Daily habits for clear skin

Nourishing the body from the inside is imperative for clear skin.

Here are a few daily practices that we can incorporate into our routines that help keep breakouts at bay:

 
Get your dark and bitter greens in to support the detox systems 

 Supporting our drainage pathways is essential for blemish-free skin. Acne can be a sign that the body is overloaded with environmental toxins, and supporting the liver with nutrients that it needs to detoxify optimally can really help clear it up. 

Certain vegetables have sulfur-containing compounds that run the liver pathways, such as cruciferous veggies broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens, and bitter foods such as rapini, arugula and dandelion greens. Making these foods parts of your diet supports the liver’s systems that rid the body of old hormone metabolites and reduce overall toxin load that can cause acne. The extra boost of fiber is also going to help the body pull and excrete waste faster, decreasing the frequency and severity of breakouts. Cruciferous and bitter veggies are also full of tons of vitamins that help lower inflammation, which is also great for skin health. 

 
Incorporate minerals for hydration

When it comes to being hydrated, making sure you are getting your electrolytes in is just as important as adequate water intake. Minerals are what maintain the balance in our extracellular and intracellular fluids, which is necessary for optimal brain, nervous system, and muscle function.  Making sure we are hydrated on a cellular level is essential for clear skin. Putting natural electrolytes in your water, such as rock salt (Himalayan, Celtic, any type of rock salt that is not table salt) and lemon is going to encourage the body to actually absorb all of the water you are drinking. Adequate hydration helps the lymphatic system flush out toxins that are contributing to congested skin. 

 

 Choosing products that don’t contribute to toxin overload makes a huge difference in skin health, especially when dealing with cystic or hormonal acne. Many products are full of xenoestrogens - endocrine mimicking and disrupting chemicals that lead to excess estrogen over time. This takes a huge toll on our hormone systems and can cause acne. Buying cleaning products from a health food store, and choosing products with the least amount of ingredients is a good place to start. 

 

 Ensuring that you have plenty of stomach acid, and lots of healthy gut bacteria is also going to contribute to clear, glowing skin. It's important to incorporate prebiotics and probiotics into your diet daily. Fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, and miso increase good gut bacteria levels, improving the health of the microbiome, your immune system, inflammation levels, and metabolism. Supporting the gut lining with foods such as grass fed bone broth, collagen, and gelatin can assist in lowering inflammation levels and improving overall skin health. 

Move into clear skin

Moving the body is so important for clear skin. Our lymphatic system is another detoxification pathway that works as a sewage system in the body, getting rid of toxic waste, unwanted cells and bacteria collected by the lymphatic fluid.  This system does not have a pumping mechanism, it only moves when we move. Lymph movement occurs due to peristalsis, smooth muscle and skeletal activity via everyday activity and motion of the body. Exercise helps to break up the congestion and remove toxins from the body that can show up in the skin. When the lymphatic system is congested, this contributes to back up of the detox pathways and acne can appear on the skin.