REPOWER YOURSELF IN
Your Inner Garden
Fall 2023
Almanac
The Power of Fall
When was the last time you looked up into the ancient treetops of the forest? When was the last time you sought the sea simply to watch the waves crash against the shore? Your mental health is waiting right outside your door. We nurture and cultivate that knowledge at Lucia Care all year round. Especially in autumn, we need to be reminded that we are part of nature. As humans, we have a deep-seated need to feel that connection.
Autumn calls for reflection
As the leaves change color and the temperature drops, we turn inward to find energy within ourselves. This natural process is supported in the fall issue of ’Your Inner Garden,’ which is all about strengthening our health. It's about preventing a good life through therapies and through diet.
Look forward to welcoming autumn with forest bathing, a green and nourishing diet, and a declaration of love for the medicinal herb chamomile. We'll also dive into the wonder ingredient Vitamin A, as we're eager to tell you how Lucia Care Rich Regenerative Face Cream is created by combining new innovative skincare research with the best of nature's bounty.
Happy reading!
Self-care
Forest bathing in nature's power
Our Stone Age brain loves the forest. Under the tree canopies, a silence reigns that awakens all living things to life and makes us flourish as humans. As you move around in nature, it becomes easier to see the colors, identify the scents, listen to the birdsong, and hear the animals scurrying and crawling on the forest floor.
Forest bathing does not require you to run or exercise. It's solely about being present in nature. The essence of forest bathing is to immerse ourselves in nature and bathe in sensory impressions.
Nature works, research shows
- Reduces the production of stress hormones
- Enhances feelings of happiness and frees creativity
- Lowers pulse and blood pressure
- Boost the immune system
- Speeding up the recovery process after illness
Forest bathing for beginners
Here's how:
Slow down. Move slowly through the forest so you see and feel more. Feel free to stop, lie down, or sit down. Let go of your thoughts and notice the atmosphere in the forest.
Turn off your mobile to give yourself the best opportunity to relax, be present, and experience the forest with all senses awake.
Breathe deeply into your belly. Try to make your exhale twice as long as your inhale. This signals to your body that it can completely relax.
Be mindful: Be present here and now. And be open and aware of how the forest makes you feel inside. Stay in the forest for as long as you can.
Source: Qing Li, TIME
https://time.com/5259602/japanese-forest-bathing/
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Nourishing diet
Food is energy for your body and brain, but also for your mind. A nourishing and balanced diet lubricates and cares for the system from the inside – and your skin will love you for it!
Nanna Kirkebjerg, founder of Lucia Care, recommends eating as many greens as possible. Pay particular attention to vegetables that contain anti-inflammatory properties. Limit your carbohydrate intake and try to keep sugar to an absolute minimum.
Turn up the green
An easy way to start getting more vegetables into your system is to boost yourself with a homemade vegetable juice. Because it's difficult to eat, for example, five to six raw celery stalks, lemons, and kale a day. It all goes down easier when you combine and mix it into a green juice or smoothie, which actually tastes fantastic.
Vegetable juice
Drink a vegetable juice every day. Feel free to use a slow juicer so the fibers are included.
For example, start with apple, orange, spinach leaves, kale, celery, a little ginger, lemon, and grapefruit.
Ensure that the vegetables are the focus. Fruit should primarily be included as a flavor enhancer, for natural sweetness, or for appearance.
You can continuously advance, develop, and challenge yourself and your taste buds more and more.
Green porridge
Make a green porridge that can be blended from the same ingredients, e.g., celery, cabbage, carrots, beets, spinach, etc.
Ensure a clear preponderance of vegetables and use only fruit as flavorings or natural sweetener.
Blend the vegetables into a thick purée, adjusting the consistency with a little water if necessary.
Use fruits and berries as a topping and serve with almond slivers, chopped nuts, or similar.
Lemon and ginger work well to bring the flavors together.
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Tank up on vitamins
Vegetables give you vital vitamins and minerals. Amino acids build our cells, and they are found both through diet from vegetables and from protein. And then there are the amino acids that the body can make itself. There are 22 in total, and we need them all.
It is incredibly important to have an appropriate level of vitamin D in the body. In addition, a balance of magnesium, selenium, zinc, and copper is important, as they help many vitamins to transform into active components and building blocks for our cell formation and our immune system.
