Naturopathic Beauty manifests with each and every naturopathic prescription. Each time a patient achieves health and balance it reveals itself outwardly as glowing skin, strong hair and nails, a clear and toned complexion, and a strong, lean body. It doesn’t always happen quickly, and often there is a lot of work involved, but the truth is that the body wants to be strong, healthy and beautiful.
An individualized naturopathic prescription involving a combination of diet, exercise, herbs, supplements, homeopathy and acupuncture will result in a glowing, natural beauty that simply cannot be purchased at a cosmetics counter. And true naturopathic beauty will endure as long as a healthy lifestyle is followed. And, best of all, even though one beauty problem is being specifically treated, the entire body will benefit.
Whatever your beauty problem – acne, hair loss, weight gain, hyper-pigmentation, aging skin, cellulite – the only permanent, real solution is to treat the problem from the inside out. All beauty problems indicate that there is a deeper health issue, and spending hundreds of dollars on topical solutions is often temporary and usually ineffective.
And then, of course, there are the limitations of Naturopathic Beauty. If a patient is seeking to completely erase all their wrinkles and look 10 years younger in less than an hour it is simply not possible to achieve this with naturopathic medicine. Similarly, cellulite cannot be removed from an obese patient and acne cannot be cured without adopting the correct diet. And, of course, Naturopathic Beauty is about celebrating the very best version of you. There are no surgical manipulations or magical medicines to turn back the clock, but only true, authentic beauty from the inside out.
Some of the most common beauty issues that I treat include acne, hair loss, hyper-pigmentation, aging skin, weight gain and cellulite. I treat all these issues as medical conditions and investigate them accordingly. A clinical intake, bloodwork, salivary hormone testing, food sensitivity testing, comprehensive digestive analysis and hair mineral analysis are some of the testing methods that I use to diagnose the underlying health issue that is contributing to the beauty problem. My basic naturopathic prescription always includes individualized diet changes, supplementation, herbs and often acupuncture.
The basic naturopathic prescription is very effective and treats the root cause of the beauty problem but often it takes time to see the results. To help speed up the process I use cosmetic acupuncture, mesotherapy, glutathione IVs, and natural hormone therapies. Using these therapies on their own do not yield permanent results and require maintenance, but the results can be excellent and permanent when used in conjunction with the basic naturopathic prescription.
The bottom line is that Naturopathic Beauty is an authentic way to attain something that is important in our culture. Stay tuned for future articles that address specific beauty problems and treatments.
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Stacey Shillington, ND graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) in 2006. She has since established a practice in downtown Toronto focusing on naturopathic antiaging and skin care, including mesotherapy and cosmetic acupuncture. For more information, visit her website at www.naturopathicbeauty.com, or follow her on Twitter @dr_shillington.