Although this book is not Leslie Kenton’s latest book, its ambitious title attracted my attention. “Skin Revolution” is written by someone who knows what she is talking about. In 1974, at the age of 32, she became Health and Beauty Editor for Harpers & Queen magazine in London. As a matter of fact, she was the first person ever to be appointed “health and beauty editor”.

Her first book “The Joy of Beauty” has remained in print ever since it was published in the early eighties and it has been followed by 34 best sellers. For 30 years, Kenton has been involved in the beauty industry, developing and formulating products and marketing them for cosmetic corporations in Europe, America and Japan. She conceived the range Origins for Estee Lauder. And her interest in new skin care products led her to find more powerful ways of preventing and reversing age damage to skin.

“I learned how each of us, armed with new knowledge, can take action ourselves to reverse signs of ageing, by making simple changes in the way we eat, live and care for our skin…Even more important, I learned simple, efficient ways of eliminating the toxic burden skin carries, allowing its own metabolic functions to take over, and bring about natural regeneration and rejuvenation”.

In this book, Leslie Kenton shares thirty years of experience in the health and skin-care industry. She highlights the continuous interactions between the skin and both the body and the environment in which we live.

The skin is seen as a ‘living matrix’. This term often used by the author refers to a network which is interconnected mechanically biochemically and energetically with our body. When we are not feeling well, it shows straight away on our face. On the other hand, the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe and the creams and cleansing products we use affect the structure and function of our skin.

“Having beautiful skin means creating your own way of living, eating, exercising and handling the demands of stress in your life so all the skin’s energetic, chemical, and physical activities take place within a vital, unpolluted living matrix”.

The skin does not age just by accident or because we get older. Many things can cause skin to age rapidly and particularly high levels of blood sugar and insulin. The author firmly believes that sugar destroys the skin. Most of the foods we eat today especially, pasta, cookies, chips, chocolate bars etc… enter the bloodstream in the form of glucose threatening the physiological balance of the skin. Excess glucose damages proteins by attacking skin cells and collagen fibers. This in turn creates wrinkles, sags and bags under the eyes. Blotches appear, we end up looking tired and older than our age and eventually we start feeling as bad as we look.

To retain a young and radiant skin, we have to eat, live and look after our skin externally and internally. Lesley Kenton highlights the role of phytonutrients which are phytochemicals, those microscopic natural antioxidants which help our body fight degeneration. Phytonutrients known as quercetin, flavonoid, hesperidin, carotenoid, licopene are found in fresh fruits and vegetables. They provide a synergistic power to smooth and firm the skin, improve eyesight, and counter infection, degeneration and cancer.

It is also essential to eat the right kind of fats. Good fat does not make us systematically fat; it is the wrong kind of fat which is dangerous and most of all the presence of trans fatty acids in the food we eat. Margarines and highly processed polyunsaturated oils should be replaced by essential fatty acids which are found in flaxseed oil, olive oil, coconut oil and butter.

A healthy skin also requires protein. Many women avoid eating protein foods preferring carbohydrates instead. Yet the skin needs proteins to create collagen, good cell walls and the gel-like substance in which our skin cells are immersed. The best quality proteins come from animal sources such as eggs, fish, and game, meat and dairy products and the two best sources of vegetable protein are grains and pulses.

It is also important to avoid high glycemic index foods like bananas, bread, sugar, chips, cereals, cakes cookies, chocolate and privilege lower glycaemic foods.

Finally, many cosmetics on the market contain ingredients that cause a toxic build up in our body. Many of the toxins that pollute our environment are found in the creams and cleansing products we use on a daily basis.

Parabens, the most common synthetic preservatives are still widely used in cosmetic products. Research carried out in Japan, Germany and Britain link parabens to male fertility problems and breast tumors in women. According to Dr. Jean Munro, cosmetics are affecting negatively our skin: “So many things are put into cosmetics now that are carcinogenic and it is allowed because cosmetics are not considered to be as serious as drugs or foods”.

We should also be aware that the use of chemical sunscreen products is strongly linked to the rising incidence of skin cancer. In other words, the very chemicals used to fight against the free radical potential of UV light may be delivering it to the skin’s DNA. The solution is to choose a mineral-based sunblock. Made with titanium oxide and zinc oxide, these products reflect the light instead of relying on chemicals to ‘absorb it.

Although Leslie Kenton mentions the use of injectable fillers like Botox, skin resurfacing techniques and cosmetic surgery, the gist of this book deals with the skin’s self-regenerating potential.

Leslie Kenton’s “Skin Revolution” is “based on a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of the whole human being with skin beauty, it makes use of the power of life itself to work its wonders, activating enzymes, triggering energy production and balancing hormones. It protects from damage and initiates your skin’s own repair processes. It protects from damage and initiates your skin’s own repair processes”.

Skin Revolution is at times confusing and dogged by repetitions but it definitely offers some useful and perennial advice on how to keep a healthy and young looking skin. Most of all, this book reveals that a wrinkle-free skin does not come from buying the most expensive facial products nor is it determined by our genes and finally it gives each one of us the hope and belief that we can effectively protect our skin from ageing.

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