How do auto-immune conditions impact your skin

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If you have been dealing with inflammatory skin issues, whether it’s breakouts, acne, eczema, dermatitis, or rosacea, and whether this is a chronic issue or a recent flare up, one key area that often gets overlooked is your immune system.


Quite often, many clients that experience these conditions have an underlying immune or auto-immune related condition, which causes excessive inflammation of the skin. As your skin is an excretory organ, and the most final organ of the body, there is no doubt that when you are dealing with inflammatory skin issues, it is due to an overproduction of internal inflammation.

When there is an autoimmune condition, your immune system is already compromised which causes the body to have an elevated inflammatory response. This is because it has an increased susceptibility to inflammation and sensitivity. This is due to the over production of T cells, the cells which your body sends out when it perceives a foreign invader is entering the body. Now, in a normal and healthy response these cells would fight off the pathogen or virus, and return to its normal state.


However, when it comes to auto-immune conditions, the body perceives some of its own cells or tissues in the body as foreign, and begins to attack them. This is what leads to the overproduction of inflammation and heightened inflammatory response which begins to impact other organs of our body, including your skin!

Experiencing an illness or imbalance puts the body under a heightened stress response. 
This heightened stress increase begins to impact other areas of your health such as your gut health, hormones, hydrochloric acid levels, and even nutrient absorption and requirements. It mpacts how well your body can break down, distribute and absorb nutrients.


Intestinal impermiability, commonly known as ‘leaky gut’, has been found to be a common factor in inflammatory skin issues like eczema and psoriasis. Hypothyroidism has also been shown to have a strong link with rosacea, as it also impacts digestion and nutritional requirements. 

Essentially, when you have an autoimmune condition, or are dealing with a compromised immune system, your body is already under increased stress. This leads to an increase in your nutritional requirements to support and optimise healing, as your bodies core focus is to reduce inflammation and send its nutrients to its organs it considers most vital. 


Here are some ways autoimmune conditions can impact your skin:

• Increases your nutritional requirements including protein, vitamin C and Zinc. This is because when your body is experiencing ongoing stress, or has been run down, its nutritional requirements, especially zinc ,vitamin C and B are readily used up, and if we are not receiving enough of these, it begins to impact our skin.

• Impacts your gut health, including the digestion and absorption of your nutrients
. This affects nutrient absorption.
This can lead to conditions like impaired gut permeability, dysbiosis or reduced hydrochloric acid, which reduces the digestive enzymes and how well your body can break down and digest nutrients.Increases inflammation

• Impairs your wound healing

  


Protein is also essential when it comes to healing and supporting skin issues, particularly if there is already a compromised or impaired immune system.

Protein is an essential building block for lean body tissue, including your skin. However, when your body is run down, fighting an infection, or trying to heal a skin issue, your protein requirements are actually increased to support this process and rebuild skin tissue. 





This is why supporting your gut and liver is so important when dealing with a compromised immune system, as well as inflammatory skin issues.



So, what are some key foundations for supporting immune related skin issues?



1 Support your gut health.

Focus on eating real, whole foods, and foods as close to their natural state as possible. This is an easy way to support your gut microbiome and improve the diversity in your gut.
Reducing inflammatory foods like refined sugar, as sugar increases dysbiosis, the growth of the poor bacteria which leads to increased inflammation internally.
Sugar also competes with, and reduces the synthesis of vitamin C, which is an essential antioxidant for our health and healing.

By focusing on supporting your gut health, reducing inflammatory food will help support and repair the quality of bacteria in your gut and reduce underlying inflammation, which also helps to increase and improve nutrient absorption and availability.

2. Increase Immune supporting nutrients:

Our immune system, just like all other organs of our body require essential nutrients to help support and protect against free radical damage.
Key Nutrients including Vitamin C, D, Zinc, & Selenium are all essential for supporting our immune system, and help protect against free radical damage.


3. Reduce inflammatory foods

As your body is already under high stress and inflammation, we want focus on supporting the body by reducing any excessive inflammation happening internally.


4. Support your stress levels

Often in auto-immune based conditions, cortisol (our stress hormone) levels are increased due to the inflammation occurring internally. When there is additional stress, or ongoing cortisol levels, it can exascerbate or trigger these issues, leading to a worsening of the skin condition.

