Your skin is your biggest organ, so it needs to be nourished like all your internal organs. The skin has to deal with direct exposure to our environments each day from pollution, sun, toxic chemicals and nasty additives from our hygiene products & sunblock.
How your skin looks and feels reflects your inner world, so getting your inflammation under control and balancing your 7 Pillars of Wellness is essential.
If You Want Great Skin You Need to Sort Your Inflammation
Dr Simone
When your internal system is too acidic, and your inflammation markers are raised, it is harder for the body to heal. I have treated all sorts of skin conditions successfully over the years by treating clients holistically from the inside out.
Of course, dermatologists are excellent at what they do, but as a naturopath, I work in the lane of my expertise and balance the internal environment. I had chronic eczema as a child, and only after my first bachelor’s in Science and Nutrition did my skin clear up. What happened? I changed my diet and started supporting my digestive system with Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs.
As a naturopath and nutritionist for the past 23 years, I have treated many acne, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, and other fungal skin inflammatory disorders. Like with any client, I always look at the fuel from the diet and the function of all 11 systems, particularly the digestive, lymphatic and endocrine (hormonal) systems when it comes to skin. Making sure your detox pathways are open and flowing is also imperative.
Mia & The Angry Skin Condition
A few months ago, I had a client, Mia, with a very angry skin condition diagnosed with all sorts of psoriasis and rosacea, and after two months of antibiotics, there was still no change. Mia had suffered from these ongoing issues with her skin since 2017. She had tried all the top specialists to cure her skin condition with no success.
In Mia’s case, we discovered that the issue was internal. After completing one of our 10-point Naturopathic Home Urine Tests, I noticed that she had very high inflammation, candida overgrowth, and poor mineral status (due to poor absorption and gut function, for she was eating clean). Her detox pathways were also a little blocked. Mia’s skin healed after one month on our Rejuv Wellness Supplements and supporting her 7 Pillars of Wellness.
Inflammation is part of the body’s innate immune response and is beneficial for healing if acute from injury to repair damaged tissue and protect ourselves against pathogens. Chronic inflammation is harmful and linked to all major skin problems and diseases.
A diet high in inflammatory foods, leaky gut, parasites/candida, poor blood sugar regulation, low hydration, poor sleep, hormonal imbalances, toxin build-up, high stress, and a lack of mindfulness practices will affect your inflammation. Therefore, the quality of your skin.
So, where do you start? As a home improvement project, usually, it is not enough to give a fresh coat of paint but rather is better to look at the foundations to make sure it is structurally sound – just like your health.
Whether you have acne, ageing skin, or a chronic skin condition like Mia, some key factors need to be addressed so you can look and feel your best.
My Top 10 Tips For Fresh, Youthful & Glowing Skin
1. Support Your Digestive System
The gut is one of the first places I start with any skin condition. Mia was eating well, but her digestive function was letting her down. Simply helping the body absorb nutrients from your diet makes it amazing what the body can do to heal itself.
To support your digestive system, chew each mouthful 20 times, eat more warm foods, boost your veggies to improve your prebiotic culture, eat foods naturally high in probiotics like sauerkraut, organic kefir, kimchi and boost your anti-virals & anti-bacterial like pumpkin seeds, garlic, ginger, cayenne, lemon, grapefruit & cloves.
In Mia’s case and for many other clients, she had poor absorption. Hence, I had her take our Rejuv Digestive Complex Powder for pre and probiotics, L-Glutamine Powder to heal leaky gut and fennel, ginger and peppermint to support digestive function.
2. Balance Your Hormones
Many hormonal imbalances are the drivers of blemished skin. Before I use herbs to balance hormones, like in our Female Hormonal Balance capsules, I balance a client’s diet, gut and blood sugar levels.
The best diet to balance hormones is a Low GI diet with good clean protein like wild fish and organic veggies and good fats like avocado, olives and coconut, avocado, hemp and extra virgin olive oil. If you have irregular periods, period pain, infertility issues, PCOS or you are menopausal. You can add our Female hormonal balance capsules as directed, but I always start with the above first.
3. Do A Parasite Cleanse
We all have a degree of parasites and fungi, which are only issues when they overgrow and get out of balance. I always see this as the primary driver of skin issues. This is because the body becomes too damp and inflamed when your good bacteria are too low and your harmful bacteria are too high. Using the Lunar Cycle to do a parasite cleanse is the most effective way to have long-lasting results. I used our Rejuv Candida Gone & Para Cleanse Capsules for Mia to rebalance her gut microbiome. See our blog on how to do a successful parasite cleanse.
4. Hydrate
Many are simply dehydrated and try to drink enough, but they might not absorb the water again. I love to use infused waters to improve your hydration at a cellular level, marrying in lemon, lime, ginger, cinnamon & fresh mint leaves. This will also flush out your kidneys, for your skin is like your third kidney; whatever the kidneys can’t filter out is dumped into your skin.
A minimum of two litres of good clean filtered water is ideal, and increase that to 3 litres if you are a coffee/caffeine drinker. I also recommend using our wellness water recipe to help with hydration.
I’m also really fussy about the water I drink, so I choose Therasage H20 – not only does it remove all the chemicals like fluoride and chlorine – but it also has nanotechnology to reduce the size of water molecules to get the best hydration at a cellular level.
5. Open Your Detox Pathways
So many of my clients are eating clean and trying their best, but their skin doesn’t improve because their detox pathways are blocked. To open your detox pathways, you need to support your liver, kidneys, gallbladder, spleen and lymphatic system.
Doing the above is a great start, and to further support this process, cardiovascular exercise to vasodilate your arteries is terrific. The increased blood flow supports an abundance of nutrients delivered to the cell and toxins removed. This also helps to reduce plaque build-up in your arteries too.
