The Root Cause of Acne
and how to eliminate it
A survey found that 50% of teenagers who use social media were embarrassed to post pictures of them with acne. About 1 in 3 teens said social media increases their anxiety about their acne, and would you believe that 34% of teens with acne avoided video chatting.
Genetics and hormones play a role in acne; our environment and lifestyle habits have a considerable say in handling our acne.
Junk In, Junk Out
If you’re working toward more radiant and glowing skin, you might be surprised to know that the answer lies more in your digestive tract rather than on how much you’re spending on creams and cleansers.
Our skin is our biggest organ; it reflects what’s going on inside your body. If we continue to feed our body with junk, processed and refined food, it finds a way to our skin.
This is why you might get a pimple after eating a lot of refined carbs and sugar, as well. It’s like a loop, processed and refined foods have a high glycemic index, which means these are foods that increase the blood sugar levels (insulin), this spike can stimulate the hormones to produce oil, which leads to acne.
These foods are hard to digest for the body, and a lot of energy is consumed to get them from your stomach to intestines.
Nutrients are absorbed when the food is broken down; most of the absorption occurs in the small intestines. Our intestines have tiny finger-like structures called villi. They look something like this:
If not paid attention to, the dirt remains in your intestines for an extended period and gets stuck on the intestine walls, making the absorption difficult, even for right foods.
Any food that gets absorbed by the villi is transferred to the bloodstream. All the low-fibre, oily junk food also gets absorbed in one way or the other.
Our gut loves fibre. The millions of microbes in our gut love fibre. Fibre has a significant role in digestive health. It fuels the cells in our colon that keeps our intestine healthy. Fibre keeps our digestion smooth, by keeping our bowels, normal, soft and regular.
Fibre plays a significant role in digestive health. Fibre is the fuel the colon cells use to keep them healthy. Fibre also helps to keep the digestive tract flowing by keeping your bowel movements soft and regular.
Healing our gut and cleansing it is the first step to eliminate the problem. When our gut isn’t functioning optimally, it causes inflammatory reactions, leading to breakouts, acne, and eczema.
Our skin is our biggest organ; it reflects what’s going on inside your body. So when breakouts and pimples occur, we should know that something is not right on the inside.
Consuming low-fibre, high-processed foods lead to poor digestion; here are some triggers that cause poor digestion:
- Eating highly processed foods like refined carbs and sugar
- Eating too many dairy products
- Eating foods, you are sensitive to
- Prolonged periods of stress
- No or Lack of Movement
- Drinking too much alcohol
Anything that puts our digestive system into stress causes a reaction which sooner or later makes its way towards your skin.
Get Rid Of The Internal Problem First
You don’t get rid of garbage smell by spraying air freshener around the house; you eliminate it by throwing the garbage out.
All external remedies such as cleansers or over-the-counter pills only get rid of the problem, temporarily. The acne will come back if you don’t change your lifestyle and stop taking these external remedies.
Detoxifying your body internally begins to clean the body, giving it time to heal and rejuvenate.
The beauty industry is estimated to be a whopping $532 billion industry. Believe it or not, they make tons and tons of money-making you want products you don’t need. I’m not calling out to every brand; there are some brands out there that genuinely care about their customers and what they put on their face.
Just think about this, your skin is tiny microscopic pores absorb your biggest organ, whatever we apply on our skin, and everything is then transferred to the bloodstream.
Your skin is your biggest organ. It’s your second mouth.
Parabens are usually easy to identify by their names, such as methylparaben, Propylparaben, butylparaben, or ethylparaben. They are known to have cancerous properties.
A lot of them still do, and it’s not just parabens anymore. It’s several other chemicals that you should be worried about putting on your face unknowingly.
Natural Remedies
Natural remedies are a good way to get your acne in control but keep in mind; they still don’t cure acne’s root cause.
Here are some natural remedies I use but be careful as everyone has a different skin type:
- Combination of chickpea flour, water and drops of rose water for a soothing face mask.
- Almond oil or coconut oil or jojoba oil (my fav)as a moisturizer.
- A piece of papaya or watermelon or cucumber rubbed on to your face for a hydrating face mask.
- Just dab some rose water into a cotton pad and wipe it on your face.
- Give your face nice, warm steam or go to a sauna if accessible.
Steps To Reverse The Root Cause of Acne
Eliminating the root of the problem is the most effective way to get rid of the problem. Here are steps you can take:
16:8 Fasting
Otherwise known as Intermittent Fasting, which is fasting 16 hours and 8-hour window for eating. This type of fasting regime is most popular, and easy to do because most of the time you are fasting, you’re sleeping.
Fasting heals your body from the inside. If you only have an 8-hour window to eat, you can fit two meals and sometimes a snack too.
Let’s say you have a light meal at the end of the day; it takes a minimum of 8 hours to pass the food from your stomach to small intestine. Overall, for your body to completely digest the food it takes 36 hours; however, the energy-consuming process is done in the first 8 hours, and your body has an extra 8 hours to begin the healing process.
In these 8 hours of healing, our body removes dirt from our intestines, removes the plaque from our arteries, gets rid of excess fat molecules, works on eliminating cysts and clears the skin.
This is not a quick process, or it takes time for your body to adapt to new changes. You may begin seeing results after approximately a month or two of Intermittent Fasting.
It’s still important to continue to stray away from processed and refined foods during your 8-hour window. Focus on whole plant-based foods. Remember to keep hydrating yourself and prepare healthy, fresh foods for your first meal after the fast.
Tweak Your Diet
To see a change in your lifestyle, you have to make changes to your lifestyle.
- Consume Water-Rich Foods: Many fruits and vegetables are more than 90% water, like watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli etc. Water-rich foods contain essential minerals and promote hydration. They keep your skin hydrated which is necessary for skin health. Here are some examples:
- Focus on Plant-Based Foods: I bet more than 70% of your diet already includes plants in some way or another. These foods are high in antioxidants and several other micronutrients that have been scientifically backed to be linked to great health and longevity.
- Don’t look for Plant-Based Alternatives: The plant-based industry is booming, and several mock meats in the market are heavily processed to look and taste like real meat.
Do Some Sweaty Exercise
A sweat session can moderate high-intensity training, fast-paced walking, running, and even a strength training session at the gym or a CrossFit or as simple as some sweaty yoga.
The sweat when you workout improves circulation throughout your muscles, organs and tissues. This leads to our skin naturally releasing toxins which detoxify our body.
Our sweat is salty, and the removal of salt helps prevent kidney stones from forming too. Prolonged forms of exercise also dehydrate you, making you want to drink more water, keeping you hydrated in turn.
Lastly, exercise leads to the opening of pores on our skin and forms a protective barrier that reduces bacteria’s formation on your skin, leading to clearer skin.
Sunbathing
Vitamin D is essential for our body. It regulates the absorption levels of other essential minerals like calcium and phosphate. These minerals keep our bones, teeth and muscles healthy.
The sunshine is the most natural form of Vitamin D. Just 20–25 minutes of sunbathing every morning and evening can go a long way.
Early morning and evening sun is recommended to allow your body only to get the good rays from the sun, other times of the day could also include harmful UV rays which can be deadly to the skin.
Working out in the early morning sun is recommended. Because, when you sweat, your pores are unclogged, allowing your body to synthesize more Vitamin D.