Written by Bend Beauty At Bend Beauty, we create products that inspire beauty you can see – and feel. While true beauty is more than skin deep, your skin is a reflection of your overall health and well-being. We like to think of skincare the way we think of any other healthy habit: to see results, consistency is key. Results are not instant and are only maintained with dedication. You wouldn’t master an instrument after just one lesson; likewise, healthy skincare habits need

Written by Dr. Katie Takayasu Movement Philosophy on Exercise I am a big believer in exercise being a key to successful stress management. Exercise is my favorite feel-good pill. I realized this personally while in college, finding that the days I prioritized movement were the days I was more productive and felt happier (and noticed that it made my monthly menstrual cramps almost disappear). Now I recognize that exercise is my number one tool to regulating my mood, so I prior

Written by Jolene Hart, CHC Rest doesn’t need to be slow or quiet— there’s compelling evidence that some of the most effectively recharging pursuits are active! Here’s how to recharge by planning a summer of ‘active rest.’ Although the hottest temperatures do slow us down at times, the abundant sunshine of the summer season also allows us to be more active, more social, and more energized than at any other time of the year. The good news? Being active can also be restful for

Written by Bend Beauty Key Takeaways: Optimizing gut health requires ensuring you have the right amount of healthy bacteria in your body While probiotics provide active, live bacteria, prebiotics provide that bacteria with what it needs to thrive Many people connect supplementation for gut health with probiotics, but today we want to educate you about prebiotics. First, let’s dive into gut health for context. What Affects Gut Health? According to the Harvard School of Public

Written by Dr. Katie Takayusa Photo by Cottonbro Studio Sleep makes almost everything better. Taking time for adequate rest is one of the best things you can do for your body, as it’s the time our bodies use to heal and recharge our systems. How much sleep do we need? How much sleep we need is an individual answer based on your homeostatic sleep drive and circadian rhythm. Your homeostatic sleep drive is the amount of sleep you naturally need to feel rested. Most of us need 7

Written by Jolene Hart, CHC Sneaky nutritional stressors (which may not leave you feeling a typical ‘stress’ reaction at all) can fuel exhaustion and hormone imbalance— often without your knowledge. Here’s how to know if they’re affecting you, and easy ways to avoid them. We’re all well-acquainted with the concept of stress. We’ve also heard about the wear and tear that elevated stress levels cause on our bodies over time. Stress, when prolonged and in large amounts, sparks a

Written by Bend Beauty Bend Beauty and the Beyond Beauty Project are committed to helping improve our self-esteem and confidence around body image and mental health. Our collaboration is focused on changing the way we talk about beauty – from eliminating the term “anti-aging” from our vocabularies, to understanding that it’s never too late to take better care of your skin, or yourself. Our next series is all about gut health – starting with the connection between your gut hea

Written by Bend Beauty We’re all about creating beauty you can see and feel from the inside out. Diet is one of the greatest contributors to a radiant complexion – and in this post, you’ll learn more about the best foods to eat to support skin health. Let’s dive in! Walnuts Walnuts have a unique nutrient profile compared to all other nuts (1). They’re helpful for your microbiome, which we know is heavily connected to skin health! Eating walnuts promotes biodiversity and enri

Written by Bend Beauty Your skin is more susceptible than your other organs to damaging environmental factors. For example, it is highly prone to drying by indoor heating and parched winter air. This weakens and dehydrates the skin barrier, making it appear dull, flaky, and wrinkled. Heat from the sun can pass through to the dermis and trigger production of enzymes that break down collagen and elastin. Chronic exposure induces inflammation, damages the dermal extracellular ma

Written by Bend Beauty Sun protection is key to skin health. Your skin is your largest organ. Necessary to your survival, it provides a chemical and physical barrier that protects you from harm, including UV exposure (1). Like any other organ, your skin needs to be healthy to function correctly. The health and appearance of your skin depends on many internal and external factors. While sunscreen is key to skin health and longevity, we can further protect ourselves by choosing

Written by Amy Polacko “Letting go of a toxic partner is an act of self-love.” - Unknown You might be shocked by this - but when a woman named Brooke hopped on a Zoom coaching call with me and said she was grateful for her toxic relationship, I wasn’t. I help women take their power back during and after these devastating situations because I’ve been through it myself. I know firsthand how betrayal, emotional and physical abuse, plus narcissistic behavior can leave victims ree

Written by Bend Beauty When we nourish all the connections within us, something beautiful happens. Your skin performs many functions that are important to your overall health. It provides a protective chemical and physical barrier between you and the outside world, helps you interact with your environment, makes vitamin D and is part of your body’s total antioxidant defense and detoxifying systems. Many factors impact how well your skin can do its job including: Your unique g

Written by Jaclyn Willms For years my clients would come to me and say I had too much dessert last night, or I need to work out hard today, or I need you to kick my butt, and the best one yet – I need to have a good workout today because I need to look lean for an event tonight. I started to wonder how many of us work out because we are thankful for the body that we have been gifted with. Who is working out to celebrate what their body can do? Rather than being frustrated a

Excerpted from Ignite Your Light: a Sunrise-to-Moonlight Guide to Feeling Joyful, Resilient, and Lit from Within by Jolene Hart ©2020 Running Press. Your personal energy— a mix of thoughts and feelings, food and movement, people and surroundings that are uniquely yours— shifts across different parts of your day. In the sunrise moments, the earliest parts of your day from about 5 AM to 9 AM, the energy of your mindset, movement, and the way you prepare yourself for the day

Written by Marla Boehr Browsing through an array of glossy beauty magazines, strolling the main floor of the local department store, or simply taking a quick scroll through Instagram is a window into our culture’s obsession with youthful beauty ideals. Youthful skin is indeed beautiful – smooth, plump, and supple, it can almost have an otherworldly glow at times. I often caress my young children’s cheeks and simply marvel at their perfect pores. Although it seems like lightye

When you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed, stop and ask yourself... "What is the next self-loving thing for me to do?" -Dr. Susan Plunket I always say we each need a box filled with personalized self-care tools. For me, this sets the foundation for everything to feel healthy and balanced in my life. Some of these tools I use daily, and some just as needed! My mental health, physical health, spiritual health, and relationships thrive when I am taking care of myself. After y