Find out how sugar is impacting your skin, plus how you can reverse this!

Whilst you’re probably well aware that sugar may not be the best for our skin,  often we are not often told the why or how it negatively impacts our skin.
The sweetness of sugar may provide an instant gratification, however, the negative effects reap beyond skin deep. 

Sugar, when coming from a processed or refined form, can actually lead to multiple issues for our health, as it is highly inflammatory, and its effects impact the health and function of our skin and organs in numerous ways. 

In fact, sugar is often one of the largest contributors of inflammation on our skin our and our overall health, impacting multiple organs including our gut, hormones, and even our immune system. 

Think of sugar as a sticky coke can when it comes to discussing the effect it has on your skin.
If you have ever seen a coke can which has been left out in the sun, or had some spilt over the edge, it forms a ‘sticky coating’. This is what it does to our skin on a cellular level. This process is known as AGES (advanced glycation end products). 

Sugar acts as a ‘sticky coating’ over our blood vessels, which hardens and blocks the constriction of blood vessels. This AGEs formation process literally accelerates the ageing process, as sugar weakens and slows the process of new collagen production, and actually hardens and increases the breakdown of collagen and blood vessels. This formation often contributes to further inflammation in the skin.

Here are 5 ways sugar can negatively affect our skin, plus 5 tips to reverse this process:

1. Increases inflammation, leading to breakouts and acne in the skin

Sugar is one of the biggest drivers of acne and breakouts. In fact, sugar is so closely related to breakouts, that it has actually been labelled the ‘diabetes of the skin’. 

This is because excess sugar leads to increased insulin (sugar) in the blood, which then drives inflammation, impacting our hormones, often leading to an increase in androgens (male hormones) contributing to the production of acne.

 
2. Increases internal inflammation, leading to external inflammation
Sugar also impairs the quality of the bacteria within our gut, reducing the amount of good bacteria, and increasing the ‘bad’ or pathogenic bacteria causing a state of dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is when we have an overgrowth of bad bacteria within the gut due to consuming a high amount of inflammatory foods. This internal inflammation leads to formation of acne and breakouts over our skin. This drives inflammation internally, which shows up externally. 

3. Can lead to hormonal imbalances, often increasing inflammatory hormones

Refined sugar can reap havoc on our hormones and hormonal health, particularly for young girls.
Excess sugar can also lead to conditions like candida, as this type of bacteria thrives in a high sugar environment. 
Also, having high levels of insulin in the blood can be particularly problematic for women and girls with PCOS, as this increases the production of androgens (male hormones). 

4. Impairs our wound healing and immunity Excess insulin (sugar) in the blood also impairs our immune system and wound healing.  As the sugar in the blood affects the collagen production, it reduces the integrity of the skin and healing process which makes it more prone to scarring and increased healing time if faced with injury or trauma to the skin. 

5. Can lead to discolouration and pigmentation on the skin
Lastly, it can also lead to discolouration and pigmentation on the skin. This is due to an excess amount of sugar or insulin within the blood, therefore the body tries to excrete it elsewhere, hence showing up on our largest excretory organ, our skin! 

So, how can we reduce excess sugar?

Here are 5 tips to reverse the effects of sugar on your skin, and health!

* Focus on eating real, whole foods, and foods as close to its natural state as possible. 
Limit your intake of foods coming from processed, refined or packaged foods as these often have excess sugars and additives added to them. 

* Aim to increase your intake of wholefoods, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables.

* When looking for a sweet treat, look for natural sweet alternatives, such as cinnamon, cacao and fruit!  

 * Ensure to have a source of protein and fat with each meal, as this will help to stabilise blood sugar levels, reducing drops in energy levels, and helping to reduce your sugar cravings. 
Also, ensuring that you are having balanced meals helps with satiety and reduces drops in energy levels and the urge to snack later on.

For supplements to help lower blood sugar levels; consider Magnesium, Zinc and Chromium. These can help reduce sugar cravings and have been shown to be beneficial for reducing and supporting elevated insulin levels, particularly in women.

I always recommend taking any nutrition advise back to basics. Rather than focusing on what to cut out, focus on what you can include and implement into your diet. This way you will feel like you have more options of what to eat, and prevent you from feeling deprived!
Once you slowly start to reduce processed and sweetened foods from your diet, your taste buds will start to adjust and you will slowly start to lose your cravings and desire for the overly sweet foods!

For more inspiration on healthy sweet alternative and recipes, check out the 28 day clear skin program at www.skinnuntritionco.com.au

For more information on skin health, and achieving optimal skin from the inside out, subscribe to www.skinnutritionco.com.au to receive updates weekly. 

If you are struggling with your skin and hormones and are ready to get to the root, then simply contact Skin Nutrition Co., we would love to assist you and are here to help!

Until Next time, Take Care.

