3 STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR ACNE
LEARN THREE STEPS FOR IMPROVING ACNE
STEP ONE: Regulate your hormones
An excess in androgens (sex hormones) can cause your sebaceous glands to over secrete oil, which in turn clogs the pores, creating the unwanted pimples. Supplements such as Vitex (Chaste tree), vitamin B6 help the liver flush out excessive hormones and help in assisting regulate the body. Zinc is another great mineral often needed by those with acne prone skin there are even published studies showing that taking zinc orally reduces acne
STEP 2: Balance your blood sugar levels
When your blood sugar spikes up high, your body pumps out a lot of insulin to bring it down, and that triggers androgen hormones, which can trigger acne by causing sebaceous glands to overproduce oil. When this happens all the time for a long time, your body starts getting less sensitive to insulin (called ‘insulin resistance’), which means you have to pump out even more insulin to bring the blood sugar down, this is jus bad for the skin it also puts you at risk of developing diabetes.
To help balance out your sugar levels you must balance out your diet. Whenever we eat a source of carbohydrate, it should be accompanied by a quality source of fat. Fat slows down the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream and prevents sugar highs and sugar crashes. This keeps us full longer so we can reach or maintain a healthy weight. With that said, breakfast is usually an important part of the day to balance blood sugar. If you are not hungry for breakfast, it indicates that you may suffer slow digestion due to inadequate stomach acid. It can also be a sign that your stress hormones are out of whack
The top three supplements that I recommend to complement the diet and balance blood sugar levels are:
- Cinnamon
- Gymnema Sylvestre
- Chromium
STEP THREE: Kill those pesky bacteria.
Third and final, kill those bacteria. A lot of people may have seen a dermatologist to treat their acne and been prescribed an anti biotic, and for some it works and for some it doesn’t, for those that it doesn’t it’s because they didn’t take care of the first two steps. In saying that I don’t recommend taking an anti biotic either as long term use will create an imbalance internally and wont fix the root cause when pores are clogged, acne bacteria have a way of “breaking out” of the pore so their descendants can go to live in another pore. They release chemicals that sensitize skin cells to the immune system. When the immune system attacks the bacteria, it also kills healthy skin cells. This reddens and inflames the skin, and at some point, some bacteria will escape when the pimple bursts open. That is, they will escape if the pimple bursts open. Mashing or squeezing pimples presses bacteria into the skin so that healthy skin traps them inside the skin for good. The result is replacing pimples with nodules and cysts
Tea tree oil: Tea tree oil is the leading herbal remedy for acne breakouts. It can take about 72 hours to take effect however. Unlike benzoyl peroxide, tea tree oil also is anti-inflammatory. It “gets the red out.” Tea tree oil also does not dry out the skin and does not cause new blemishes, win win! Always test a dab of tea tree oil on the forearm and wait 12 hours to make sure there are no allergic reactions
Calendula: Calendula contains natural anti-inflammatory compounds related to aspirin. It also contains compounds that kill both acne bacteria and staph bacteria. Staph infections create bumps that look like especially nasty pimples, with circles of yellow pus visible in the centre. You will get better results from a gel left on your skin than from an acne wash. Always test for possible allergic reactions before you use the product for the first time.
