How I Cleared My Skin of Blemishes The Natural Way

Adult acne seems to be more prevalent these days, which is something that I struggled with myself in my early 20s, but I noticed that it got much worse right after moving to New York City. I thought that as I got older, my hormones would balance out and I would be completely blemish free, but that hasn’t always been the case. Many adult acne cases are likely due to the change of environment from more pollution, additives in our food and stress that is either throwing our hormones out of whack, or affecting certain organs in our body. 

After experiencing the worst breakouts of my life about three or four years ago, which were much worse than when I was a teenager, I realized that there wasn’t any cleanser, toner, mask treatment, facial, lotion or serum that would prevent or treat my breakouts unless I “cleaned up” what was happening inside of my body, more specifically my gut. I decided to improve the condition of my skin the natural way through a combination of diet and using pure, organic products. I chose not to use pharmaceutical drugs that can yield favorable results, but it would be at the expense of compromising my organs that can result into Crohn’s disease, liver damage or depression, to name a few. Those are some serious side effects that I won’t elect myself to possibly go through, just so that I can achieve a certain look.

The condition of your skin has a big influence on your confidence levels, and can make anyone extremely self-conscious about themselves. This is why I am here to share my knowledge on what helped me get my skin to a place where I would rarely experience breakouts. Even when I do have a couple blemishes show up, it only happens once every few months because let’s face it, no one is perfect. So here is my method that helped me prevent breakouts and achieve healthier (and dare I say) even younger looking skin:

1. Eliminating sweets, coffee and dairy from my diet: All three of these foods might be really tough for a lot of people to cut out, but there are many reasons why you should consider doing it.

• Sugar is not your friend! But it’s addicting like a drug because when you have it, the reward centers of our brain are stimulated, then dopamine is released. Sugar can make you breakout because it causes inflammation in your body, and even worse, it can make you age much faster since it binds to collagen and causes stiffness in the skin (YIKES, that doesn’t lead to the fountain of youth). However, keep in mind that the sugar from naturally sweet fruits is good for your skin, since they’re packed with antioxidants and nutrients. It’s the refined sugar you need to stay away from, which is commonly found in cakes, cookies, pastries, chocolate, bread, etc. And in case you missed the article about the sugar industry paying off Harvard Researchers to market that fat was causing heart disease and not sugar, here it is:  How the sugar industry sweetened research in its favor.
• Coffee could be a really tough one for people to cut out, but hear me out because there are alternative beverages that are just as effective as coffee, and are more beneficial for your skin and body. When you drink coffee it amplifies your body’s hormonal stress response, which raises your cortisol levels to cause acne. Once I cut out coffee, I noticed that any breakouts on my forehead started to clear up or no longer appear, which is where you usually breakout when you’re stressed. The caffeine alternatives I would suggest drinking are green or black tea, or an even better option is Matcha Green Tea Powder. I’ve featured matcha in two of my posts, Two Drinks You Should Be Drinking Every Morning and Evening and My 7 favorite teas that are good for your skin and body. Matcha has more caffeine and antioxidants than coffee, and won’t increase your cortisol levels that can trigger acne to form. 
• Cheese, yogurt, ice cream, or other foods containing milk products is also another food group that’s hard for many people to cut out. These dairy products cause acne because they already have fairly high amounts of the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). When consumed, it causes our liver to produce more it, and results in our bodies creating sebum, or oil, which then shows up in our skin. If we know we’re adding more hormones in our bodies that causes acne, then why do many of us still continue to eat dairy? That’s because dairy is addicting, and contains casomorphin that have an opioid effect. When they bind to opioid receptors in your brain, it makes you happy.Your brain gets used to this “feeling” when you consume cheese or ice cream, and then you get unhappy when you stop trying to consume dairy. If that’s the case, I’d suggest exercising to experience that happy feeling, since it will release more endorphins in your body. 

2. Taking probiotic supplements: When you want to clean out your skin, you’ll also have to clean out your gut. Both of these organs are used for detoxification, and although our gut is full of bacteria, you want to make sure it’s hosting enough of the “good” bacteria. When you do, your gut will function properly, absorb all of the good nutrients you need, and eliminate toxins. If our gut’s “bad” bacteria outweighs the good, then chronic inflammation can occurs, which is what causes acne and other skin problems. Probiotic supplements help “good” bacteria thrive in your gut, which reduces inflammation and is very helpful for improving acne. I’ve tested a few probiotic supplements over the years, but the most effective one I’ve found are Healthforce Nutritionals, Friendly Force probiotics. I’ve been taking this specific brand for more than a year, and have noticeably seen an improvement in the condition of my skin on my face and body. 

3. Swapping out my products to the Dr. Alkaitis skincare line: This is the cleanest line that exists in the market! Even the best modeling agencies in the world recommend their models use these products. Dr. Alkaitis created this incredibly effective line after his wife would come home with facial products she’d purchased, and get his opinion on whether the ingredients were safe. The Dr. Alkaitis philosophy is, “if you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin.” As a result, all of the ingredients are completely edible, but I wouldn’t suggest ever trying to consume them. I have been using this line for almost two years, and I’ve noticed a big difference with how much healthier and clearer my skin has been. It’s also helped balance out my pH levels from alkaline (dry and sensitive) to more acidic (plump and dewey). These products are an investment, but will last you 6+ months, since you only need to use two to three pumps each time. However, if you want to understand which of these products work best for you, I’d suggest buying the Dr. Alkaitis travel kit first, before pulling the trigger on the larger sized bottles. The kit allows you to sample almost all of  products, which include moisturizers, eye cream, face masks, etc. The main ones I use daily are the Organic Purifying Facial Cleanser, Organic Herbal Toner, and Organic Soothing Gel. The soothing gel is pretty game changing because you can apply it all over your body to treat blemishes or other skin conditions. I also use it to prevent ingrown hairs by applying it right after a shaving or wax, and it smells really good! For my face moisturizer, I opted to use something outside of the line because I felt the Tata Harper Clarifying Moisturizer was more absorbent, light weight, and I wanted something that would further unclog my pores and reduce redness. This line is also non toxic, completely natural, and works very well!

UPDATE: With acne or blemishes, we usually develop scars. For me, I’ll get small dark spots on my skin, but thankfully I discovered an EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE serum that I’ve been using for more than a year. It’s the Intelligent Nutrients Renewal Complex Skin Serum that diminishes the appearance of scars.  It’s even helped reduce the appearance of sun spots on my lips, which I wrote about in a previous post, Prepare to Bare the Skin on Your Face. It’s super absorbent and all you need to do is apply a couple drops daily in the morning and evening. You can even put it under your makeup as the serum works it healing process, just let it dry before you do. I hope this serves in you in allowing your beautiful skin shine through, without having to cover it 🙂

I’d love to hear how my method is helping you clear you skin the natural way. If there are other methods that have worked for you, please share them in the comments section below or message me directly.

Naturally,
Nadine
#naturalnadine #NNCertified #holisticinfluencer