Dry Skin: My Go-to Natural Options

It’s that time of year when everyone starts to notice their skin drying out. That dewy summer feel to the skin has faded to be replaced with flaking, cracking and dullness for a lot of us.

Here are some of my favourite natural options to apply to dry skin:

• Cocoa butter and/or shea butter: These ingredients have been used for ages in climates where the weather is dry. They create a great protective barrier to keep the skin hydrated and soothe cracks. In the raw form, these butters are quite solid and require heat to make them easier to spread. Luckily, there are a lot of products out there that blend these butters with other natural ingredients to make them spreadable.

• Olive Oil: Sometimes I prefer to moisturize with oil rather than creams. Coconut oil is often not hydrating enough for many people. Olive oil can be more hydrating for dry skin. I like to add nice smelling essential oils to olive oil to mask that olive smell.

• Hempseed oil: Hempseed oil is very hydrating. It’s rich in healthy fats and can hydrate even the driest skin types. There are many great products out there that have hempseed oil in either cream or oil format.

Dry skin can be a simple fix or it can require deeper work if it’s related to skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. Because there is such a strong connection between skin health and stress/ anxiety, I end up treating a lot of patients with problem skin. Not all topical options are a good fit for everyone or for every part of the body. Be sure to talk to your naturopathic doctor if you need help with improving the health of your skin.

Acne: Get Help for Stressed Out Skin, Naturally

Stressed out skin seems to be on the rise right now. With masks, higher stress levels and changes to daily routines and diet patterns, more patients are coming to me complaining about new or returning acne.

Luckily with a combination of face and body acupuncture, dietary tweaks, skin care regimens, a stress management plan and other natural remedies, we can usually get the skin back to a healthier state.

Tips for Acne Prevention

It’s super important that face hygiene is taken seriously to prevent acne. In addition to a good skin care plan (inside and out), these are the other steps that you should be thinking about:

• Wear a clean mask: Many patients are noticing breakouts in the “mask area” of their face and also between the brows. Wearing a clean mask may help prevent this (plus it’s also important for infection control in general).

• Don’t touch or pick your face: patients have told me that since they’ve been working from home, they’ve been resting their face on their hands more or touching their face more than usual. This can lead to breakouts.

• Keep makeup brushes, face towels and your phone clean.

• Try to change the side of your pillowcase every night: use one side, flip it for the next night, turn it inside out for the next night and flip it again for the fourth night - then change the pillowcase.

• Don’t let your hair get too greasy. If it is greasy, take steps to prevent strands from touching your face.

Get Your Acne Under Control

If your skin is in need of some help right now, book a free 15 minute consultation and we can go over how I can help you.

Anti-Aging Foods for Your Skin

I’m going to take a detour from my usual posts about mental health and focus on another area that I work with: skin health. Since I do facial acupuncture regularly, I often get asked what foods can promote anti-aging. More and more people want to work on skin anti-aging from the inside in addition to working on it from the outside. Research in this area is still growing but the good news is that most of the dietary recommendations that reduce aging in the skin are also good for your overall health.

One study done in 2007 on 4000 American women in their 40s-70s found that women who had a higher dietary intake of vitamin C had fewer wrinkles. Some good sources of vitamin C in the diet are citrus fruits (obviously), bell peppers (any colour), guava (a very rich source), rosehips and blackcurrants but vitamin C is found in many other fruits and vegetables.

This same study also found that women who ate more linoleic acid in their diet were less likely to experience the drying out and thinning of the skin that often happens with age. Linoleic acid can be found in things like vegetables oil, nuts (like walnuts), seeds and soybeans.

A more recent study done on about 3000 Caucasian women ages 45-60 found that higher dietary intake of alpha linolenic acid (ALA) and EPA was associated with fewer signs of aging in the skin. These are both omega-3 fatty acids. Flax is a great source of ALA but this fatty acid is also in walnuts and soy as well as some other foods. EPA is mainly found in fish – especially anchovies, mackerel, oysters, salmon and whitefish.

High fruit and vegetable consumption in general helps slow aging of the skin. It’s hard to find studies on what fruits and vegetables have been shown to be useful. Some sources recommend things like avocados, dark leafy greens, berries, orange vegetables like sweet potatoes and carrots and pineapples.

Things you should consider limiting in your life to keep your skin youthful are sugar, alcohol and excessive caloric intake. These things are popular in the anti-aging research right now.

If you would like to learn more about how naturopathic medicine can help you age well book a free 15-minute consultation today.

How Sugar Affects Your Skin

Sugar takes a toll on your skin. It can age the skin and contribute to acne. You may have heard that the sugar-acne connection is a myth that was debunked by science. This argument is usually based on a single study. In this study, one group of people was asked to eat a chocolate bar and the other was not. There was no difference in acne between the two groups. Some took this as proof that there is no connection between sugar (or diet in general) and acne. However, many scientists have found flaws in this study. The focus is shifting to newer studies showing that there is indeed a sugar-acne connection.

The Results

Studies have found that replacing high glycemic load foods with low glycemic load foods reduces acne. The lower glycemic load diet was often lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein. Researchers actually counted the number of pimples before and after the diet changes. Pimples reduced by 30-50%. The trick is you have to be patient. Milder pimples started to go away by 5 weeks after the diet change. But most of the regular/ severe pimples took 10-12 weeks to fade. In fact, one study only lasted 8 weeks and found that the diet did not help within that time - so timing is everything.

The Diet

So what does glycemic load mean? To put it simply, glycemic load refers to how “sugary” the food is and how quickly it affects blood sugar.

