Since skin secretes oils and toxins during night, cleansing in morning is necessary to prepare skin for moisturizer and makeup. It is also very important to cleanse your face every night, especially if you wear makeup. When you sleep, your pores open and your skin breathes, so anything on your face will be absorbed into your skin. In other words, everything that is on your face - cosmetics and environmental pollutants - will be absorbed into deeper levels of your skin.

Using proper cleansers and cleansing tools will keep your skin fresh and youthful looking. It has been scientifically confirmed that topical vitamin C and E help to protect skin against free radicals which breakdown skin tissue and cause premature signs of aging. It is important to know that benefit to your skin in performance and protection depends upon percentage and form of vitamin C and E in skin care formulas.

In Prevention Magazine's April 2002 issue, Amy Newburger, M.D., associate physician in clinical dermatology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons states, in reference to vitamin E, "You can find this antioxidant in just about any beauty product. Unfortunately it usually isn't present in high enough concentrations (5% or more according to a recent study) to really do your skin any good."

Vitamin C, another vital antioxidant, also helps protect skin against free radical damage (oxidation). However, as Dr. Newburger confirms, vitamin C is very unstable, breaks down quickly, and must be stored correctly to remain potent. Her recommendation, "Look for products in opaque airtight containers. A pump dispenser is great for sealing out oxygen and extending product life."

Be aware, just because vitamin C is included in an ingredient list doesn't necessarily mean that it is in proper form or percentage ratio to achieve its' claims. The use of vitamins (especially vitamin C) requires knowledge of proper percentages, pH, and delivery system.

Choosing a cleanser is almost as important as act of cleansing. A product that is too harsh can strip skin of natural oils, and leave it dry and irritated. Look for cleansers that rejuvenate skin at same time they cleanse it. A gentle goat milk soap and herbal glycerin can help remove excess oil as long as they don't dry your skin. For most skin, soaps are alkaline and can be irritating. It is best to use a cleanser that's close to skin's normal pH level, which is usually around 4.5. Nourishing shea butter is useful for dry, wrinkled, or irritated skin.

Also consider your skin type when choosing a cleanser. If your skin is oily, avoid products that strip away all oil as well as those with added moisturizers. Look for ingredients that have antiseptic properties like witch hazel and herbs and essential oils like eucalyptus, tea tree oil, and peppermint.

Metabolism is term used for all of physical and chemical reactions in body. The chemical reactions of metabolism take food we eat and transform it into fuels and building blocks for body. These chemical reactions are necessary for providing energy for activities such as movement and thinking, and for organ function such as digestion, and formation of urine. These reactions are also critical for breaking down old tissue and building new tissue.

The foods that we consume are chemically complex. They must be broken down by body into simpler chemical forms called nutrients. Nutrients are taken in through intestinal walls and transported by blood to cells. The processes involved are called digestion, absorption, and metabolism.

Digestion begins process through a series of physical and chemical changes by breaking down food in preparation for absorption from intestinal tract into bloodstream. Digestion actually begins when chewing breaks large pieces of food into smaller pieces.

The next step in this process is absorption. Absorption takes place primarily in small intestine, where its surface area is comparable to a quarter of a football field and its length is 20 feet. That's pretty amazing, isn't it?

Nutrients are taken up by intestines and passed into bloodstream to facilitate cell metabolism. Within 3 to 4 hours after a meal has been eaten, body must find a way to absorb millions of nutrient molecules including amino acids (proteins), monosaccharides, monoglycerides, glycerol (carbohydrates), fatty acids and glycerol (fats), vitamins, and minerals.

A whole lot of stuff goes on here, with villi (several hundred cells covered with microscopic hairs) in constant motion, trapping nutrient molecules and digesting and absorbing them into cells.

By time we get to metabolism, handling of food within body has reached its final stage. The process of metabolism involves all chemical changes that nutrients undergo from time they are absorbed until they become part of body or are excreted from body. Metabolism is conversion of digested nutrients into components for energy or for building material for living tissue.