True Beauty: The Inside-Out Approach to Aging & Skin Health

The Science of Natural Beauty and Emotional Intelligence with Cathy Goldstein

Discover how natural beauty, holistic health, and emotional intelligence transform not just your skin, but your overall well-being. In this episode of the Natalie Tysdal Podcast, expert guest Cathy Goldstein breaks down the science of beauty, explains how emotions manifest on our face, and shares practical steps for aging confidently—inside and out.

Unpacking Natural Beauty: Skin Health, Energy & Functional Medicine

Beauty is more than skin deep. Cathy Goldstein, a leader in energy medicine and functional skincare, shares why our skin is both a reflection and messenger of our internal health. Learn how emotions, trauma, and even stress can surface as visible changes in our skin, and how to nurture natural beauty with science-backed, toxin-free methods.

Emotional Intelligence and Facial Expressions: The Secret to Graceful Aging

Did you know your facial expressions are essential for both connection and brain health? Discover why emotional intelligence—from genuine smiles to laughter—keeps you naturally attractive, youthful, and deeply connected to others, including your kids.

What You’ll Learn

• The link between natural beauty, holistic health, and emotional intelligence

• How emotional stress and trauma can visibly affect your skin and face

• Which skincare ingredients and nutrition truly make a difference

• The shocking impact of fillers and injectables on facial expression and connection

• Why hydration and electrolyte balance are foundational for beauty

• Tips for the most effective, minimal skincare routine

• The empowerment of embracing age and becoming more visible, not less, over time

Why This Episode Matters

Women are constantly bombarded by beauty myths that undermine confidence and well-being. This episode shines a light on the science of natural beauty and the overlooked power of emotional intelligence. Cathy’s holistic approach empowers you to care for your skin, health, and self-image in ways that are truly sustainable—and help you pass on emotional intelligence to the next generation. Whether you’re seeking practical tips or deeper self-acceptance, you’ll leave inspired to honor your natural beauty and age with confidence.

Links and Resources

True Energy Skincare

Natalie Tysdal Podcast Listen Here

Cathy, thank you so much for joining me, a topic that I haven't spent a lot of time on, but I know my listeners, women in particular, are going to love this topic today.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (01:40)

Excellent. Yes, I can't wait to dive into it because I am definitely talking about things that most people don't talk about. So I'm excited to unpack that, especially with your audience.

Natalie Tysdal (01:50)

Well, thank you again. And beauty is a big thing. Unfortunately, a lot of our society, it's what we focus on. We want to do it as naturally as we can. But give me an idea of how you ended up in this space, energy, functional medicine, and beauty.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (02:08)

Yeah, yeah, it's actually quite quite the segue. I had to kind of figure it out myself because when I first got into ⁓ in my early 20s, I was always into science. I was always into the physiology of the body. It absolutely fascinated me. So in the process of finishing some pre meds and planning on going to do school, I ended up getting really, really sick with Crohn's disease, ended up in the hospital for three months, almost died a couple of times. It was really ⁓

life altering as they say it was the sledgehammer not the feather that I needed to change my direction in life. So I ended up going to acupuncture school because acupuncture is what totally saved my life. I mean obviously surgery saved my

physical life, but as far as wellness goes, it was the acupuncture that really changed my trajectory in how the body heals. And I see allopathic medicine as really emergency, put it back together, and then get out as soon as possible so that you can actually begin the healing process. So that's where I segued into ⁓ acupuncture school. And then I immediately really kind of developed my interest in energy medicine, energy healing frequencies, ⁓

the relationship between emotions and our physiology and how the issues show up in the tissues on our unfinished loops in our emotional brain. ⁓ And then at about 49, I inadvertently had caught myself in the mirror and I did not like what I saw.

not out of vanity per se, like you said, we all want to look good. all, mean, the beauty industry is a huge industry and the message is a very, very big, strong message. And, you know, in this process of realizing I'm not aging how I thought I was, I looked years, years, years older and ⁓ I, I practiced what I preach. I was eating well. I was, you know, meditating. I was getting treatment. So I practiced what I preach and I was like driving down that lane. I felt great. But

It wasn't my face was not reflecting that. So I kind of really took a deeper dive into, you know, what the, how the emotions show up on our face and really what the skin, this largest body of the organ is really holding onto. So it led me really down the lane of ⁓ toxins, physical toxins, emotional toxins. And then also through trying all of the goop and

different tools and things like that, there was a desperate need for a natural facelift system. So it just wasn't out there. So that kind of led me at 49 down the path that I'm at now, which I'm 65 now. So it gave me the opportunity to really dive down that lane, which was exciting for me.

