Body Scrubbing Stress for Hormone Health and Beautiful Skin

Body Scrubbing is one of the best not-so-secret tools for sexy, beautiful, and healthy skin. But will you feel as good as you look after all that scrubbing? The key to enjoying the lasting benefits of body scrubbing is to create a healthy body and beautiful radiant skin from the inside out.

Before we dive into how scrubbing the body opens the door to youthful, radiant skin, let’s talk about the deadly elephant in the room.

Have you ever wondered why you’re doing ALL.OF.THE.THINGS. like working out, eating healthy, balancing your hormones, and yet, you’re still gaining weight? Your skin is aging faster than you can blink, your weight is going up, you’re not sleeping well, your hormones are having a dance party, and you feel stuck (again).

This body scrubbing article goes beyond just scrubbing the body or how to use a body scrub. It dives into the health benefits of body scrubbing, specifically to bust stress and balance hormones naturally.

You’ll never enjoy a natural youthful glow as long as your mind believes you’re constantly being chased by a lion or bear. That’s how the mind interprets Stress.

How to Reduce Stress without Medication

As a weight loss and hormone health coach, I see so many women doing so many great things to be healthier, but those things are just half of the story. Because these women are constantly stressed out, the stress slows them down or gets in the way of them creating the body and life they really want.

Some of the biggest questions I get when working with women entrepreneurs over 4O in the Quit Sugar and Glow Factor, and the Look and Feel Great Naked Intensive include,

How can I balance my hormones naturally?

How do I lose weight naturally?

What are the best weight loss tips for losing weight, balancing hormones, and reducing stress?

How can I lose weight and look younger?

Does losing weight make me look younger?

Will losing weight help me enjoy sex?

Will quitting sugar make me look younger?

How can I stop sugar cravings for good?

Will body scrubbing help me get my glow back?

While these are all great questions, I know that small hinges swing big doors. So the 4 questions I invite women entrepreneurs over 40 to ask are,

How can I create the biggest health, hormone and beauty impact with the tiniest action?

What can I focus on to really move the needle when it comes to my health, hormones, and beauty?

What are the smallest, gentlest changes I can make today that create massive impact?

What small, habit can I start today that will support me to look and feel better now?

Here’s the stress-free deal. Losing weight won’t make you look younger if you’re stressed. Quitting sugar won’t make you look younger if you’re stressed. You’ll lose your youthful glow when you’re stressed. It’s easier to lose weight naturally and maintain a healthy weight when you’re NOT constantly stressed. The number 1 weight loss tip is to reduce stress.

The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing that changes EVERYTHING – helps you maintain a naturally healthy weight, balances hormones, helps you sleep well, supports your energy increase, helps your digestion, makes you look younger is REDUCING STRESS. Stress reduction is key to being healthier and enjoying the bonus of youthful, radiant, healthy skin.

There are many ways to handle stress and create better balance for the body, mind, and hormones, including,

Listening to your body – tapping into your feminine body wisdom. Connect to the truth of what your body is asking for so that you can give it the harmony it craves.

Meal Timing – when you eat is just as important as what you eat. Eating healthy food is just half of it. You need to be in a relaxed state for the body to digest the food and absorb the nutrients it needs. And sporadic eating creates a blood sugar rollercoaster, which causes stress. Create habitual timing for all your meals so that your body has time to reduce inflammation, balance hormones like insulin and reduce stress.

Self-Care/Self-Love/Nourishment – this is so much more than food or just getting a facial or massage. Consider what you’re watching, listening to, taking in all day long from the world – physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. What are you feeding yourself in every area of life? Things like meditation, prayer, journaling, visualization, etc, are great nourishing tools for the spirit, mind and body.

Breathwork/Breathing – Slow down and breathe.

Chew Your Food – Slow down and chew your food. This relaxes you and supports healthy digestion. Health experts recommend chewing each bite 30 times. I say try for at least 15.

Sleep – Sleep is one of the best ways to cut back on stress. But it’s a chicken or the egg situation because if you’re stressed, you won’t sleep well. So, what’s a woman entrepreneur to do? Do eat nutrient dense meals, exercise and reduce stress factors like too much sugar and alcohol, eating late at night, blue light from your phone, and you’ll sleep.

Your sleep timing and sleep routine either create optimal health or increase stress. When you don’t sleep well, you don’t feel good or have enough energy to deal with your clients, your family or any relationship, which creates stress in the body.

Lack of sleep leads to the blood sugar rollercoaster and cortisol increase, which creates other harmful effects like high blood pressure, insulin resistance and depression. You get the stressful picture. Sleep deprivation also increases the hunger hormone ghrelin, which increases the craving for sugar and processed aka comfort foods, which prompts you to reach for the 12^th chocolate cookie and more sugar and caffeine, leading to unnecessary weight gain.

