It’s cold in London town,  this week we woke up to quite a few blankets of autumn fog-mystical and a bit spooky at the same time – proper Sherlock Holmes weather. Just the thought of it gives me such a chill that I instantly feel the need for a warming drink.  Turmeric latte, also known as golden milk is ideal for that,  this traditional Ayurvedic drink also is my new go-to morning coffee alternative and the perfect beverage to go with this month’s post.  The idea for the post came about when Jodie from Beautii asked me if I would be able to contribute three tips to nourish your skin in the winter, I instantly loved the idea.

For those who don’t know Beautii yet, it is a luxury on-demand beauty service allowing customers to book hair, make-up and nail treatment to their office, home or hotel. Doesn’t that sound fabulous, especially now with the Christmas season approaching ?

The skin is one of my favourite subjects and I could write essays about it, so I am quite glad Jodie only wanted three tips, and they are :

#1 Hydrate
Water is one of the main components of the body and vital for skin health, so to stay hydrated  seems quite obvious, unfortunately we do forget to drink when the weather is turning cold. The way to go is to keep up with our summer regime of drinking up to 1.5 litres of fresh water each day.  If you are bored with just drinking plain water, you can add some winter flavour with a few swirls of fresh organic orange or lemon peel and a couple slices of fresh ginger. Freshly made turmeric latte or teas with fresh ginger and cardamom are also a delicious and warming option. For variety and an extra nutrient boost include fresh cold pressed green juices, these may further help your skin to stay hydrated and protected from the winter cold. I love the combination carrot, ginger, orange and turmeric.
#2 Get your daily antioxidant boost
The skin is our largest organ and has quite a few jobs to do, but first and foremost it is there to protect us and regulate our temperature. So, in order to give our skin the extra support it needs to deal with the cold we can stock up on antioxidant rich foods. There is a particular range of antioxidants our skin loves and needs, these include flavonoids, vitamin A, C, D and E as well as the minerals zinc, selenium and sulphur . You can find these nutrients in colourful winter fruit and vegetables, especially in dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, collards, cabbages and Brussels sprouts and orange ones, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, ginger, turmeric, squash, pumpkin and oranges. You can easily incorporate all the goodness from these foods in winter salads, soups, stews and your cold pressed juices and smoothies.
#3 Moisturise from within
We all know how amazingly powerful a high quality natural moisturising cream or oil can be and how a good daily routine can turn our skin into a smooth and even layer of silk . As you can imagine our skin not only loves to be moisturised from the outside, it also loves to be nourished with good oils from within. Good fats are important for proper cell function and protection, they are also needed for the absorption of our skin loving vitamins A, E and D.  So remember to include, omega oils, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated found in nuts, seeds and cold pressed oils, such as olive, hemp and linseed oil. There are not many vitamin D rich foods but some can be found in oily fish, such as mackerel, salmon and sardines as well as in egg yolks, these go rather well with your winter salads.

Gladly a turmeric latte  covers all three winter skin tips, it is hydrating, rich in antioxidants from the spices and a touch of coconut oil adds a good saturated fat and enhances the rich flavour. For those who are not sure what turmeric latte exactly is, it’s pretty simple , it just coconut milk mixed with a fresh organic turmeric, ginger, pepper and coconut oil paste. The paste it is very easy to make from scratch, it keeps well in the fridge and here is how it’s made:

Golden paste for turmeric latte: 

Ingredients for the paste :

1/2 cup organic turmeric powder
1 cm fresh crushed ginger ( 1/2 tsp dried ginger also works)
1-2 cm fresh crushed turmeric (optional)
1 cup filtered water
0.5 tsp of ground black pepper
2-3 tbsp organic virgin coconut oil

Method :

To crush fresh ginger and turmeric it is best to use a good garlic press, peel ginger and turmeric first before working through the press. That way you should get a nice and fine texture. Please make sure you wear gloves as the fresh turmeric will turn your hands and everything else rather orange and it is very hard to get rid of the stains, although lemon juice does do the trick for me for removing stains from skin, for clothes I haven’t found a good way to remove it yet.

Mix turmeric powder, pepper and freshly crushed ginger and fresh turmeric with the filtered water in a pot and bring to a boil. Keep stirring and simmer for around 7-8 minutes. The mix will from a sticky paste, please make sure it does not burn. Remove from the heat and add the coconut oil, mix well together with the paste, fill into a jar, leave to cool and once it has completely cooled down, close the lid tightly and store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Ingredients for the milk:

2 cups of unsweetened coconut, rice or any nut milk of your choice
1 tsp of golden paste
A little bit of raw honey to taste (optional)
For additional flavour I like to add some fresh vanilla and a pod of cardamom when heating the milk, a dash of cinnamon also works a treat

To prepare the golden milk, simply heat up 2 cups of coconut , rice or any other nut milk, add one teaspoon of golden paste, you can add the optional vanilla, cardamom and/ or cinnamon to taste, simmer for a two to three minutes, add some raw honey to taste and enjoy !!