Your skin speaks to you: LISTEN!
Your skin is your largest organ. It gives you that outer barrier to protect you, regulate your temperature, detoxify you, and provides sensation. It is a pretty important organ, along with our other major organs that work synergistically to allow us to live and function. And it tells us things if we pay attention to it.
I recently suffered a major skin setback. Yes! Your skin specialist is human, and also has skin issues from time to time too. lol ;)). I developed a painful, itchy, and angry rash that looked and felt like a case of hives/dermatitis/acne. It was uncomfortable and unsightly!!!!! I was beyond upset and baffled as to what could be the cause.... I ruled out topicals, new products, laundry detergent, etc and was stumped!! I went to 4 different doctors- a dermatologist, 2 internists, and an allergist, only to be prescribed an antibiotic that I was instructed to take for 4 weeks (what?!??) and follow up then. The doctor informed me that the drug would cause some stomach discomfort and digestive issues.... hmmmm... I asked if this could have been brought on by food or imbalance in the gut and was told "oh no, you've just been under stress and run down and so this just happened. It will take a few weeks but it will resolve itself with the medications." Hmmmm.... I just couldn't swallow that entirely.
I put on my detectives uniform, rolled up my sleeves, and said "let's get to work Steph and find the source." I examined what I had been eating regularly. My diet had changed over the past 12 weeks. I went from being a strict vegan, no grains, mostly vegetables and entirely plant-based to an animal protein (eggs, fish, and whey protein powders), grain consuming (and not all gluten-free as before), and was OD'ing on low fat sugar substitutes. Whoa!!!! My system went haywire-- and rightly so, huh? Duh?? Now this took me about 2 weeks to fully realize that is what my root cause was and so I continued to suffer and stress-- stress on any inflammation as you know is not good!
You see the initial disconnect for me was that my sensitive stomach didn't really seem to be suffering too badly, so I just assumed that the foods were not the issue. I thought maybe I had all of a sudden become allergic to a food or that the doctor was right my stress level and lack of sleep over the last few months just set off an auto immune disruption. Well stress and lack of good quality sleep are major offenders to maintaining healthy and beautiful skin but my gut was seriously out of sorts from the re-introduction to a number of foods I had avoided for a few years. SUGAR is SATAN!!! Refined, processed, and artificial sweeteners are the bain of our existence!!! They ravage our bodies and minds and lead to so much inflammation. That is #1 on the list of foods to avoid. #2- wheat and grains-- GLUTEN!! Gluten is very inflammatory to the gut even if you don't have celiac disease or digestive disorders. And #3 Processed foods. I had been indulging and there's nothing good about that.
So long story short, my skin was screaming for me to eat cleaner and get back to more healthy veggies, fruits, and fats. I began juicing every morning with dark green leafy veggies, beets, oranges and ginger. I ate large salads loaded with veggies and consumed a couple servings of bone broth daily. Bone broth is a major gut healer and does so many beneficial things for the skin and body. It is amazing! I will dedicate a future blog to the benefits of bone broth. I also upped my healthy fat intake with nuts, seeds, avocado, and coconut oil.
Within a couple days the rash calmed, the itching started to subside and the welts started to disappear. It will take a few weeks to get back into balance. I'm still on the mend but considerably better than I was before. This has been a real learning process for me. Patience is a virtue I've learned and the wakeup call to get more sleep, slow down a bit, and exercise self-care was definitely noted.
We must feed our skin as well as apply our lotions and potions because often times what is causing our various skin disruptions lies within. So when your skin acts up, take a look at it and assess how you've been living, eating, and taking care of yourself. The skin will give you many clues.
It's more than skin deep. :)
Stay HEALthy and Beautiful!
Stephanie
My product lines treat skin at the source. One of my lines, Osmosis skin care, is created by an MD but has a holistic approach to treating the skin at the source. I used his Rescue Serum to help heal my skin. He also has internal supplements that can be taken orally to bring the skin back into balance. I took his Restore and Skin Perfection to help bring my skin back into balance and heal the inflammation. All of these things PLUS my healthier diet (along with a good probiotic) was the answer.
Schedule a facial and give yourself the gift of HEALthy and beautiful skin.
