Showing all posts in March 2023

As we start getting older, it’s time to think about vitamin D.

It is known as the sunshine Vitamin, because your skin actually produces it with sunshine.

It’s a wonderful vitamin which plays a central role in many body processes.

And is on the A-list for women during menopause!

Studies have linked it to preventing or helping heart disease, osteoporosis, Diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular Disease, High blood pressure and Obesity.

It has an integral role in the skin protection and rejuvenation and contributes to skin cell growth, repair and metabolism.

It also enhances the skin’s immune system while boosting cell turnover and helps destroy free radicals that cause premature ageing. It can help treat conditions like dryness, acne, psoriasis, eczema and vitiligo.

Vitamin D is unique in that it functions more like a hormone than a vitamin.

Be aware of your intake of vitamin D as you approach menopause because research is discovering its role in the prevention of many diseases and conditions that are more common as you age.

Research has also shown that vitamin D is involved in the production of the hormone melatonin, which helps regulate your circadian rhythm and sleep.

Who doesn’t want a good night sleep?

As estrogen falls, it weakens our bones but vitamin D works to slow down and minimise that process. It helps absorb calcium and building bones, but it is involved in many other processes that protect you from disease and health problems.

If your tired and rundown and you keep getting sick, it could be that your vitamin D is too low. Some studies show that it can help balance your emotions and mood and is considered to be one of the most important vitamins during menopause.

Symptoms of low Vitamin D may include tiredness, weakness, muscle, back and bone pain. You could be more prone to infections. Your skin can be slow to heal! You may feel low, risking you falling into depression.

It is estimated that about a quarter of adults in the UK do not get enough Vitamin D and as the skin gets older it makes less Vitamin D. So, topping up with a supplement can be a good idea.

Sources of vitamin D

• oily fish – such as salmon, sardines, herring and mackerel

• red meat

• liver

• egg yolks

• fortified foods – such as some fat spreads and breakfast cereals

And get a good supplement too.

Let me know if you would like a recommendation.

Recommend intakes are 600-800 IU but check with your doctor to find out what you recommend intake is, as some studies show you may need more depending on certain factors!

You can take a simple blood test at home to check if your levels of Vitamin D are enough and if there not, you can correct it. Taking the test will give you peace of mind that your vitamin D-levels are enough.

It is recommended to take the test every 4 months to monitor your status and adapt your intake and lifestyle according to seasonal variations.

I have felt so much better since topping up my vitamin D.

Do you take vitamin D? Let me know by sending me a message on Facebook or Instagram. I would love to know.

We are building a community of support on Fb so If you haven’t already joined, you can do it by clicking the link below.

(7) The High Vibe Menopause Cafe, let’s chat symptoms ,self-care and wellbeing | Facebook

Sending you Love & support.

Helena

XxX

Taking the time during your nightly routine to massage your skin has so many benefits including relieving stress, anxiety, and improving sleep.

Stress can wreak havoc on your immune system and can cause damage to your skin. The skin is the largest organ in the body, so it is important to take care of it, and one way is through self-massage. It increases blood flow bringing much needed nutrients to the skin, it also pushes toxins through the lymphatic system to flush the out of the body.

By boosting the lymphatic drainage, it can improve your skin tone, texture and help decrease puffiness and eliminate any toxins that may have built up in the skin. It also helps stimulates the production of collagen; the protein responsible for the skin’s elasticity.

It will also brighten your skin to give a healthy glow, so come on let’s take some self-care time every night and show our skin some love by massaging our products into our skin.

Something to remember is that anything you use on your face and body from soap, perfume, lotions, potions and make up gets absorbed into your skin so check your ingredients and make sure they aren’t harmful.

My favourite tools in my hands, Gua sha and my Roller. I use rose quartz, but you can use a jade one too. 

Rose quartz crystals are said to stimulate blood circulation, clear away toxins and impurities, and unblock energies connected to the heart chakra. 

It is like meditation for your skin. 

As it glides over your skin it will relax and calm your muscles, increasing the blood flow to bring oxygen and nutrients to your skin, giving you a more youthful healthy glow and can dramatically improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Just as we carry tension in our neck and shoulders, we also carry a lot of tension in our face, which contributes to the forming of wrinkles. 

Rose quartz was used by the Romans and Greeks in their beauty treatments and is known as the love stone and helps promote peace and wellness. 

It became popular when the Qing Empress used it on her face to keep her looking youthful and glowing. 

Gua sha is a traditional Chinese medicine practice in which a tool is used to release toxins and increase blood flow to rejuvenate the skin.

but using your hands are effective too and you can’t underestimate the power of human touch so whatever tool you choose know It will help your products work better too! 

