works for your skin in the comments below!

When you think about people, chances are you think about skin. Most of what we see that isn’t covered up by clothing is skin, after all. Humans are skin bags. Sorry, did that make you feel kind of gross? Anyway, like it or not, the quality of our skin can have a big influence on how others perceive us. It’s why we get so distressed by things like acne, wrinkles, birthmarks, warts, and scars, even though they don’t actually compromise our function or health.

When people come to me for help with a cosmetic skin issue, they often act a bit sheepish about it, as if they believe I’ll consider them shallow for caring about their appearance. But I recognize how much our feelings about our appearance affect our happiness and the way we relate to others. I think that as long as we’re not obsessive about it, we should do whatever we need to do to feel pretty or handsome.

Skin health is an expression of overall health. This doesn’t mean you won’t get wrinkles if you’re healthy, but even a wrinkly face can look vibrant if it’s part of a vibrant body and spirit. Last month I discussed some basics of vehicle maintenance – i.e., taking care of your body – with regard to nutrition and digestion. Now I’m going to cover basic mechanics and maintenance of your skin.

There are a number of factors that affect skin quality, including genetics, climate (wind, dryness, sun, chlorine, smoke, pollution, etc.), and our internal environment, to name just a few. We have more control over certain factors than others. Obviously, your skin will need different things in a dry, windy place than in a hot, damp place. But regardless of your particulars, there are two main things worth focusing on for healthy skin: good nutrition and good detoxification.

This week I’ll focus on detoxification. Most naturopathic physicians see dull skin and chronic skin problems as an expression of internal toxicity, which often results from digestive imbalance and/or a sluggish liver, plus a history of exposure to chemicals and/or problematic foods. When we cleanse the liver and gut (and support the lungs and kidneys while we’re at it) skin problems frequently clear up. Even without rashes or other obvious problems, our skin tends to be flat, dry, or irritated when our detoxification mechanisms aren’t at their best.

Here are five basic starting points for supporting internal and external detoxification:

Drink plenty of water. The body functions better when well hydrated, and this includes our detoxification mechanisms. I recommend drinking half the number of pounds you weigh as ounces of water per day (thus, a 100 pound person would drink 50 ounces of water). And this should be consumed evenly over the course of the say, and should not be ice cold.
Make sure your bowels are moving regularly. Constipated people are retaining toxins in the colon for longer than is healthy. If you’re not having at least one big, complete feeling bowel movement a day, here are some measures you can take. Try drinking a glass of hot water first thing in the morning. Adding some honey may help. Consider prune juice if necessary. As I mentioned above, be sure to get enough water throughout the day. Eat plenty of good fats for lubrication (olive oil, walnuts, chia seed, flax seed, oily fish, coconut and coconut oil, avocado, etc.) and plenty of fiber to scrub your colon. Get exercise that engages your abdominal muscles. Stop tensing your abdomen throughout the day if this is a habit of yours. If you need more help, get some powdered magnesium (such as Natural Calm) and gradually increase the dose until your bowels start moving more freely.
Practice dry skin brushing. Get a natural fiber skin brush and brush over all of your skin, always working toward the heart. Start at your toes, brushing firmly up your feet and legs, going over the same area a few times, and gradually coming up the legs to the torso. Work from the fingers to the torso next. Then cover the torso itself. Be gentle over delicate areas, and don’t brush so hard that it hurts. When done, jump in the shower, finish with cool water, and then give yourself a quick massage with a high quality oil, like jojoba, coconut, or sesame.
Sweat. You can induce sweating through exercise (a great option) or through heat (sauna). Take a cool shower afterwards. Sweat carries toxins, including heavy metals, out of our bodies. Spending a long time in a medium hot sauna, just to the point of glistening skin, is more sustainable than going into a very hot sauna and dripping sweat.
As a basic cleanse, consider abstaining from all grains, meat, dairy products, nightshade family vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, peppers), and anything processed. The bulk of your diet should be vegetables, including some raw greens (bitter ones are good), and basic homemade soups. Some fruit is ok, but veggies are best. If you need something starchy, bake a sweet potato in foil at 400 degrees for 90 minutes. Try it for one to seven days. You’ll feel great, and your skin will become more clear. On an ongoing basis, try a low dose liver cleansing formula such as silymarin (milk thistle), artichoke, and turmeric (you can get this as a premade formula called S.A.T. made by Thorne), or just take plain milk thistle or dandelion.