 Therefore focusing on supporting your stress levels is key, not only for gut health, it is also essential to get into the rest and digest state. Calming our body and nervous system is vital to support healing, and help reduce inflammation occurring internally. 


If you would like to know more about how you can support and heal chronic and inflammatory skin issues, and get to the root cause of your chronic skin issues, then I am here to help!

Simply send an email to contact@skinnutritionco.com.au, or submit an enquiry form and I will be in contact with you!
Also, if you know a friend or family member who is struggling with skin issues that needs to hear this, then I encourage you to please share this with them. My only hope is to help reach as many people as I can experiencing these issues that I can, so you too can begin to support your skin and health, from the inside out!

Thank you,

Until Next time,

Dominique

Skin Nutrition Co. X

Have you considered a detox to improve your health?

Whether it’s for skin, weight loss or to ’boost’ your health?



Or perhaps you have been told you need to detox to help a certain condition you may be concerned about, but are unsure of where or how to start.



Well firstly, let me break down what a detox is, or rather what a detox is not, in order for you to properly be able to support your health and actually achieve genuine results!

To properly support and improve the health of an organ, it is necessary first to understand the importance and the role an organ plays, in order to know how to best support it for optimum functioning and performance.



This is particularly key for your liver! Contrary to popular belief, your liver does more than just ‘detoxify’. 

Our liver actually provides many essential roles to support our health, particularly our immune system, on a daily basis.



It is involved in many processes which help to support our health including:

• Protein metabolism


• Breaking down toxic substances, making them water soluble in order to be easily excreted

• Protecting against toxic substances and environmental toxins

• The breakdown and metabolism of essential nutrients including carbohydrates, fats and proteins

• Maintaining our immune system
 and hormonal production

In order for the liver to perform these processes effectively, it requires the appropriate food and nutrients to do so.

As the liver plays such a vital role for supporting our health, as well as maintaining our skin health and integrity, rather than focusing on what to avoid, we should focus on how to support to nourish and improve these processes.



Contrary to the overload and false noise promoted in the health and wellness world, our liver does not actually need ‘detoxing’, as this is an ongoing process for the skin.


However our liver does need supporting, and does require key nutrients and foods to help this process. As well as reduce the circulation and accumulation of toxins within the body, which can lead to other chronic issues such as low immunity, gut issues, hormone imbalances and inflamed skin conditions, particularly eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis and certain types of acne.

So, how to properly support your liver?

Supporting your liver may be much simpler than you think, and you don’t have to dread giving up your favourite foods, if at all!



Here are 5 key tips to support and nourish your liver for optimum detoxification.

1. Include clean lean protein

Protein is so important for the function of our liver. It is the building block of each cell in the body and is required for synthesising and replenishing new tissues within the body. In order for the liver to be able to break down and continue its functions, we need to ensure we are consuming enough adequate proteins to enable this process. 

Proteins containing essential amino acids (glycine, taurine and glutamine) are also vital for the function of phase 2 detoxification, which involves the excretion of toxic substances from the body, making them more soluble and easier to be excreted.




2. Include healthy fats and balanced meals

Contrary to the popular beliefs that detoxing requires fasting and skipping meals, our body actually requires essential macronutrients to be able to breakdown and distribute to other organs in the body. Having a full and balanced plate of healthy nutrients enables the liver to efficiently breakdown and excrete these nutrients and distribute them where they are required!



3. Include cruciferous and green leafy vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables are key for our liver health, as they contain sulphur metabolites. These metabolites are required for phase 2 detoxification, which again enables the passing of water toxic substances from the body. These are also very important for hormonal health, and the excretion or potentially harmful or elevated hormones.



4. Include citrus foods


These are high in vitamin C which helps support phase 2 detoxification. 
Vitamin C and Citrus bioflavonoids are required for the first phase of detoxification, which is the process of making phase 1 metabolites (fat soluble) into water soluble and less toxic, so they can be readily excreted. Vitamin C is also a key antioxidant which helps to protect against free radical damage, helping strengthen cellular integrity, and optimising the health and integrity of our skin cells and immune system.


5. Eliminate alcohol, caffeine and refined sugars.


When the body receives these common inflammatory foods, particularly alcohol, it reduces the absorption of other nutrients as it focuses on breaking down these substances first. At a time when trying to support and reduce the load on the liver , consumption of these foods actually places the liver under additional stress.