So, after cleansing and applying your balancing lotion, apply your eye cream, then serum to your face, neck and chest with your hands, then apply moisturizer and start massaging with the roller, start at the neck, working your way up to jaw line, over the cheeks and along the forehead, flip it around to the smaller roller for eyes and around mouth, repeating each move three times. Then apply moisturiser. 

Some of the benefits are- 

• Improves skin elasticity 
• acne
• promotes circulation and even skintone
• Reduces puffiness and wrinkles 
• promotes relaxations and soothe anxiety
• improves lymphatic drainage 
• Helps skins absorption of serums and creams. 
• Can help relieve sinus pressure.

Tip, keep it in the fridge. 

A study showed that 54% of woman reported more supple skin after taking time to massage their skin, and 50% felt their skin tighter. So, it’s time to massage away that tension and smooth the appearance of lines and wrinkles and enhance our glow.

Do you take the time for a self-care massage? Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear from you, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook and let’s chat or if you have any questions. I am here to help you glow.

As always sending you love and support.

Helena

XxX

Vitamin B Complex is vital in maintaining good health and wellbeing, it is a water-soluble vitamin and has direct impact on your energy levels, brain functions, cell metabolism and hormones.

It plays an important role in the creation and activation of estrogen in the body, the hormone that plays a vital role in the sexual and reproductive development in woman as well as skin, hair, brain and more. B vitamin complex helps prevent infections and support healthy cells.

Low levels of Vitamin B complex can increase anxiety and irritability.

If your levels are low your body doesn’t handle stress well, which can increase during perimenopause and menopause. It can cause you to feel tired and lack lustre. As we age our digestion changes and we can absorb less of vitamin B, and we may need a supplement, but always check with your doctor.

I used to get extremely tired. I felt like I was hit with a bus most morning and suffered from bounding headaches but since I have upped my Vitamin B intake I don’t have as many headaches, and I have so much more energy but that was just part of my lifestyle changes to a healthier me. It is important to take ownership and be curious about your health.

Some signs for you to look out for, you may have a deficiency.

• Skin rashes
• Problems with your vision
• Dry cracked lips, sore tongue, mouth ulcers
• Fatigue and Weakness
• Confusion
• Irritable
• Cramps, muscle weakness
• Nausea, Diarrhoea and Constipation
• Numbness/Tingling in hands and feet
• Headaches

Breakdown on each one.

B1-Thiamine Is important for metabolism by helping convert nutrients into energy.

B2-Riboflavin helps convert food into energy and is an antioxidant.

B3- Niacin is important for healthy cells and is good for skin repair.

B5 -Pantothenic acid is Important for metabolism, hormones and cholesterol.

B6-Pyridoxine helps with mood swings, feeling low, brain fog and helps with memory.

B9-Folate for healthy blood and cell growth. It can be effective in reducing hot flushes.

B7-Biotin helps with health hair and nails.

B12-Cyanocoblamin for healthy blood and nerve cells.

WHAT VITAMIN B HELPS WITH

• Cell health
• Growth of red blood cells
• Energy levels
• Healthy brain function
• Good digestion
• Nerve function
• Hormones and Cholesterol production
• Cardiovascular health
• Muscle tone

Vitamin B is also essential for healthy skin-

• B12 helps repair skin damage and promotes healthy cells.
• B1 helps improve the appearance of lines and wrinkles, it helps with irritation.
• B2 improves skin tone and helps balance the skins natural oils.
• B3 supports your skins natural defences and defends against environmental assaults.
• B5 helps keep your skin hydrated, calm and supple.
• B6 helps with hormonal imbalance that can lead to inflammation.
• B7 helps revitalise dull aging skin.
• B9 helps with congested skin.

SOURCES OF VITAMIN B

• Eggs

• Seafood

• Dairy products

• Leafy greens

• Red Meats

• Chicken

• Mushrooms

• Pulses, chickpeas and lentils

So, making sure you are incorporating foods that contain the B vitamins, and if needed a high-quality supplement of Vitamin b complex could help ease some of the menopausal symptoms you are having. It definitely helped me.

Are you taking enough Vitamin B?

Hope this helps, let me know in the comments or send a message on FB or Insta

Sending you love and support.

Helena

XxX

You have probably heard its international woman’s day today, and it’s important to use it to promote womans health and wellbeing especially now where it is becoming increasingly hard to be celebrated as a woman.

It all started with the Socialist party of America. They celebrated the first national womans day in New York. Woman were fighting for better working conditions and for an increase in wages. It’s strange how we are still fighting this battle today. Then in 1910, Clara Zetkin womans rights advocate proposed the idea of a global international day.

The first international womans day started on March 1911, there was more than a million woman who took part from Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland but it took until 1975 before the United Nations to not only recognize it but to celebrate “Woman”.

The symbol for it is the female gender symbol with the colours purple, green and white.

Purple is for dignity and justice; green is for hope and white is for purity. The colours originated from the womans socialist and political union in the Uk in 1908.

