Nutrition and your Skin: First in a Series
My goal is to help you understand the link between a healthy diet and healthy skin, with this series about how nutrition and skin disorders are connected.
A common question I’m asked by clients is why eating bad feels so good!
First and foremost: What you eat has a direct impact upon the health of your body and your skin. As a skin care specialist, I see the impact of diet on skin every day.
One way that I help my clients resolve their skin problems in by reviewing their diet. A huge problem with the foods we eat is that many of them are inflammatory!
Some of the main offenders are:
*Refined Sugar
*White Flour
*Hydrogenated Fats
*Artificial Additives
*Preservatives
*Nitrites
*Sulfites
*Pesticides
Unfortunately, these ingredients are found in a significant portion of the typical Western diet.
When your body senses that you have ingested something toxic or inflammatory to the system, it releases cortisol and beta-endorphins. These are both ‘feel-good’ chemicals, so that when we eat foods that are bad for us, we actually get a momentary “high.” It is that high that leads us ultimately to become addicted to unhealthy foods. In fact, recent research reveals that certain foods trigger a chemical response in the brain very similar to the response created by cocaine! Have you ever finished a fast food meal only to be craving something sweet in under an hour? Bingo! This is the vicious cycle that has contributed to America’s overwhelming problem with obesity and other inflammatory health conditions (including a majority of skin problems!)
Now that you have a glimpse into why you are so driven to eat that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, dip in to some Oreos and milk, or open the bag of Doritos, let’s look at how to break the attachment to the very foods that challenge your health and are reflected in your skin.
In the next segment in this series, we’ll take a look at ….sugar!