The easiest way to support your liver is by focusing on eating real, whole foods, and particularly bright coloured fruits and vegetables. These are high in anti-oxidants and help reduce free radical damage. 

Including foods high in flavonoids (bright coloured fruits and vegetables), as these help support detoxification pathways and include plenty of green leafy vegetables as these are high in antioxidants which are key for supporting our liver.

For more information on how to support your liver, skin and overall health from the inside out, head to the blog for more practical and step by steps guides to help you on your journey!



If you are ready to get to the root cause of your health concerns, wether it’s your skin, hormones, gut or liver health and are not sure where to begin, then I am here to help you!

Simply send an email or book in via the contact tab on the blog, and I can help you with take the next steps to understanding your health, so you can ultimately heal and achieve your health goals, from the inside out!

Also, if you know someone who would benefit from reading this, then please share this with them. If you have any questions or comments, please ket me know, I would love to hear from you and answer your questions.

Until next time,

Take Care!

Dominique.

Skin Nutrition Co. X

Why Zinc is so beneficial for skin health

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If you have been struggling with skin issues, whether it may be breakouts, redness, rashes, itchiness, dry or sensitised skin, or perhaps you have cleared your skin and are wanting to focus on strengthening and reducing scarring of your skin- you may want to consider zinc!


Zinc is one of most vital (if not the most vital) nutrients for skin health and healing!



Zinc is a mineral which is actually found naturally in skin tissue and is needed to make keratin, which is the building block for our skin cells (called karotincyets).



It is involved in over 300 enzymatic processes within the body, making it a key essential nutrient to support the optimal functioning and processing of many vital organs, including our immune system, hormones, brain function and in particular, our skin!



Its multiple benefits for the skin extend from:

• Supporting and reducing hormonal acne

• Reducing scarring

• Protecting against wound healing

• Increasing cell turnover

• Improving wound repair and our skin texture.


This is due to its natural antioxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which is essential for combating and supporting chronic and inflammatory skin issues including dermatitis, acne, and hormonal acne.


This means it helps protect our cell membrane by reducing oxidative stress to the cell and supporting the integrity of the cell. This makes it particularly beneficial if you have been experiencing hormonal breakouts, or ‘rebound’ acne after coming off the pill. 
This is also key for supporting inflamed breakouts, particularly due to hormonal imbalances, as zinc helps to regulate hormones, and actually reduces androgens (male hormones), which is often a large driver for breakouts in women.

 This is particularly beneficial to help support healing alongside topical therapies, as it helps to encourage a new cell turnover.

Zinc assists with strengthening the skin cell integrity, and encourages the shedding of dead skin cells.

 This helps promote new skin cells coming to the surface, as well as prevent the inflammation driven from hormonal breakouts. 

It is important to ensure you are consuming enough zinc, particularly alongside your topical treatments for your skin, as it will help with the cell renewal, and reduce the bacterial build up in the skin!

Whilst I don’t advocate just supplementing for the sake of it, and don’t believe in taking supplements as a band aid approach (as nutrients are best absorbed coming from whole food), and each and every body has different nutritional requirements. However there are times when our body requires higher amounts of certain nutrients. These are in times of healing or recovery, or if there has been a deficiency, or depletion due to being run down or after periods of high stress.



Tip: If you have been struggling with a skin issues, whether it has been short term or ongoing, you may want to assess your diet and see if zinc deficiency or insufficiency may be a contributing factor!

 Foods highest in zinc include beef, oysters, shellfish, chickpeas, nuts, seeds and eggs. 


Please note; if you are vegetarian or vegan your nutritional requirements for zinc will be higher, as zinc is higher and absorbed faster from animal proteins, and plant based sources are absorbed at a slower rate, therefore supplementation may be necessary and intake may be higher.

If you are ready to get to the root cause of your skin issues, and are unsure where to begin your journey, then I would love to help guide you in the right direction! At Skin Nutrition Co. I also provide nutrient testing in order to assess your levels, prior to deciding to supplement.


Simply send an email to contact@skinnutritionco.com.au or book online for a consultation.


Also, if you have a family member or friend that you know would benefit from this, then please share this with them!



I look forward to helping you on your health journey, and helping you balance your skin and health, from the inside out!




Dominique



Skin Nutrition Co. X

So, we have delved into the importance of gut health as an essential foundation for skin health.
Next, I wanted to dive into the next important organ for our skin health, the liver!