Drink Water – You know this already. You know what to do, but are you doing it. One of the things I notice with women entrepreneurs including myself is this huge gap between knowing and doing, whether it’s drinking more water, creating ideal clients, nailing a niche, creating a sleep routine or eating less sugar and processed foods. Water is a power source. It doesn’t just hydrate the body. It also regulates blood sugar, which lowers stress.

Staying hydrated also balances hormones, prevents muscle cramps, carries nutrients for the body, lubricates joints, slows down the premature signs of aging, flushes body toxins, reduces inflammation, helps clear the skin, and regulates metabolism and body temperatures.

How much water do you need to drink? Listen to your body. 8 cups a day is great but start where you are. Keep three bottles on your desk and try to finish all of those before you get through your work for the day. Add more water at a rate that feels comfortable for you, and you’ll develop the habit over time as your body adjusts. For all the details on staying hydrated with water, read How the Starbucks Coffee Shortage Can Help Women Entrepreneurs Lose Weight and Look Younger Now.

Joyful Movement – Regular exercise not only reduces stress, curb cravings and lose weight, but it also strengthens and tones, as well improves your overall health. Yes, even with all the great nutrition, sleep, water and self-love, you still NEED to add in exercise that is pleasurable and fun for you (this is important for consistency and thriving).

Joyful movement is vital to your digestion, keeps you healthy and strong, kills belly bloat, keeps you looking and feeling younger, gives you clearer skin and more energy, and supports you to lose unwanted weight. You’ll also sleep better aka stress less, lose the backaches, ease cramps and pelvic pain, and enjoy sex more.

Eat Nutrient Dense Meals – Eating whole food, real food curbs cravings and stress, and creates optimal health. A lifestyle of eating meals full of proteins, healthy fats, healthy carbs, lots of fiber, fruits, and vegetables, or eating clean is the key to regulating blood sugar and creating balance in the body. For more on eating nutrient dense meals, read 21 Habits to Lose Weight and Look Younger: Add Foods that Curb Sugar Cravings and Reset Your Hormones (Part 2).

Curb Sugar and Processed Food. For more about stopping sugar cravings, read 7 Habits to Curb Sugar Cravings for Good.

Balance Hormones. For more on balancing hormones and hormone health, read Sugar Cravings and Hormonal Imbalance: How Sugar Cravings and Sugar Addiction Affect Hormone Health.

Mindset – Shift your mindset from how much stress you have in your life to how you let stress affect you no matter how much stress you experience.

Body Scrubbing – We’ll get to body scrubbing later in the article (or if you’d rather read it now, feel free to skip this part), but first let’s talk about the harmful effects of stress on our body, beauty and hormone health.

Stress and Balancing Hormones for Weight Loss

Your HORMONES make the decision whether your burn fat or store calories. Fat burning hormones like Thyroid and Testosterone are fat burning hormones that speed up your metabolism and make you burn calories faster. Fat storing hormones include Estrogen and Cortisol, which tell your body to store the fat for fuel.

Cortisol

The big papa of stress hormones is Cortisol, which is released by our Adrenal glands when our monkey brain thinks we’re in danger. For some women entrepreneurs, being in constant “flight or fight” mode is a daily thing, putting unnecessary strain on the body.

Imagine dealing with all the client stress, non-converting sales calls, money, team pressure, kids, health issues…All. Of. The. Things. Stress hormone imbalance causes:

• Larger Waistline and Increased belly fat

• Anxiety

• Blood Pressure

• Panic Attacks

• Adrenal fatigue

• Chronic Fatigue or Exhaustion

• Sleepless Nights

• Blood Sugar Issues

•Salt and Sugar Cravings

Too much cortisol can screw up your Thyroid and seriously impact weight gain or loss. If your thyroid is low, you won’t lose weight. When you’re constantly stressed out, Cortisol tells your body to consistently make more fat.

Your Thyroid hormone is your internal thermostat for both maintaining a naturally healthy weight and enjoying healthy skin. Where does body scrubbing come in? A Low Thyroid creates dry flaky skin, hair loss, low libido, constipation, and rapid premature aging.

Insulin

Stress (especially emotional stress) can increase your blood sugar by blocking your body from producing insulin. Insulin is the fat storage hormone which regulates blood sugar, storing all the excess process sugars and refined carbs as fat.

When you’re constantly stressed out, your sugar levels keep building and the insulin hormone imbalance causes weight gain, lack of energy, moodiness, and brain fog, and can lead to Type 2 Diabetes.

This is not an exhaustive list, but just think for a moment how many times you’ve either taken a pill, had surgery, or just been told to get on another diet for one or more of these ailments when the real issue was hormonal imbalance due to stress; something that can be reset with REDUCING STRESS and simple tips, tools and strategies, including nutrition, lifestyle changes, exercise and eliminating toxins.