There is a garden in your stomach
You take good care of yourself when you take good care of your gut, and it needs lactic acid bacteria. Poor gut flora can prevent the body from absorbing the good things from your diet. As a general practitioner, Nanna Kirkebjerg sees more patients who are low in, for example, both B and D vitamins, even though they eat a varied diet. This can be because their gut is not absorbing enough nutrients.
The good bacteria and the good fat
Lactic acid bacteria are important for many processes in the body and not least in relation to a stressed brain and a stressed nervous system. Feel free to take a sensible supplement of lactic acid bacteria every day.
The same applies to good fats, which you need for your cells and your brain. These are omega-3 oils, especially olive oil, avocado oil, and milk thistle oil. For example, you can pour two teaspoons into your vegetable juice or green porridge every day, and you'll be well covered.
Herbarium
In the medicinal herb garden with Lucia Care
Chamomile
Roman chamomile
”For millennia, chamomile has been known as a medicinal herb that can promote sleep, treat wounds, relieve stress and stomach ailments, and promote healing processes.”
Nanna Kirkebjerg – Doctor and founder of Lucia Care
Chamomile creates balance.
Chamomile's active ingredients are unique because they are:
AdaptogensChamomile reacts to how the body feels. If the body is warm or cold or needs uplifting or soothing, chamomile helps bring the body back into balance.
DetoxChamomile appears to be a natural detox for the skin, as the medicinal herb has the ability to flush out toxins and stimulate circulation.
SoothingA cup of chamomile tea is a sure way to instill a sense of calm in the body before bedtime. Just as chamomile helps to soothe the mind and body, the medicinal herb has similar effects on the skin.
Chamomile in skincare
Chamomile has an exceptional ability to soothe and calm the skin, reduce redness, and prevent signs of aging.
Soothing herb
Chamomile has both anti-inflammatory and soothing properties. Whether you're struggling with irritation, redness, or other skin concerns, chamomile is an effective natural remedy to calm your skin and refresh its glow and appearance. Scientific research shows that chamomile helps block substances in the body – also known as prostaglandins – which are responsible for inflammation. This makes chamomile a unique ingredient for sensitive and delicate skin.
Natural anti-aging
Chamomile contains an abundance of antioxidants, including flavonoids. They are known for combating harmful free radicals and stimulating cell regeneration. This reduces the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and scars. In the case of sunburns, chamomile can also help reduce DNA damage caused by excessive UV exposure.
Candles in your everyday life
⚘ Sleep wellA good cup of chamomile tea helps calm the mind. It promotes a good night's sleep, which is so important for fresh and healthy skin. Drink the tea 30-60 minutes before bedtime.
⚘ Homemade chamomile teaUse one teaspoon of dried chamomile flowers per cup. Let the tea steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on how strong you want it.
⚘ To the green thumbsPlant chamomile in your garden for the benefit of surrounding plants and the soil. Chamomile helps retain nutrients, thereby improving soil quality.
Read more about chamomile Her.
Lucia care
Product Portrait
Sunset Breeze / For Face
Rich Regenerative Face Cream
Although beauty comes from within, skin may need a helping hand. The skin is the body's largest organ, and we need to take care of our skin so it can take care of us. At Lucia Care, we believe that skincare routines should be simple yet deliver visibly effective results.
Golden hood of vitamin A
In this product portrait, we dive deeper into the wonder ingredient Vitamin A. We focus on our bestseller, Rich Regenerative Face Cream, which is an intensely nourishing face cream for both day and night that can also be used as an eye cream.
”Lucia Care is the first skincare brand in the Nordics to be based on an integrative medical approach to the skin. This means that our skincare products are created by integrating the best of nature's richness with new, innovative research in skincare. We combine medical and naturopathic knowledge of nature's potent medicinal herbs with evidence-based dermatological research and clinically proven active ingredients.”
Nanna Kirkebjerg, doctor and founder of Lucia Care
ObsThe description may seem a bit technical, but we would love to tell you how Rich Regenerative Face Cream is created by combining new innovative research in skincare with the best of nature's bounty.
Sunset breeze
The secret of the cream
Innovative Vitamin A formula: Granactive Retinoid stimulates cell renewal, evens out and reduces wrinkles, and renews the skin's fullness and elasticity.
