Shimmer Secret: Get Rid of Summer Acne with Bitter Melon Drink

Summer is here and it’s get­ting hot­ter by the day. I was blessed with fairly oily skin and sum­mer time is when I have my annual bat­tle with sweat, humid­ity, and yes, acne. During a con­ver­sa­tion the other day with my friend Jodi, who stud­ied Chinese med­i­cine, she shared with me one of the best kept beauty secrets that might just help us get rid of this sum­mer acne prob­lem once and for all: the bit­ter melon drink.

My imme­di­ate response was: “Bitter melon? What is that?”

Bitter mel­ons are aca­d­e­m­i­cally known as Momordica cha­ran­tia and they are widely pop­u­lar in South and Southeast Asia. They are con­sid­ered the bit­ter­est of all veg­eta­bles, but this very bit­ter taste turns out to be of great med­i­c­i­nal uses. It stim­u­lates diges­tion, improves immu­nity, and most impor­tantly, reduces inflam­ma­tion. Jodi explains to me that in Chinese med­i­cine, inflam­ma­tion is seen to be a sym­tom of exces­sive “heat” in the body. Such exces­sive might be caused by the humid sum­mer weather or our own men­tal stress, and when that hap­pens, our body dynam­ics go off bal­ance and begin send­ing off sig­nals like, well, acne. In stim­u­lat­ing diges­tion and mod­u­lat­ing inflam­ma­tion, bit­ter mel­ons act as a “cool­ing agent” to chan­nel this heat out of our bodies.

The bit­ter melon drink is easy to make, and sur­pris­ingly tasty. Here are the ingre­di­ents you need to prepare:

1 to 1 1/2 bit­ter melon, depend­ing on how bit­ter you like your drink to be

3–4 sticks of celery

1 apple

1 green pepper

2 car­rots

Directions

1. peel off the skin of the apple and carrots.

2. Cut all the veg­gies into long, thin sticks

3. Leave veg­gies in water for 4–5 hours — so that they will be clean, and soaked with water

4. for the best effects, put the veg­gies into the fridge for 2–3 hours before juic­ing them

5. Juice the veg­gies with elec­tric juicer. The amount of veg­gies men­tioned above could give 2 big mugs of juice. Stir before drink­ing for bet­ter taste.

Evaluation

Effects

I have been try­ing this recipe for the past cou­ple of days and I have to say that I love the out­comes. It’s not fancy, it’s cheap, and it’s all nat­ural — no mat­ter how nat­ural your juice boxes say and how much vit­a­min C and such they say they have, juic­ing your own fruit juice is still the best way to go. After hav­ing a mug every day for a week or so, I do feel my body is more “in bal­ance” — it’s a vague descrip­tion I know, but gen­er­ally I feel health­ier. I feel less bloated after a big meal, and my diges­tion is bet­ter. This gen­eral feel­ing is show­ing on my skin as well — this huge zit actu­ally dis­ap­peared after dom­i­nat­ing my chin for days! My skin is less greasy and gen­er­ally, I just feel like my body is work­ing smoother. So yes, I have to say that this bit­ter melon drink works won­ders.

Taste

I can barely taste the bit­ter­ness of the bit­ter melon because the car­rots almost com­pletely dom­i­nate the taste (and car­rots are great to help fade acne scars!), so it’s great news for those who don’t like their juice bitter.

All in all…

What is it good for	Summer acne, indis­ges­tion (trust me that shows on your skin!), con­sti­pa­tion, ulcers, acne scars
Why should I try it	It’s cheap, nat­ural, and easy to pre­pare. Great to have with break­fast before a day’s work. And did I men­tion it tastes good too?
Tips	If you can’t find bit­ter mel­ons in your local super­mar­ket, you should be able to to find them from Asian super­mar­kets or spe­cialty stores. And they aren’t expen­sive, either.
Money wise	<$4 per glass
Downside	Taking 20 min­utes or so a day to make juice might be a has­sle to some peo­ple, but hey, it’s your skin and your body, so your decision