The beauty industry is a booming business. Every day a new wonder product reaches the market, promising youth, vitality and gorgeous skin in just a few days. As a consumer, it can be so confusing…..are skin products the most effective way for healthy vibrant skin? They do help but there’s more you should know!
Skincare is the biggest segment in the beauty industry, with global sales expecting to reach more than $130 billion by 2019. Many companies with no connection to skincare, numerous celebrities and even many Multi Level Marketing companies have all jumped on the skincare band wagon and integrated beauty products into their retail cache. Clearly they ALL know one big secret: People want beautiful skin and they are willing to do anything to get it.
As a functional skin therapist, my passion is skin. Healthy skin that is. My approach to a healthy complexion is: Beauty begins inside. Whether my clients are young or old, teenage with hormonal breakouts or middle age with breakouts, in menopause, or just have sensitive, problem or dry skins, we have to look under the surface to heal skin problems.
By the time a new client has booked an appointment with me, they have used on average 5 different product lines. From soaps, to different lotions, to creams, sometimes injections and even drugs. There are certainly no shortage of products or treaments to try. Some work but many don’t.
Skin health however is not always found in that jar of cream, or for that matter, having more invasive procedures such as injectables, chemical peels or swallowing pharmaceuticals. We just don’t know the long term effects these foreign substances will have on our immunity; regardless of what the doctors say.
For radiant skin, we have to look further. Deep down, to our gut. To our microbiome.
What is that funny word microbiome you ask?
The gut microbiome is a collection of microbes that live inside of us…in our intestines. Every one of us has an individually unique microbial eco-system which is home to more than 100 trillion microbes! In fact, they outnumber our human cells by roughly ten to one. And what are all those microbes doing inside and all over our bodies?
These microbes act as the frontline of our immune system, keeping us healthy, protecting us from disease, detoxifying pathogens. In fact our gut bacteria have a massive influence not just in the health of our body, but especially our largest organ….the skin!!
The skin is our largest (and some would say most important) organ in your body. Unlike other organs, you can easily touch, see and check your skin health daily. An imbalance of unhealthy bacteria in our gut flora can cause inflammation, and can show up on the skin as global or local acne, psoriasis, eczema, rosacea and even highly sensitive, irritated skin.
Ideally you want to have 85% good bacteria to about 15% bad bacteria. This is an ideal ratio to keep the gut healthy and functioning optimally. It’s when this ratio changes that problems can start to arise. A lack of GOOD bacteria can lead to an overgrowth of bad bacteria, and when this happens, the gut walls start to become damaged and problems start.
What causes this bacterial imbalance?
- Antibiotics- they kill all the good healthy bacteria which is our immunity!
- medications, birth control (pill and iud), hormone imbalances.
- excess sugar consumption-this feeds bad bacteria and fastest way to age.
- over processed foods/gluten/overconsumption of a dairy products- these elevate inflammation in the gut flora.
- excess stress- elevated cortisol and stress hormones increase inflammation in gut flora.
Heal the gut-heal the skin
The first step in healing your gut and skin, is to make sure that your body is getting all of the nutrients it needs through a healthy diet. This includes a variety of coloured plant foods that help the gut to absorb the nutrients from your food. This is crucial for growth, repair, and normal functioning. Knowing your triggers (do you eat too much sugar? dairy? smoke? too much junk food?) will help you to reduce inflammation which will in turn have a huge effect on your skin’s health.
Here are my top tips to care for your digestive health for glowing skin:
- If you suffer from gas, bloating and red irritated skin, you could have low stomach acid. Squeeze 1/2 lemon in a 75ml of water before each meal. This improves stomach acid which is necessary for digestion.
- Chew. Your. Food. This is your first step of digestion, chew slowly and break down particles so the stomach doesn’t have to work so hard.
- Get enough sleep! Lack of sleep affects every cell in your body and decreases circulation to skin and ages you fast!
- Eat probiotic containing foods such as; sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, fermented dairy, miso soup, or take a good quality probiotic supplement.
- Avoid processed foods, refined sugars, alcohol and gluten.
- Eating healthy food fibre found in fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, beans and and seeds
- Limit alcohol as this feeds inflammation and will age you very quickly.Add healthy oils to your diet. Flax oil/ avocados/ sea buckhorn oil/ borage oil.
- And last but least, integrate professional natural skin treatments and nutrient rich probiotic natural skincare into your holistic beauty routine for glowing, healthy clear skin.
If you are looking for a consultive, natural and therapeutic approach to healing your skin, contact Julie Jones. All treatments are customized to your skin type, skin problem or concern.
This will include a personalised prescription card, product and treatment advice and follow up phone conversations or email support when needed. My priority is your skin.
Julie Jones
06-41 47 46 13
http://www.essencetherapeutics.nl
juliejones@essencetherapeutics.nl
Julie Jones Advanced Skincare 