Natalie Tysdal (04:58)

Wow, well, and 65, for those who are watching on YouTube, you don't look 65. so you talk about the goops and the creams and all of these things. We know how big of an industry it is, how expensive it is. How much of a difference are those things making versus what we're eating and our emotions and all of the other stuff?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (05:02)

Yeah.

hmm. Yeah, I love that question. Because, you know, a lot of people think of the skin and the beauty industry really talks about the skin as being this one dimensional.

piece of a superficial and it's really part of a huge system. It's the largest organ of the body and it's responsible for a lot of information that goes not only from the outside world to the inside world but the inside world to the outside world. So everything that we have going on tends to show up on our skin and especially on our face and especially the muscles on the face because they're different than the muscles of the body. They're not bone to bone so they don't have a lengthening and a tightening. They're generally bone

to bone to skin or skin to skin, or muscle to muscle and that that those muscles tend to get stagnated in our

emotional stressors, our traumas, we're wearing our traumas on our face. And so let's go back to the goop part, right? So when we put goop on the surface of our skin, if it doesn't have any type of messaging, then it's really just goop on the skin. And you can change, you know, superficially dry skin, you can change on even tone, things like that, especially with chemicals. But of course, you know, I'm all natural.

I don't want to put any more chemicals in my body than I have, you know, especially if I have control over it, right? So the ideas is that, and this is actually probably a whole conversation in itself, which is like how, how products list their ingredients and what is an active ingredient versus a support ingredient versus an empty, you know, ingredient and ⁓ what that really does for the skin or doesn't do for the skin. I'm my concept, my

Natalie Tysdal (06:58)

and

Cathy Goldstein, AP (07:11)

Feeling is is that if there's an issue with the skin, it's probably not from the skin. It's probably from within so being able to even do with a with a Cream like all of my cretin creams are treatments because they're actually performing in a different way They're giving the nutrients like functional nutrition functional skincare gives the cells the information that they need so they can generate a healthy collagen producing machine if that's what it's supposed to be doing and come to the surface

of the skin as a healthy surface, you know, evidence. So that's kind of the full loop there.

Natalie Tysdal (07:48)

Okay, so two things I want to break down

here. One is ⁓ what we're putting into our bodies that are first supporting ⁓ what's going to happen on the outside. But then after that, let's talk about the goo. Let's talk about the active ingredients. Let's talk about what we should be looking for. But so let's start with what we're putting in. Obviously, if we're putting in pizza and soda every day, we're not going to feel good and our skin's not going to look as good, right?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (08:04)

Okay.

Absolutely. Yes, our skin is a reflection. It's a reflection of everything that's going on with our stress, what we're putting in our body, you know, on a physical, like physically what we're feeding it and our emotional stressors. inside, outside, outside, inside. it is a hundred. Like, I don't, I don't know when I started to notice this, but.

Even flying, when I fly, I now need a little bit more time to rehydrate and repair because flying is stressful for the skin, right? It's stressful for the body. And then when you think about eating poorly and not giving your body nutrients, like the way I feel about it, we're either feeding to thrive or feeding to die. So you're either feeding the cell or killing the cell. There's no real in-between.

Natalie Tysdal (08:50)

Yeah.

Mm.

We hear so much about this cellulose, it's a whole nother topic too. We could break this into 10 different podcasts, I know. But cellular health, and when your cells, every bit of you, every piece, every cell is healthy, that's gonna show, that's what you're saying, that's gonna show not only on your face, but the rest of your skin, every.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (09:08)

Right, right.

