Drinking Your Skincare: How I Nourish Mind, Body, and Soul at Home With My Girls

As a pharmacist, I’ve always loved chemistry. I love how small things interact, how structure matters, and how tiny changes can completely shift the way the body responds. Mixing compounds, understanding solubility, watching reactions unfold. It has always fascinated me. But beyond my profession, I hold a deep belief. Anything that goes into your body should nourish you. Food is not just something we consume to get through the day. It is fuel. It is information. It is communication with our cells. Cooking healthy food feels spiritual to me. It grounds me. It connects mind, body, and soul in a way no supplement ever could. Hydration in our home is treated with that same intention. This is how drinking skincare became part of our everyday life.

Water Is Not Just Water.

Water, to me, is not just water. It is a carrier.When you add fruits, vegetables, seeds, or botanical essences, you change how that water behaves inside the body. You give it minerals, antioxidants, fiber, fatty acids, and plant compounds that help hydrate cells more effectively, calm inflammation, stabilize blood sugar, and support skin from within.

This philosophy is not new.

Abu Ali Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, the Persian physician whose teachings shaped medicine for centuries, believed water should be prepared, not consumed mindlessly. Different waters were used for different constitutions, seasons, and needs, supporting digestion, energy, mood, and longevity. That wisdom resonates deeply with me.

How This Looks in Our Home

At home, I practice this in a very real and very simple way with my two daughters. My ten year old loves tea. She is drawn to warmth, ritual, and the feeling of slowing down. I gently steep rose petals, chamomile, saffron threads, or a touch of cardamom in warm water, then let it cool. It still feels like tea to her, but it hydrates instead of depletes. These botanicals support digestion, calm the nervous system, and gently nourish skin and mood.

My six year old loves juice. She loves color and a hint of sweetness. Instead of fighting that, I meet her there. I add strawberries, blueberries, citrus peel, cucumber, or thin slices of purple sweet potato to water. The water turns pink or violet, and she is excited to drink it. What she is actually getting are antioxidants, potassium, and phytonutrients that support hydration, energy, and skin health from the inside.

Seeds and Steady Energy

Seeds are another quiet powerhouse in our home. Chia or basil seeds release soluble fiber and omega fatty acids when soaked, transforming water into something more sustaining. This slows digestion, stabilizes blood sugar, and helps water stay in the gut longer. This matters more than most people realize.

When blood sugar is steady, you feel it immediately. Energy becomes even instead of spiky. You do not crash mid afternoon or reach for coffee just to get through the rest of the day. Your mood is calmer, your focus is clearer, and your body feels supported rather than stressed. This is one of the quiet gifts of nourishing food and mineral rich hydration.

When Heat Is Intentional

People often ask me if I ever boil anything, since I talk so much about gentle infusion. The answer is yes, but intentionally. Chemistry matters. When I boil beets, I always save the water. Beet compounds are heat stable and move beautifully into the liquid. Drinking beet water supports circulation, nitric oxide production, stamina, liver detox pathways, and skin glow through improved blood flow. It is grounding and deeply energizing.

Purple sweet potatoes are another favorite. Their deep violet color comes from anthocyanins that remain stable with gentle boiling. The water becomes rich in antioxidants and supports inflammation control, gut health, cellular repair, and skin elasticity. It is one of my favorite beauty waters, especially in colder months.

Bone Broth and Intuition

And then there is bone broth.Bone broth is not about flavor. It is about structure.

Slow simmering pulls collagen, gelatin, amino acids like glycine and proline, and essential minerals into the liquid. Drinking the broth, or even just the warm liquid, supports gut lining repair, joint health, skin firmness, nervous system calm, and deep mineral rich hydration. One of my favorite surprises is that my six year old loves bone broth. Not because I have convinced her it is healthy, but because her body seems to recognize it. She will sip it warm from a mug like it is comfort, not medicine. When a child asks for something nourishing without being prompted, I pay attention. To me, that is intuition before language.

Listening to the Body

The body is always communicating with us. If you ate fries every day, you would not need a lab test to tell you something was off. You would feel heavy, sluggish, inflamed. And when you get sick, the body speaks loudly through sore throats, body aches, and fever. These are not punishments. They are signals. What we forget is that the body communicates just as clearly when things are going right. When you nurture and nourish it properly, the signals change. Energy rises. Stamina improves. Vitality returns. Skin looks more alive. You feel lighter in your body and steadier in your mood. This is intuitive nourishment, tuning inward and learning to recognize what nourishment actually feels like.

Ancestral Wisdom, Everyday Care

Persian culture has always woven beauty and nourishment together. Rose water is calming and anti inflammatory. Saffron supports mood and hormonal balance.Cardamom aids digestion and blood sugar regulation.Fennel reduces bloating. These are not trends. They are ancestral tools.I do not overcomplicate any of this. Cold or room temperature infusions for lightness and brightness. Warm, simmered waters for grounding and repair. Gentle methods always.

This is how I care for my family, by honoring mind, body, and soul together. Hydration becomes ritual. Food becomes medicine without feeling like medicine. And health becomes something my daughters experience as comforting, beautiful, and intuitive.

That, to me, is real preventive care.