Happy New You! 10 Expert Makeover Tips
10 of the latest and greatest ways to put your best face (and body) forward in 2011
1. Drink Smarter
A lot of mindless calories come from sipping-not chewing. Besides adding extra pounds to your frame, chemicals and synthetic ingredients in sodas and other high-calorie drinks overwork your adrenal glands. Nutritionists recommend upping your water intake and swapping your soda or sugary energy drink habit for a healthful, antioxidant-rich one with no or low sugar like the new EBoost Super Berry Liquid Shot. "Its potent antioxidants from vitamin C, green tea, and pomegranate work together to enhance your immune system and help improve skin quality," says Sharon Richter, RD, CDN. "Keep a shot in your bag and you won't be as tempted to go for sweet snacks when your energy dips."
2. Get a Leg Up
The best workout is one that attacks the major muscle groups-big ones like the quadriceps-and increases your heart rate. "When you work the legs, the entire body gets a workout and it burns more calories," says Henry Richardson, owner of the new Define Body & Mind in Houston and former Exhale instructor. That means even if you have just a moment a few times a week, it's most crucial to work your legs. Richardson, whose classes combine ballet moves with yoga and Pilates, recommends doing ballerina-style pliés (deep knee bends with feet turned out) while simultaneously lifting heels off the ground-and holding the position to engage every muscle in your legs. "Do several until you feel the burn, for about three to five minutes," he says. And if you have a little more time, say 20 minutes, Kit Rich, a personal Pilates and fitness trainer in Los Angeles, advises doing a move like jump squats-a traditional squat with a small jump upon standing up-to get large muscles moving and accelerate heart rate.
Check out Natalie Portman's ballet-inspired workout from Black Swan here.
3. Shake It Up
People often mistake thirst for hunger, so it's important to drink a glass of water before you eat something. Or, whip up an acaí juice-and-fiber shake to curb your appetite by up to 75 percent and feel more energized, advises naturopathic doctor and nutritionist Lindsey Duncan, ND, CN, who helped designer Marc Jacobs get in tip-top shape (as seen in his Bang cologne campaign). Mix eight ounces of açai juice-one with 1,000 percent of your daily value of vitamin B12-with one scoop of fiber. "The acaí juice must be high in B vitamins because these are responsible for turning all the food we eat into energy," he says. Bonus: "The fiber will fill you up and the extra B vitamins will fuel your metabolism, turning all of the food you eat into energy and helping you burn stored fat."
4. Look Deeper
"Skin is three-dimensional," says New York City dermatologist Patricia Wexler, MD, "and you can't treat just one dimension." To reach the skin's deepest layers and rebuild collagen and damaged skin cells from the inside out, beauty companies like La Prairie are using high-tech peptides and active ingredients. La Prairie Cellular Power Infusion, launching next month on shoplaprairie.com for $475, is a four-pack of serum vials (each good for about 10 days) formulated with the brand's "Intensive Cellular Power Complex" to treat both the mitochondria (energy) within the skin cell and the outside tissue.
"This development is at the forefront of cellular communication, hitting every dimension of the skin and proven to dramatically slow down the aging process," says Sven Gohla, PhD, vice president of research and development for La Prairie.
5. Detox Daily
Don't succumb to swilling unsavory cayenne pepper concoctions. Instead, get in the daily habit of drinking a glass of hot water with half a lemon morning, day, and night says Duncan. "The lemon cleanses and flushes the gall bladder, which is responsible for metabolizing all fats in the body," he says. "A cleansed gall bladder functions better and aids in weight loss."
Swigging this lemon-and-water elixir will also result in balanced and glowing skin, says aesthetician and holistic skin care expert Tammy Fender: "Lemon is an excellent source of vitamin C, allowing the skin to become more resistant to sun damage."
6. Diversify Your Workout
"If you continually stick with the same activity, you'll get stronger in certain areas and lose strength in others," says Kenny Mahadeo, master coach at Clay Health Club & Spa in NYC.
"Mixing your exercise routine up will get you the results you want-and it's more fun," adds Rich. "Workouts should be as different as the restaurants you enjoy."
In choosing which activities to do, celebrity fitness guru Valerie Waters says to go back and forth between one that's upper body-focused and one that's lower body-focused: "If you choose to go on the treadmill one day or weekend, you should do something that works your upper body the next."
7. Manage Stress
"Stress not only affects our mood and behavior, it also affects our skin," says Fender. "Like the body, when the skin is stressed it can become depleted of essential vitamins and nutrients." A good first step towards improving your skin and inner peace: a facial. ("It gives the skin, body, and mind time to relax, de-stress, and rebalance.") If you're unable to squeeze in an hour-long professional facial, Fender recommends starting an at-home ritual. Once a month, deep-cleanse with a peel or a mask to get rid of impurities and comfort skin. On a daily basis, try a gentle cleanser like Fender's Lavender and Fo-Ti Cleansing Milk. "The soothing properties of lavender will begin to de-stress the skin and relax you," she says.
Click Here To Read Tips 8 - 10
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