Yep, you read that right. You might know by now that your gut can directly affect your overall mental and physical health. Similarly, your gut can affect the appearance of your skin. It might be time to quit dropping your paychecks on ultra-expensive skincare products and instead, focus on what you’re putting into your body.
Gut-Skin Axis
Have you heard of the gut-brain axis? This links your gut health to your mental health and similarly, there is the gut-skin axis. Our gut microbiome maintains homeostasis throughout the body, according to an article written by Byrdie. This microbiome, however, can have drastic effects on some other organs like our skin. This tends to happen if there is an imbalance in your gut and studies show links between poor gut health and skin issues like eczema, rosacea and acne.
Furthermore, your skin is a great indicator of what’s going on inside your body. An imbalance in your gut might appear on the skin through irritation, inflammation, or blemishes. If your gut is inflamed, chances are, so is your skin!
How to Improve your Skin with the Help of your Gut
First, to heal your skin, you’re going to want to heal your gut first and foremost. Here are a few steps to incorporate into your daily habits that might do the trick!
1. Take a Daily Probiotic
Probiotics can be vital for getting your gut and skin in check but it’s no one size fits all when it comes to fining the right strain for you. Do some research and ask your doctor for some info. Here is a good guide and quiz to help find what’s right for you.
2. Cut out inflammatory foods
Focus on eating raw, whole foods and cut out processed high sugar foods. According to a MindBodyGreen article, “[n]othing is more inflammatory than sugar.”
3. Get an Enough Sleep
Probably one of the most important things your can do for yourself is get enough sleep. This is because inadequate sleep raises your cortisol levels and triggers inflammation, which we know by now is one of the leading causes of breakouts. Secondly, during sleep, your skin’s blood flow increases, which aids your skin in rebuilding collagen and repairs damage from UV exposure, which can help to reduce wrinkles and sun damage.
4. Drink Enough Water
This one doesn’t really need an explanation but to simply things, drinking water has been shown to help break down food so that your body absorb nutrients. Drinking a minimum
5. Drink Kombucha 😉
I know, I know, we might be a little bias on this one but there is science to back it up! Here’s the gist, kombucha contains B-vitamins like B2, B6, and B12 that are also found in skincare products, according to an Elle article.
Continuing, the good gut bacteria and yeasts support the bacterial balance in your gut! Balance in the gut = happy gut and happy skin 😊
