Defeating Acne, Quick Meal Prep, and How to Gain Weight on a Low Carb Diet

Hey, everybody, it's Dr. Mark Hyman. Welcome to my weekly house call. Your chance to ask me your questions. And this week we're going to talk about acne. And we're going to talk about how to eat well when you're a student and gaining weight on a low carb diet. So let's get started. So the first question is from Michael. Let's watch Michael and see what he has to say about his acne.

How's it going, Dr. Hyman? My name is Michael and I'm from New York. And you've really changed my life. My journey wouldn't be possible without you. But my question is, I struggle with acne and some digestive issues. And I've already cut out dairy and gluten, get quality sleep, exercise, and do all the things that you generally speak about. And I still haven't cleared my skin to the degree that I want to, especially my back acne. So I was just wondering what maybe you would recommend to me as some other steps. I started working with a practitioner and doing some testing and I'm sensitive to dairy and I have Candida and some lower bacteria, so I'm working on that currently. But are there any other things you'd recommend I look at? Thanks in advance.

So acne is a bummer. It's really a bummer. It affects so many people. It's a multibillion dollar industry. People are putting all kinds of lotions, potions and creams and gels on their face and, you know, it just keeps coming back. The question is, how do you get rid of acne and what causes it? It's not just coming from the outside. We're putting stuff like antibiotics and creams and gels on your face is going to be the solution. If it's coming from the inside, you have to deal with the inside. And it really is coming from inside. You heal your skin from the inside out. Whether it's acne or eczema or psoriasis or all kinds of rashes, they really heal from the inside out. So what are the causes of acne? Well, it's an inflammatory problem. You get inflammatory bumps all over your back or on your face. And there are a few major causes. One is food sensitivities. Not necessarily an allergy, but food, food sensitivities and dairy is probably the biggest cause because there's so many hormones on there. Sugar is probably the second biggest cause. It's a huge issue. And I think most people don't realize that when you eat a lot of sugar, it drives hormones that actually cause acne. So getting rid of sugar and starch and getting off of dairy is a great place to start. There are also other things that cause it, and it's often your gut. Now if you have cystic acne on your back, Michael, that also could be a parasite. I've seen many cases have really significant parasites that are driving bad skin issues, particularly cystic acne. But regular acne often can be caused by imbalances in your gut flora. Too much of the bad bugs, not good bugs. You mentioned yeast issues. That's a big cause. I often go right after yeast. When I treat people with acne, I make sure I deal with the nutritional deficiencies. Things like vitamin A, evening primrose, oil, zinc, omega 3 fats, all these will help acne. And also getting the immune system to work better by really cooling off the inflammation in your body. And that's basically by an elimination diet, inflammatory diet, by doing things like the 10 day detox can be very, very powerful. Dealing with inflammation, that's really key. And getting all this gut stuff sorted out. So I often recommend any fungals, I'll recommend probiotics, I'll recommend enzymes. I recommend a number of things that can help to balance the gut. So acne is a big deal. It affects millions of people, and there is a solution. I encourage you to check out my blog on acne, which I wrote years ago, but I think it has the most hits of any blog I've ever written. So I encourage you to check that out and there's some other great resources as well. So the next question is from Gretchen, and Gretchen is a PhD student and she says how can I really deal with eating well when I'm so busy in school and, you know, I don't have a ton of extra money because I'm a student. How do I actually eat healthy and support my family and do all those things? So, Gretchen, that's a great question. And I actually had to live that because I was a medical student. You're a PhD student. And when you don't have a lot of money and you don't have a lot of time, like, how do you eat? Well, right? I mean, and when I was in medical school, I basically got up at 7, went to school, came home at 5, you know, had dinner and like studied till 11. That's pretty much my life. And I didn't have a lot of time, but I actually learned how to do simple cooking that's healthy and delicious and doesn't take a lot of time. And I write about my books. I've learned how to eat well for less. I've learned how to eat in 30 minutes, cooking in one day for three meals, five minutes for breakfast, 10 minutes for lunch, and, you know, maybe 15 minutes for dinner. And it doesn't take that long. I'm a good chopper and washer and cleaner, but it really doesn't take that long if you know what you're doing. And I just eat simply. So it's very possible to do that. I've