How to get rid of acne, pimples and other skin problems..

Patients are deluded into thinking that their health can somehow be mysteriously harmed by something in their diet. That's a direct quote from an article published in the 1971 American Family Physician Journal. This is kind of shocking because most of us know now that diet plays a huge role in our health. This is Dr. Mark Hyman. Today we're going to talk about acne. Now, in fact, most of us really believe that acne and pimples are for kids, but that's not true. The average age of acne patients has increased from 20 to 26 years old and millions of adults are experiencing acne for the first time. Acne rates are going up. and it's really contradicting the idea that it's really a genetic condition. In fact, you know, 8 million people see the dermatologist every year for acne and millions more rely on infomercial products and over-the-counter things like topical creams and lotions that account for about $100 million in sales every year. Healthcare costs for acne treatment in America are over $1 billion a year. Now, this problem, like so many chronic diseases in the 21st century, is increasing. Why is that? Well, I just finished reading a book by a renowned dermatologist called Val Treloar and Al Logan. It was called the Clear Skin Diet. It's really giving us an answer about why pimples are popping up all over. It's actually a refreshing view. Imagine, the diet has something to do with the health of our skin. Now this book for the first time links many of the imbalances and the underlying keys to health. You know what I call the seven keys to ultra wellness. to the real causes of acne, including things like our nutritional status, stress, toxicity, inflammation, hormonal and gut imbalances, things you've heard me talk about over and over. So no matter what the condition or what the disease or health problem that you face, the root causes can really be traced back to the same underlying factors. The body is one whole integrated system, including the skin. So by not simply dealing with the symptoms like lathering on potions and lotions and popping and pricking your pimples or worse, taking antibiotics or strong liver damaging medication you can heal from acne. Because beauty and skin health comes from the inside out, not the outside in. Now before I explain these connections in more detail and what you can do about it besides reading that great book when it comes out later this year, I want to tell you about my own experience with acne. I never had it. Actually that's until I got sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Now that's a disease of toxicity, gut problems, inflammation, hormonal problems, stress and lots of other things. And I've told this story many times over and over. But I don't usually talk about the skin problems I had during it. Now the trigger that tipped me over the edge on top of a load of mercury and stress was severe intestinal infection. Right away my skin changed. My skin turned gray. I had dark circles under my eyes. I started getting pimples all over my face which was kind of a new adventure for me at 36. and I had strange rashes around my eyes whenever I ate certain foods. I even developed eczema-like red patches on different parts of my body. And the symptoms correlated completely with a worsening of my digestive symptoms and the irritable bowel that I had. Now, I didn't need topical creams or gels or lotions or potions. I didn't need benzoyl peroxide or retinoic acid or salicylic acid. Glycolic acid peelers or topical antibiotics, all of which maybe help with a little bit with symptoms. I certainly didn't need oral antibiotics, which can cause long-term gut problems and immune issues and gut issues like yeast problems. I didn't need Accutane, which can cause liver damage and may even cause suicidal ideation and suicide and depression in some people. Of course, if I was a woman, I would have been offered the pill, but I didn't need any of those things. Those are the tools of modern dermatology that overlook the role of our overall health in our skin health. What I really needed to do was to heal my leaky gut, to correct my food allergies, to fix my nutritional deficiencies, to detox from mercury, reduce inflammation and get my stress hormones back in balance. That's exactly what I did and my pimples went away, my eyes cleared up, my rashes went away, along with other things like my chronic diarrhea, my disabling fatigue, my brain fog, the sores in my mouth, my muscle pain and on and on. Now I have seen so many patients respond this way because beauty and vibrant, clear, healthy skin comes from the inside out, not the outside in. So the only partial exception to this is wrinkles and skin cancer but that also comes from the inside as well in some way. So let's go back and look at the problem of acne in a little more detail. I'm going to just kind of brief you on some of the things I've learned over the years and things that have been actually very well reviewed and summarized in this book, the Clear Skin Diet. Actually should be called the Lifestyle Diet. First of all, a poor diet is bad for your skin. That's clear. Acne is caused by inflammation and oxidative stress which are linked to your diet. Traditional indigenous cultures have very little acne, but as soon as they eat a Western diet, they see high levels of acne in their populations. We know that sugar raises insulin and that promotes testosterone, particularly in women, and inflammation which causes acne. We know that saturated and processed fats increase levels of something called arachidonic acid and that competes with omega-3 fats causing more inflammation and more acne. Milk and dairy also is closely linked with acne and maybe sugary chocolate. Also nutritional deficiencies are big issues, zinc, omega-3 fats, evening primrose oil, these all promote acne when you're deficient in them. B3 can be helpful. Antioxidants are low in acne patients. People who eat lots of fruits and vegetables get less acne. Certain foods help acne like fish oil, green tea, turmeric, ginger, nuts, dark berries and so forth. Green leafy vegetables, eggs all help acne. Also hormonal imbalances cause skin problems. Things like trouble with testosterone, sex hormones, insulin which is really related to our diet. In fact the biggest factor, the biggest factor affecting your hormones is the glycemic load of your diet. That's how how quickly the food increases your blood sugar. And this is related to how we eat this highly refined processed diet. Also balancing your hormones can be done by eating omega-3 fats and lots of fiber and cutting out sugar and even exercise helps. Also don't forget the gut because a leaky gut causes inflammation and delayed food allergies in a leaky gut are a big and very common cause of adult acne. Things like gluten, dairy, yeast and so on. So get good bacteria in your gut, get rid of the food allergens and try to resolve this. Deal with stress and realize that your skin health and fixing an acne problem really depends on the optimal function of so many of these core systems of your body. Your nutritional status, your immune system, your gut, your hormones and your mind-body health. You know, I know I may seem like a broken record but biology is biology and I didn't really create these laws of nature. I'm just helping you understand them. I'm helping you understand how to get to the roots of illness via the seven keys to ultra wellness, which can help you find the source of your health problem wherever you may find it, even if it's a pimple on your nose.