Show Notes on How to Heal Your Acne:
Thank you for listening to Wholebeing RN Radio! Today we are talking all about acne and other skin disorders and where they come from in the body.
This is a topic that is very personal for me. I have struggled with “adult acne” for much of my life. I’m one of those people that issues in my gut are expressed through my skin, so when I have something that isn’t right, it shows up as acne or a rash or dandruff. All of these things are connected to what I put in my body. And the are connected for you too. Let’s dive into what this all means.
As a side note, starting today we will feature as many ways to get down on the content here as you would like, each week we are striving for a video on the Facebook page, (you can find the Detox video here and we also post it on YouTube), as well as the podcast here on the page or subscribed on Itunes, and we now will have the text article as well, just scroll down to see it!
In this episode, we are talking about these key detox points (you can scroll down to read the article if you prefer) :
- Skin facts
- What are some causes of adult acne?
- What are you putting on and in your body? Garbage in + Garbage out = Acne
- What to do/tests to run?
- Healing foods and practices (link detox article)
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Free Wellness Tribe
- Lab Results Review
- free guide to meditation (for those who can’t meditate)
- crystal elixir for clear skin recipe card here
- Kombucha Info
- Detox Info
- Body Wisdom Waitlist
Need more in-depth help?
If you need one-on-one help, please click here to select an appointment option.
Prefer to read How to Detox your Body?
Visit https://audreychristie.com/034 or keep scrolling
How to Heal Acne for Good
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Today we are going to talk about the skin, some of the causes of adult acne, the theory of garbage in equals garbage out, how to sort out what may be the cause, and then some healing foods and practices to begin to heal your acne or other skin issues.
Let's start with skin function…
Our birthday suit performs so many vital functions. Lots of people don’t know this, but your skin is actually your largest organ. WHAT?! I know right?! That’s one of the reasons I harp so much on what you put on your skin. You wouldn’t eat petroleum, would you? So don’t put it on your skin...but we will dive deep into skincare and makeup another day.
Our skin is our initial barrier from invaders from our environment, it shields our insides from heat, light, injury, and infection. It also helps to regulate our body temperature, gathers sensory information from the environment, stores water, fat, plays a vital role vitamin D production, and shows a lot of what is wrong with our gut health.
When our skin isn’t healthy, be it from acne or eczema or psoriasis, or any other signs, even deep wrinkles, it almost always related to our gut health.
The Gut-Skin-Brain Axis, how is acne and gut health related?
You may have heard of the Gut-Brain Axis, the Gut-Skin-Brain Axis very similar to what you may have heard me talk about the gut-brain connection, obviously plus the skin.
Really, the gut and the skin play some similar functions, you may even consider the surface of the gut, the lining, internal skin. They both, for example, protect the body from invading pathogens and our environment and they both have their own complicated microbiome. Maybe even more pertinent to our convo is that they both have nerves that send and receive messages from the brain to other areas of the body (called the neuroendocrine system). This neuroendocrine system is what brings the brain into this complicated axis.
Thanks to the neuroendocrine system, the brain can turn on or allow leaky gut with prolonged stress and anxiety. Even with good fuel going in, the brain can mess this up, with something so simple and common (and easily relieved too!). When your gut is permeable when your brain turns on the digestive troubles...you get inflammation...and this can show up as acne, eczema, psoriasis, urticaria, and lots of other skin issues. Attacking stress head on will help combat these issues and bring a lot more peace inside and outside your body. In recent years the use of medical marijuana and other cannabis related products like CBD have been used extensively for the treatment of stress, anxiety, and other mental health and body health problems. Those that have looked into this know that CBD is non-intoxicating and different strengths offer varying results, this is one corner that can be looked into, amongst others.
The skin and its bacteria (the good kind) requires the same style balance to stay healthy as the gut. And part of it comes from what you put on your skin, but a bigger part of it comes from what you put in your gut, and your digestive system. Inflammation going on inside your body, eventually makes it way out to your skin.
The gut-skin relationship doesn’t only go one way, although the gut has a larger effect on the skin, the skin also has an effect on the gut. It can be a little bit of a vicious cycle, nutrient deficiencies can cause skin disorders but you can’t absorb the nutrients because of your leaky gut, which leaks the nutrients and causes inflammation which manifests itself as more skin issues, then you put stuff on the skin to try and stop the disorder and it affects the gut and the cycle continues.
Garbage in + Garbage Out = Acne
If you take garage in your nutrition, then you put garbage out. It doesn’t matter if you are suffering from acne, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, or if you want to prevent what seems like a genetic predisposition to skin cancer, it starts with what you put in your mouth and ends with what you put on your skin. This is especially true for adults (there are some other issues for teen acne, but not many).
In functional medicine, the standard protocol is known as the 5 Rs: Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, Repair, and Rebalance.
