How our hormones impact our skin, plus 5 tips to rebalance them!
Did you know that our skin health is largely affected by our hormones? Have you noticed particular breakouts along the lower jawline, chin or upper neck area?
According to Chinese facial mapping these are the key areas that indicate hormonal imbalances of the skin.
You might notice an obvious difference in the health of your skin when you have eaten too much chocolate or after a weekend of overindulging, but did you know this can actually disrupt our cells and hormonal receptors as well?
Perhaps you may even feel that your skin is not improving, or won’t be able to properly improve due to a ‘hormonal condition’. Well, please know that you can naturally restore your skin and hormones to achieve optimal skin from the inside, out!
Our hormones are basically chemical messengers, which send messages to other organs, controlling the functions they perform. Think of these like a symphony in an orchestra. Each plays a careful and intricate role, and if one ‘key’ is out, this can affect the flow of the orchestra. Similarly, this is how our hormones function in our body, if one receptor is off, this can alter the functions of the organs in our body.
Our hormones are largely influenced by factors such as lifestyle, environmental toxins, sleep and diet. Please know there is hope and you can restore your hormones naturally, and in turn clear and improve your skin too!
Here are 5 ways to eat to support hormonal balance and help assist skin healing:
Increase your intake of dietary fibre rich vegetables.
Particularly in the form of dark green leafy vegetables. This helps to naturally flush out excess toxins and elevated hormones, helping to increase the clearance of elevated hormones. Fibre is also important for skin health, as it helps to support detoxification, and provides a high amount of antibacterial properties.
Increase essential fatty acids- particularly omega 3s.
These play an important role in our cellular membrane within the skin and are vital for maintaining and restoring the skin integrity, as well as keeping the skin structure hydrated and ‘plump’. Omega 3 fatty acids are particularly helpful for decreasing inflammation, and play an important role for providing a building block for supporting our hormones.
Reduce inflammatory foods including fried foods, sugar, and processed or takeaway foods.
These cause inflammation within our body in a number of ways including, a breakdown of antioxidants, as these contain ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species), which oxidise our cells, causing a breakdown in the cellular structure. Also, having a high amount of inflammatory food disrupts our insulin levels, which can alter our hormonal response and increase androgens, leading to acne and breakouts in the skin. Sugars also creates a ’sticky’ like effect within our cells and blood vessels, creating a coating over our blood vessels, causing a restriction in the vessel formation, and break down of collagen.
Eat your greens!
Include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts and kale. These are not only high in fibre but also contain DIM (diindolylmethane) which helps to promote detoxification and supports oestrogen clearance, which is particularly beneficial for hormonal breakouts
Include Broccoli sprouts in your diet.
Broccoli sprouts contain the active ingredient sulforaphane, which provides a higher concentration of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties than regular broccoli. It helps to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, helping to protect against DNA and cellular damage, as well as supplying oxygen to your skin cells, which is crucial for combating any oxidative stress and achieving healthy skin! So there are 5 easy, simple tips which, if implemented regularly over a period of 2-4 weeks, you will really start to see a difference and improve not only your skin, but support your hormones as well.
Tip: Please be patient with yourself, as our skin health can take at least 4 weeks to see a change as we have a new cell turnover every 28 days.
Also, particularly with hormones, they tend to change very slowly over time. However, taking small, gentle steps too help support and rebalance them. Implementing these changes regularly and consistently will help you achieve the best results, from the inside out, and for the long term! I hope you found this helpful!
Please let me know in the comments below how you found trying any of these steps helped! I’d love to hear from you and encourage you on your journey! Also, if you know someone you feel needs to hear this or would benefit, please share this will them.
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