Essential Health And Beyond

I handle skin issues like acne and psoriasis the same way I deal with other issues. I define the imbalance, address the causes first (usually diet and lifestyle) and then help the body repair and regain balance. The body’s natural intelligence takes care of the rest.

When you use this method, your skin clears up, you look and feel better, and other issues begin to heal on their own.

These are my strategies for glowing, vibrant skin…

Avoid sugar and processed foods. Among its many other problems, excess sugar sticks to amino acids present in collagen and elastin, producing Advanced Glycation End products or “AGEs.” Like the acronym suggests, sugar literally ages your skin and other organs.

Find out if you have any food sensitivities. Food sensitivities can trigger or exacerbate bad skin conditions. Studies show dairy contributes to acne.

Fix any gut imbalances. Researchers find probiotics impact gut microbiota to influence various conditions including inflammation, oxidative stress, glycemic control and skin conditions like acne.

Eat an omega 3-rich diet. Dry, itchy, scaling, or flaking skin could signify a fatty acids deficiency. Eat omega-3 rich foods like wild-caught fish and flaxseed regularly, and also supplement with a high-potency fatty acid formula.

Optimize your nutrient status. A variety of nutrients play a role in healthy skin. At the very least, I recommend a high-potency multivitamin/mineral that provides efficacious amounts of these and other nutrients.

Make sure to exercise regularly. When body temperature rises like when you exercise, skin blood flow transfers heat from the core of the body to the skin. Sweating also helps move and excrete toxins from your body.

Get good quality sleep. One study found chronic poor sleep quality increases signs of aging, diminished skin barrier function and lower satisfaction with appearance.

Take control over your stress levels. Studies show emotional stress can affect, reveal or even exacerbate a number of skin disorders including psoriasis. Find something that helps you to de-stress and do it regularly such as meditation, short walks, deep breathing, or taking a bath.

The modern world is full of environmental toxins. It is estimated that there are over 80,000 toxic chemicals used regularly in the US. There are over 500 chemicals stored in our body and the average individual has at least seven pesticides tested in their urine.

The major detoxification organs of the body include the liver, kidneys, skin, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, urinary tract, etc. The liver uses a dual phase enzymatically driven system to neutralize and prepare the vast majority of the toxins we encounter for elimination from the body. Both of these steps must have adequate resources in order to work perfectly to properly rid these toxins.

In phase I detoxification, the liver takes fat soluble toxins and makes them more water soluble. In phase II detoxification the liver uses enzymes to inactive the toxins and bind them to bile and other molecules for elimination.

Major Detoxification Pathways:

We detoxify through 4 major systems that make up the acronym PURE:

1) Perspiration: Sweating – the better we sweat the better we move toxins out of the body. Sedentary lifestyle where we stay indoors in air conditioning limits our ability to move toxins. Get outside, exercise regularly and use infrared or sweat sauna’s.

2) Urination: The more we p*e the more toxins we move out of the body. Lack of water intake reduces our ability to move toxins out of our system.

3) Respiration: The better we breath (deep as well as often) the more we move toxins out of the body. Sedentary lifestyle reduces this form of detoxification and stress and forward head posture force us into short, shallow breathing habits that aren’t effective at moving toxins.

4) Excretion: The more we defecate the more we move toxins out of our body. Constipation stagnates potent toxins that inflame us. We should be moving our bowels 2-3 times daily as our body should naturally eliminate what it consumed within 12-24 hours after eating it.

Any longer and the digested food putrefies and becomes a breeding ground for bad microbes. These bad microbes then produce a rampant amount of toxins that are destructive to the body and create poor quality of life.

The human immune system is under constant attack by the forces of nature. To compound this, there are many common things people do in our society that cripple the immune system and make us more susceptible to illness.

People often act as though they are a poor victim of a vicious assault by a pathogen when they get sick. What they don’t often realize is that their lifestyle provided the proper environment for the pathogen to do what it was created to do.

The job of any pathogen is to “break down decaying matter.” Our job must be to “not be decaying matter,” by keeping our bodies functioning and adapting at their peak potential. Our responsibility to ourselves is to use our lifestyle to strengthen our immune system so we can overcome the stressors of life.

Supporting your immune system is important no matter what. You want your body to be strong and healthy so that it can protect you from infections, illness, and disease. There are certain strategies that promote optimal immune system expression.