Some high glycemic load foods are:

- White bread/ white pasta/ white rice

- Sweet drinks (pop, juice, sugary coffee)

- Candy, chocolate, baked goods

- French fries and chips

- Pizza

- Sweet cereals

Some low glycemic load foods used in the studies were:

- Lean meat (e.g. poultry) and fish

- Whole wheat bread/pasta (but not an excessive quantity)

- Vegetables and fresh fruit

- Barley

The Biology

There are a few theories on how sugar leads to acne. High glycemic load foods can spike blood sugar leading to a spike in insulin. This makes it easier for other hormones like androgens to cause acne. For example, androgens increase sebum production. Insulin spikes also increase cell growth and inflammation in a way that can clog pores. All these changes make the skin more prone to infection by acne-causing bacteria.

Naturally, replacing sugary foods with these healthier foods will boost levels of other nutrients. These nutrients, like vitamin A, zinc, good fats and fiber, are also good for the skin.

So, if you’re struggling with acne there are natural options out there. Work with a naturopath to sort out the right diet for you. Often there are other diet changes that need to be made in addition to reducing sugar. Herbs and nutritional supplements can help as well. In stubborn cases, ask your naturopath about food sensitivity testing or cosmetic acupuncture to manage acne.

Stress Part 1: What it Does to the Skin

Stress affects everyone. You’d be surprised at all the bizarre ways stress can impact your body. If you’ve read my blog posts, you’ll know that working with mental health is a huge passion of mine. I’ve decided to write a series on stress to highlight how big of a role it plays in overall health. In the first few articles I’ll talk about different ways stress can impact the body. Then I’ll go over some ways you can lower stress on your own. This week, we’ll start at the surface and talk about how stress affects the skin. This is also known as the brain-skin connection. Read on to find out more!

Acne

Most of us can relate to having an inconvenient stress-breakout just before a big event. The stress-acne link has been studied for a long time. When the body is stressed, it releases all kinds of chemicals. Some of these stress chemicals act on the skin to increase sebum which clogs pores and leads to pimples. Some increase inflammation in and around skin cells which causes redness and pain. Stress may also weaken the immune system. This makes the skin more prone to infection by acne-causing bacteria.

Aging

There are a couple different theories on why the skin ages. One theory is that DNA damage, oxidation and inflammation age the skin. The stress hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol have been found to increase DNA damage. They may also reduce skin cell regeneration. Stress can decrease the anti-oxidant functions in skin cells. These damages can lead to signs of aging like fine lines, dark spots and loss of elasticity.

Eczema and Psoriasis

Stress seems to alter the skin in eczema patients in ways that are not fully understood. These alterations impact skin inflammation, oxidation and repair. 

Psoriasis is a skin condition that involves itchy, scaly patches forming on the skin. It’s a condition driven by inflammation and immune reactions. In psoriasis patients, stress seems to increase the inflammation molecules in the body which aggravates the skin. The skin of psoriasis patients may also have higher levels of chemicals that respond to stress.

Hives

Stress has been shown to increase the activity of mast cells. Mast cells play a major roll in hive development and itchy skin.

Naturopathic medicine has a lot to offer when it comes to stress. Herbs, nutrition and acupuncture work wonders on stress levels. If you need help with your stress or your skin, book an appointment or free 15-minute consult.

How Everyday Products Can Impact Your Hormones

Many household products contain ingredients that have been shown to alter hormonal systems. These ingredients are called “endocrine disruptors”. Now, I have no intention to make you feel paranoid with this article. I would just like to provide some information for you to mull over. Maybe it’ll help you make some changes with the products you stock your home with. Or maybe you’ll decide that nothing stated here makes you worried enough to change things up. The point is that you’re informed for your own health journey!

 

Overview: Some Important Lists

If you’re wondering what I mean by “household products” here are some examples:

- plastics (containers, packaging, wrappings etc.)

- antiperspirants, fragrances, cosmetics

- moisturizers and hair dyes

- air fresheners, detergents and cleaning products

And it’s more than just BPA, parabens and aluminum I'm talking about. There are other ingredients that have been shown to impact hormone systems. Ingredients like:

- preservatives and plasticizers

- anti-aging ingredients

- ingredients to give the product a certain texture

- fragrances added to products

The hormones that have been affected in studies are estrogen, progesterone, androgens (like testosterone) and thyroid hormones. The catch is that a lot of this research is in animals so it must be taken with a grain of salt. Scientists are still debating over the role these products play in human health. There are hypotheses about these products playing a role in:

- Breast and other types of cancer, benign breast cysts, fibroadenomas

- Diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome

- Infertility

Studies may find that a specific chemical does not cause a disease. However, we're not exposed to just one chemical. We're exposed to many. There is little information about the cumulative effect of all these chemicals.

 

What to Do

It can create a lot of anxiety to worry about everything in your environment. I believe it’s best to balance being cautious with being practical.

Pick and choose the products you want to replace with more natural alternatives. Many people opt for a good quality plant oil to moisturize with rather than a synthetic cream. There are many DIY recipes online for household cleaners. Swapping plastic containers for glass is another popular option. Also, there’s the option of using natural deodorants or avoiding fragrances.

I tend to use simple kitchen ingredients for a lot of things. If you’re going to buy pre-made natural products at the store be sure to read the ingredients. Don’t pay a high price for something that seems all-natural but is not. Don’t assume that just because a store looks “naturey” it means the products are all-natural.

Even herbs and nutrients can play a role in hormonal health. If you need some guidance on hormonal health book an appointment or free 15-minute consultation.

Sources

PMID: 20393002; PMID: 20932229; PMID: 22991565