Good Gut = Good Skin?

One of the biggest motivations to ‘eat clean’ is the longing to have better looking skin. Our external sacks encapsulating our weird-looking innards are super sensitive...

...everything we contact can penetrate through our microscopic pores and enter our bloodstream in a flash. The same applies in reverse—it flows both ways.

Over the past several years, skin has been an elastic passion of mine. Why? Because we humans all have this fascinating cellular-layered organ. We are all one in the same; walking meat sponges composed of powerful energy. On top of that, each and every one of us crave consistent happiness and healthiness—free from stress, pain and inflammation.

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Right now imagine a person with the perfect, admirable and glowing complexion.

I’m sure you envision a face free from zits, bumps, dark circles, scars, redness, swelling, wrinkles and blemishes of any kind. Plus they have that envious, orange-ish even tan going on. 

Well, that person is you. Maybe you struggle with skin health now. Maybe not. Either way this blog is here to help.

Alright before we continue about the best diet for healthy skin, let’s talk a little bit about some simple anatomy, shall we.

We have three main layers of skin. From the inner to the outer layer it goes as follows: the subcutaneous tissue, the dermis, and finally, the epidermis.

The subcutaneous layer is made of fat, connective tissue and larger blood vessels. When you cut yourself and bleed relentlessly, this is the layer you just sliced.

The dermis contains nerve endings, oil and sweat glands, and hair follicles. This guy allows you to sweat. 

The epidermis contains cells that produce our pigment (or ‘tan’) called Melanin and protects our immune system from external invaders. It’s the outer layer you see in the mirror.

I only bring this up to display the complexity of our complexion. It’s not as simple as everyone makes it out to be. Optimizing physiology requires a lot of work… inside and out. 

The Gut-Skin Connection

Many people struggle with skin conditions such as acne, eczema, rosacea, dry skin, sensitivity to sun, wrinkles, psoriasis and more. Face the facts: we all want to look sexy. You can lift weights and sculpt a toned, lean body but if you don’t take care of your skin (aka your gut), your appearance goals might as well be thrown out the window. There’s nothing wrong with caring about how you look. If anything, you should do whatever you can to manifest the body of your dreams. This will not only boost confidence, but boost success.

For those who struggle with skin issues like acne, it can really bring you down when a solution to the problem hasn’t been found. Most of the time people don’t realize it’s not the new scrub or lotion or cream that will help diminish these issues. They soon discover that it all begins with nutrition and what your chomping on day in and day out.

Nine times out of ten those individuals are skipping the drive-thru line and are holding strong to a clean diet.

What’s a clean diet in the first place?

1) Steering clear from PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids)— Vegetable oils rich in harmful omega-6s: corn, soy, hydrogenated, grapeseed, sunflower, safflower, canola, cottonseed, and refined palm

These guys increase the aging process and wreak havoc on your joints, digestion, brain, energy, libido, and lastly, your precious skin. Want more wrinkles and acne? Eat chips, cookies, protein bars, salad dressings, cereals, common junk food snacks and fast food-like products soaked in these oils. On top of this, decrease conventional dairy because it can be quite inflammatory. Goat milk is a better option on occasion (aged grass-fed cheeses can be eaten sparingly along with fermented kefir and milks).

For oils, instead opt for extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, grass-fed ghee, butter and tallow.

2) Eating low amounts of sugar— less glycemic variability

The more refined and processed carbohydrates—like white sugar—you eat, the more your blood sugar levels increase at a faster rate. This is extremely taxing on your pancreas and caused the poor guy to send out an influx of insulin. By eliminating high amounts of sugar (i.e. eating less than 25g of added sugars a day) you may decrease the amount of insulin secretion; therefore, the amount of oil and acne production your body creates. This stacked with 30-70g of fiber daily can really help. 

3) Eating the rainbow

The more colorful variety of fibrous fruits and veggies on your plate, the more colorful your personality, thinking and creativity, and skin. These foods are loaded with antioxidants which ward off the aged, run-down look.

My favorite whole foods for skin vibrancy are:

-spirulina and chlorella

-blueberries

-collard greens, spinach and broccoli

-flax, chia and hemp seeds

-avocado

-walnuts, Brazil nuts and pine nuts

-herbs like oregano and basil

-fresh turmeric and ginger

4) Chowing down on healthy proteins and fatty fish rich in omega-3s

Fish oil. Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard allll about it in mainstream health news. It’s got a lot of merit on PubMed and it’s effectiveness on our wellness certainly isn’t blown out of proportion. I recommend eating plenty of fatty cold water fish like sardines, anchovies, Mackeral and wild-caught salmon for optimal skin health. Eating 3-4 servings a week will do. That stacked with 2-5g/day of quality fish oil like Carlson will make you one sexy-skinned guy or gal. 

On top of that I would eat a wide variety of full-spectrum amino acids in grass-fed and grass-finished meats twice a week. Protein is key for performance, longevity, and a good-looking reflection so try to hit .7-1g per pound of body weight daily.

5) Supplementing with collagen and bone broth

Almost every damn day I make sure to throw in some Ancient Nutrition or Left Coast Performance bone broth protein and collagen scoops. These guys are super easy to incorporate in your daily regimen and make a great way to get adequate amounts of glycine, hydroxyproline and proline in the diet (amino acids great to balance out the methionine amino acid high in meat products). Collagen is an abundant protein in the body that makes up our skin, joints, gut lining, and cartilage making it perfect for healthy elastic skin. Certain types of collagen have certain roles, so mainly focus on getting plenty of type 1 if your main target is an improved complexion.

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Our society bombards us with a crap ton of marketing schemes to get us to waste our righteous dollar bills on Neutragena-like products that swear to ”remove our wrinkles, blemishes, and zits,” or worse, to cover them up with makeup. This pulls us down a rabbit hole of products we feel we need for that glowing outside. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to mask the underlying issue and inflammatory response. 

Whenever people ask me what my skin care routine is, I let them know it’s very, very simple: it starts with the kitchen. A clean diet, of course. This will promote a diverse microbiome which will give you and your body the skin it deserves. Some of the most stand-outish Hollywood faces on the planet are known for their envious orange glow. They don’t obsess about their skin care line. They put a high priority on their inside. Their gut. 

However, if you do want some extra oomph, I recommend a light amount of jojoba and rosehip oil morning and night. Apply on the face, under the eyes and on the neck. Right before this oil application you can even get a soft charcoal and sea salt scrub to use twice/week to dig deep in clogged pores and remove dead skin.

That’s what I’ve been doing for two whole years and it’s worked wonders! Ever since I changed my nutrition and focused on whole plant-oriented foods my skin rarely breaks out or wrinkles.

Now it’s your turn. 

Try these routines out for a couple weeks then hit me up. If these diet pillars fail you, please contact cvc.wellness and I’d love to help.

Want to learn more about to cosmetic industry and what to aim for (and avoid) when applying topicals like makeup?

Check out my blog Makeup Your Mind!

Remember…

a healthy outside, always starts from the inside!