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As a naturopath, I’m always thinking about dietary and lifestyle recommendations to complement my organic skin care range. Drinking herbal teas has got to one of the easiest and most effective things you can do to further benefit skin. Not only do they taste great but the actives in herbs are absorbed and taken-up quicker than supplements.

As a Naturopath I have treated many skin conditions over the years but some of them you see more than others. Eczema and dermatitis are most definitely my number one. And as the weather is cooling, now is the time when flare ups most commonly occur.

Although it can be caused by a multitude of factors, there are lots of ways to reduce eczema occurrence, and sometime eradicate it for good. Here is what I know about eczema and what you can do about it.

Given that we're heading into Winter, I thought it was a good time to talk all things immune system health. As a naturopath, I’m always looking at natural ways to boost my immune system, whether it be through my diet, herbs or lifestyle choices.

Now more than ever, we need to feed our bodies the best nutrients to ensure our immune system stays in top condition. Here are my go-to’s for keeping my immune system healthy.

I have always tried to live a low-tox life but it became paramount for me when I decided I wanted to become a parent. Falling pregnant was not a piece of cake for my husband and I, and we ended up in an IVF clinic after several years of trying to conceive naturally.

Sunscreen is something that we all know we're supposed to wear on a daily basis and it gets especially drummed into us from a beauty perspective as the best way to maintain the youthfulness of our skin. The thing that bothers me is that there is a lot of misinformation about the level of SPF required and the benefit to skin. I'm here to bust those myths! 

Keeping our skin healthy shouldn’t be a difficult or complicated task. However, there are some really simple mistakes that we all make from time to time that can be detrimental to the health of our skin both short and long term. Here are the top 5 mistakes I commonly see:

1. Over cleansing 

This is perhaps the most common skincare misstep. We all seem to think that squeaky clean skin is healthy skin but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Every time we cleanse our skin, we’re not only stripping it of dirt, food and make up, we also remove naturally produced oils in the skin, as well as some of the microbiome (the good bacteria, microorganisms etc) that helps maintain our skin’s barrier.

The skin on our bodies is often neglected as we tend to focus on our face and figure our bodies will just look after themselves. Big mistake!

Because our skin is our largest organ and most of what we put on it gets absorbed, choosing high-quality products for the body is so very important. They need to be 100% natural and as organic as possible, to avoid causing skin reactions, disrupting our hormones, and not adding to the toxin burden on our liver.

There are also some simple things you can do to look after your body that will reduce dryness, stop eczema from flaring up and keep it glowing.

The humble toner has come a long way from the skin-stripping products we once knew them to be. These days, toners are full of active ingredients that nourish and soothe your skin.

Add to this the fact that they also prime skin to receive the full benefit of your skincare and it becomes clear just how indispensable toners are. 

We are all told that we need to wash our face regularly to keep it healthy. But how do we know if we’re doing it right? Cleansing too frequently, with too harsh a cleanser and using the wrong methods, could be making skin issues worse.

We step you through the reasoning behind cleansing, which cleanser and exfoliant to choose for your skin, and how to use them to the best effect.

I am often being asked for my naturopathic advice when it comes to supplements: what should I take to help my skin? Will supplements make any difference to my particular issue?

Supplements can definitely be helpful when you are not getting sufficient nutrients in your diet but I always recommend looking to food first as its often better absorbed and comes with many more beneficial nutrients.

Having said this I do take a handful of supplements to help with my skin and immune system on a daily basis and so I thought I’d share with you what I take and why.