Healthy skin means a healthy digestive system and liver.
If the eyes are the window to your soul, then your skin is the window to your liver and GI tract, especially your colon. Here I go, talking about poop again! Sorry, I am a Naturopath after all. But you can judge how well any city functions by how well their waste management department runs. And it is a clinically proven fact that skin disorders, appearance, and hydration improve when you help your liver to detox more effectively and avoid foods which cause inflammation of the intestines.
You have heard me speak often about the liver and its amazing ability to continually work hard to keep you alive and clean inside and out. Every molecule you take in, along with every metabolic waste that every cell in your body emits every single day, must be examined by your liver. It must decide if it’s something the body can use or recycle, or if it must be conjugated (packaged to render it harmless as it travels through your blood stream) and removed. If it is deemed waste to be excreted, there are only four doorways out: the kidneys, colon, lungs or skin. (The liver can use the uterus as a secondary organ of elimination, but that topic is for another article.) The colon is designed to take out the largest of molecular structures. If, for any number of reasons, it can’t handle that job at the moment, the skin is recruited to take out the excess toxins. If the molecules are too large to pass easily through the skin, the skin cells can break open to release fluid/pus, exudate, or crust over or form boils or lipomas. Dermatologists call these conditions by many different names depending on their exact appearance: eczema, psoriasis, acne, etc. They appear on the skin, but I assure you, their underlying cause is in the liver and colon. These conditions are often not this dramatic–smaller toxins pass through the pores of your skin all day and night, but may only form dark spots, fine lines and wrinkles.
How do we help our liver and colon process these toxins most effectively?
1) Avoid unnecessary toxins as much as possible. This is getting harder to do in our increasingly toxic world, but you can still try to have as clean a diet as possible. Choose organic foods as much as you can. Avoid processed and fried foods, drugs, and alcohol. Avoid the most common food allergens and GMO’s: wheat/gluten, corn, soy, sugar and dairy. Only use meat from an animal that has not been given hormones or growth products and has been fed and raised in a natural environment. Avoid plastics and as many topical chemicals as much you can.
2) Use foods that are nutrient dense and help clean your colon, like plants. Try to fill your diet with as many kinds of vegetables as you can. Vary the colors and textures and eat lots of them. Plants give us a wide variety of nutrients, minerals and vitamins, as well as act like little scrubbing sponges to help clean the colon. If your plate is 70% filled with a variety of vegetables (cooked and raw) you will feel better and start clearing a lot of unnecessary toxins from your body. If you have days when you just can’t eat enough veggies or you don’t like many veggies, at least use a vegetable powder like Greens First. Fruit is fine too but limit it to about 10% of your fiber continent due to its sugar level.
3) Do a periodic detox. One of the most clinically studied detox programs for skin health is the Prolon 5-day Fasting-Mimicking Diet. Studies have shown that following the diet for 5 days a month for 3 months reduced the effects of aging on skin by 2.5 years, reduced fine lines, increased skin hydration, and enhanced overall skin appearance and skin tone. It has the additional benefit of adding decades to your life, and most patients feel fantastic and lose about 5 pounds during the 5-day diet. We have known for decades about the benefits of periodic fasting or withholding food for several days, but most people in this modern world find this hard to do and keep up with busy schedules. Prolon has developed the diet based on Dr. Valter Longo’s longevity diet research, which solves this problem by giving the body very specific, low-calorie nutrients that provide high-density nutrients along with the health benefits of fasting. As an added incentive, anyone who uses my special code can receive a 20% discount on any Prolon product: prolonlife.com/drgodman.
Another one of my favorite detox methods is using intracellular homeopathic remedies to achieve deep, cellular change, not only by clearing toxins but also by restoring proper function to possibly damaged cells. These remedies are cell specific and may require assistance in choosing a proper protocol. A general liver/colon detoxification could include Unda #3, 50 and 258. You would take 10 drops of each of the three remedies twice a day, making sure not to mix them together. These are best done with one of the elimination diets listed above.
There are many adjunct therapies and practices that can facilitate the cleansing process: drinking lots of clean water daily, colon hydrotherapy, dry skin brushing, foot detoxing soaks, deep breathing exercises, relaxation techniques, mindfulness and meditation, HeartMath, and saunas when appropriate, are just a few. I highly recommend that you consult with your physician prior to beginning a detox program to make sure it’s safe and effective for you.
Here’s to happy skin and a happy life!
Dr. Susan
