Good Gut Health = Clear Skin

You’ve been struggling with acne for awhile and I bet you’ve tried almost everything to get rid of it like:

• Antibiotics
• An extensive skincare routine
• Expensive topical products and facials
• Prescriptions like Accutane, the birth control pill, or Spironolactone

I get it because I’ve been there too. The problem with those options is that they are all symptom management approaches. They do nothing to resolve what is contributing to your acne to occur in the first place.

Like I constantly tell my clients in The Clear Skin Solution…

Gut health is the key to clear skin. And not just for acne — rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, and many topical skin issues are linked back to the gut.

It’s why I have it as the first pillar in my clear skin program. If you want to stop your breakouts for good, you must be addressing the health of your gut.

Let me explain how the gut and skin are connected.

The Gut-Skin Axis

Studies show that your digestive system contains about 100 trillion good and bad bacteria that help make up your gut’s microbiome. They play an important role in several body functions including (but not limited to) helping to digest food, absorb nutrients, and protect against pathogens.

This microbiome is one of the ways that the gut and skin interact with each other, and thus, creates a connection between the two known as the gut-skin axis. As a result of this two-way communication in the body, both the gut and skin can influence each other’s overall health.

Here’s how…

Your gut becomes damaged from things like crappy food, chemicals in water, medications (like antibiotics and the pill), pesticides, and stress. Those affect your whole body, including your skin.

They can also create an imbalance in your microbiome leading to digestive issues such as candida, intestinal permeability (leaky gut), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid).

Candida is a type of fungus that lives in the human body. Usually it’s kept in check, but when the right environment appears, the yeast will quickly multiply. When this happens, a fungal infection known as Candidiasis occurs. Oftentimes, it first starts to spread in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. As the candida feeds and multiplies, though, it creates toxic waste and begins to interfere with digestion and contribute to acne.

Candida is also a big contributor to another digestive issue called intestinal permeability. When intestinal permeability (leaky gut) happens, both local and body-wide inflammation occurs. Inflammation impairs the protective function of the skin and reduces it’s integrity. Along with oxidative stress, inflammation is a big cause of acne.

Another intestinal infection that can lead to leaky gut is SIBO, which occurs when there are excess bacteria in the small intestine.

On top of this, SIBO and candida can cause hormonal imbalances, thus making your acne even worse. The reason why is that your gut is responsible for manufacturing and regulating many of your hormones. So if you have an overgrowth of bacteria or yeast, it can interfere with normal hormone metabolism and suppress liver function (the liver filters hormones). This means that you can’t balance your hormones until you address your gut issues.

Sounds terrible and overwhelming, right?

That’s why it’s important to receive the guidance of a qualified practitioner to deal with these complex issues. With our clients in the CSS, we often see how leaky gut and overgrowths of yeast or bacteria contribute to acne, and we guide them on their unique path to healing.

Tips to Get the Gut Working Well

As we discussed, complex gut issues like candida, leaky gut, and SIBO will need a more precise protocol, but these tips can get you started:

• Stop drinking water/liquids with your meals. Doing so dilutes your digestive juices and can hamper your digestion.⁣
• Cook all of your food (especially your veggies). Those dealing with poor digestive function can have issues breaking down raw food. Make sure to roast, saute, steam, or boil to make them easier to digest.⁣
• Include bone broth. Made from organic animal bones and veggies, bone broth contains amino acids that help to repair the gut lining.
• Focus on an anti-inflammatory diet. These foods help to naturally reduce inflammation in the gut and body. Doing so also removed the processed foods that encourage the overgrowths in the gut.
• Add in gut-loving foods. Include fermented foods (sauerkraut, beet kvass, pickles, kimchi, etc), avocado, apple cider vinegar, full fat coconut milk/oil, omega-3 rich foods, garlic, ginger, and onions.
• Consider digestive support. Plant-based enzymes or digestive bitters can be super helpful for ensuring you’re breaking your food down properly.⁣ This also helps prevent your food from sitting in your stomach too long and feeding the bad guys.
• Keep a food journal. It can take up to 72 hours for a food intolerance symptom to show up. Keeping a journal allows you to look back and start taking note of patterns. When you identify a trigger, it will have to be removed while the gut is being repaired.
• Reduce stress and anxiety. Both can increase dysbiosis through The Gut-Brain Axis. The dybiosis further worsens the emotional stress leaving you stuck in a feedback loop. It needs to be addressed at gut level.
• Be careful with antibiotics and over-the-counter (OTC) meds. It can take your gut up to two years to recover from one short round of antibiotics. If they must be used, include a quality probiotic taken 2-3 hours away from the antibiotics. OTC medications like ibuprofen (Advil) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) + prescriptions like antidepressants and protein pump inhibitors can also negatively impact the gut.
• Get quality sleep. Poor sleep can contribute to dysbiosis and also weaken your immune system. It’s vital for gut health.

Want to go more in-depth?

Listen to our podcast episode “Why Gut Health Is Key For Clear Skin“ here!