Image Credit:Andreea Diaconu for Vogue Paris

As the sun sets on summer, it’s inevitable that your complexion’s glow is going to fade away with the warm weather season.

There’s no way to make sunny days last longer, but you can prevent dull, winter skin. A radiant complexion isn’t just the result of a concise skincare product regime, your lifestyle and diet will also turn up on your skin.

“Your skin is part of the integumentary system, which is one of the body’s 11 systems of the body. It is the biggest organ in the body and is directly affected by how the other systems are performing. It’s often referred to as the third kidney because for example, whatever the liver doesn’t want, it dumps onto the kidneys, and whatever the kidneys can’t handle, it will dump onto the skin.” – Dr. Simone Laubscher, PhD.

As the summer wraps up, Dr. Laubscher suggests looking back and reflecting on the season you’ve had in order to determine your game plan for taking your glowing complexion into fall with you. In addition to loading up on good protein sources like fish, lentils, and nuts—which are the building blocks of skin and promote collagen production—and cutting out excess sugar, dairy, and gluten, you can also add in a supplement to help accelerate your body back into balance.

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Dr Laubscher recommends maintaining an 80/20 balance–"try to eat clean" 80 percent of the week–swapping white rice for quinoa or amaranth or steak for fish, for instance–then 20 percent of the week (or one and a half days) you're free to indulge. 

"Pure alkaline would be too tricky. It's about trying to have whole foods that come from nature. We can't all live on smoothies, we can't all do yoga 24/7 and hold down a job."

Dr Laubscher isn't just making alkaline body sound easy, she proved it by giving ELLE.com a day's worth of eats on an alkaline diet, including Elle's favorite meals.

Breakfast: Egg omelette, heaps of spinach, avocado.

This kind of breakfast is usually reserved for a day when Macpherson has a packed schedule and can't stop for lunch at the usual time. Another favorite: flaxseed pudding made with almond milk and berries.

Lunch: Salmon with lemon, olive oil, beetroot salad, and pearl barley.

"This is one of her favorite options," Laubscher says, "She is a very big fish girl; she eats hardly any chicken or meat."

Dinner: Sea bass with a Greek salad topped with goat's cheese or halloumi

While dairy is avoided, Laubscher says, "It gets really boring, life with no cheese, I feel."

Snack: A couple of dates and green tea

This one's for anyone prone to sugar cravings (aka everyone).

Smoothie: Chocolate smoothie

400ml of almond milk, a scoop of WelleCo's NOURISHING PLANT PROTEIN, half a frozen banana, and a handful of berries.

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