Give these strategies a try and report in the comments section on your results. Stay tuned for more on nutrition for healthy skin next week.

Be well,

Dr. Peter Borten

[post_title] => Skin Care 101: 5 Detox Strategies for Better Skin [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => skin-care-101-5-detox-strategies-better-skin [to_ping] => [pinged] => https://www.acnefoundation.org/best-pore-vacuum/ [post_modified] => 2020-07-28 19:38:39 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-07-28 19:38:39 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://thedragontree.com/?p=7053 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 5 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 7239 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2019-01-23 19:01:07 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-01-23 19:01:07 [post_content] => I often wish I had time in the treatment room to teach my patients about nutrition. Nutrition is an important issue for a few reasons. First, because we’ve greatly reduced the number of deaths from accidents and infections, most people in developed countries now die from conditions that are influenced by long-term eating habits: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. Second, we have different nutritional challenges today than ever before. For most of human history, people ate to survive and barely had a choice of what to eat – but it was entirely natural and mostly local. Now our choices are dizzying, much of our food is created or processed in factories, and there are all kinds of new unknowns – such as the influence of pesticides, chemicals used in production and packaging, and nonstick coatings on cookware. Third, in the nutrition conversation, everyone is yelling at once, and most of the participants have no qualifications to give nutritional advice or interpret scientific studies. Thousands of bloggers, journalists, self-styled “bio-hackers,” and medical professionals have an opinion about what people should and shouldn’t eat, save for a very few places that tell you what's proper for you. There’s so much sensationalism and contradiction. I believe people need a clear, consistent philosophy on nutrition that doesn’t change with every new study. This inspired me to create an online course called How to Eat. It teaches traditional wisdom on nutrition, backed by modern science, in a format that’s easy to digest (I couldn’t resist). It’s designed to give someone an understanding of how and what to eat that makes so much sense that there’s no need to memorize anything. But I’m realistic about modern attention spans, so I know I’m lucky if I’ve kept you reading even this long, and you probably want to know what that title is all about. If I were to distill my nutrition teachings down to one rule, it would be this: Stay conscious while eating. I used to say the single most important rule was something I learned from one of my nutrition teachers, Dr. Paul Greenbaum: eat food that’s whole, pure, and natural. I still think this is great advice, but now I know that, even following this rule, it’s still possible to eat in a way that isn’t good for you. I eat pretty cleanly, but a few months ago I started experiencing abdominal bloating. My belly would get as big and tight as a basketball; I could barely walk and was in agonizing pain. I tried some herbs and supplements and started eating only very simple foods, but it barely made a difference. Finally, I stopped eating entirely and the bloating went away, but of course I knew I couldn’t fast forever. When I did finally eat again, I ate with all my attention. I chewed well and felt into my body and did nothing else at the same time. I just gave all of my presence to what I was doing. I noticed that my body wanted only about two-thirds as much food as what I expected and that it wanted to be fed that food at a relatively slow pace. Doing this, I digested everything well. I ate the very same foods as before, but had no bloating. I realized then that I had gotten into the bad habit of eating unconsciously. I had forgotten my own teachings, and was eating while working, while driving, and while walking through the house. It was all better until yesterday. In the mid-afternoon I started to feel the bloating coming on and I realized I had been eating unconsciously again! Sometimes I like to learn things the hard way. Now obviously you’re not going completely unconscious while eating (if you are, I highly recommend you don’t eat while driving), but we all let our minds stray while eating. Sometimes we’re just daydreaming. Other times our mind is actively engaged in something else, like having a conversation, or reading the news, or playing on our phone, or watching TV. There are (at least) three good things that happen when we stay conscious while eating: 1. The eating process tends to work better. We're relaxed, we consume at a healthier pace, the body assimilates it better, and I believe we probably derive more nutritional value from the food. 2. We notice and can respond to the subtle (or not-so-subtle) messages our body is giving us, such as, “I’m not hungry anymore” or “This food is not compatible with me” or “Slow down.” You can learn virtually everything you need to know about how to best feed yourself – both the specific foods and the ideal time and manner to eat them – just by giving all of your attention to the act of eating. 3. We have an amazing opportunity. Truly. I believe that most people may never experience just how profound the act of eating is. This profundity is only available when we give it our full attention. Then we start to get an inkling of it . . .

