**We started out with renowned Plastic Surgeon Dr. Gerald Imber whose skincare line Youth Corridor and companion book The New Youth Corridor are both garnering rave reviews from magazine editors. His book is on target to become every girl's beauty bible and for good reason. Everything you need to know about anti-aging in 140 pages! Procedures, treatments, the science stuff (that actually makes sense to non-scientists) and the future of anti-aging is all here and for $9.99 it belongs on every woman's night table. "The New Youth Corridor" is available at bookstores everywhere and online. Gift yourself and your girlfriends with it (well, only the friends you really love, you don't want a frenemy looking TOO good, right?)
Dr. Imber shared some of his DO's and DON'T's of anti-aging:
Don’t…..
Don’t Smoke – The result is loss of elasticity, sagging and wrinkles.
Don’t gain or lose weight repeatedly. Skin that does not respond to weight loss by shrinking looks loose, empty and haggard. The older you are or the more weight you need to lose, the more likely this problem will arise. Avoid significant weight gain (more than 10lbs), lose slowly and, above all, find your optimal weight and maintain it..
Don’t get too thin – Hollow cheeks and thin skin makes an adult look frail, weak and old.
Don’t Run – At least don’t be a long-term, long-distance jogger. The loss of fat padding in the cheeks as well as constant rising and pounding down which lifts and pulls the facial skin away from the underlying muscles and bones causes the skin to sag. These things have a negative effect on one’s appearance.
Don’t do Facial exercises – They cause wrinkles.
Avoid the Sun – It’s the primary accelerator of loosening and wrinkling of the skin. It causes pigment changes, sunspots and other unsightly eruptions.
Don’t Passively Stretch Skin – When you prop your hand on your cheek or wash and apply products in a downward motion, you are passively stretching your skin.
Do…
Cleanse, use anti-oxidants and moisturizers.
Towel off briskly for exfoliation. It helps remove heaped-up dead skin cells and allows healthy young cells to reach the surface. Always go from the down to up direction to avoid stretching the skin downward to help gravity. Be gentle and do not apply much pressure.
Apply skin treatments and serums to clean, dry skin.
Use a product with Vitamin C. Vitamin C is crucial for healthy, beautiful skin, but if it can’t get into the skin, it can’t work its magic. Dr. Imber created Youth Corridor Antioxidant Boost Skin Serum with 10% Vitamin C, E and Melatonin to allow a larger dose of antioxidants to penetrate through the keratinized layer of the skin due to melatonin’s lipophillic nature.
Moisturizers with a sun screen are a must to protect skin from the sun. If a sunscreen is used separately it should be applied before the moisturizer so it can penetrate.
For more info on Dr. Imber's skincare line visit http://www.youthcorridor.com/ and be sure to pick up a copy of his book "The New Youth Corridor"**LORAC lead make-up artist Dean Fournier returned to Cosmo Life to share their new selfTANtalizer Body Bronzing Gradual Self-Tanner. The tanner smells like a vanilla caramel birthday cake (it really smells great for a self-tanner) and it comes with a little mitt that protects your hands as you apply it in circles. Dean did my left arm and I can't wait to do the rest of me when I get home! Check out the whole line of Bronzers at http://www.loraccosmetics.com/
**Celeb Nutritionist Oz Garcia made his debut on the show today but he will most definitely be back again! Oz shared his best bikini-ready advice and some of his tips really surprised me because they defy the conventional "Dieting" way of thinking. Check him out at www.OzGarcia.com and on Facebook as well!
Here are some of Oz's best diet tips to get yourself in bikini-ready condition:
-Only shop the outer perimeters at your grocery store: think about that, it means you'll only be buying the freshest foods in the store...all the lean proteins, vegetables and starches. Stay away from the inner parts of the store as far as food goes, that's where all the hi-salt, hi-sugar, hi-fat, processed junk foods and sodas are.
To get yourself in bikini shape here are some foods Oz recommends eating:
-Eliminate coffee from your diet because he says it almost always makes people eat more than they should eventually plus it activates your stress hormones in your body which makes you store fat
-Only use Stevia, Agave Nectar or raw honey as sweeteners. He says artificial sweeteners and even regular sugar (white or raw) have been linked in studies to various cancers
-Swap out potatoes for sweet potatoes and yams
-Forget about eating only the whites of eggs because a hard-boiled egg is what he called "the perfect food" and has the right amount of healthy fat
-If you want to eliminate bloat stop eating Wheat...no wheat bread, wheat pasta, etc. Nothing with Gluten either. Oz recommends Brown Rice Pasta, Buckwheat Soba Noodles (no actual wheat in Buckwheat!)
-Use plain old white rice as a starch (he cited visiting Japan for 1 week, eating sushi with white rice everyday and he dropped 6 lbs! Stear clear of the soy sauce (even the low sodium) but beef up on the wasabi and the ginger!
-Eating plenty of salmon, tuna (even in a can packed in OIL not water) and sardines...think about the Mediterranean Diet
-Get your good fats from Nuts, Avocados, and good oils like Olive Oil
-Oz also mentioned the power of Resveratrol (which Cosmo Lifers learned about from Dr. Lindsey Duncan and his www.GenesisToday.com juice drink "4Resveratrol") as a powerful anti-aging component that helps both the inside and outer appearance of the body
Oz's Daily Meal Plan example for getting bikini-ready:
Breakfast: Fat-free or lowfat Greek yogurt with fresh berries and almonds OR two-egg omelet with a side of fresh fruit
Mid-morning snack: Handful of nuts or a Hard-boiled egg
Lunch: Salad Nicoise with tuna
Snack: Fruit, nuts, etc
Dinner: lean protein (chicken, fish, turkey) with vegetables like sweet potatoes or yams
Drink: Dandelion Tea to eliminate Bloat (even PMS bloat) as well as what Oz calls "Cranberry Water" which is the pure concentrated cranberry juice that's unsweetened from the health food store and dilute about 4-6oz with water and sweeten with Stevia, Agave or raw honey. Drink that up to a few times a day to also help with bloat
**Desiree Chmura from Desire Perfection Med Spa and Laser Center in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, NY stopped by to share some of her favorite spa treatments to help us get bikini-ready. Desiree says seaweed wraps CAN actually take inches off your problem areas that have cellulite and the effect lasts about 1-2 weeks. She says although the results aren't permanent after repeated seaweed wraps it can eventually help you eliminate cellulite. Desiree also does a lot of "Back Facials" for her clients who are getting ready for Summer and she and I both shared the same tip to keep your back clear of blemishes: Make sure you always wash your back and shoulders AFTER you rinse out your conditioner! (It worked like a charm for me when I read that tip in Cosmo a while back)
**TRESsemme stylist Tyler Laswell closed out the show with frizz and humidity-fighting hair styling tips using the new Climate Control collection from TRESsemme. Available at drugstores everywhere.
Next week on Cosmo Life we wrap up our Bikini Bootcamp with Cosmo's Favorite Celeb-inspired Bikinis, Shoshanna's tips on finding the right Bikini for your body, Celebrity Colorist Rita Hazan's tips for going lighter with your hair color for the Summer season and a new fitness program called Kinected that combines yoga and pilates! Also, we're getting ready for Memorial Day Weekend! Paula Deen's sons, Jamie and Bobby, share their best grilling tips from their new cookbook "Get Fired Up" and celeb party planner Liza Utter tells us 5 things we need to have in our house at all times to throw the perfect last-minute party!