Yeah,

absolutely, absolutely. And I think of our body is what I call a

has a biophoton highway. And that biophoton highway is energy communication. And this is the part that might sound a little woosh, but it's really not. We know that we have an electrical communication between cells. That's the electrons going down the positive and negative, like the physical nervous system, taking your hand off of a stove, things like that, is the physical nervous system. But we also have a liquid nervous system. And the liquid nervous system is all of our, you know, what travels through the blood.

the interstitials, So that's like neurotransmitters, information substances, hormones, things like that. And then we have a biophoton highway or nervous system, and that's the energy communication. And the fascia is actually designed to really deliver that communication in an instantaneous level. It also is how we identify with our outside world. So when you walk into a room and you get a vibe around that room or a feel for your friend, like some

that's going on. That's energy that you're picking up on the outside world that you're registering and actually integrating into your nervous system and processing it so that you have understanding of your outside world as well.

Natalie Tysdal (10:42)

Yeah,

yeah, I think we dismissed that so quickly. So many people do and really being in tune with that. How do you learn that? how does knowledge is power, right? That's why I do this. That's why I think you understand this stuff and then you can go out and do something about it. But how do you learn that the energy part of it?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (10:50)

Mmm.

Yeah, so you know, I do feel like everybody has that capability to learn the energy part of that. And sometimes we just don't listen. You know, that remember when I was talking about the sledgehammer versus the feather, you know, when we don't listen to our body, our body is going to go No, no, you really need to listen to me, you know, to the point where you get knocked on your behind, right? So, ⁓ you know, our body is constantly talking to us. But what my favorite topic is, is actually emotional intelligence, right? Because emotional intelligence is how we

Natalie Tysdal (11:13)

Yeah.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (11:32)

connect to our outside world and connect with humans. And that is like a fundamental thing for human condition in nature is that we connect with others. We don't do well by ourselves. We have to have those connections. So emotional intelligence and how we develop emotional intelligence is fascinating.

Natalie Tysdal (11:53)

How do you tie that in then to beauty? You mentioned, you know, what we put into our body, the emotions, the goo. So we're talking three different things. But the emotional part of it, how does that show up in our skin, in our muscles? And how can we change it or be better ⁓ to make ourselves healthier emotionally?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (11:56)

my gosh.

Hahaha! ⁓

Yeah, yeah. So ⁓ let's talk about the muscles of the face and what they are actually for. Because these are our expressions, how we identify with each other and what our expressions are with each other. And ⁓ the primary thing about our facial expressions and our emotional intelligence is that a lot of people think that we express our emotions

through our facial expressions and our words. And just to make a point, we're only about 70 to 90 percent.

are we are actually 70 to 90 % nonverbal in our communication. So most of our communication happens way before we've said anything. And ⁓ it's because of the facial expressions and so, and the energy, that vibe, right? So when we make a facial expression, we think, like, let's talk about smiling, right? Smiling. And a lot of facial expressions go into smiling. We think that's it.

Expression of our emotion. However, it goes the other way as well It's actually a feedback for our brain to feel happiness as well Which is why they say laughter is the best medicine is because it tells your brain to feel and be happy and that's those neuro pathways in the mammalian or that limbic brain or emotional brain that that

Understands that facial expressions is information if we use that information we can put it back out so let's talk about it in a reflection of light of ⁓ You know, you're telling me a heartfelt story and I'm trying to understand which are what you're saying So I'm trying to understand your feelings on this. I will use micro expressions To send back information to my brain

And because of those muscle contractions in that specific pattern, my limbic, my emotional brain tells me how you're feeling. And now I can respond to you. it happens obviously so fast. And most of the time it's completely unconscious. But to me, that's like mind blowing, right? But that is emotional intelligence. If you're in like an industry of ⁓

Natalie Tysdal (14:30)

Yeah, sure.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (14:42)

negotiating, ⁓ management, of ⁓ leadership, of therapy, things like that, your facial expressions and your ability to read other people's facial expressions are clutch.

