Category Archives: Skin

9 Strategies for Glowing, Vibrant Skin

“How can I maintain healthy skin without spending a fortune on cleansers and other products?” The question becomes what causes you to have good skin, which is the largest organ in the human body, and what wreaks havoc to create bad skin?

If you believe the dermatology, plastic surgery, and cosmetic industries, you should slather on numerous products to get great skin and make you look better. Of course, these industries have a wide range of these products to sell you!

I take a different approach. What if I told you the secret to healthy skin is not about what you put on your body, but what you put in your body?

The dirty secret these industries don’t want you to know is that beauty really does come from within. You can heal many skin issues by balancing your hormones, changing your diet, optimizing your nutrient status and healing your gut.

My Skin Story

I know this personally. I used to have great skin, and suddenly I got lousy skin. Along with my chronic fatigue syndrome came psoriasis, acne and bags under my eyes. I was getting pimples. All these things came on suddenly, and you can imagine my frustration considering that until that point I had great skin.

I discovered these skin problems were coming from the inside. Things like being toxic, gut imbalances, food allergies and nutrient deficiencies were making my skin look like crap. Once I addressed these issues, my skin began clearing up.

Most dermatologists take the opposite approach by treating great skin from the outside in. They want to sell us overpriced stuff that doesn’t work. You have to keep putting it on and putting it on, so essentially you become a customer for life. That’s good for their business but not so much for your skin.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of yourself from the outside. There’s good stuff I recommend you use to maintain healthy skin, but that’s not ultimately going to solve the problem if you have skin issues.

Some of the stuff that dermatologists give, such as steroid creams, peelers and antibiotics taken by mouth can harm you long term by wrecking your gut. Using antibiotics for acne, like other invasive procedures, only buries the problem.

Dermatologists also don’t recognize that skin problems can be a sign of something else going on in your body. Dry scaly patches, for instance, could signal that you have excess insulin in your body, which paves the way for diabesity. Dry skin could signify low thyroid function. Itchy skin could be a sign of food allergies.

Inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids and trans fats that sometimes populate the Standard American Diet also contribute to crappy skin. Inflammation can trigger everything from mild skin irritation to brain fog, aggressive behavior, anxiety, depression and more. Dermatitis, which manifests as eczema, acne and rashes, almost always signifies excessive inflammation.

Functional Medicine Approach to Skin

The science behind creating great skin involves cultivating your soil to reset your system. Functional Medicine, which focuses on the underlying causes of disease, is  the medicine of WHY, not WHAT.

Functional Medicine doctors are like soil farmers. We create a healthy soil, so pests can’t come and weeds can’t flourish. A healthy soil means disease can’t come. That becomes an inside-out rather than outside-in approach.

We handle skin issues like acne and psoriasis the same way we deal with other issues. We define the imbalance, address the causes first (usually diet and lifestyle) and then help the body repair and regain balance. The body’s natural intelligence takes care of the rest.

When you use this method, your skin clears up, you look and feel better, and other issues begin to heal on their own.

Better skin starts not with expensive cleansers and other beauty products, but from within. For overall skin health, I find these nine strategies can help tremendously:

  1. Dump sugar and processed foods. Sugar literally ages your skin and other organs. 
  2. Eliminate food sensitivities. Food sensitivities can trigger or exacerbate bad skin conditions. Studies show dairy contributes to acne.  Other studies link autoimmune diseases, allergic diseases, psoriasis and miscellaneous diseases with gluten intolerance.
  3. Fix gut imbalances. Your gut influences healthy skin far more than you might realize. Researchers find probiotics impact gut microbiota to influences various conditions including inflammation, oxidative stress, glycemic control and skin conditions like acne. If you suspect leaky gut or other gut imbalances, I recommend working with a Functional Medicine practitioner to pinpoint and eliminate these problems.  
  4. Eat an omega 3-rich diet. Dry, itchy, scaling, or flaking skin could signify a fatty acids deficiency. Eat omega-3 rich foods like wild-caught fish and flaxseed regularly, and also supplement with a high-potency fatty acid formula.
  5. Optimize nutrient status. A variety of nutrients play a role in healthy skin. Zinc deficiencies can contribute to eczema, acne and other skin rashes. Studies also find vitamin D can help treat skin problems like psoriasis and acne. At the very least, I recommend a high-potency multivitamin/mineral that provides efficacious amounts of these and other nutrients.
  6. Exercise and sweat regularly. When body temperature rises like when you exercise, skin blood flow transfers heat from the core of the body to the skin.  Sweating helps move and excrete toxins from your body. Saunas or steam baths are another smart option that help release the toxins through your skin as you sweat. One study found a protective effect of regular sauna on skin physiology. Get the toxins off your skin after the sauna or steam. Use a hot shower with soap and even a skin brush.
  7. Get great sleep. One study found chronic poor sleep quality increases signs of aging, diminished skin barrier function and lower satisfaction with appearance.  Another found that lack of sleep as well as other types of stress could impair skin integrity. Those are among the reasons getting eight hours of solid sleep every night becomes so crucial.
  8. Curb stress levels. Studies show emotional stress can affect, reveal or even exacerbate a number of skin disorders including psoriasis. Find something that helps you to de-stress and do it regularly.
  9. Be careful with skin products. Stop using creams, sun block and cosmetics that contain paraben, petrochemicals, lead or other toxins. Drugs and chemicals are easily absorbed through your skin. If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin. Please visit the Environmental Working Group’s page about skin products to learn more. 

Take home message? Visit your dermatologist or your local parlor, sure, but be sure to get an Integrative Medicine assessment done to get to the root of the situation.

Be Informed. And Stay Healthy.

Sunscreen Usage and Vitamin D

Sun exposure is a hot topic these days. I see patients slathering on high level sun protective factor (SPF) sunscreen they believe will protect them against the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. Others fearfully avoid the sun, covering their entire bodies in protective clothing and adamantly avoiding daytime outdoor activities.

Yet like most things, sun safety involves finding balance. The key is not overexposure or avoiding exposure altogether, but to bask in the sun’s rays for a few minutes at a time.

Too much sunlight can create oxidative stress or oxidation. Think of oxidation as the rusting of a car or a sliced apple turning brown. The same situation creates wrinkles on your face when you have been exposed to too much sunlight over the years. At the same time, we were meant to enjoy sunlight. Staying out of the sun or over-relying on sunblock can make us depressed or anxious and contribute to numerous problems. That’s because when we avoid sun exposure, we often become deficient in the sunshine vitamin – vitamin D – an important key to health and vitality.

Vitamin D is almost totally absent from our food supply. We require up to 25 times more than what the government’s Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs)  recommend for us to be healthy. Vitamin D deficiencies are the hidden cause of so much suffering, and it is so easy to treat. .

Most ask what is the minimum dosage to avoid rickets?  Answer: 400 international units (IU) a day.  But the real questions to ask are: how much were we designed to have and how much do we need to be healthy? Answer: approximately 5,000 to 10,000 IU a day.  That’s quite a range between avoiding disease and maintaining optimal health.While almost never diagnosed, vitamin D deficiency affects over half of the population and has been linked to many cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic muscle pain, bone loss, and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis.

Amazing things start to happen when my patients’ vitamin D statuses reach optimal levels. Having witnessed these changes, there’s no doubt in my mind: vitamin D is an incredible asset to your health.

Vitamin D and Sunlight

Your body makes vitamin D when it’s exposed to sunlight. In fact, 80 to 100 percent of the vitamin D we need is created because of exposure to the sun. The sun exposure that makes our skin a bit red (called 1 minimum erythemal dose) produces the equivalent of 10,000 to 25,000 IU of vitamin D in our bodies.

The problem is that most of us aren’t exposed to enough sunlight.

Overuse of sunscreen is one reason. While these products help protect against skin cancer, they also block a whopping 97 percent of your body’s vitamin D production.

If you live in a northern climate, you’re not getting enough sun (and therefore vitamin D) to begin with, especially during winter. Plus, aging skin produces less vitamin D — the average 70-year-old creates only 25 percent of the vitamin D that a 20-year-old does. Skin color makes a difference, too. People with dark skin produce less vitamin D.

I recommend that you supplement with a high-quality vitamin D3. It can be an expensive supplement but it’s the best way to get optimal levels of this crucial vitamin.

Beyond that, the best way to make vitamin D involves full-body sun exposure for about 15 to 20 minutes between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily, without sunscreen (although I would recommend sunscreen on your face).

