My foundation

If there’s one thing I have learned in functional medicine, it is that there is rarely just one thing contributing to your health problem. When it comes to your skin, we have to take a whole body approach. Once I understood that my skin was a reflection of both external and internal factors I was able to make adjustments in the following areas to tackle my skin problems from all angles.

1. Diet

Your gut and your skin are inextricably linked through the gut-skin axis. In fact, research shows that problems like leaky gut syndrome, yeast overgrown, SIBO, and microbiome dysbiosis can contribute to poor skin health. When your gut health and inflammation levels are out of control, it can show up on the surface of your skin as acne and other problems. 

What is the biggest contributor to all of these problems? Poor diet. Ultimately, the food we eat on a daily basis either fuels inflammation and gut dysfunction or soothes it. When it came to healing my skin, it all went back to what I was eating.

Since everyone’s biochemistry is unique - and so are each person’s specific food intolerances and food sensitivities - I had to discover what foods triggered an inflammatory response in my body. Once I uncovered the foods my body loved through an elimination diet I was able to structure a dietary plan with superfoods that optimized health, promoted glowing skin, and minimized internal dysfunction. 

Personally, I prioritize foods high in healthy fats needed for healthy hormone balance like wild-caught fish, avocados, and nuts and seeds. I also make sure to include a variety of anti-inflammatory superfoods like turmeric and antioxidant-rich berries. Plus, a lot of gut-healing bone broth that gave my skin that extra collagen boost.

2. Skincare

As your body’s largest organ, your skin makes up 10 percent of your total body weight and plays an important role in your overall health. But did you know your skin actually has its own microbiome? That’s right, just like your gut, your skin is home to millions of strains of bacteria and fungi that all work together to act as a physical barrier from outside pathogens. 

However, skin problems can arise when there is an imbalance - also known as dysbiosis - where bad bacteria ends up outnumbering healthy, beneficial bacteria. This can lead to a variety of skin problems including acne, psoriasis, eczema, rosacea, and more. Certain factors like the products you use on a daily basis can contribute to the development of dysbiosis and aging.

That’s why it is so important to use high-quality skincare products that are made with clean ingredients designed to keep your skin barrier healthy and moisturized to protect against dysbiosis and pathogens. Keep reading for a rundown of my go-to products!

3. Intermittent fasting

As the author of the NYT-bestselling book Intuitive Fasting, and someone who has a regular fasting practice, I have seen firsthand the transformative power of this wellness tool on my skin.

While fasting has many benefits, you might not realize that its main benefits also directly impact your skin’s health and appearance. For example, fasting increases autophagy - your body’s cellular recycling process that works to break down damaged cells and recycle them out of your system, making way for new, healthy cells to be produced by promoting healthy cellular metabolism. This is especially important as we get older to mitigate wrinkles and other signs of aging, with studies showing (1) that intermittent fasting and autophagy work together in their anti-aging capabilities.

Fasting can also help regulate your gut-skin balance. Just like the ocean tides ebb and flow, so do the different colonies of bacteria in your microbiome depending on if you are awake, eating or sleeping. Because our bodies aren’t built for 24/7 eating, fasting can help reset your microbiome’s natural ebb and flow while also lowering gut-specific inflammation (2) and inflammatory markers (3) like IL-6 and CRP that contribute to inflammatory skin problems.