FlexoBliss - Your gut is the gateway to your health
by faina marco (2021-06-14)
Your skin is the largest organ in the body. It is your barrier to the outside world. When you add toxic substances like caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and processed foods, your body will try to detoxify itself by pushing those chemicals through the skin. That "self-cleaning" often shows up on your skin as dark circles, rashes, and acne.
4 Tips for Cleaner Skin and a Smoothie to Get It
Here are 4 tips to help lighten the complexion of your face for cleaner, blemish-free skin, plus a smoothie recipe that will leave your skin fresh and glowing.
1. Diet does matter
If you're eating a diet full of real whole foods like organic veggies, fruits, and free-range meats, but still haven't seen your skin clear, you may have some underlying food sensitivities. Eating inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy, corn, and soy if you are sensitive to them can put stress on your system. Your body responds to this stress by releasing the hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol leads to weight gain, poor sleep, and, you guessed it: acne.
Hormonal imbalances are one of the most important factors in the development of acne. This is why acne is more common during puberty. Fluctuations in hormone levels can also occur if you are eating non-organic meat or dairy products, as they often contain additional growth hormones. Always look on the label for 100% USDA certified organic, grass-fed, and pasture-raised products.
2. Your gut is the gateway to your health
What happens on your instinct has great implications for the rest of your body? A poorly functioning intestinal tract puts you at risk for chronic health problems, such as autoimmune diseases, diabetes, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, eczema, rosacea, and mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression. You must heal your gut to heal the rest of your body, including your skin.
Follow these 4 steps of current Functional Medicine:
• Eliminate the bad: inflammatory foods, yeast and bacterial overgrowth, parasites and other irritants.
• Replace with the good stuff: digestive enzymes, HCL (Hydrochloric Acid) and other components for good digestion that may have been depleted.
• Re-create by adding beneficial bacteria to your system.
• Repairs the lining of the intestine by supplementing with nutrients to promote healing.
3. You are what you apply yourself
It's like that for your skin. Just as "you are what you eat", you are what you put into your body. Your skin has a large surface area that makes it ideal for absorption. That is why certain medications are given in the form of creams and gels. However, this also means that you can absorb toxic chemicals from beauty and personal care products into your bloodstream, where they can wreak havoc on your hormones.
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the average person in the US alone uses approximately 10-15 personal care products with a total of 126 different ingredients per day. Parabens and phthalates, found in almost all hair care products, lotions, and skin care products, are estrogen mimics. That means that even though they don't contain actual estrogen, your hormonal system thinks they're estrogen and acts accordingly. Again, hormonal imbalances are responsible for blemishes and other major problems, such as early puberty and reproductive difficulty.
Check the ingredients in your personal care products using EWG's cosmetics database, "Skin Deep", and replace any offending products with paraben and phthalate free alternatives. If the idea of replacing everything at once is too overwhelming or expensive, set a goal of replacing one item per week or per month until you've replaced everything.
4. Relax and put your beauty to sleep
Stress is your skin's worst enemy. Now you know that stress causes hormonal imbalances that negatively affect your complexion. During sleep, your body is working to repair damaged tissue and calm inflammation. If you have acne or other skin problems, a good rest is essential for healing.
The natural cycle of your hormones throughout the day is governed by your circadian rhythm or a 24-hour sleep cycle. Insufficient or poor quality sleep increases cortisol levels as does stress. Try to get 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night. That's the amount that most people need, but you can find your ideal number by seeing when you wake up naturally without an alarm.
Smoothie for Cleaner Skin
Heal from the inside out. This is a smoothie to fill you up with foods that are rich in skin-shedding vitamins. The vitamin E in almonds will nourish your soon-to-glow skin, and the anti-inflammatory properties of flax, ginger and kale will deflate your skin.
Cleaner skin with smoothie
Ingredients:
• 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk
• 3 kale stalks
• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup frozen berry mix
• 1 tablespoon of almond butter
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds
Mix all the ingredients in the blender on high speed. Use more almond milk if necessary or water if you like.
The proteins you get from certain plants are great for your spine health. These proteins are different than the ones found in meat. Stick to plant-based proteins as much as possible. Animal-based proteins can lead to inflammation. Instead, get your protein from foods like chia seeds, lentils, and beans. Not only do they provide protein, they pack a nutritional punch in other ways, too. You’ll get a variety of helpful antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals as well. If you’d still like to get some animal-based protein in your diet, go for lean picks. This means choosing chicken and fish over beef and pork. FlexoBliss
Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices is a non-commercial initiative committed to the ethical dissemination of academic research and educational thinking. CLTP acknowledges the thoughtful dedication of authors, editors and reviewers to develop and promote this open journal initiative. The journal receives copy-editing sponsorship from the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. CLTP has previously received copy editing support from the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice at the University of Nottingham, UK.