While there are a lot of factors that contribute to acne, ensuring that your liver is working in tip-top shape is one of the first steps to clearing your skin.

The reason why?

The liver is one of the main organs for detoxification. It’s quite the busy organ too — the liver is responsible for over 500 functions in the body including cleansing your blood, helping to expel toxins for excretion and filtering your hormones.

However, our bodies are constantly overloaded with chemicals from our environment, personal care products and overly-processed food. This clogs up and overwhelms our organs of detoxification (like the liver) causing them to not do their jobs efficiently. If you have an overload of toxins and hormones stuck in your liver, skin issues like acne can start to pop up.

“Katie, how do I make sure that my liver is working properly?”

You do that by loving up the liver with water and whole foods like the beets in this citrus beet salad. I always have my clients in The Clear Skin Solution include lots of liver-detoxifying foods.

Beet Benefits

This root vegetable is packed with skin-soothing benefits thanks to their high content of betalains. Not only do betalains give the beets their signature deep red colour, but they also support liver detoxification.

Research shows that betalains can support the liver’s second phase of the detoxification process. In phase two, your body neutralizes toxins and makes them water-soluble so they can be excreted by the body during your next trip to the bathroom.

Put simply, clearing out your liver with foods like beets help it to do its job better and filter out acne-triggering hormones.

On top of this, beets also have anti-inflammatory properties. And you didn’t know, chronic inflammation is one of the main causes of breakouts. So the beets in this salad can totally help reduce inflamed pimples.

Finally, beets are loaded with vitamin C. This antioxidant can reduce acne scarring because it promotes tissue regeneration and collagen production. Vitamin C can also brighten and even out your skin tone.

Aside from this Citrus Beet Salad, you’ll also find the bright root veggie in my Thyme Roasted Candy Cane Beets and Red Velvet Latte.

Citrus Beet Salad with Maple Balsamic Dressing

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Ingredients

• 4 cup greens of choice I used baby spinach and pea shoots
• 1 large beet peeled and cubed
• 2 clementines peeled and chopped
• 1/3 cup pecans whole/lightly crushed
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

For the dressing

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 clove garlic minced
• Salt + pepper to taste

Instructions

• Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add beets and boil for 30-40 minutes (or until tender). Tip: add a splash of lemon juice to the water prevent the beets from bleeding.
• In the meantime, add all ingredients for the dressing to a mason jar with a lid. Shake vigorously to mix well. Set aside.
• Add salad ingredients to a large bowl.
• When beets are done, strain and add to the salad.
• Pour desired amount of dressing on and serve.
• Leftover dressing will keep in a sealed jar for 10 days.