Progesterone

Stress lowers the Progesterone hormone. Progesterone is your fertility’s best friend. It keeps you calm, helps you sleep deep, enjoy sex more, and helps to regulate your menstrual cycle and prep your uterus for pregnancy. Low Progesterone leads to Estrogen dominance, dry patchy skin, vaginal dryness, and low sexual pleasure.

Blood Sugar and Weight Gain

When women entrepreneurs are stressed out, the body looks for any resource to create a quick fix to get us out of “fight or flight” mode. And it needs quick fuel to start the process. For us, that fuel is usually sugar. In fact, your body starts to warn you around 3.pm. Raise your hand if you’ve ever reached for the cookie or any other processed sugar treat at 3.30 or anytime during the late afternoon slump.

This yo-yo blood sugar rollercoaster doesn’t do your skin any favors because we rely on foods that give us dry, premature aging skin and unhealthy weight gain.

So, how do we curb the premature aging and unhealthy weight gain? Start your day without processed sugar. If you need sugar, I invite you to put down the fruit loops cereal and consider sticking with God’s sugar aka fruits and veggies. If you’re not big on breakfast, consider starting out a smoothie or a boiled egg. And of course, stay hydrated. Water curbs sugar cravings.

I know how busy your day gets, and as a former processed sugar addict who rode the daily blood sugar rollercoaster, I understand the reality of how challenging this can be, so I’ve made it easy for you. I have included a list of healthy snacks for you to regulate blood sugar right here.

Stress and Digestion

Healthy hormones and a healthy gut are crucial to boosting metabolism and achieving ideal weight and a youthful glow. But this is not as easy as it sounds, especially in cases where inflammation and chronic stress are factors for many women entrepreneurs.

Did you know that digestion begins in the mouth? And needs a parasympathetic aka stress free, relaxing, and safe environment to do its job? Great digestion and healthy gut serotonin superpowers that create ease, joy and peace for your mind, body and soul and help you glow.

How many times have you run out of the door in the morning chewing a muffin because you were late?

How many times have you scarfed down a sandwich at work in record time because you had to prepare for a meeting?

Here’s what happens – for the most part. Women entrepreneurs are constantly in flight, freeze, fight or victim mode, constantly running on empty -very fast. And when you’re stressed out, your body cannot digest your food. Your heart rate goes up. Your blood pressure goes up. Your breathing gets shallower, and your body releases more adrenaline and cortisol because your mind thinks its running away from a lion…when the reality is you’re just late for work.

The mind cannot distinguish between stress from you being chased by a lion from stress where you’re just stuck in traffic and late for a meeting.

So, what happens next? Digestion shuts down leading to low nutrient absorption, the body’s inability to burn calories, increased salt retention, increased food sensitivities, and unhealthy-looking, dry, premature aging and dull skin.

Now that you’re fully up to speed on how stress kills your youth and destroys your skin, let’s dive into body scrubbing stress away or healthy beautiful skin.

What is Body Scrubbing?

Body scrubbing is the process of exfoliating to maintain healthy, radiant, beautiful, youthful, and glowing skin. Scrubbing the body gives skin fresh new life and a healthy glow in any season, and is perfect in any season, not just for the summer.

Body Scrubbing can be a great natural alterative way to remove dead skin and restore luster, especially when working on losing weight, balancing hormones, and looking younger. It’s the external key to smooth, silky skin and looking and feeling great naked – as long as the body is healthy. You can’t slap enough glow, chemicals and acids on an unhealthy body to make it shine. It all starts from the inside out.

5 Health and Beauty Benefits of Body Scrubbing

Body Scrubbing Removes Dead Skin Cells

Stress and hormonal imbalance cause dry skin, rough patches and premature aging, and while you could just slap on some glycolic acid or other chemical, body scrubbing with clean and natural ingredients improves how you look and feel – skin beauty.

Exfoliation removes all the dead skin cells that have built up over the weeks or months from stress, the weather, oil residue, hormonal changes, and daily toxins to reveal softer, clearer, brighter, healthier, younger, youthful, glowing skin. Finally say bye to blemishes, clogged pores and acne.

Body scrubbing is also a great way to detox.

Body Scrubbing Creates Instant Confidence

What happens when you look in the mirror and see smooth, glowing, healthy, radiant skin? No blemishes. No acne. No discoloration. No hyperpigmentation. Just a fresh look. When you look and feel great naked, you feel an instant confidence boost. Think of the last time you enjoyed a great spa treatment.

Everything women entrepreneurs want for their lives, business and health all stem from looking and feeling great naked – from the desire to lose weight, to raise our prices, to sell from the stage, to be more visible in our business – Everything. When you look and feel great naked – and I’m not talking about being skinny – I’m talking about beauty and health from inside out, everything else seems to easily fall into place.

