Acne as an adult can feel really embarrassing and frustrating. Shouldn’t we be over this by now! Unfortunately, adult acne is all too common among women. This is likely due to the everyday stresses and environmental toxins we are exposed to which affect us system wide causing hormonal imbalances and detox backup. Fortunately, there is a lot we can do to help combat this and gain clear skin every day!
What causes acne? Acne is most often caused by more than one issue. Things that contribute to your acne are poor gut health, inflammation, and hormonal imbalances. Gut health is a huge contributor to acne because it is a vital part to all of our bodily symptoms and is often affected by the stress in our lives. There are two major contributors to acne that stem from the gut. 1- your microbiome and 2- your ability to poop regularly (yeah I went there). If your microbiome is out of balance then you end up with extra toxins in your body as well as inflammation (more about this later) and guess where your body tries to release the extra toxins… yup through your skin. Same thing happens when you aren’t pooping. You see our bodies are really just trying to protect us they know that keeping these toxins in will harm us so they push them out anyway they can and that includes making pimples.
Inflammation and hormonal imbalances go hand in hand. This is because inflammation can be a driving factor in hormonal imbalances. So if you have inflammation due to poor blood sugar control, stress, or an imbalanced gut microbiome you are going to also see issues with your hormones. The most common hormonal issue linked to acne is high testosterone. When your testosterone is high you create excess sebum (an oil produced by your skin) and this then causes acne. This is why a lot of women with PCOS have acne as a symptom, it’s very common to see high testosterone in PCOS and the 3 main causes of inflammatory hormonal imbalances are the same underlying factors triggering the hormonal imbalances in PCOS.
So what’s a girl to do? Like most things it’s easier said than done but here are 5 things you should look into to clear that acne for good!
1) Reduce/Manage Stress: I know this can be difficult and somethings you just don’t have control over so do what you can to remove as much stress from your life as possible (remember you are allowed to say NO). Then work on managing the stressors you can’t get rid of. Doing things like meditation, journaling, praying, yoga, walking in nature, spending time with friends, family, and/or pets, and hobbies like painting, coloring, reading, etc. can all help remediate the other stressors in your life.
2)Heal Your Gut: This can take time and can be somewhat tricky on your own. Some things that everyone should do are consume quality whole foods that make them feel great, drink bone broth, and find ways to include things like ginger, turmeric, and collagen peptides in their daily diet. Want to get on the fast track to healing? Work with a practitioner that can help test your gut and find out exactly what your need to heal. (You can sign up to work with me here.)
3)Keep your Elimination Regular: It’s so important that you poop every day! So to prevent constipation make sure that you are eating plenty of fiber each day and drinking plenty of water.
4)Keep your Blood Sugar Under Control: This isn’t about avoiding sugar all together or never allowing yourself to eat dessert but you do want to take a serious look at what your eating at each meal and how that makes you feel hours later. If you want to set yourself up for good blood sugar levels all day start the day off with a breakfast that includes plenty of protein and fat and fewer carbs.
5)Add in Some Fabulous Supplements: Some useful supplements to help support all of these are Omega 3’s, berberine, DIM, SGS, and Zinc.