Glow from the Inside Out with The Beauty Chef

Wellness is a word we’ll be hearing a lot of as the New Year opens, but what does it actually mean? As our good friends at Cambridge Dictionary put it, it’s “the state of being healthy” - especially when you’re actively trying to achieve it. When we think about what it means to put our wellness first, many of us turn to supplements to boost our everyday routines. But, you’re right: knowing where to start and how to make the most of them is a minefield best navigated with an expert at hand. So, we caught up with The Beauty Chef founder, Carla Oates, to learn all about how we can fit supplements seamlessly into our wellness routines - and why beauty really begins in the belly.

Please tell us a little about The Beauty Chef - and you!

More than 20 years ago, I was working as a beauty editor for a mainstream newspaper. I became concerned with the number of toxic chemicals in skincare - and had always been interested in holistic health and wellbeing - so I started researching natural alternatives. I began writing about the benefits of looking after your skin with clean ingredients and plant compounds that can rejuvenate the skin from the inside out.

As a teenager, I experienced skin issues and allergies - which naturopathic changes to my diet helped improve dramatically. This is when I first began to understand the link between what we eat and how it can affect the skin. Similar issues cropped up with my daughter, so I investigated and put my family on a gut healing protocol - including probiotic-rich, lacto-fermented wholefoods in our diet regularly. When people began to ask how I made our skin ‘glow’, I knew it was onto something. And so, The Beauty Chef was born - along with my first ever beauty product: GLOW® Inner Beauty Powder.

What is the one thing you’d like our community to know about supplements?

When it comes to feeding our skin, hair and nails, it’s far more complex than the wellness products we choose to use topically. While beauty supplements have certainly grown in popularity, not all skin, nail and hair supplements are created equal.

How can supplements support healthy skin and lifestyles?

For radiant, glowing skin and strong, lustrous hair, it’s essential to take care of your gut health first and look closely at the quality and potency of the nutrients we’re consuming. At The Beauty Chef, we go a step further with our ingredients and ferment them in our own state-of-the-art fermentation plant where the nutrients are broken down and made more bioavailable for your body to uptake and absorb. The result is highly potent, probiotic and efficacious formulas that nourish your gut and feed your skin from the inside out.

Research continues to reveal the intimate link between our gut health and healthy skin, and at a core level, what we see in the mirror is a direct reflection of the state of our gut. I often say where there is gut inflammation, there will be skin inflammation as well. Likewise, when your gut is healthy and balanced, your skin will be calmer, healthier and more glowing.

How do we choose the best Beauty Chef supplements for us?

It’s essential to choose the right inner beauty products specific to your gut, skin and wellbeing. Our hero product GLOW® sets the foundation of your routine as it contains nutrients for skin radiance, healthy hair and nails, energy and a healthy gut. From there you can start to incorporate other Beauty Chef products to target specific concerns. For example, if you’re dealing with skin congestion and breakouts, we recommend adding our CLARIFY™ formula. If you are concerned with ageing skin, fine lines and wrinkles, choose our COLLAGEN Inner Beauty Boost. For dehydrated skin, choose HYDRATION Inner Beauty Boost.

What does wellness mean to you?

For me, being well means being healthy and balanced in body, mind and soul, and feeling grounded but energised and inspired at the same time. It's also about acquiring and harnessing the tools and the knowledge to help me achieve this – through diet, supplements, wellbeing vitamins, a healthy lifestyle, relationships, and mindfulness.

At The Beauty Chef, encouraging people to be the happiest, healthiest versions of themselves is always front of mind when creating products and content. We love the positive feedback we get from our customers on the great improvements in their wellness from using our products. I truly believe that wellness is beauty and beauty is wellness.

For those who might not know, how does our gut health affect our skin?

I love the analogy of the gut being like the soil in a garden. The soil needs the right microbial balance and nutrient balance for the plants and their shoots to be healthy, strong and beautiful. Our gut is like the soil, it needs the right nutrient and microbial balance for our skin, hair and nails to be lovely and healthy. Our gut is where so much that affects our skin happens.