There is a day’s theme every year since 1996, the theme that year was “celebrating the past, planning the future” and last year it was highlighting gender bias. This year it is #embraceequality

Embracing equality for menopausal woman needs more focus, I know that is hard because unless you are a WOMAN who has or is going through menopause it can be hard to understand never mind explain to others, we need to come together and keep raising awareness, keep sharing our stories and keep supporting each other.

Use today to support womanity could just be a quick hi or a hug, give her a shout out online or take a friend or colleague for coffee.

We also should take this time to stop judging “her”, until you have walked in “her” shoes, you don’t know what she has had to deal with or what she is going through right now just like others don’t know what you are going through.

We were taught to put a brave face on and smile, that smile can hide so much pain and suffering and we just don’t see it. Instead, let’s s just be a trusted confidante or someone who offers a helping hand to ease some of the pressure because let’s face it, we are living in a crazy world with so much confusion and people don’t seem to care as much. I find that sad.

Meriela Dabbah who is the founder of #theredshoemovement a movement that helps others learn from each other said “Woman who support another woman is confident, generous and visionaries.”. I love that and that’s my aim, so if I can support you let me know.

Some ways we can help each other.

• Learn more about symptoms
• Keep talking
• Dont have expectations
• Give a complement to show her she is still fabulous
• Dont feel guilty
• Dont doubt her experience.
• Be supportive and kind to others and to yourself.

If you haven’t yet, come and join us in the high vibe menopause cafe.

The High Vibe Menopause Cafe, let’s chat symptoms ,self-care and wellbeing | Facebook

Have a wonderful International Womans day, as always I am sending you love and support.

What’s one thing you are going to do today to support yourself and other women?

Hit reply and let me know.

Helena

Share the support and kindness.

Use gratitude to glow, yes, it is 100% true. Studies have found that when woman practice gratitude, we experience a number of health benefit, all associated with a healthy glowing skin.

I want to help you make this a part of your daily routine. You might be sitting thinking that you don’t have much to be grateful for but that’s not true. There is always something to be grateful for, you woke up this morning, that itself is something to be thankful for because others won’t open their eyes to start this day!

So, there must be a reason YOU have. Why is that? Thats a question for you to reflect on in your journal.

Here my Glow Journal to help kick start your Gratitude Journey

I have been focusing on journaling for a while now. It is something I recommend all the time because it has had such an impact on my self-awareness, my goals and where my focus goes.

We all know it’s not just your skin care routine that makes a difference to our skin’s health.

• Stress
• Diet
• Environment
• Hydration
• Sleep
• Medication
• Health problems

And more can have an impact on how healthy our skin is.

So how does it? work.

When we start to practice being thankful, our bodies experience a number of changes that occur in our body, it improves our bodies functions, and that helps improve our skin.

When we don’t get enough sleep, it stresses our bodies, stress impacts our collagen production, for example excess cortisol can accelerate the loss of collagen and elastin, the proteins that are responsible for healthy glowing skin.

Stress can also cause an inflammatory response to the body, and if you suffer from –

• Acne
• Eczema
• Hives
• Psoriasis
• Rosacea

It can cause flare ups. A study in 2008 found that adopting and “Attitude of Gratitude” lowers levels of stress and depression.

A study in 2011 showed that participants who had trouble sleeping, because their mind was racing, going over the day’s worries, that after taking just 15 minutes to write in their journal, expressing gratitude were able to sleep better.

We need a healthy functioning immune system to repair and regenerate a healthier younger looking skin. Research has linked gratitude with optimism, and optimism with a stronger immune system and taking care of yourself better.

What’s more attractive than a glowing confident woman?

In 2014 a study found that athletes who had higher levels of gratitude also had a higher self-esteem, so if you’re not quite feeling your best, it is worth a try. I know it can be hard to start but start small, be grateful for the small things, also try reframing your thoughts.

Notice your thought, have you ever gone for a 1-1 with your boss, and had lots of praise but the was just one small criticism and instead of feeling good about the praise you focus on the criticisms which overtakes everything, and you end up telling yourself you’re not good at your job, your boss hates you? Now these thoughts will come up but it about learning to recognise them and reframe them.

Without judging ask yourself is this thought true or helpful. Ask yourself some questions. What exactly was said? Why have I only focused on the negative? They answers will give you the clarity you need, then learn to replace the shadow thought with a helpful though.

Like, I am thankful for the praise and recognition my boss gave me, I have worked hard, and I have a few little things I can work on to improve my success.

As I said it isn’t easy but it’s like a muscle, if you exercise it every day it gets stronger.

Do you have a daily practise you love or are you just starting, let me know. I would love to hear about them.

So, lets glow inside and out by being grateful.

Sending love and support

Helena

XxX