If you have been told you have, or are currently experiencing hormonal acne, then the liver is definitely an organ for you to consider supporting.

“If you have been told you have, or are currently experiencing hormonal acne, then the liver is definitely an organ for you to consider supporting”

As the liver is involved in the processing, clearing and metabolism of hormones, any imbalance or inflammatory hormonal condition can be supported via the liver. 

Liver health is essential for skin health due to its role in detoxification and the clearance of toxins from the body. Similar to the gut, the liver also needs a healthy microbiome to thrive and to ensure our bodies can excrete toxins efficiently. If the pathogenic (bad) bacteria in the liver is too high, it can impact how well the body is able to excrete toxins. 

This can actually lead to a build up or ‘backwash/recirculation’ of toxins from the liver to the gut as the body has not been able to excrete them properly. Our liver greatly impacts our skin, as any toxins that cannot be broken down are forced to be excreted by our next excretory organ, which is our skin!

A stressed or ‘overloaded’ liver can contribute to hormonal skin conditions such as acne, and even some types of pigmentation. If our liver is under high levels of stress, either due to elevated toxins, free radicals or nutritional deficiencies, this can impact the livers ability to filter out toxins, which can lead to inflammation within, and inflammatory skin. 

4 ways the liver can help to clear your skin

1. Helps reduce excess androgen production (male hormones)
Helps to balance hormones, and reduce the conversions of testosterone to DHT (the active male hormone).
Often acne skin types are largely driven by elevated androgens (male hormones), much of which are converted into the DHT pathway, which becomes inflammatory acne, often showing up on the lower cheeks and jawline, and upper neck area. 
Tip: Aim to eat a high fibre diet in the form of vegetables as fibre helps to clear out elevated hormones. Also aim to include foods high in zinc, as zinc helps prevent the conversion of testosterone and reduces androgenic activity. 

2. Helps with oestrogen clearance and excretion
Our liver helps to excrete excess oestrogen, which can also be a large trigger for skin concerns including acne, breakouts and even some forms of pigmentation (known as melasma)
The liver works to help support the clearance of elevated hormones, particularly testosterone and oestrogen. If this is not cleared properly, or if there is a build up or barrier to this being able to be excreted, this contributes to elevated hormones, a common trigger for acne/breakouts. 
Tip: Include plenty of cruciferous vegetables as these contain a constituent called indole-3-carbional, which is involved in the breakdown and clearance of oestrogen within the body.


3. Helps support and reduce blood sugar levels
If sugar or insulin levels within the blood are too high this causes an increase in insulin within the body, and often triggers inflammation within the gut and liver, increasing free radical damage and impairing the body’s ability to filter and excrete waste. Acne and even some forms of pigmentation can be due to elevated blood sugar levels. This is due to the body having too much sugar in the system and the body is trying to excrete it through the skin. Reducing the overall load of sugar and inflammatory foods within will help support the clearance of toxins naturally.
Tip: Avoid consuming inflammatory foods containing high levels of refined sugar. Overly oily, smoked, takeaway foods, excessive coffee and alcohol can overload the liver and increase oxidative stress within the body. 

4. Helps reduce the bacteria within the skin
As the liver plays an important role in the breakdown and excretion of toxins from the body, this actually helps reduce inflammatory acne and the p.acnes bacteria. P.acnes bacteria is the type that leads to inflammatory acne, which can be due to a high amount of bacteria within the sebum. Often this develops when there is a high amount of oxidative stress and elevated free radicals within the body. By reducing the amount of oxidative stress and free radicals, it helps to reduce this bacteria and topical inflammation. 
Tip: Ensure to include plenty of antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and broccoli as these are high in vitamin C, vitamin A and anthocyanins which provide potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Adding herbal teas such as green tea, dandelion and fennel are also supportive for the liver health. 

So there are 4 keys ways you can support your liver to improve the quality of your skin! 


I hope you found this helpful, and I encourage you to try implement at least one of these steps, and see if you start to notice a difference with your skin!

Also, if you know a friend who would benefit from this, please share this with them. Don’t forget to subscribe if you would like to receive weekly updates on all things skin, health and nutrition. 

 If you feel your liver may need support, or may be struggling with a hormonal issue but are unsure of what to do, then please get in contact below. We would love to assist you on your health journey!

Thank you,

Dominique.

Skin Nutrition Co. X