. . . the complexity of colors, textures, flavors, and nutrients in the food . . . the incredible sophistication and intelligence of the human body; its ability to extract what it needs from the food and turn it into energy, blood, muscle, bone, and the capacity to remain conscious and sharp . . . the whole ecology we’re part of – the sun and the almost magical ability of plant cells to turn its light into biological energy; the constructive roles of soil and water; the human labor and the care that was taken to cultivate this food; and the lineage of thousands of generations of plants and animals that were intentionally chosen for the purpose of nourishing us.

When we have an experience of just how special this is – we see ourselves putting the universe into ourselves and being sustained by it and connected to it in the process – eating is no longer just about making the hungry feeling go away or enjoying pleasant tastes. It could be our spiritual practice. It unites us with our environment. And it compels us to consider the impacts of our choices on this beautiful system. So, if you do just one thing to intervene in your nutrition routine, I recommend that it’s this. When you eat, give the act all of your attention. If you can’t give it all of your attention, then eat minimally and slowly, or wait until a time when you can give it your attention. Then tell me what happens. Love, Peter

Learn more about the 'How To Eat' online course [post_title] => The Single Most Important Rule for Good Nutrition [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => single-important-rule-good-nutrition [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-07-28 15:39:36 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-07-28 15:39:36 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://thedragontree.com/?p=7239 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 5 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8519 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-02-18 22:20:44 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-02-18 22:20:44 [post_content] => I love cookies of all kinds. At times my wife or kids have made a batch of cookies and – after they each tried one – I quietly finished off all the rest. So I know a thing or two about restraint and lack thereof. Last week I wrote about smoking and a process for making quitting easier. Today let’s look at how we can adapt this process for a healthier relationship with food. Often we eat in a way that’s out of sync with what’s best for the body (and mind). The most prevalent example is overeating – i.e., eating beyond the point at which we’re no longer hungry. We do this for many reasons: because the food is tasty, because we were taught to empty our plate, because we don’t want to waste food or insult the cook, because of biological mechanisms designed to protect us against famine, or because we’re simply eating on “autopilot.” Another example is low quality foods. High sugar foods, for example, can suppress the immune system, cause excessive weight gain, promote inflammation, and lead to insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes). Deep fried foods have similar impacts – promoting inflammation and contributing to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancer. I won’t list all the examples here, but if it’s highly processed, contains artificial colors and flavors, white flour, chemical preservatives, or was purchased at a gas station, it probably falls into this category. Other foods may be essentially benign but not good for a given individual because of a personal sensitivity. Since starting to treat people in the late 90s, I’ve seen a huge increase in patients’ awareness of the foods they’re sensitive to. On the whole this is a great thing, though it’s not always easy for people to avoid these foods – even knowing they’ll feel bad later. For what it’s worth, I try not to entirely forbid any foods, because of the repercussions of setting up a system of deprivation and rebellion. Besides, we can only maintain discipline for so long. Our willpower wanes when we’re tired, hungry, or stressed. And we all occasionally find ourselves in dining situations where there simply aren’t healthy options. I believe there’s a time and place for almost any food – including cheesecake and French fries – as long as we practice moderation and mindfulness. When these foods constitute a significant portion of our diet, and/or we’re experiencing negative impacts from consuming them, and/or we can’t control ourselves, this should tell us that something needs to change. For the bulk of our history as a species, food scarcity was one of our main challenges. Now, in much of the world, this has been replaced by the challenge of restraint. Healthy restraint with food can be as challenging as dealing with a smoking addiction or alcoholism. At least a smoker or alcoholic has the option of entirely removing cigarettes and alcohol from their life. But we’re obligated to keep eating. The closest equivalent we can exercise is to remove from our cupboards the foods that we have the most difficulty with. Furthermore, almost everyone has beliefs and baggage wrapped up around food and body image, which complicates our relationship with eating. My purpose today isn’t to completely unpack this whole topic, but to just address one aspect of the pattern – restraint around eating in a way that we know isn’t good for us. Here are seven steps you can take to feel clearer and stronger about what you feed your body: 1: Setting the stage and loving yourself. Make it easy for yourself to succeed and harder for yourself to overeat, to eat unconsciously, or to eat foods that aren’t good for you. These choices are about avoiding or cleaning up the environments that promote poor eating habits; setting some basic ground rules for yourself – except we’re not going to call them rules, but basic standards; honoring the process of nourishing yourself; and remembering that you are worth treating yourself well. Eat only in a proper dining setting – not at your desk, not in front of a TV, not while driving, not between meals, not while in a meeting – you’re better than that. Get the junky stuff out of your house. Don’t go to fast food restaurants. Tell your coworkers you’re not eating that stuff anymore, so please don’t even offer you a cupcake – you’re better than that too! Bring your own lunch. Eat a healthy meal before the party. Don’t hang out by the food table. 