How to Hydrate Your Skin From the Inside (The "Glass Skin" Secret)

Does this look like skincare to you? It looks like a dried up sponge, right? But in a few minutes, this will turn into nature's hyaluronic acid. If you've been watching my channel, you know I'm obsessed with the science of aging skin. But today, I want to take a break from the serums and talk about something even more powerful. I want to talk about how we can eat our skincare. If we haven't met yet, I'm Holly. I share science-based skincare insights to help you make smarter choices for your skin so you can feel confident at any age. For years, I was spending so much money on skincare products, but my skin still felt tight and dry sometimes. Then I remembered what my dad used to tell me. So my dad used to be a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. He's retired now, but he used to say if you are dry on the inside, you will be wrinkled on the outside. Growing up in a Chinese household, skincare wasn't just about what you put on your face. It was about what you put in your body. People always ask how Asians or Chinese people like have that glass skin look well into our 40s and 50s. Honestly, it's not our genes. A lot of it has to do with this specific way of eating. Today, I'm sharing four secret beauty foods Chinese people eat for what we now call glass skin. These are the foods that help my skin stay bouncy and glowing at 41. And I can't wait to show you how to make them. In the West, we usually try to fix our skin from the outside. We put serums and prescription creams and hope for the best. But in traditional Chinese medicine philosophy, skin is like a mirror. It shows what is happening inside your body. There's this Chinese proverb that sounds so funny in English, but it's so true. It's to be beautiful, you must first be moist. It doesn't mean oily. It means hydrate from the cells up. When we are young, our body is like a plump grape. And as we get older, we start to become like a raisin. Plain water is great, but sometimes it just washes right through us. These four foods I'm going to show you today help your body actually hold that moisture. It's like a drink of water that stays in your skin. So this is the start of the show. It's called snow mushroom or white fungus. Why is this better than a bottle of hyaluronic acid? Well, snow mushroom has special molecules called polysaccharides. These molecules are even smaller than the ones in your store-bought serums. Because they're so small, when you eat them, they go deep into our system and plump you up from the inside. It's been used by Chinese royalties for thousands of years to keep their skin bright and smooth. Don't worry if the texture feels a little slimy at first, that slime is exactly what your skin barrier is craving for. It's the natural collagen support your body needs. Next we have the power couple of Chinese beauty, and also Koreans too. I know this is also a staple in their diet. First is red dates or juju dates. These are the blood tonics in traditional Chinese medicine. We believe that if your blood is healthy, your skin has a natural rosy glow. So you can toss away your blush. Now these have 80 times, yes 80 times, more vitamin C than an apple. Now don't confuse these with the big sticky meju dates. They're delicious, but they're very high in sugar and belong to a different plant family. What we want are the red Chinese dates or jujus. These aren't as sweet, but they're medicinal. So they're packed with that blood building energy my dad always talked about. You can find these in most Asian markets, and they're also online too. Next we have goji berries. Now you're probably seeing these in health food stores like Sprouts or Whole Foods, or even some smoothie shops in the U.S. where they are often called superfood. But in my household growing up, they're just like a kitchen staple. I have been eating this since I was a toddler. Most people in the west eat them dry and chewy, almost like a raisin. And you can definitely do that. But in Asian culture, we usually rehydrate them in soups and teas, because it makes the nutrient even easier for your body to absorb. These tiny berries are like multivitamins for your face. These are really good for brighter eyes and clear vision. They're loaded with lutein and zeaxanthin, which protects your eyes from blue light. We all spend so much time looking at our phones, so the eyes and the delicate areas around them really need that protection. So here's a tip for your skin. Goji berries are incredibly high in beta carotene. That's what gives them this beautiful red color. When you eat them regularly, it helps your skin stay resilient against sun damage, and help fade those stubborn dark spots. Just remember my golden rule. Don't boil them for a long time. If you're making my glow soup, which I'll show you later, toss them in at the very end. You want them to be plump and juicy, and not cooked to death. The last ingredient most people forget is lotus seeds. Have you ever noticed that when you're stressed or you don't sleep well, your skin looks red or you get like breakout? In traditional Chinese medicine, we call that internal heat. Lotus seeds are very cooling. They help calm your heart and help you sleep better. And we all know that beauty sleep is real. When your body is calm, your skin stays calm. But I have to give you a very important tip for preparing these. Inside lotus seeds, they have these green sprouts. We call that the heart of the seed. It's actually very bitter, but if you bought lotus seeds, usually they already took out the bitter heart like this one. But when I see one or two seeds that still have the heart in it, I just take it out with a toothpick. After they're hydrated, I just push that little green sprout right out. This is just an extra step. Like you can still eat the ones with the heart. People actually make teas out of those lotus seed hearts. It's amazing for clearing out inflammation and help you de-stress after a long day. But for our glow soup, we just want that white creamy part of the seed. It has a beautiful nutty flavor, like almost like a macadamia nut. And it makes the soup feel so much more heartier. Okay, let's make our glow soup. It's so simple and all the ingredients can be found online, even if you don't live close to an Asian store. These are all dry, so they have a really long shelf life. Step one, take your dry snow mushroom and put in a bowl of room temperature water. Let it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour. See how it becomes a beautiful flower? Just trim off the hard yellow part at the bottom and cut into small pieces. The lotus seeds need to be hydrated too, so take a handful of it and put in a bowl of room temperature water. You can let it hydrate the same time you hydrate the snow mushroom. Next, put the mushroom pieces, some red dates, and the hydrated lotus seeds into a pot and add water that completely submerge everything. And a quick note on the dates. I like to use the whole dates with the pit still inside. In Chinese medicine, the fruit is more complete this way. It holds onto the qi or the energy better during the drying process. From a cooking standpoint, I find the whole dates stay plump and beautiful in the soup, whereas the ones that's already cut can sometimes get a bit mushy or fall apart. Then bring everything to a boil and turn the heat down to low. Let it simmer for about 40 to 60 minutes. You'll notice the water starts to get a little thick and syrupy. That's the magic happening. That's all the hydration being released. In the last five minutes, toss in your goji berries. If you want it a little sweet, you can add a tiny bit of rock sugar or honey, but the dates already make it taste like a light sweet tea. These can definitely be made in the rice cooker and instant pot. I usually make them in the instant pot because I just think it's more convenient that way. For instant pot, just use low pressure for 20 minutes. I usually make a big pot of it on Sundays and keep it in the fridge. It'll last me for about a week. You can eat it warm or cold. I usually warm it up in the microwave for like a minute. In traditional Chinese medicine, we try to avoid foods that are cold or ice because they can freeze your digestive fire. Think of your stomach like a little oven. When you put something ice into it, your body has to work 10 times harder to warm it up. By eating this warm, you're being gentle on your system. It helps your body absorb all the nutrients from the snow mushroom much faster. Remember, skincare is a long-term game. It's about being kind to your body. If you use your retinol on the outside like I showed you in my last video, you can eat this glow soup for the inside. Your skin doesn't stand a chance against aging. I'll put the shopping list in the description box below so you can find those online. If you have any questions about how to find these or how they taste, just leave me a comment. I read almost every single one. Thank you for letting me share a piece of my culture's wisdom with you today. If you like this kind of video, let me know by commenting below. Stay glowing and I'll see you in the next one. Bye!