Body Scrubbing Makes Shaving Easier

Remember those painful ingrown hairs and razor bumps. Well, say goodbye to those because body scrubbing softens the hair making shaving and hair removal so much easier. Say yes to smoother legs for days.

Body Scrubbing Supports Better Skin Hydration

When your skin is smoother and clear from all the built-up residue, dirt and toxins, it is much easier to absorb the much-needed nutrients from skin treatments. It’s the perfect way to boost absorption for the minerals and vitamins the outer body needs.

Body Scrubbing Reduces Stress and Helps You Enjoy Sex More

The perfect way to renew the mind, body and soul. Last, but not least, body scrubbing is a great tool for reducing emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual stress. The whole process of scrubbing the body, the touch, the feel, the motions, support your body to be calm, relax and release stress peacefully.

Exfoliation is popular as we go into the Spring and Summer months, but it’s a great way to get a youthful glow during winter too. Stress, dead skins, toxins and oil residue don’t pause during winter or fall, so why make scrubbing the body a seasonal experience?

And it’s not just the scrubbing that rejuvenates the mind, body and spirit. Think about the beautiful fragrances that come with natural exfoliation products like rose oil, jojoba oil and other ingredients. It’s so easy to sink into the ecstasy of fragrances, touch and relaxation.

Speaking of ecstasy, body scrubbing is one natural option for increasing your warm, fuzzy, love hormone, Oxytocin. Cleansing, massaging and exfoliating create a sensual stress release dance.

Inhaling the sweet fragrances, touching the body, coupled with the rubbing boosts circulation and drains the lymph nodules, lowering stress, lifting your mood, increasing sensuality, and increasing blood flow, which calms the skin and the mind. Oxytocin hormones usually increase when you hug or kiss someone or experience an orgasm. Increasing Oxytocin could be a great Progesterone hormone and fertility boost.

Enjoying hotter sex and feeling more comfortable in their bodies are key benefits I hear from many women.

What is the Best Body Scrub?

When it comes to body scrubs, the best body scrub is the one that you prefer and works great for scrubbing and exfoliating your skin. My preference is for body scrubs that are clean and natural, and these come (or you can make them) in three main forms – sugar body scrubs, salt body scrubs and coffee body scrubs.

There are unique benefits to body scrubbing with sugar or salt or a salt and sugar body scrub combo or coffee. Sugar body scrubs are gentler on the body than salt sugar scrubs, and they are also natural sources of glycolic acid – double bonus. They are more moisturizing for the skin, especially when combined with oils, and perfect if you have dry skin.

Salt body scrubs have more of a detoxifying effect on the body, and Coffee body scrubs are invigorating and great for increasing circulation.

Whatever you choose, the key is to use natural body scrubs that don’t contain hormone disruptors that create hormonal imbalance – estrogen dominance, infertility, adrenal fatigue, weight gain, anxiety, skin issues, or sleep deprivation. Examples to look for include Parabens, non-natural fragrance, oxybenzone, or sulfates, for starters.

You can DIY your own natural body scrub using natural ingredients like virgin coconut oil, virgin olive oil, honey, white or raw brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, ground coffee, aloe vera, grape seed oil, jojoba oil, and your favorite essential oils (favorites include lavender, citrus and peppermint, but choose what you love).

How to Use a Body Scrub

Apply warm water first (optional) and then apply your body scrub to any areas of your body that need nourishment and a good glow up. Use it all over your body, applying and massaging in circular motions with gentle pressure for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Depending on how healthy your skin is, you can use it once a week. Some women exfoliate multiple times a week, but I recommend giving the body time to breathe and create something to exfoliate. It’s unlikely you’ll have enough dead skin to exfoliate every single day if you choose to do it daily, especially if you have sensitive skin.

And while it’s called body scrubbing, you still have to be gentle with your body, especially your face, where the skin is much thinner and easier to irritate.

Finish up with great skin nutrients that moisturize and nourish the skin.

I’d hold off any body scrubbing if you’re experiencing sunburn or have cuts and bruises on your skin.

Body Scrubbing Tools

Other than the body scrub itself, the choice of body scrubbing material is completely up to you. Body Scrubbing tools include body scrubbing brush or body scrubber – like a wooden body scrubbing brush, body scrubbing gloves, or a body scrubbing mitt.

Dry Brushing

Dry Brushing is another body scrubbing option. I haven’t tried it yet, but I know others who have and love it because it’s another great detox tool. Another benefit of dry brushing is that it can reduce the appearance of cellulite. Not sure if this is true, but hey, at least you’ll glow, right? If you prefer dry skin brushing, as always, be gentle with your skin.

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