This works only in the summer, so I recommend you take additional vitamin D to optimize your levels. Most people require an additional 2,000 to 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day.

The exact amount needed to get your blood levels to the optimal range (50 to 80 ng/ml) will vary depending on your age, genetics, how far north of the equator you live, how much time you spend in the sun, and even the time of the year.

I strongly encourage you to test your vitamin D levels regularly to ensure your blood levels fall within the optimal range.

What Kind of Protection Should I Use in the Sun?

It’s hot outside, so you slather on a high-SPF sunscreen all over your body to provide the best protection against the sun’s harmful rays, correct?

Wrong.

The EWG recommends against choosing a high-SPF sunscreen. In fact, they believe that manufacturers should stop selling high SPF products altogether.

“[People] are more likely to use high SPF products improperly and as a result may expose themselves to more harmful ultraviolet radiation than people relying on products with lower SPF,” says their report.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use sunscreen. But you want to take other precautionary measures first and then use a good sunscreen but don’t over-rely on it.

“When people use sunscreen properly to prevent sunburn, they often extend their time in the sun and increase exposure to UVA rays,” the EWG says. (In case you were wondering the difference: UVB rays make up about three to five percent of the ultraviolet spectrum, whereas UVA rays are more prevalent and penetrate deeper into your body.)

Choosing the Right Sunscreen 

Not only are we overusing sunscreen or choosing the wrong SPF; most over-the-counter sunscreens also contain harmful ingredients. “American sunscreens are far from ideal and not as good as their European counterparts,” the EWG says. “Until FDA tightens its rules, people will continue to misuse inferior products.”

In 2015, the EWG found 80 percent of the 1,700 products they examined provided inferior sun protection or contained worrisome ingredients like oxybenzone.

The bottom line for sunscreen: Choose the right one, opt for a lower-SPF type, and don’t over-rely on it for total protection.

7 Strategies for Optimal Sun Safety

You needn’t become fearful of the sun, but over-exposure can do far more than just give you a miserable sunburn. Practicing sun safety and minimizing risks involves these 7 strategies:

  1. Get at least 20 minutes of exposure to sunlight a day. Do this preferably first thing in the morning. Among its benefits, sunlight triggers your brain to release specific chemicals and hormones such as melatonin that are vital to healthy sleep, mood, and aging.
  2. Only use sunscreen if you need it. According to the EWG, sunscreen should be your last resort when going into the sun.
  3. Be proactive about protection. Over-exposure can damage your skin and increase your risk for skin cancer. You can reduce these risks by seeking shade under an umbrella, tree, or other shelter before you need relief from the sun. Protective clothing can also shield your skin from sun overexposure.
  4. Prevent skin cancer with these strategies. The EWG recommends covering up (sunglasses and protective clothing), don’t get burned, choose a sunscreen with optimal UVA protection; avoid tanning beds, and getting optimal vitamin D to minimize your skin cancer risk.
  5. If you use sunscreen, scrutinize ingredients. Stop using creams, sun block, and cosmetics that contain paraben, petrochemicals, lead, or other toxins. Drugs and chemicals are well absorbed through your skin. If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin.
  6. Download the EWG’s Sunscreen Guide. You can get the 2015 guide here, as well as a guide to sun safety here.
  7. Stay hydrated. Many of us are chronically dehydrated and consume caffeinated drinks or alcoholic beverage when we’re basking in the sun, which makes us even more dehydrated. That is why it’s so important to drink at least eight glasses of water every day, especially on hot days.

Stay Healthy.

Want Glowing Skin? 5 Easy Steps That Start With Your Gut

It’s easy to overlook our gut as the source of skin troubles. But if the well-being of our internal organs and energy levels are determined by what we put in our mouths, why shouldn’t the same be true for our skin?Here’s what an unhealthy gut do to your skin:

  • It disrupts the flora in the skin as it creates inflammation, affecting the integrity and protective function of the skin. Research shows that small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), a condition involving inappropriate growth of bacteria in the small intestine, is ten times more prevalent in people with acne rosacea, and that a correction of gut flora led to marked clinical improvement in their skin conditions.
  • Altered gut flora can activate the release of substance P — a neuropeptide produced in the gut, brain and skin that plays a major role in inflammatory skin conditions like eczema.
  • An unhealthy gut can result in maldigestion and the malabsorption of proteins, fats, carbs and vitamins. SIBO can lead to nutritional deficiencies including vitamin B12, as well as vitamins A, D, E and K (fat-soluble vitamins) which are all critical for optimal skin health and overall good health.
  • An imbalance of stomach acid can result in the overgrowth of “bad” bacteria in the color, which can lead to acne. (This was discovered over a century ago!)
  • 14% of patients with ulcerative colitis and 24% of patients with Crohn’s disease (both diseases that affects the lining of the digestive tract) have skin manifestations.

Correcting your gut flora and establishing a healthy glow — inside and out — doesn’t need to be complicated. Here are five easy steps you can take to start the healing process:
1. Stop feeding the bad guys.

The bad flora in your gut has a field day with sugar, dairy and processed grains. Starve the little critters by reducing your intake of these foods — your skin will thank you.

2. Start taking a probiotic.

Oral probiotics have been shown to improve skin conditions by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, as well as strengthening the intestinal barrier. In one study, 80% of participants who received a probiotic experienced improvement in their acne.

3. Eat prebiotic- and fiber-rich foods.

Prebiotics provide food for probiotics and can be just as important as probiotics in maintaining healthy skin and gut. Asparagus, beetroot, pumpkin, flaxseeds and garlic are wonderfully rich prebiotic foods. Fiber helps the process by sweeping away toxins and excess hormones which can wreak havoc on the skin.

4. Eat fermented foods.

Fermented foods can be a wonderful way of introducing good gut flora in a natural way. They also assist with improving digestion and stopping persistent sugar cravings.

5. Up your digestive ability.

Promoting the body’s hydrochloric acid production is critical to improving its ability to break down and absorb food. Splash apple cider vinegar onto your salads and increasing your consumption of bitter foods such as rocket, dandelion, lemon and radicchio will increase your digestive power.

Remember that what you put on and in your body are both important! Get your gut in order and your skin will follow.

Be Healthy, Simply.

Do you need antibacterial soap? NO!

This Photo Shows How Much Bacteria Is Really On Kids’ Hands
We make our children scrub their hands with antibacterial soap. Because – can you imagine the bacteria on his or her hands after a day of play?Well, now you don’t actually have to imagine. Thanks to Tasha Sturm, a microbiology lab tech at Cabrillo College, you can actually see it.She made her 8-year-old son, who had just played outdoors, leave a handprint in a petri dish that was filled with agar jelly. After warming it to body temperature in an incubator, the bacteria and fungus on her son’s hand grew into the cultures that could be seen in an image (above) she posted on Microbe World.

The image is somehow beautiful and stomach-churning at the same time (I need to go wash my hands immediately.).

But don’t be alarmed, Sturm told Today: “It’s normal stuff that we’re exposed to every day. The skin protects us from a lot of the bad stuff out there. The take home message is that to have a healthy immune system, you’ve got to be exposed to stuff.”

So keep living dirty, kids. It’s good for your microbiome and makes for pretty awesome photography!!

Optimise Vitamin D and Reduce Heart Disease

Another reason to maintain Vitamin D levels in optimum range.

In a study on 375 patients undergoing coronary angiography for heart disease, “vitamin D was the most significant predictor for coronary artery disease” according to the authors of the study.  In another study published in the same journal, low vitamin D levels reduced activity of the gene that works to make vitamin D bioactive, essentially creating a ‘double-whammy’ – low vitamin D stores and less incentive for the body to convert what vitamin D it has to its bioactive form.  In addition, low vitamin D levels increased the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, etc), thus exacerbating the coronary artery disease further.

Optimum levels are 50 – 100 IU/ml, in the higher range -70+ – in case of existing illness, and a lower level -50- being acceptable in ‘healthy’ individuals.

Vitamin D can be obtained with 20-30 min of sun exposure daily with arms and legs uncovered, 3-4 times a week, in summer, with direct rays. In case of dark skinned individuals, or northern latitudes where the sun’s rays are not so strong, longer exposure is needed.

In general, supplementation is recommended, 2000-5000IU/day. This is a safe dose.

Simple steps to Stay Healthy.