It continues to amaze me how staying healthy, active and staying away from dietary sugars, dairy and gluten can make our skin look bright, fresh and youthful. In addition to psoriasis, an inflammatory skin condition with an obvious link to metabolic, genetic and environmental factors, acne and eczema outbreaks can be reduced or minimized by altering the diet. Inflammation seems to be at the core of so many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, migraines and Alzheimer's disease. The good news is we all have the power to modulate this inflammatory cascade not through medicines, but by staying active, engaging in cardiovascular exercise and adhering to an anti-inflammatory diet.
In the past, I have had the pleasure of consulting a true expert, Dr. Will Bulsiewisz about the concept of dysbiosis, which essentially is the lack or imbalance of beneficial gut bacteria. Who would think that bacteria could actually be so important? Well they are SUPER important: We have more bacteria in our gut than we do cells in our body! There are approximately 400 subspecies of bacteria in our gastrointestinal system that constitute our gut microbiome. These essential bacteria allow us to digest food, process vitamins and defend us from harmful pathogenic bacteria. The "good guys" (healthy bacterial colonies) so to speak are vital to prevent the overpopulation of the "bad guys" (harmful bacterial colonies). If the "bad guys" start to outnumber the good, then dysbiosis results. In this situation, yeast, and harmful bacteria can change the way we process food, causing chronic digestive conditions, such as leaky gut syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis and (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth syndrome) SIBO.
Internationally renowned dermatologist Dr. Whitney Bowe has written an eye-opening book, "The Beauty of Dirty Skin" that addresses how the gut microbiome is central and fundamental to the treatment of rosacea, acne, eczema, premature aging and psoriasis. Interestingly, her book addresses how lasers, topical creams and pharmaceuticals will not consistently guarantee the glowing skin that we all want. Instead we should focus on our microbiome--altering our diet to enhance a healthy bacterial flora in our gut.
Let's thank Dr. Bowe for her brilliant insights on the microbiome and the connection between sleep, stress, diet, gastrointestinal health, and the health of your skin.
Tips for living a healthy lifestyle and having radiant skin:
- Exercise - get into a regimen of just three 30 minute weekly routines that focus on cardiovascular fitness. Getting your heart rate up will burn calories and fat, reducing systemic inflammation and lower harmful pro-inflammatory cytokines that cause stress and disease if elevated chronically.
- Reduce or eliminate sugar - Perhaps the biggest culprit in propagating systemic inflammatory disease, cancer and dysmetabolic syndrome (hyperlipidemia and diabetes type 2)
- Avoid taking antibiotics unless medically necessary. Antibiotics facilitate fertile soil for harmful, drug-resistant pathogenic bacterial strains that can overwhelm our healthy microbiome and wreak havoc. These resistant strains can grow quickly and change the way we process and metabolize food and nutrients. This theory explains how sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease and SIBO may experience flares during periods of dietary provocation.
- Take a probiotic: I love Metagenix, VSL, Garden of Life (which can be purchased at Whole Foods) or our skinny probiotics at Germain Dermatology.
- Reduce or eliminate dairy, soy, gluten and animal fat: Four triggers that can contribute to acne breakouts, inflammatory skin conditions and inflammatory systemic disease.
- Start meditating: Whether it be yoga, silent meditation or other stress reduction technique, controlling and quieting our thoughts can be so therapeutic in reducing anxiety and depression without pharmaceutical intervention. Stress is linked to inflammation, so if we can find a healthy way of diffusing stress, then we are actually preventing certain inflammatory diseases, and more importantly, living the healthiest life possible.