October 1, 2011
Simple Treatments for Abolishing Acne!
Oct 1


- High GI Food Diet – If you are eating a diet that is causing your insulin levels and associated insulin growth factors to skyrocket, you will naturally have acne. When you eat refined carbohydrates and sugar, it causes your body to experience a surge in both insulin and IGF-1 (an insulin-like growth factor). This leads to an excess of male hormones that cause your pores to secrete sebum, an oily substance which attracts acne promoting bacteria. The IGF-1 also causes skin cells called keratinocytes to multiply and this is associated with acne as well. To combat insulin spikes in your body, you must drastically reduce the amount of food you consume that is causing your body to produce insulin.This means sugar and all grain carbohydrates as they are quickly converted into sugar in your body. It is important to note that this means reducing your intake of even the healthy grains because they are still a carbohydrate. Try to replace the grains and sugars with vegetable carbohydrates instead because these are slower to break down into simple sugars, with minimal insulin impact. Improving your diet will greatly impact your acne and the condition of your skin should show a marked improvement.
- Imbalanced Gut Flora – The toxins that come from the pathogens or bad bacteria can effectively take over your intestinal tract. Studies show that in about 50 percent of acne cases, the natural balance of the gut flora has been disrupted. In essence, the bad bacteria are multiplying faster than the good bacteria. If you have taken antibiotics, you have most likely offset the balance of bacteria. One common side effect of that can be an overgrowth of yeast in the body for both men and women. It is crucial to maintain a healthy gut flora and supplementing your diet with a good quality probiotic will help re-balance the intestinal system and put those good bacteria back in control. Please be aware that not all probiotics are created equal and it is important to take one with enough strains to counter the bad bacteria in your digestive system. Personally, I like to give my patients a pharmaceutical strength probiotic that can help alleviate their acne.
- Deficiency in Vitamin D – This vitamin is essential is establishing a healthy immune system and controlling basically any type of infection including acne. Having sufficient vitamin D is critical for making the skin and body healthier as a whole. When your immune system is healthy, your skin is healthy. By optimizing your vitamin D levels, you make over 200 antimicrobial peptides which are an essential component of your immune response and are powerful antibiotics. The sun is the most potent source of this nutrient and is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels. You body is capable of producing as much as 20,000 IU’s with about 20 minutes of exposure to most of your body. However, it is imperative that you do not exceed exposure to the sun as you can cause skin damage by staying out too long. You can also consider supplementing with oral vitamin D, ranging from 2,000 IU’s to 10,000 IU’s per day. You should see a marked improvement in the condition of your skin with improved vitamin D levels.
- A Stressful Lifestyle – Stress worsens almost every illness and condition, including acne breakouts! This one is almost a no brainer – I’m sure those of you who suffer from acne have noticed that you break out more often when you’re stressed out. There have been numerous studies to back up this claim including one in which a connection was found between acne breakouts and final exams for college students. Researchers were able to determine that those students who experienced the most stress during examination periods also had the most serious acne outbreaks. Worsening the problem, stress and fatigue can also lead to adrenal burnout so that your adrenal glands become depleted. This ultimately worsens the acne and perpetuates higher stress levels. It is just as important to maintain your emotional health as your physical health. Exercise, meditation, yoga, and adequate sleep can all help to decrease your stress levels. Some people don’t realize the importance of sleep on our emotional well being but you cannot afford to overlook it.