Do you ever wonder why you eat the cleanest diet, use the best skin care products and still suffer from acne, while your friends eat terrible foods and don't wsh their faces, and have clear, radiant skin?
(If you love what you read about skin care for acne, and want to know my EXACT routine and all the products I recommend for every skin type, I invite you to check out my Acne Skin Care Guides. They can make all the difference in the health of your skin. Learn more here)
Well then, you are in the right place!
Short Story Time
For the first year of my acne journey, when I was trying to figure it all out by by myself, I decided to change my diet. This was after countless visits to the dermatologist, where I was prescribed steroids, antibiotics and even two bouts of
accutane.
😥 Who can relate?
After reading about how diet could affect acne, I went on a mission to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I could. I skipped eating out with friends and countless social events in an effort to avoid certain foods, but I still had terrible acne.
The thing that bothered me the most was that every.single.one of my friends and family had perfect, radiant skin, regardless of their diet.
It wasn't until after three years of studying nutrition and physiology, that I was enlightened to why this was the case.
Are you ready for the answer?
The health of the gut is a direct correlation to the health of our body, including our biggest organ, the SKIN!
Even though I was eating loads of healthy food, I didn't have the correct bacteria in my gut to convert that food into nutrients. In addition, I had poor digestion that was leaving food undigested and causing systematic inflammation.
And, to make matters worse, I was insanely stressed by the presence of acne, which wasn't doing me any favors!
So what caused all these GUT issues in the first place?
Antibiotics
Birth Control
Accutane
Stress
Leaky Gut
Bad Gut Bacteria
1) Antibiotics, Birth Control and Accutane All three of these products kill healthy gut flora, allowing bad bacteria to proliferate. I took antibiotics for strep throat almost every year of my childhood. I was on birth control for 15 years, and I was on accutane for a total of 2 years. Yes, accutane cleared my acne in the moment, but it made it much worse down the line. All these have had compounding effects on my gut health.
2) Stress & Leaky Gut Stress is very hard on the body and on the gut. Stress can cause your intestinal lining to thin and tear, therefore allowing gut bacteria and undigested food particles to enter the blood stream. The immune system takes care of most of these 'foreign invaders', however they cause inflammation & can be purged through the skin.
3) Bad Bacteria & Leaky Gut After years of traveling and living abroad, I had my fair share of stomach bugs, parasites and worms😬 . It wasn't until I did a stool test, that I was certain I had some harmful bugs living in pure gut bliss. After going through a protocol to eliminate the bad bacteria, a parasite, and to heal my leaky gut, my acne started to heal.
4) Birth Method and Infant Feeding Did you know that they way you were born (vaginally or via C-section), and if you were breastfed or not, can affect the diversity of the bacteria in your gut? Babies that are born via C-section and are strictly bottle fed are more likely to have less diversity in their gut microbiome and have an impaired immune system.
Check out this research to learn more:
Lal, S. S. (2018). Caesarean Delivery and Prenatal Antibiotics Exposure as a Risk Factor in Abnormal Gut Microbiome of Infants: A Case Report. Australasian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine Journal, 37(3), 14–16.
It is important to understand that the state of your gut health and your digestion might not be as tip top as your friends and family.
You may also be dealing with blood sugar imbalances, adrenal fatigue & poor detoxification systems, all of which can cause acne. You are a unique individual that cannot be compared with others!
Now it is time to think about your past and present. What are some factors that may be contributing to your acne?
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