Natalie Tysdal (14:55)

Yeah, yeah. So how does that all tie into beauty?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (14:58)

So here's my really bottom of the line message here is that the beauty industry is telling us that as we age, we're becoming less important and less visible. And this is the message that I feel like really needs to change, that as we age, we are more in our power. We are more resilient. We have so much to offer that invisible is not an option.

So if, and so here's where, here's where with the industry, it's telling us we need to keep up with 20 and 30 year olds and use like injectables and fillers and things like that.

to look a certain way. And the reality of it is, is when we do that, we can't use our facial expressions. And if we can't use our facial expressions, we're disconnecting from each other and we're decreasing brain patterns. We're actually decreasing the neurotransmitters moving from the prefrontal cortex to the limbic brain. So we actually are losing that function as well. And then on a mom level, teens don't actually develop their ability to

⁓ accurately.

read facial expressions because those neuro pathways aren't developed until about 21 for a female 25 for a male. So if a mom has been using injectables and she can't make those facial expressions with the muscle contractions that the teenagers and this is our job as a parent from birth is to help that help our infants and our teens until they have their own skills to actually develop the ability

to read those facial expressions because they're mimicking us. It's like a baby laughing, right? So they're mimicking our expressions and they're learning like that. So it creates this stress with the teenagers where it actually fires up the brain under a 3D MRI and fMRI as stress and trauma. And teens have a ton of stress and trauma and anxiety. So yeah, it's...

Natalie Tysdal (16:45)

Yeah. Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah, I mean, it all

ties together. Like, wow, you talk about beauty just so superficially, like it's such a it's so silly compared to all these other things we're talking about. But then being able to make those expressions to connect with another person, then it makes you more emotionally sound, emotionally happy, which therefore is just going to make you a prettier person. Right.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (17:29)

Agreed

I agree with that right? What are you most attracted to when you meet someone right? It's their pizzazz. It's their little facial expressions. I agree

Natalie Tysdal (17:33)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's their confidence, right? Which makes someone pretty. Okay. So let's talk some practical things then. I like to be sure someone listening can say, there's something I can do today to help myself. I mean, there's just some really deep things we're teaching. But what are some things you would give to a listener to help themselves starting today?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (17:41)

Yes, yes.

Okay.

Hahahaha

Mm Well, you know, let's talk a little bit from the inside out first. And hydration is an under under

It's, cannot, yes, yes, I can't overemphasize because water actually carries a lot of the frequencies as well. And because our cells are what 70, our brain is, think 80 % fluids. So your conductivity, not only on a physical level for that physical nervous system, but even on the energetic nervous system is key, key, key. So sipping water throughout the day, at least, I mean, I prefer at least two liters of water per day.

Natalie Tysdal (18:10)

keep it with me at all times.

You think it matters what kind of water, we could go deep into that. I know, but I think it does make a difference. mean, we know people in other countries and other places, like they don't have all of the stuff in their water, but you just don't want to be drinking water straight out of plastic that has nothing in it, no minerals. So if you're advising someone to hydrate, what would you say they should be doing that with?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (18:39)

And of course, ho ho ho, we could.

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so ⁓ clean, obviously super clean because we don't need the chemicals. That's just adding to the chemical load, the toxic load, as well as water that has information in it because I think electrolytes, sodium, magnesium, potassium. So some type of electrolyte is I think also helpful in water, but not a sugar based. think with my water, I just use ⁓

potassium and sea salt, like a pinch of each in a glass of clean water. ⁓ mean, reverse osmo. Like you said, we can unpack water for a while. I'm not a fan of reverse osmosis unless you put minerals in it, because it'll do anything to become stable, including pull your own calcium minerals, because that's most available mineral. ⁓ clean, clean, clean, clean, and ⁓ oxygenate it.

you can, but I think like you were also saying, not plastic. No plastic, don't buy plastic bottles. A lot of times when I travel, I'll buy a glass bottle and then take it to the gym and fill it in from the cooler that has water directly from filtration system. We do not need the extra plastics. We already get plenty of those.

