Life-changing weight loss and beauty secrets - from a well known makeup artist

By Elizabeth Yow, Fashion Wire Daily

New York:

SOMETIMES WHAT you don't do is what makes you beautiful," says Kat James, a New York-based celebrity makeup artist turned holistic beauty expert.

According to James, who has worked with the likes of movie and television stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Hudson and Amanda Peet, the secret to transforming your looks and life begins with giving up the accepted methods of self-improvement like fad weight loss programmes, "diet" foods, obsessive calorie counting and deprivation. James, in fact, improved and healed her own body - losing 10 dress sizes, overcoming an eating disorder and a severe liver condition - after adopting a holistic lifestyle with the help of a physician versed in nutritional medicine.

James shares her knowledge as well as the science behind the benefits of natural living with the launch of a web site, InformedBeauty.com, providing information and research about holistic nutrition and cosmetic choices. She also has "Total Transformation" week-long workshops - held in exotic hotspots like Bali and on cruises around the Caribbean.

Below she offers details behind these new programmes and steps to rebuilding your self-image while achieving inner and outer beauty.

What are the basics of a nutrition plan that's going to help people get healthy and have the beauty benefits?

Real, pure food that's delicious. Healthy eating is not limited to rabbit food and tasteless things. I've come up with a menu with Holland America for the Total Transformation workshops which uses quality fats like nuts, avocado and real butter instead of hydrogenated fake fats. There's savoury, generously herbed protein and vegetable based meals with fruits and grains and low-carb desserts. This isn't suffering. And it's not about counting. I'm much more concerned with food purity - the lack of pesticides, preservatives and hormones.

What is wrong with making 'cold turkey' changes in one's diet or starvation diets?

Cold turkey and starvation are about deprivation. And I do not believe in that. I consider purity the new decadence. And I live decadently. Life and eating has to be joyful.

Q: Many eating plans focus on limiting the intake of carbohydrates and refined sugars - what's the danger with them?

A: The crash to craving cycle. If sugar enters your bloodstream quickly then your pancreas has to secrete more insulin which ultimately leaves you with low blood sugar - and then craving more sugar. And when you eat carbohydrates they have a drug-like, serotonin-raising effect. But you don't need to use food as a drug. And you can avoid the initiation of the whole craving cycle and end it once and for all by stabilising your blood sugar.

The first step: don't surround yourself with "drugs" like sugary cereals, bottled drinks containing 24 grams of sugar. You might as well eat a candy bar. Plus, you can determine with the help of doctor whether your body could use a blood sugar stabiliser. Studies say a lot of people are chromium deficient and that taking supplements can help stabilise blood sugar.

Q: How do you take the first step toward achieving "natural beauty"?

A: One of the first steps is to be completely impervious to a product's packaging, advertising and slogans and go right to the label. Set foot in a health food store and go to the beauty care products and compare the labels with those on products you're using. That's a revelation when a label reads 'water, natural extracts and aloe' and that's it.

Instead of manicures, Manolo Blahniks or paying a lot of money for a skirt that makes your butt look good, put money into changing your shampoo and conditioner - one little thing at a time. Beyond being a beauty product, there's a much deeper feeling, a deeper reward for doing something healthy for yourself that literally builds up inner esteem. You realise you're not going to need super-duper foaming soap or super-duper smelling lotion if it has nothing to do with how your skin is going to feel.

Q: Can you share some of the lessons that participants learn on the Total Transformation cruises?

Mindful makeup. It's an external approach that pays tribute to your features and gives you a feeling of respect. When you're relying on high hair or layers of makeup, the message to yourself is, 'I'm inadequate because I'm covered up.' And 'virtual vitality' is a visualisation tool to help you realise what you look like as a healthy person.

Instead of following trends or using certain colour palettes, you notice how you look when you're well-rested or after you exercise and use makeup to help you get that healthy, radiant and vital appearance.

Q: And what is the most important thing that you hope participants take away from the week?

A: First of all it's fun and they get the makeover of a lifetime with celebrity stylists. But I also want to inform them of the politics of the food and beauty industries. I provide information so they can hear both sides of the arguments. Right now we're not hearing both sides. After the week, people also become healthy sceptics - starting to read ads and billboards differently. We're all overstimulated by the amount of information and so we become numb and shut ourselves off. But it's not all bad news. There's a lot of good news out there. And we need to bring back a sensitivity - so we can learn to look at a healthy product that hasn't been featured in a fashion magazine without assuming that it couldn't be any good. Or see dowdy packaging without automatically assuming that it doesn't work.

Q: Why is Total Transformation different from diet books, weight loss programs, detox programs?

A: The attention is individual. Throughout the week, we zero in and pinpoint what a person's rituals are - what they do on auto pilot with certainty and frequency. And then we tweak their routine. And I insist that it's painless. To be honest with you, I don't want you to feel that you're making changes but you'll get huge payoffs. For instance, if your ritual is to wake up and drink tea then I suggest natural brands that don't contain solvents. If you're a coffee-holic then I suggest you try green tea every other cup. There's a massive health benefit. And if you hate green tea? I introduce you to Moroccan mint or ginger green tea. It took a serious health issue to wake me up. And I don't want other people to go that far to be awakened so I'm telling them my story and sharing my success so people can turn the corner without hitting bottom.

Back to Flair