Have you been convinced or sold into the idea that a detox will help support your skin?

Or perhaps you are wanting to detox your liver to help support your skin, but are unsure of the best way to do so.  If this is the case, then this post is for you!
In the previous blog I wrote about why our liver health is so important and how to properly support it. If you missed the first blog then you can check it out here https://skinnutritionco.com.au/blog.

The liver is such a crucial organ for skin health, and it’s a widely known fact that it is involved in detoxification. With the skin being the most external organ of the body as well as the largest excretory organ of the body, it’s no doubt that the two go hand in hand when it comes to addressing your skin health.

In fact, often chronic and inflammatory skin conditions such as acne, breakouts and eczema are known to be connected to the health of liver. Therefore, focusing on supporting the liver is essential for improving these conditions. However, often products or ‘diets’ that claim to  help ‘detox’, often promote ideas that are not so healthy, and may actually hinder, and even worsen your skin condition if not supported properly.

Here I wanted to break down and debunk the common myths about detoxs for your skin, so you can truly support and nourish your skin, from the inside out!

1. Under eating and Restrictive Dieting


The liver is involved in the metabolism and transportation of essential nutrients, including carbohydrates, fats and proteins. 
Therefore, it is important to ensure you are eating full and balanced meals to support the livers health and promote optimal healing.
Contrary to the common myths that many detoxes promote, often advising restrictive programs, or very low calories, this can actually impair the livers ability to properly detoxify if is not receiving enough essential nutrients, and can even worsen skin conditions. 
We need to ensure our liver is receiving enough vital nutrients to allow the process of detoxification , for the breakdown of nutrients and toxins to work efficiently. 

If we are undereating, or cutting out certain food groups, this reduces the livers ability to properly repair and support its proper functions. 
If your body is trying to rebuild and recover, whether this is for an injury or rebuilding skin tissues, under eating or skipping out on essential nutrients will impair the bodies ability to do this, and can even worsen or impair your skins wound healing ability.



2. Low Protein


Cutting out foods groups, especially protein can actually worsen or exacserbate skin issues, as protein is needed to rebuild skin tissues. 
Healthy lean protein is needed to support a healthy liver!
Proteins containing essential amino acids including cysteine, glycine and glutamine are required for phase 2 liver detoxification, which enables toxic substances to be broken down into less toxic matter, and excreted from the body. 
Not having enough protein can worsen or lead to scarring, as protein is required to rebuild and repair tissues. 
If we do not have enough, or are cutting out protein, this can lead to further weakening or breakdown of skin tissues and impaired skin healing, as protein is required to rebuild and regenerate new skin tissue.

Therefore under eating, or cutting out essential food groups like protein can worsen your skin issues and impair it’s healing!


3. Colonics and herbal teas


Herbal teas, drinks or ’cleanses’ that are marketed to detox or ‘boost your liver’ or ‘clear your skin’ that do not provide adequate nutritional guidance are just fads! 
These are not promoted by health professionals, and are unfortunately only seeking to provide a bandaid or quick fix solution, which can often lead to further complications and health issues further along.

Whilst herbal teas do provide some benefits as they naturally contain polyphenols, which are high in antioxidants that help reduce inflammation, and often support skin complexion, relying on teas alone will not help ‘detox’ or ‘heal’ your skin.
 Please avoid taking supplements or restrictive programs, particularly ones promoted to ‘heal’ or ‘detoxify’, as they are not promoted by qualified health practitioners, and can later lead to rebound symptoms. 


If you are really concerned with wanting to improve your liver health, it is advisable that you consult a qualified practitioner that can help guide you in the right direction.




For more information on what to eat to heal your skin, head to the website for all things skin health and healing, from the inside out!

Be sure to grab your clear skin guide as well so you can begin to implement the steps to help heal your skin from the inside out!

If you’re ready to get to the root cause of your chronic skin issue, or if you feel you may need further support for your liver health, hormones, or gut health then I am here to help you! Simply get in touch via the contact in the blog below!




Dominique,

Skin Nutirition Co. X

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

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

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