2: Use empowering language. Instead of telling yourself, “I can’t eat that donut” or “I shouldn’t eat those French fries,” use verbiage that conveys power and choice. Some examples: “I don’t eat garbagey foods. I don’t put that crap in my beautiful body. I choose to be a healthy eater. I choose to love myself so much that I only eat really high quality food. I don’t overeat. I choose to stop eating before I’m full. I feel great when I feed myself well.” 3: Slow down and breathe. Slowing down the eating process makes it easier to perceive when you’ve had enough, and also to feel if your body doesn’t like what or how you’re eating. Before you eat something you know isn’t great for you, take at least one deep breath. You’re creating space so that the behavior isn’t automatic and unconscious. 4: Tune in to the underlying feeling. If you’re wanting to eat something unhealthy, or to continue eating even though you know you’re not hungry anymore, tune in to the feeling that’s urging you to do this. Just take a moment to visit it. If it helps, tell yourself, “You can still have the treat afterwards. We just going to do this first.” Often this feeling is below your radar and you respond to it unconsciously by eating and eating. Let’s make it conscious. Drop into your body and feel what’s happening. What does it feel like? An anxious, unsettled feeling? An empty, yearning feeling? Numbness? Whatever you feel, see if you can simply be with it for a moment, without any resistance. Let yourself feel it fully. Take a breath into it. Allow it to pass through you and depart. What happens? Even if you still eat the food in question, this is nonetheless a useful process. 5: Ask your body. If you’re on the verge of eating in an unhealthy way, just take a second to ask inwardly, “How do you feel about my eating this?” Then feel and listen for the response. Maybe you won’t perceive anything, but maybe you’ll feel a very clear, “No thanks” or “I’m good” or “Sure!” or “Please don’t.” I know you haven’t always loved the way your body has looked and felt and performed for you, but consider being friends with it and honoring its feelings about what’s best for it. 6: Give all your attention to the act of eating. It would be excellent if we could all give our full attention to the act of eating throughout every meal. Eating mindlessly doesn’t just make us prone to doing something that’s not good for us, it also means we’re missing out on fully enjoying the food and missing out on the beautiful, sacred, self-loving act of feeding ourselves and connecting to the fruitful earth that provided it. It’s especially useful to give your full attention to the act when you’re knowingly eating in a way that’s not ideal for you. Let’s say you decide to have some chocolate mousse. You know it’s not a health food, but it’s going to be incredibly delicious, and sometimes that’s a worthwhile tradeoff, because savoring deliciousness has some value too. This only makes sense, of course, if you’re going to be fully present for the deliciousness experience. Enjoy the hell out of it. Don’t speak. Don’t listen to anything but your own chewing and moaning. Don’t go fast. 7: Let go of the guilt. I know it’s easier said than done, but let’s not add insult to injury. Guilt is the worst thing you can sprinkle over your meal. I believe that feelings of guilt, shame, and self-hate have a tangible impact on what happens to that food after you’ve eaten it. You’re not going to digest it as well, be nourished as thoroughly, or clear out the waste as efficiently if you’re in emotional upset about it. If you’re feeling heavy afterwards, take at least a moment to forgive yourself. It’s understandable that you would eat this way, because it’s SO freakin’ scrumptious. It’s understandable that you would eat this way, because you’re stressed and eating is soothing. It’s understandable that you would eat this way, because your ancestors didn’t have enough to eat and wired you to eat as much as you could when you had the chance. It’s understandable that you would eat this way, because you’re upset with yourself or displeased with your body. It’s understandable that you would eat this way, because it makes you feel more in control. It’s understandable that you would eat this way to get back at people who have mistreated you or objectified your body. It’s understandable that you would eat this way, because you’re upset with the world for telling you to look like an ideal that’s only possible for a small portion of the population. It’s understandable that you would eat this way, because you feel deprived or lonely or sad or ungrounded or empty or anxious. All of this is understandable. AND, you know that there are healthier ways to feel better than by taking it out on your body. Ask your body to forgive you for not always treating it well. Thank your body for being the vehicle that has made this incredible life possible. Take ownership of your body. Forgive your body. Love your body. Be well, Peter [post_title] => Seven Steps for Managing the Habit of Unhealthy Eating [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => seven-steps-for-managing-the-habit-of-unhealthy-eating [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-02-18 22:25:01 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-02-18 22:25:01 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8519 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 6 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) ) [post_count] => 3 [current_post] => -1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 7053 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2018-06-19 16:57:38 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-06-19 16:57:38 [post_content] =>