written a blog about eating well for less, how to grocery shop in 20 minutes and really know what's going on. But I really encourage people to realize that it's a myth that you can't eat well on a budget, and that you can't eat well because it takes too much time. This is what the food industry has driven us to believe. One, that cooking is hard, two, that it takes too much time, and three, that it's too expensive to eat healthy. None of those are true. And they're just designed to help you buy processed junk food. So we did this. I did this with a family in South Carolina. They lived five people in a trailer on disability and food stamps. They didn't know how to cook. And I showed them how to eat real food on a budget and actually chop an onion and cut a vegetable. They never eat any vegetable except canned green beans and iceberg lettuce. That's it. And with salad dressing that they bought was just full of processed stuff. You don't have to actually spend a lot of money to eat well. You can get simple, cheap food. In fact, I'm on the board of the Environmental Working Group, and there's a guide called Good Food on a Tight Budget, which is how to eat well for less Food that's good for you, good for the planet, and good for your budget. So I really think that when people understand how to cook simply and do a little bit of planning, it's actually quite easy. For example, in the morning, I'll have a shake, which takes me five minutes to put together. I'll put in either protein powder, nuts and seeds. I've got lots of recipes in my book. For lunch, I call it my fat salad. I basically put arugula, which is my favorite vegetable because it's really very dense. Phytonutrient, rich plant that's related to the broccoli family. I throw in some avocado, which is extra fat. I throw in some, maybe pumpkin seeds. I'll throw in maybe a can of wild salmon tomatoes. And basically I cook really simply. And that to throw that all in, I get pre washed, you know, arugula, lettuce, I throw in some cherry tomatoes, wash them quickly, and a little bit of olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. You got a salad in 10 minutes or less, and then dinner. I'll make a simple piece of protein, maybe a piece of chicken, lamb. I'll stir fry some vegetables. I'll put, you know, just some really simple food together. And it doesn't take a lot. And I have a lot of these recipes in my cookbook. There's a lot of great ideas in there. There's ideas about how to eat well for less, how to cook in less time, but I don't think we should be bamboozled by the food that's telling us to leave the cooking to them. Right. You deserve a break today. That's just nonsense. So I think it's possible, once you learn to cook simply, that you can eat well on a budget. Okay, so Jennifer's wondering why she's losing weight and how she can actually eat healthy and not lose weight. Well, the truth is, if you cut out starch and sugar, you're not activating the insulin hormone, which means that you have a hard time gaining weight. For most people, it's the opposite. They need to lose weight. And getting rid of the starch and sugar actually will help them to lose weight by stopping insulin, which is a fat storage hormone. When you are actually losing weight, eating, eat fat, get thin, which is basically a very low starch diet, low sugar diet, then it means your body is different, everybody's different. We're all individuals. So functional medicine is really about personalized nutrition and about figuring out what, what works for you. And you know, I, I need a little starch because I'm skinny. And if I basically don't eat the right foods for me, my body doesn't regulate. So I will have sweet potatoes, I'll have celeriac, which is like a celery root. I'll have sometimes small Peruvian potatoes or fingerling potatoes, which are less starchy. And I'm able to sort of maintain a healthy weight. So it's really important to figure out what's right for you. So if you, if you need a little extra starch, that's okay. I think it's just really figuring out what the right diet is for you and understanding how to maintain that. So when you are having other issues, you might have gut issues, absorption issues, you might have thyroid issues, your thyroid might be too active, you might be under too much stress. There are a lot of reasons why you can lose weight that are independent of your diet. So I encourage people to check those things out if they're really struggling to maintain a healthy weight. For most people it's finding that right balance for you and tweaking it. For example, nuts and seeds are actually good because they do have a lot of good protein and fat but they also have some carbs in them and it's a good balance. So there's a lot of ways to add add in foods that can help you gain weight if you're losing weight on a healthy diet. Well, that's all the time we have for today. If you like this video, be sure to share with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter and if you have any questions you can tweet them to me or send your video submissions to Dr.hyman.com and maybe next week I'll make a house call to you. Thanks for watching.