Editor’s Note: Shirley Lord has had a front-row view of the beauty business for years. Born in London, she was working on Fleet Street at the age of 18. In the early 70s she moved to the United States and became beauty editor of Harper’s Bazaar. In 1980 she left for American Vogue, where she has had a long and distinguished career. She is the author of five novels, two "Bibles" on health and beauty and an autobiography.

1. Take the tongue. 

Well, actually, my tongue. British TV nutritionist Gillian McKeith would have me believe the distinct crack I can see in the middle is a sure indication of my weak stomach and poor digestive system.

On her primetime show, "You Are What You Eat" (now in reruns all over the world) and bestselling book of the same name, McKeith actively encourages people to stick their tongues out as they look in the mirror to self-diagnose the health of their bodies. 

As if this wasn’t unsavory enough, for television viewers, McKeith also analyzed — as she put it — "the color, texture and smell of the participant’s "poo" — or stool, all for the sake of correcting their eating habits in eight weeks for a healthier, happier  life.

McKeith, who believes that calorie counting and diets are "so last century," says, "’Teeth marks’ around the side of the tongue are a dead giveaway to a weak spleen, while a red tip indicates emotional upset or stress. The tongue is like a ‘window’ to the organs; the extreme tip correlates to the heart, the bit slightly behind is the lungs, the right side shows what the gallbladder is up to and the left side the liver.”

I recognized the symptoms she linked to my midline crack: "Feeling bloated after eating, energy slumps in the middle of the day." 

To help solve the problems, "Eat artichokes, avocados, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, brown rice; drink herbal teas: fennel, peppermint, licorice."

Why? McKeith says because these are the foods highest in antioxidants — artichokes in magnesium and vitamin C, avocados full of good healthy fat, brown rice and sweet potatoes deliver the B vitamins which balance the nervous system and metabolize fat.

Riva Touger Decker, Ph.D., professor and chair of Nutritional Sciences, SHRP (School of Health Related Professions) and director of the Division of Nutrition at New Jersey Dental School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, also spends time poking around the insides of her patients’ mouths. She agrees, up to a point, that a lot can be learned about nutritional deficiencies from the look of the tongue and the oral cavity. "Taste and the color of the tongue can all pinpoint a lack of micronutrients, especially B6, B12 and iron," she says. "A burning tongue can be an indication of diabetes or other systemic or local diseases or simply that it’s time to change one’s diet or medication."

What are the characteristics of a healthy tongue/healthy body? "The surface is covered with smooth pink mucous membrane and lymphoid follicles, produce a rough grayish-red appearance."

Touger Decker adds that animal protein, organ meats, raisins and other dried fruit are all good sources of iron and necessary nutrients and might be a better bet to correct certain nutritional deficiencies than what McKeith puts on the menu.            

It isn’t only the tongue — far from it — that can visibly blow the whistle on problems going on inside. Across the medical spectrum, I have learned many visible parts of the anatomy can tell tales.

2. Next up: What our eyes, nails and hair can reveal

The Eyes

Checking up on my contact-lens prescription, my eye doctor, Spencer Sherman, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Opthalmology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, explained, "The eye is the window to the body. The retina, the thin membrane at the back of the eye contains blood vessels that are representative of the entire body,” revealing early signs of systemic diseases, diabetes, hypertension, increased cholesterol levels and primary malignant melanoma, metastatic cancer.