The Science Behind Beauty Nutrition - an Interview with Star Khechara


Can you eat yourself younger? Can diet make that much difference? The lady you see right up there says 'indeed it does'. After looking at her work and comparing a few notes, I must say I am inclined to agree.

Star Khechara has been studying the science of nutrition and the impact it makes on our health and beauty for years. Her latest book, The Facelift Diet is just one result of her ongoing research in this field.

Her Academy of Beauty Nutrition offers an in-depth online course that I expect might just knock your beauty socks off.

I asked Star if she would let me interview her about the Certificate in Beauty Nutrition course and not only did she agree, but also kindly offered to create a special discount for readers of this blog.


You have a fascinating background that has really given you the perfect basis for creating this enlightening and eye-opening course. Could you share a bit about your background?

Absolutely! I've always been fascinated with plants and health so from a young age I was drawn to learning more about both, starting with making my own healthy foods from age 14 onwards, then making my own skincare products from age 16 and training as an Aromatherapist at age 18. My plan was to be a practising Aromatherapist but shortly into my training I discovered I hated touching people, I LOVED learning about the phytotherapeutic qualities of the essential oils but detested performing massage. Learning about the oils helped me create better skincare products and soon I was creating remedies for my friends and family. I became obsessed and avidly studied herbal medicine, aromatology, cosmetic chemistry, nutritional biochemistry and started foraging wild plants for medicine, food and beauty.

During this time I also lived wild in a campervan and often worked as an organic gardener. Plants were my life! I started writing about skincare and natural beauty for various magazines including Natural Health, Green Parent and The Mother and in 2008 my first book The Holistic Beauty Book - containing over 100 of my own 100% natural skincare recipes - was published by Green Books and suddenly I had a fanbase for my work.

I decided to launch my own online skincare formulation school - initially known as School of Holistic Cosmetology - I later changed the name to Formula Botanica before selling the school in 2014.

I'm now combining my expertise in nutrition, plants and skincare in my second book The Facelift Diet® and in my new online school: Academy of Beauty Nutrition where I train health, beauty and nutrition professionals to use anti-ageing beauty nutrition science in their 'toolkits' and careers.



The Certificate in Beauty Nutrition is a fascinating course! I was quite frankly amazed to learn some of the information presented right from the beginning in first module – some of it even goes against what we have previously been led to believe is correct and healthy. How did you go about researching and developing this material? 

I've been researching anti-ageing beauty nutrition for over a decade and developing my own theories for almost 20 years. Finally, the scientific world has been catching up and the published research is coming thick and fast, what was thought of as genetic or inevitable ageing is now being shown as almost exclusively a consequence of diet and lifestyle choices.

I wanted to make sure my theories and methodologies that I've been developing were scientifically sound before I even thought about creating my Academy of Beauty Nutrition or writing The Facelift Diet® book, I've literally spent 100s of £££ of research books and I subscribe to peer-reviewed journals so I stay ahead with all the latest research.

Just as I did with Formula Botanica, my emphasis has always been on developing my courses from validated qualified research and distilling those complex theories into simple methodologies to implement in a practical way - so everyone can benefit; professionals and their clients alike. I'm a huge science nerd!

And yes as you rightly say, a lot of this new information does go against the grain (pardon the pun) but that's the beauty of science, we constantly evolve what we know to be true and quite honestly the world of nutrition can be a minefield these days as it's so over-saturated with pseudo-experts, gurus and silly fad diets with zero scientific basis - this is why I have spent over a decade with my head in the scientific literature before going public with my findings, I want to be sure that any opinions I share are rooted in fact and logic. I want to make sure people will genuinely benefit from my tried and tested dietary guidelines.


Would you mind sharing ’the headlines’ of what students of this course can expect to come away with? And who is this course made for?


I designed the Certificate in Beauty Nutrition to give a sound scientific foundation in anti-ageing beauty nutrition to health coaches, nutritionists, skincare formulators, beauty therapists/estheticians and holistic chefs (or anyone that works in healthy food creation).

Across the 8 modules we cover the 3 main areas of beauty nutrition: The skin and current ageing theories, beauty nutrition science and beauty foods as an anti-ageing protocol.

Module 1
is all about cellular-level skin health and we uncover some fascinating new developments in the science of how skin ages.

Module 2 
is where we discover the official Facelift Diet 3-pronged approach to discovering which foods are 'beauty foods' and also which foods are 'ugly foods'. No food is neutral, every bite is either working to enhance your youthfulness and beauty or it's working to destroy it.  Harsh, but true.

Module 3
is where we unveil the official The Facelift Diet® beauty food pyramid and it's an eyeopening visual as it goes against a lot of standard nutrition advice.

Module 4
is all about hydration (water being the most important beauty food!) and we finally find out the answer to 'how much water do we actually need'.

Module 5
is the most intensive module as it's where we delve into all the key beauty nutrients, how they function, how much we need and where to find them.

Module 6
covers the 'rejuvenation rainbow' and we unearth the science behind the reason why we should eat colourful fruits and vegetables.

Module 7
gets geeky with nutraceuticals; nature's botanicals and those powerful phytochemicals such as Ellagic acid, beta glucan and catechins.

Module 8 
is where we get practical by turning our kitchens into anti-ageing labs with the top 30 beauty foods and recipes.


Each module is comprehensive yet fun and engaging to get stuck into. I love making learning fun and accessible to everyone.

There are videos, templates, recipes, experiments and quizzes, as well as a fun Facebook group where I add extra content and latest beauty food news (as well as yummy recipes which everyone always appreciates).

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Thank you, Star for sharing your cutting edge work!

Want to Get Busy? 

Star has kindly offered readers of this blog a special a special coupon code.
Click here to enroll

This code will give you a whopping $200 OFF (paying just $495 not $695):
LisaLise200  

The code is good through SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

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