Dominique

Skin Nutrition Co.

contact@skinnutritionco.com.au
www.skinnutritionco.com.au

Preventing Post-Pill Acne

If you are thinking about coming off the pill but are either; worried about how your skin may respond, or have just come off the pill and feel your skin has taking a turn for the worse, and perhaps feel now your breakouts have peaked even worse than before, then this post is for you!

Firstly, please know this is normal and quite a common response for women coming off the pill, and depending on how long had been taking this, it may take up to 3-6  or even 12 months to go down. You may also find that your breakouts will start to peak again 3 months after stopping the pill, often this is when many women are tempted to start the pill again. However, please know there are steps you can take to help reduce the occurrence and severity of breakouts.  With the right nutrients and support, you can overcome this. 

For best results, I recommend implementing these steps support before coming off the pill.

What causes post-pill acne?

This can happen as a result of a few reasons;
-Firstly, some OCP (oral contraceptive pills) work by suppressing the oil production in the skin to pre-puberty levels. So rather than ‘balancing’ the oil flow, it suppresses them which  leads to a rebound oil production  when you come off.
-The pill doesn’t ‘balance’ your hormones, it suppresses them and their function. So once you come off, your body has been forced to kickstart your reproductive cycle again.
-The PILL/OCP basically works by flat lining your hormones so your body is not really producing its natural hormones, or doing its normal hormone regulation.
-The pill also depletes you of essential nutrients including vitamin C, magnesium and zinc, selenium, all of which are key enzymes to support your skins health.  

Think of the pill as ‘switching off’ your hormones and producing a fake bleed. The reason this is known as a fake bleed, is that it is not not a real egg being released, and it is not a real ovulatory cycle occurring. The hormones induced by the pill are not real hormones, but synthetic,  and since the hormonal production has been ‘switched off’, our body is not receiving its necessary feedback cycle it requires to regulate our menstrual cycle.

So, often when coming off the pill women experience what’s known as ‘rebound acne’ which is basically a surge or peak of breakouts as the ovaries have been forced to restart and produce and release hormones. Your body has been forced to find its natural ‘rhythm’. 

This can also cause  a spike in the production of androgens (male hormones), as the  body has been forced to start regulating its hormonal cycle, a routine in which it has not yet been used to, or has been suppressed and now there is whats known as a rebound surge in breakouts. This can even cause a spike in  inflammatory hormones, often resulting in  a rebound surge in breakouts.

Here are a few key tips to  support and reduce post pill acne:

1. Reduce inflammatory food
This includes sugar, refined grains and flours, and for some diary and gluten. These are particularly problematic for acne prone skin types as they can increase what’s known as insulin like growth factor (IGF-1) which can increase androgens (male hormones) and insulin levels, causing inflammation in the body. This can exacerbate breakouts, especially after taking the pill as the hormone production is being increased in response, leading to increased breakouts and contributing this overproduction.

2. Increase fibre rich vegetables;

This helps to flush out excess hormones and supports liver detoxification. Fibre literally binds to excess oestrogen, helping to secrete any elevated or potentially inflammatory hormones from the skin.
Fibre in the form of vegetables (particularly green leafy variety) contain an active constituent called indole-3- carbinol. This helps support the balance of oestrogen and progesterone.  They also provide multiple key nutrients and antioxidants including vitamin C and A, which help support cellular integrity and the health of our skin. 

3. Include zinc rich foods and consider zinc supplementation (depending on the severity of the breakouts.)
Zinc provides multiple benefits for the skin and hormonal production; including reducing androgenic activity, it helps to support the cellular integrity of the skin, helping reduce excess oil flow, keratin build up and bacteria within the skin.

4. Consider DIM supplementation (diindolymethane)
This can be taken as  a supplement or found in foods such as broccoli sprouts. These are natural antigen blockers which help with reducing and supporting the amount of androgens present within the body, particularly ideal for clearing out any elevated or potential buildup or inflamed hormones in the body. These are also found in broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts.
 
5. Support your liver health.
Having a healthy liver is so important for detoxification, and is essential for the clearance or build up of any hormones or toxins in the body. A healthy liver provides multiple key benefits including supporting the adequate  clearance of oestrogen, testosterones and progesterone, and excreting and filtering toxins.
Our liver also plays a vital role in the health and integrity of our skin. 
Including pre and probiotic rich foods is beneficial for the health our of liver, as well as increasing plant based foods (from fruits and vegetables) to assist in supporting the liver filtration and both phases of detoxification.
Prebiotics include chicory root, dandelion greens, garlic, onion, asparagus and leeks. Probiotics include sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, and tempeh.

Please know that these peaks in breakouts can and will clear, and I encourage you to not give up on the process. With the right nutrients, guidance and support, your body has the ability to heal itself. 

If you would like further support to help clear your skin congestion, or support your health coming off the pill, please get in contact below, I am here to help you!

Also, if you know someone who may be struggling with their skin since coming off the pill, or is currently struggling with their skin that would benefit this, then please share this link with them. 

Thank you.

Till Next Time,

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