Let’s Talk Gut Health
The average woman spends around $313 per month on their beauty regimen. We spend so much time and money masking what we see as imperfections on the outside. Instead, we should celebrate our natural beauty by healing the inside.
Did you know that poor gut health plays a significant role in our skin health? Our skin and gut are teeming with beneficial bacteria that help protect us from potential pathogens.
The gut, skin, and immunity are all deeply interconnected. With a little gut TLC, you might be able to cut back on your beauty products and feel better. Here's why!
How the Skin Protects Our Gut Health
The skin is our largest organ. On average, the skin comprises 15% of a person's body weight and is cumulatively around 21 square feet in size!
We need the skin because it's our first line of defence against toxins. It protects our vital organs from being attacked by viruses, fungi, and other germs we encounter every day. That's why hand-washing has been so critical during this pandemic!
How Poor Gut Health Can Ruin Skin
The skin is highly porous. Our insides need ventilation. Plus, pores helps our skin absorb nutrients, like Vitamin D from the sun.
As we age, the elasticity of these pores gets wider. This degradation is due to long-term inflammation.
Millions of people live with chronic inflammation due to poor dietary habits. The Western Diet is laden with foods that contain artificial ingredients, refined sugars, and common allergens (gluten, dairy, soy).
Continually eating these foods can cause the gut barrier to weaken, cause gut dysbiosis (known as leaky gut). Leaky gut means that toxins from your intestines are now entering your stomach and bloodstream.
This causes chronic inflammation. As inflammation festers, it starts to destroy healthy skin cells.
Chronic inflammation due to leaky gut can cause complications with:
Psoriasis
Eczema
Acne
Rosacea
Allergies
When you experience flare-ups, start noticing your digestive health. Are you experience bloating, constipation, or pains? Then, think about what you ate in the last 24-72 hours. Consider keeping a food journal to unlock some clues to your gut and skin problems.
How Bacteria Help Our Skin Health
Our pores are also one of many entry points for pathogens. So, we rely on healthy skin bacteria to maintain a pH balance that kills off harmful bacteria that might enter our systems.
Gut bacteria also improve our skin health. Bacteria consume dietary fibers (sugars and carbs) from the foods we eat.
Since bacteria are living beings, they produce waste. Healthy probiotic bacteria's waste is known as metabolites. Metabolites have various benefits.
Some metabolites are short-chain fatty acids. Our cells use these fatty acids as energy to grow healthier and stronger.
One of the most skin-friendly short-chain fatty acids is butyrate. Butyrate helps repair cells along our gut lining to prevent leaky gut. It also plays a role in stimulating collagen growth. Our skin relies on collagen to retain elasticity.
Probiotic bacteria also produce B-Vitamins. These micronutrients contain many antioxidants that help protect damaged skin cells.
How to Improve Skin With Gut Health
Improving your skin should start within. After all, beauty is skin deep! Once you biohack your gut, you can naturally unlock your outer beauty.
Here are some tips for boosting your gut health:
Stay Hydrated
Don't Over Exfoliate and Kill Off Healthy Bacteria
Cut Out Inflammatory Foods (Limit Dairy, Gluten, Processed Foods, Baked Goods)
Eat Healthy Fats (Avocados, Nuts, Seeds, Fish, Coconut Oil)
Consume More Fiber (Fruits, Vegetables, Gluten-Free Whole Grains)
Eat Fermented Foods (Kombucha, Tempeh, Kraut, Pickles)
Microbiome Testing & Custom Probiotics
Harnessing your natural glow requires a lot of dietary changes. What makes this so challenging is that we all have different genetics, dietary habits, and gut biomes. There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to fixing your gut and skin. That's why I started partnering with Thryve.
Thryve sent me an at-home gut microbiome test kit. This kit had everything I needed to easily secure a sample from my toilet paper and mail it to their laboratory for DNA testing.
Thryve provided me with a detailed report on my gut bacteria, including an analysis of what skin, mood, and weight issues are associated with the overly abundant bacteria in my gut.
With these results, Thryve provided me with a list of foods that are scientifically linked to the bacterial overgrowths in my gut. That way, I can omit these foods from my diet.
They also provided me with a database of foods and recipes that feed the bacteria my gut was low in. Their easy-to-use system made meal planning for gut and skin health seamless.