How to Treat Acne Naturally: The Best Foods for Your Gut
How to naturally treat acne: your gut-skin connection
Skin problems like acne breakouts and eczema are often a reflection of what’s going on inside the gut. When we’re lacking enough fiber and colorful phytonutrients from plants we don’t feed enough of the gut bacteria that keep our gut healthy.
Phytonutrient rich foods in the diet are fuel for good bacteria. They increase the quantity and diversity of good gut bacteria, helping combat acne naturally.
Healthy gut microbes secrete anti-inflammatory compounds like butyrate, a short chain fatty acid that nourishes the strength of the gut lining. Without enough phytonutrients and fiber, unwanted bacteria are able to thrive, causing inflammation that breaks down our gut lining. When our gut lining is damaged from unwanted bacteria and a lack of good bacteria, inflammatory compounds like lipopolysaccharides (LPS), get released by unwanted bacteria and enter our bloodstream, causing inflammation within our bodies and on our skin.
What to do to treat acne naturally:
Naturopathic Doctors recommend these tips to improve the gut-skin axis and clear skin naturally.
1. Eat the rainbow.
Different colored fruits and vegetables in the diet help increase your good gut bacteria, improve your gut lining integrity and reduce inflammation within your body and on your skin.
2. Eat 30 different types of plants every week.
Research shows eating 30 different types of plants each week supports optimal gut microbiome diversity (also known as alpha diversity). Alpha diversity is a marker of a healthy, robust and resilient gut microbiome. Rotating different plant phytonutrients in the diet keeps your skin clear long term.
3. Get ahead of stress.
Taking control of your stress response and mindset keeps your gut microbiome happy and healthy. Research shows that the microbial balance negatively shifts (i.e. more bad bacteria and less good bacteria) when we're under periods of stress. Chronic stress can also further damage and degrade the gut lining, leading to a permeable gut lining aka "leaky gut" meaning more inflammation in your body and acne.
If that's not enough to clear acne on its own, take supplements like Glojo Blemish Banisher with specific phytonutrients that modulate the gut microbiome, keeping your gut and skin balanced.
