Submitted by Greg Arnold, October 2, 2003, Abstracted from “Pamper Yourself” in Taste For Life Magazine, October 2003 issue, p. 22 In times of heavy stress, people are told to take deep breaths and relax, yet even those deep breaths do not help. One of the organs that helps us breathe easier is our skin. Along with being our largest organ, our skin breathes, it regulates our temperature, it protects us from the outside world, it assists the body's metabolic function, and plays a part in our sense of touch. An average square inch of skin contains 2,800 openings for sweat and oil glands, 72 feet of nerves, hundreds of pain and sense receptors and 15 feet of blood vessels (1). Our Skin is also one of our five primary eliminative channels (Skin, Liver, Kidney, Lymph and Bowel). The body uses the eliminative channels to eliminate toxins and wastes from our system. If our skin is unhealthy we are inhibiting our body's ability to function at 100%. We must also remember that anything we put on our skin is absorbed into our system, from makeup to sunscreen. If you may not be feeling well, or if you’re in need of a relaxing night, a few hours of skin care may be just the thing you need. SPA HOME TREATMENTS include bath salts and body polishes, which are great ways to remove dry, dead cells from the surface of the skin as well as a way to soften and redefine your skin. SEA SALTS helps draw impurities through the body, promoting detoxification. Instead of table salt, most health professionals (who are knowledgeable on the subject) recommend Celtic or Dead Sea salt. BUY ORGANIC when purchasing skin care products. Since your goal is to remove harmful impurities, it is self-defeating to add impurities with inferior-quality products. Certified organic botanicals are grown and processed without the use of pesticides and dubious fertilizers, nor are they irradiated. Organic farmers’ use of rotating crops combined with their lack of synthetic pesticide use produces a better product with greater therapeutic benefits. When buying organic, a safe bet is to buy products that use the USDA organic seal, guaranteeing the product is 95 percent organic. One way to make sure your skin is healthy and protective is through your diet. Our skin sheds every 30 days and the cells that form to make our new ‘layer’ use what we eat as its raw material to make new cells. So the healthier you eat, the healthier your skin will be. | 