Two different hyaluronic acid moleculesIn combination, they reduce wrinkles. The small hyaluronic acid penetrates the skin and works from the inside, where it binds moisture in the cells. The large hyaluronic acid sits on top of the skin and has a smoothing effect.
Interplay of Ingredients Medicinal herbs soothe, regenerate, and stimulate collagen formation in the skin. Almond oil and shea butter nourish, moisturize, and soften.
Vitamin A in a nutshell
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is important for normal vision, healthy skin, and a well-functioning immune system. In skincare, Vitamin A is a superhero ingredient that improves skin texture, treats blemishes, reduces wrinkles, and sun damage such as age spots. Vitamin A regenerates, revitalizes, and de-stresses skin cells by adding moisture, fullness, and a fresh glow to the skin.
In a nutshell, vitamin A helps normalize skin function and stimulates it to behave like a younger version of itself.
Members of the vitamin A family, also called retinoids, affect almost every aspect of how the skin functions: they increase cell turnover in the epidermis, the top layer of skin, which produces plump new skin cells and sheds old skin cells, and also stimulate the production of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid in the deeper layer of skin, the dermis.
It turns out that retinoids help to fill in wrinkles and restore skin firmness. Retinoids are also effective in preventing and reducing pigmentation. Retinoids act as antioxidants and reduce the amount of melanin your skin produces. At the same time, retinoids also help the skin remove old and discolored cells more quickly, resulting in dark spots becoming less noticeable, and the skin looking more even-toned and fresh.
Not all retinoids are created equal
Retinoids are a group of different vitamin A derivatives, all of which work in the same way on the skin. Retinol is the most well-known. However, there are differences in how active and therefore how effective the individual retinoids are.
Among all retinoids, only retinoic acid, also known as prescription tretinoin, can be used by the skin, as it binds directly to the skin's receptors. For retinoids to perform their skin-improving functions, they must first be converted to retinoic acid in the skin. The more steps involved in this conversion, the less effective the ingredient becomes. Therefore, there is a significant difference in the effectiveness of different retinoids.
Retinyl ester, e.g. retinyl palmitate: 3 steps
Retinol: 2 units
Retinal: 1 step
Retinoic acid
Granactive Retinoid – or Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate as listed in the ingredients – is a newer and unique form of vitamin A. It is highly potent and excels at binding directly to the receptors in the skin, just like retinoic acid, without needing to be chemically converted in the body first. Granactive Retinoid is also significantly gentler on the skin than other forms of vitamin A. This is evident in a reduced tendency for redness, skin irritation, and other side effects.
Granactive Retinoid takes care of your skin
- Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and helps prevent the development of wrinkles.
- Strengthens skin elasticity for fuller, smoother skin.
- The skin's appearance improves with a firmer structure and a fresh, healthy glow.
- Pigment spots and skin imperfections are reduced, and the skin becomes smoother and more even-toned.
- Reduces pore size and helps minimize skin blemishes.
Who should use Granactive Retinoid?
Although vitamin A is best known as a well-documented anti-aging skincare ingredient, Lucia Cares Rich Regenerative Face Cream is not just for aging skin. Vitamin A stimulates the skin's cell turnover, cell renewal, and repair processes.
A wonderful ingredient for all ages
Vitamin A thus helps your skin remain strong and healthy, and it makes beautifying differences for all ages. If you're in your 20s, you can already consider adding Granactiv Retinoid to your skincare routine.
Young and impure skin: Granactiv Retinoid refines the skin, makes it smoother, creates a more even skin tone, a brighter and more radiant appearance.
From your mid-twenties: The skin's aging processes begin here. It's a good time to make Granactiv Retinoid a consistent part of your skincare routine for anti-aging benefits.
Stressed and tired skin of all ages: Granactiv Retinoid reduces the effects of stress on the skin and prevents imbalances and blemishes.
Mature skin: As skin matures, it tends to lose moisture and feels dry. Granactive Retinoid helps to hydrate the skin and reduces fine lines and wrinkles. Granactive Retinoid has a firming effect, providing firmer and plumper-looking skin with daily use.
Read more about SUNSET BREEZE Rich Regenerative Face Cream here.