Research shows that where there is gut inflammation, there is skin inflammation and that people with a healthier gut microbiota have a healthier fatty acid profile in their skin - meaning their skin is more moisturised, hydrated and protected. This is why I am such a big believer that "beauty begins in the belly".

Can you explain what probiotics are?

Probiotics are the live bacteria that we consume - either through probiotic foods or food supplements - which help to support not only our gut health, but our immune function and overall wellness. There is also a growing body of research linking certain species and strains of probiotics, prebiotics and gut-friendly bacteria to a myriad of health and skin benefits. Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Saccharomyces, for example, are now widely supported to be beneficial in the treatment of skin conditions.

Despite their health benefits, there is also no perfect probiotic profile or strains of bacteria that are suited to everyone which is why taking a probiotic pill or probiotic supplement (consisting of just one or two species or strains) is limiting. We believe in a more holistic approach, including consuming a broad spectrum probiotic and fermented foods that feed your gut microbiome to support microbial diversity.

Instead, the best thing you can do is eat a nutrient-dense, balanced diet including probiotic-packed fermented foods which are naturally rich in a variety of species and strains of healthy bacteria. Good food sources include sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, miso, natto, tempeh and yoghurt (and The Beauty Chef products!) - which all contain an abundance of gut-friendly probiotic bacteria.

What do you think is one of the most common misconceptions about supplements?

That the quality of ingredients doesn't matter. Often cheaper options contain low-quality ingredients and are sourced from some questionable places. With these ingredients, you will not achieve the same results - and often end up spending more to find the right support. At The Beauty Chef, we pride ourselves on sourcing the highest quality ingredients that are either organic or biodynamic, then go a step further by fermenting them so your body is able to absorb them for optimum results.

How can we fit The Beauty Chef into our wellness routines?

Incorporating The Beauty Chef products is so easy as they taste delicious! Our range consists of powders and liquid elixirs which makes them an easy addition to a smoothie, mixed in water or your favourite beverage. They also taste delicious stirred through yoghurt or sprinkled over muesli for extra hair, nail and skin vitamins and a host of antioxidant benefits. You can take them all at once or incorporate them into your meals and drinks throughout the day.

I have a spoon of GLOW® and COLLAGEN mixed together in a glass of filtered water every morning. Then in the afternoon, I'll often whip up a protein-rich smoothie using BODY Inner Beauty Support. After an indulgent festive season, I often add CLEANSE Inner Beauty Support to my afternoon smoothie as well as a supportive food supplement.

Where does beauty begin for you?

Balancing gut health (aka 'Beauty Begins in the Belly') is my main philosophy for health and beauty. Your gut health has a profound effect on how you look and feel, as it regulates your skin health, your immune health, your brain health and your metabolic health - everything that contributes to healthy skin, energy, mood and wellbeing.

For us, the New Year isn’t a chance to reinvent ourselves, but a time to focus on relaxation and rejuvenation. How do you put your body and wellbeing first?

While during the rest of the year I do my best to limit things like alcohol and indulgent foods, over the holidays it’s near impossible not to partake in the joys of the season. So, in January, I like to do some sort of wellbeing reset to energise me for the year ahead - like our 14-Day Cleanse Reset. It’s not a restrictive 'lemon juice' diet cleanse. It is as delicious as it is gentle and still very effective.

My approach to cleansing involves making small tweaks to my everyday habits that, I believe, make a world of difference. I often find that I continue with many of the new habits well after the cleanse has finished as they are easy and sustainable to maintain.

How long does it take supplements to work?

This will vary from person to person depending on the state of your gut. But in general, skin cell turnover takes about 30 days, so you should start to see results in about four weeks. The key is to remain consistent and take your products every day so they can do their thing.

Which products from your range would you suggest as a hair supplement for healthy locks?

I’d recommend a combination of GLOW® and COLLAGEN (aka our Perfect Pair). GLOW® contains supernutrients like Zinc, Vitamin C and broad-spectrum B Vitamins to help with the health of your hair and nails. Our vegan COLLAGEN formula also contains the cofactors required for collagen synthesis.