Health Coaching Hints.

Weekly hints from our nationally certified Health Coach Erika Zink on how to make healthy habit changes.

health coaching opportunities

Your Foundational Health Coaching Package gives you:

Focused health goals

A plan directed at improving two or more health conditions through targeted coaching and goals.

A change partner

Private one-on-one coaching sessions that are held either in-person or over the telephone.

Flexible scheduling

A coaching timetable that is flexible to your schedule with a frequency that works for you.

Increased self-awareness

Through personality assessment, values exploration, and other tools you and your coach will determine what really matters to you.

Accountability

The support you need to maintain and achieve your self-defined goals related to sleep, relaxation, movement, nutrition, stress, and relationships.

An open line of communication

Secure between session messaging via chart.

How to Cultivate Healthy, Beautiful Skin

Protect Your Skin

While a certain amount of exposure to sunlight can be good for your health and well-being, too much can be harmful. One universal cause of skin damage and skin cancer is exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays.

SEEK SHADE. As much as possible, avoid extended periods of direct sun exposure when the sun’s rays are at their strongest (between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.). A good rule of thumb is if your shadow is shorter than you are, seek shade.

WEAR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING. Wearing lightweight, long-sleeved shirts, pants, sunglasses, and a wide-brimmed hat can add a layer of protection to your skin. You can take it to the next level by using clothes that have a UPF protection or use a laundry additive that is designed to block UV rays.

USE SUNSCREEN. The Academy of Dermatology suggests using a broad-spectrum protection (protects against UVA and UVB rays) that has an spf of 30 or higher and is water resistant. It should be used every day, even if it is cloudy, and it should be applied at least every two hours or more often if you are swimming or perspiring.

NOT SURE WHICH SUNSCREEN IS SAFE TO USE FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY?

The Environmental Working Group is a "non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment," and they have created a 2020 Guide to Sunscreen (www.ewg.org/sunscreen/). This is an excellent resource for learning more about which products have tested safe for consumers like you.

At Empowered Health, we recommend sticking with the inorganic sunscreens (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) because they are the only ones that are within absorption limits set by the FDA.

Eat a Skin Healthy Diet

Your skin is one of the largest, hardest working organs in your body. Not only does it protect you from external factors (bacteria, viruses, UV rays, pollution, and chemical substances), but it also helps regulate our internal systems (body temperature, maintains fluid balance, and controls moisture loss).

When it comes to making sure that this hardworking organ is functioning at its optimal potential, what we eat can be a big influence. A healthy diet that includes a good selection of the following foods can go a long way towards promoting younger looking and longer lasting skin.

FOODS HIGH IN ANTIOXIDANTS OR PHYTONUTRIENTS PROTECT AGAINST UV DAMAGE and may even be linked to reducing the risks of skin cancer. These foods are high in lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin and include:

Mangoes
Tomatoes
Kale

TO KEEP YOUR SKIN HYDRATED AND COUNTER THE DRYNESS AND SCALING that can occur, especially with conditions like psoriasis or dandruff, try eating more of these foods:

Dark chocolate (cocoa flavanols)
Green and white tea
Olive oil

TO REDUCE WRINKLES AND KEEP YOUR SKIN LOOKING YOUNG LONGER, you may want to include more of these:

Olive oil
Green and white tea
Soy

Even though foods can help protect and enhance the quality of the skin, you should not rely on them solely for protection from the sun. I’ll share how you can more appropriately protect your skin from harmful UV rays next week.