Natalie Tysdal (20:18)

Yeah, yep. Okay, so electrolytes, I'm on a good path with that. We do that daily, that's good. And sea salt, I just put it under my tongue, sea salt. Okay, so hydration, your first tip. Hydrate, that's gonna make your skin look better, it's gonna make you feel better, all of that. What else would you say?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (20:21)

Good job. Yes. perfect. Yes.

Yes, OK,

so let's go outside in right on the outside world. So ⁓ you know for me I I there's two things really is one is is ⁓ you know aging is a choice on how you do it right so I'm not suggesting that we ⁓ you know ignore what our options are in being able to.

Natalie Tysdal (20:35)

Okay.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (20:56)

age as gracefully and timelessly as possible. So I definitely feel like using your tools makes a difference. ⁓ You know, whether it's facial yoga or something, you know, or the natural facelift system that ⁓ I created or, you know, lot of ⁓ Gua Sha tools, although on the face, I'm not much of a fan of Gua Sha tools, but, you know, use some tools.

Natalie Tysdal (21:17)

We see so much of that. Why are you not a fan of that? Is it lymph drainage? Is it exercising

the muscle? What do you not like about it?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (21:24)

Yeah,

so you know, it actually, well, this is this is it's, this is what I this is what I don't like about it is is that in Chinese medicine, guasha shying actually means ⁓ it brings up stagnant blood. So it's like, it looks like bruising, you like a like a

you know, red, it's not painful, but it's like bruising. So it's a specific indication that you use Gua Sha for. And then how you use a Gua Sha stone makes a difference because you don't want to rip.

⁓ the fascia from the bone, don't want to damage the lymphatics. And when you're doing lymphatic drainage, you want it to be very, very gentle and superficial and down. And when you're going downwards, it makes a big difference on how much pressure you use because the body produces something called collagenase, which is an enzyme that breaks down collagen. So if you drag your face like gravity, but if you drag your face down, you can increase your production of collagenase breaking down collagen and then

Increasing sagging so how you used you know that as a tool is very very important ⁓ But the other is is that if you're going to use skincare to make sure that it is Non-toxic and to make sure it's super clean and make sure the ingredients are actually active ingredients and do something for your skin You know like functional skincare rather than just putting the goop on on the surface so ⁓

Yeah, and then also, you know what? Connecting with people, smiling, laughing, making sure you're all, you you can get those happy facial expressions in, because it helps stimulate the brain, helps stimulate that in a great way.

Natalie Tysdal (23:05)

for sure.

What is your product and your system and how did you create it? What's important in those ingredients?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (23:14)

Yeah, so ⁓ true energy skincare is the is the is the ⁓ is the line true energy skincare. I actually have a little green bead in our blue bead in every jar that I've imprinted with frequencies that communicate a vibration that is that resonates with the ⁓ balanced

if you will, tone of a healthy cell. So, right, so that's another show, right? So the idea is that much like a piano, if we want to tune a piano, we take a tuning fork and we tune each of the notes to that specific tuning fork. Well, very much the same when you hold...

For example, like the facelift wand, when you're touching your skin with that, it actually is admitting frequencies that are communicating with your cells that actually tell your cells to ⁓ perform, to increase in their frequency to act, if you will, like a 25-year-old cell where it's producing collagen on its own. So that's a little kind of...

out there for some people. let me actually say, you know, how I how I came about that was that in my practice, if I do acupuncture for someone and I send them out into our stressful world, they may not hold that treatment as long. What we do in our practice is we have a room called an integration room. So if I'm doing a treatment, whether it's a neuro emotional treatment or an acupuncture treatment, I'm then going to put them in this room that's an integration room that has frequencies that are

sound, their light frequencies, their biophoton frequencies, some of them are crystal frequencies that help to increase that vibration so it's higher so that the cells can have a half a chance in our stressful world to actually start learning how to vibrate at that high frequency, healthy, innate place that our body needs and wants to be, which is healthy. So it increases that vibration.