Here's a favorite from the Best of The Dragontree archives! We'd love your input about what works for your skin in the comments below!

Here are five basic starting points for supporting internal and external detoxification:

Drink plenty of water. The body functions better when well hydrated, and this includes our detoxification mechanisms. I recommend drinking half the number of pounds you weigh as ounces of water per day (thus, a 100 pound person would drink 50 ounces of water). And this should be consumed evenly over the course of the say, and should not be ice cold.
Make sure your bowels are moving regularly. Constipated people are retaining toxins in the colon for longer than is healthy. If you’re not having at least one big, complete feeling bowel movement a day, here are some measures you can take. Try drinking a glass of hot water first thing in the morning. Adding some honey may help. Consider prune juice if necessary. As I mentioned above, be sure to get enough water throughout the day. Eat plenty of good fats for lubrication (olive oil, walnuts, chia seed, flax seed, oily fish, coconut and coconut oil, avocado, etc.) and plenty of fiber to scrub your colon. Get exercise that engages your abdominal muscles. Stop tensing your abdomen throughout the day if this is a habit of yours. If you need more help, get some powdered magnesium (such as Natural Calm) and gradually increase the dose until your bowels start moving more freely.
Practice dry skin brushing. Get a natural fiber skin brush and brush over all of your skin, always working toward the heart. Start at your toes, brushing firmly up your feet and legs, going over the same area a few times, and gradually coming up the legs to the torso. Work from the fingers to the torso next. Then cover the torso itself. Be gentle over delicate areas, and don’t brush so hard that it hurts. When done, jump in the shower, finish with cool water, and then give yourself a quick massage with a high quality oil, like jojoba, coconut, or sesame.
Sweat. You can induce sweating through exercise (a great option) or through heat (sauna). Take a cool shower afterwards. Sweat carries toxins, including heavy metals, out of our bodies. Spending a long time in a medium hot sauna, just to the point of glistening skin, is more sustainable than going into a very hot sauna and dripping sweat.
As a basic cleanse, consider abstaining from all grains, meat, dairy products, nightshade family vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, peppers), and anything processed. The bulk of your diet should be vegetables, including some raw greens (bitter ones are good), and basic homemade soups. Some fruit is ok, but veggies are best. If you need something starchy, bake a sweet potato in foil at 400 degrees for 90 minutes. Try it for one to seven days. You’ll feel great, and your skin will become more clear. On an ongoing basis, try a low dose liver cleansing formula such as silymarin (milk thistle), artichoke, and turmeric (you can get this as a premade formula called S.A.T. made by Thorne), or just take plain milk thistle or dandelion.

Give these strategies a try and report in the comments section on your results. Stay tuned for more on nutrition for healthy skin next week.

Be well,

Dr. Peter Borten

You may also be interested in:

Skin Care 101: 5 Detox Strategies for Better Skin

The Single Most Important Rule for Good Nutrition

Seven Steps for Managing the Habit of Unhealthy Eating

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