We all grew up with certain beliefs – mostly imposed by mom or dad or others in our community….these are known as ‘common beliefs’.
So, how well substantiated are common beliefs? Answer….not very well…
Check out this article about the common beliefs regarding multivitamins, how you get colds and flu, dairy issues etc. I recently wrote about the multivitamin myth regards to skin care in this blog entry. As we move beyond 35 years of age, it is often beneficial to the skin to apply vitamins as antioxidants (like C + Renew or Triple C + E Complex) but they are not replacements for the antioxidants in the fruit and vegetables you should be consuming…
The one item in the ‘common beliefs’ list I can attest to is that dairy consumed while you have flu or a cold will definitely increase the thickness of mucus you produce….but it is not responsible for mucus production…that comes naturally with the cold and flu reaction your body creates. Try not having any dairy (aka ZERO) while you have a cold or flu and you will find your mucus is thinner – and not as congestive as usual….
However, for skin care, if you have problem skin like acne, rosacea, dermatitis, sensitive skin, dairy is totally going to worsen the condition. As adults, we do NOT need dairy – despite the claims from the multi-billion $ dairy industry that you will ‘die-unless-you-drink-milk’…. marketing hype is a way of life in our society but it should be ignored most of the time! For more information on dairy and acne, check out the Clear Skin Diet by Logan and Treloar.
A ‘common’ or ‘logical’approach to skin care and health is to just eat a healthy diet (5 fruit and 5 vegetables servings every day, no processed or junk food), exercise, and be gentle with your skin…treat it sensitively and understand the BEST things and WORST things to do for your skin…. Basically, I would like EVERYONE to believe that they have sensitive skin, because that way you won’t be tempted to damage it or unbalance it with all those marketing hyped natural/antiaging/magical products…
And please STOP using antibacterial soaps – they are BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT and they WILL MESS UP YOUR SKIN… Bacteria are essential for life on this planet…so stop being a bacteria-phobe…learning more about bacteria and their positive effect upon our lives is a very interesting focus of attention for medical research. There is a new documentary called Resistance being made about this topic…check out the trailer here…
The information provided here is not meant to diagnose or cure any medical conditions. Please see your doctor or a trained medical professional should you have any concerns.