Natalie Tysdal (25:29)

And that lasts, I mean, is it temporary or does it then teach you how to go out into the world and be that yourself?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (25:38)

Yeah, so the whole idea is resilience, right? So in if it were, for example, in the practice, ⁓

If I were just doing acupuncture, I would say, you know, it could take several months for your body to really kind of learn how to vibrate at that frequency, keep your meridians balanced, keep your body balanced. And as your body learns that every week, you'll feel better and better and better. If I can do the integration with that, it speeds that up like 10 acupuncture treatments with one. So it helps to bring up that frequency so that we are more resilient in our stressful environment.

Natalie Tysdal (26:17)

What about other ingredients then? I mean, the system that you've created, tell me why it's special.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (26:19)

Yeah.

Okay, so ⁓ one is I am very ⁓

engaged in the formulations. And what is important to me is that they are active ingredients because a lot of times people can throw out, you know, names like respiratory tall and it's just a name unless it's actually at a specific ⁓ concentration or percentage that that makes it what's called an active ingredient. So one is having

⁓ You know active ingredients that perform the way they're supposed to perform. The other is I use a technology called oleosome technology, which is ⁓ It uses an oil to hold the nutrients in a in a seed if you will much like you know going to the garden grabbing some seeds out of the guard out of the shed and Planting them in the soil the seed holds the germ so it stays healthy so that when it is ready to bloom you get a beautiful flower

very much the same thing where it's the oleosome technology that holds the nutrients and delivers it deeper into the cell where you can actually utilize the nutrients as opposed to on the surface of the skin. That's not going to give us much at all. So it's about product penetration. It's about giving the body information, the functional ingredients, giving the information for the body to actually produce what it's supposed to. Like you can't put collagen on the surface of the skin and expect your body to produce collagen. You have to use ingredients

that encourage the cell to produce collagen on its own. So it's learning to produce collagen.

Natalie Tysdal (27:59)

How many products do we really need? Beauty industry will make us think you've got to have 30 things every day, one builds on the other. What do we really need to take care of our skin?

Cathy Goldstein, AP (28:04)

I agree.

I Yeah, ⁓

I actually think on a fundamental level five and that's you know, that's it and I do have other you know, other support ingredients because you're right the beauty industry what you need a little this you need a little of that, but I really feel like it's a ⁓

exfoliator key. A lot of people underestimate the power of a good exfoliator that it's made from natural enzymes that help break down those dead skin cell barriers that don't scratch the surface of the skin like salts and shells and things like that that actually create it actually creates micro damaging, which creates micro scarring, which creates a loss of elastin. you know, I have

perfectly round, Yehova beads that are smooth. And so that's key. And then a daily cleanser, a day cream that works. I use Hawaiian oils that works to protect the skin ⁓ against the environment. And then a nighttime that encourages the ⁓ rehydration and the deeper levels of ongoing support for the skin and a good serum. And you know, that's all you need.

Natalie Tysdal (29:18)

That's all you

really need. Yeah. After you... Yeah.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (29:19)

I really need I mean if you live in that yeah, I was just gonna

say if you live in Arizona You might you know, that's what actually why I developed one of the my oils at a height You know the hydration oil but what I did was is I developed it so you could take one or two drops in your Cream and use it not to be used by itself. So it actually just amplifies your hydration

Natalie Tysdal (29:41)

That's great. And then of course, all of that when you're hydrating, eating well and emotionally taking care of yourself. I love it that you that all of those things are part of what you recommend because you couldn't be more accurate that you're just not going to look pretty if you're just unhappy and unhealthy and putting stuff on your skin by itself. Well, ⁓ I'm going to make sure that I put links in the show notes so people can find you. But you have a website that you want to mention.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (29:45)

Yes, yes, yes, I know it's it's

Mm.

True. Yeah. Yeah.

Sure, ⁓ it's a true energy skincare. True is T-R-U, energy, E-N-E-R-G-Y, skincare.com.

Natalie Tysdal (30:21)

Well, thank you so much, Kathy. It's been a pleasure to talk to you. I can't wait to meet you. We just learned before we started recording that you live out there in Florida where my oldest daughter lives. So I'm going to come and visit you.

Cathy Goldstein, AP (30:27)

Yeah.

Excellent. I look forward to that. Thank you for having me.

Natalie Tysdal (30:35)

Great. Have a great day and hope to talk again soon.