First, you start with Remove. This means the elimination of the things you are putting in your body that is causing inflammation via contributing to your poor gut health. This typically involves some lifestyle rearrangement, because we are removing several facets of removing toxins, including emotional stress, environmental stressors, and foods you have a sensitivity or allergy to. It may start with a simple detox or maybe simple elimination.
Next, we replace, this may include a number of different supplements but the gist is to replace the “things” necessary to ensure proper digestion. This may mean the introduction of digestive supplements such as enzymes to replace missing components in your digestion.
Third, we Reinoculate and begin introducing good bacteria back into the gut, sometimes this is done simultaneously with the Replace stage. Most frequently, this happens with a really strong probiotic. I like everyone to be on 30-50 billion CFU a day, so for swift work, we would go higher than that, and depending on the specific issue, its prudent to select specific strains to fit your needs. This is critical to rebuilding the healthy gut microbiome foundation.
Once we have a nice reinoculated gut, your body can start putting to use all of the vitamins and nutrients you need. Typically during the Repair stage, you can begin to add these types of things you may be lacking in the form of supplements if you do this step before the others...you may end up wasting money on supplements your body can’t put to good use anyway.
After the gut is handled, it’s time to shift focus to other areas in your life that may need to be Rebalanced. Not just nutritionally, but in all aspects of your life, because as we discussed negative influences from all types affect the gut. This is the stage to balance sleep, emotions, stress, energy body, and other areas to make the modifications necessary to be the best expression of you.
How to know the cause of your acne…
Start with the gut. That is the cause. There may be some fine-tuning that must occur after that, but it all starts with the gut.
We can confirm your leaky gut with labs…even a simple CBC or CMP that your doctor ran at your last physical can be used. If you are interested in that, please click here to schedule.
To narrow down specific body systems, we can also look at where the acne or skin condition occurs. There are particular areas of the face that are more prone to break out, for example, the bridge of the nose is often heart-related, the “smile” creases are large intestines, and so on.
Additionally, and this method takes the longest, but you can begin tracking or charting when your breakouts occur and this can help us trace the cause back to a particular food, event, exposure, or hormone cycle.
Acne Healing Foods, Elixirs, and Energies
Stress as mentioned we can play a role in the gut-brain-skin axis, so keeping overall stress low only serves to reduce inflammation in your body including your skin. The best and most non-invasive way is with meditation. And if you don’t think you can meditate I assure you, you can just check out this free guide to meditation (for those who can’t meditate).
There are many ways for you to manage stress, including a change in lifestyle habits and meditation (as mentioned above). If you are someone who's open to trying different methods for stress management, one way that's gaining popularity is the use of cannabis, which can be consumed in a variety of ways including ingesting it. Some chemicals found in cannabis are said to help with symptoms of stress and also help your overburdened mind relax, which may in turn help reduce stress levels. However, it's important to note that the regulation of your usage is important so that you do not become dependent on it. Massachusetts cannabis dispensaries or similar stores where you live could have a number of people who might be able to educate you on proper uses and also suggest the right products for the issues you are looking to heal.
Supplements/Nutrients play a big role in the recovery of the skin, but it is part of the longer 5R’s process. You must have a gut that CAN absorb the nutrients before you start increasing them. Important supplements for your skin include Omega 3s, Vitamins A, C, E, and D, Zinc, Selenium, and Copper. Some of these are best supplemented, at least temporarily, and some are best to be absorbed from eating a healthy paleo-ish style diet.
Homeopathics can be utilized in the process to calming down the skin to help bring the body back into homeostasis. Most of the homeopathic treatments I would recommend require a licensed professional to dispense, so let me know if you would like to try that option.
Elixirs can be super helpful and can include things like mushrooms or herbs to help improve the skin. Kombucha could also be considered an elixir and that has big skin-boosting benefits. Simply drinking 2-4 ounces of ‘booch on an empty stomach can get the process started.
Another favorite is a gem elixir, simply place aquamarine and aragonite and clear quartz in water and set it in the sun to make a beautiful elixir to use in place of your toner. (You can get the crystal elixir for clear skin recipe card here ).
Energy work can be helpful in the same way that meditation is helpful to calm stress. We can also use specific energy modalities to reduce the inflammation and calm the meridians that are related to the breakouts. Some of these you can learn and do yourself, such as grounding. One of the simplest ways to ground is to head out in nature (bonus if you are barefoot).
To wrap up healing acne...
Keeping your gut healthy will allow for your best expression of you on the inside and outside. Make sure you are following the 5Rs even if you don’t seek my direct help. You can heal your skin without Proactiv or chemo like treatments. As always, you can jump into the Wellness Tribe for all sorts of benefits, including a complimentary one-on-one Q&A. See you in the Tribe, and be well.