Trampolining is also fantastic for your lymphatic system; even a mini-rebounded daily for 10 minutes will greatly support you. Skin brushing improves lymph flow and constantly moves from your feet’ souls towards your heart.
Often our organs need a little help, so it is great to do a seasonal cleanse twice a year. Taking herbs such as in our Liver Support and Water Flo Capsules is wonderful to support all the organs listed above.
I used our Rejuv Liver Support Capsules to support kidney and liver function and detox in Mia’s case. See our packs and protocols if you want to do a seasonal cleanse.
6. Let Your Skin Sweat
Your skin loves to sweat, for it helps your body remove toxins, bacteria and even heavy metals. Sweating is a great way to reduce inflammation but always make sure you wash your skin, especially before exercise, for your pores will open up, and you don’t want any dirt or makeup to block your pores, especially if you are prone to acne.
You can use a regular sauna or get your sweat on with your exercise of choice, but my favourite way is with the Thersage FIR sauna. Not only does this technology allow the sweat to pour out of you to get the full detox release, the Red Light Frequencies in their sauna have a “Tri-Lite” Therasage exclusive Light Emitting Diode (LED) that succinctly generates the healing light frequencies in the red light spectrum- 600nm, and near-infrared spectrum 840nm, and 980nm from each diode—bringing the additional blend of Red & NIR frequencies to our Full Spectrum.
This is important because you get the most potent skin-healing combination I have ever seen! Don’t forget that when you use a sauna, a cold shower is best, and choose an organic body wash to remove all toxins so none are reabsorbed once you cool down.
7. Manage Stress
Living under high stress increases inflammation and reduces the body’s ability to heal. Since your skin is not essential to life compared to your heart or brain, the body will reduce blood flow to organs that are not vital for survival. Add the fight or flight story where the body will be vast-constrict just in case you face real danger and get cut to prevent you from bleeding to death.
Stress reduces healing blood flow to your skin and shuts down your body’s amazing ability to heal. I have found over the years that starting your day with mindfulness, gratitude, visualisations & affirmations is terrific for both mind and body.
When you live in peace, your health will flow, giving your skin an irresistible glow. See my blog on mindfulness, as this is a crucial part of having healthy, beautiful skin.
Essential fats are also key to calming your nervous system and having dewy skin. Fish oil is the most effective, and our Rejuv Antarctic Krill Oil is pure and super effective in giving you a youthful glow.
8. Get Your Beauty Sleep
Beauty sleep may be an old cliche, but there is some science behind it, for sleep allows you to detox from the day you have just had and supports a healthy flow of your essential pathways and organs.
During deep sleep, blood flow is increased to your skin-supporting healing, repair and collagen production, facilitating repair and reducing wrinkles and age spots. Also, deep sleep supports growth hormone release, creating new cells that help heal damaged skin cells.
I take WelleCo Sleep Welle Tea each night (2 tea bags, in fact) because I’m not the best sleeper, which allows me to get into deep restorative sleep and not spend an hour or so tossing and turning trying to fall asleep. The Rejuv Bedtime Blend is another great help!
9. Feed Your Face
Ageing, age spots and slow wound healing are due to a lack of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. When your body has the tools to deal with free radicals, the cell’s mitochondria can flourish, slowing ageing.
That is why when formulating our Rejuv Anti-Ageing Capsules, I used purely responsibly sourced Marine Collagen and added high doses of Astaxanthin, Pomegranate, Grapefruit Seed, Rosemary leaf, Pine bark and Hyaluronic acid to provide powerful antioxidants and plant-based vitamin C. This will give your skin matrix exactly what it needs to heal and slow down ageing. As we age, we also experience a decline in mitochondrial function, integrity and functionality decrease due to the accumulation of mutations and oxidative damage, which impacts our DNA and whether or not any of our genetic weaknesses turn on or stay turned off.
The game aims to keep your mind and body balance, so you play to your DNA strengths. Eating a diet with more living plants is vital over junk or high animal protein, which bombards your body with all it needs to stay well.
I’m not a vegan, and I eat fish regularly and occasionally other wild/organic animals, but I live mainly pesca-vegan. I do all of the above and supplement whole food plant-based supplements such as The Super Elixir that I formulated for Welleco.
After taking this over the first month, one of the top 3 things I hear from clients is how great their skin looks and feels (the other two are their energy levels and reduced cravings for junk).
10. Reduce Your Toxic Load
Many of my clients have ‘A-Ha’ moments regarding this wellness pillar, for they didn’t realise how they add up to a big issue and a high toxic load by doing lots of these little things.
Everything that goes on your skin must be is natural & why I love using coconut and avocado oils and fresh aloe vera gel as part of my daily routines.
When purchasing vegan, organic skincare, it is imperative to choose natural vegan makeup, for many of my clients have a huge toxic load from the high street makeup brands. I recently switched my makeup to the vegan brand Arbonne, and I love KORA organics for my skincare.
When it comes to household cleaners, you must remember your home has a microbiome too. Of course, we need clean homes, but using vinegar and natural rather than chemical is always the way to go so bacteria & viruses are eliminated. Still, you’re not living in a toxic environment. the same goes for dishwashing liquid and clothes washing too. Oh, and dry cleaning – please avoid this and only use it for special occasions.
Skin Conclusions
As you can see, you can do a lot to support healthy, glowing skin, avoid blocking your detox pathways and support your 11 systems. Even something as simple as cleaning up your diet, drinking good filtered water and getting your beauty sleep will remarkably heal your skin so you look and feel amazing.
Complete my FREE Wellness Quiz today if you want to learn more about your overall Wellness and get a one-page summary of steps to improve your long-term wellbeing.
