Transcription
Our skin is an incredibly important organ. It actually reflects the health status of all the other organs and systems in our body. When you ingest foods that are high in, or even just well, then you initiate an inflammatory response that can start to really aggravate acne and cause more acne. Just not good to do. It's very clear that diets that are of the so-called low-inflammatory type don't spark inflammation. Your skin is going to look so much better, so much healthier, more vibrant. It absolutely impacts your inflammation levels by reducing them. It absolutely will impact skin health and appearance. All of that is going to make you look more youthful. It's not an imagined effect; it is [Music] real.
Any discussion about skin has to include a discussion about nutrition, why your skin and your immune system have a very intimate relationship. It's bidirectional; your skin reflects the status of your immune system in many ways. Anytime we're talking about the immune system or skin, we need to take into account the gut microbiome and nutrition. So many people ask what are the things that they should eat to have healthy-appearing, youthful skin. They also asked what are the things that one eats that could exacerbate things like acne, and what can one eat in order to reduce their acne. So let's just start off with the basics.
The vast majority of our food, if one desires to be healthy, mentally healthy, physically healthy, and a high-performing individual in any number of different things—cognitive, physical, or otherwise—we want to consume the vast majority of our foods from non-processed or minimally processed sources, so-called Whole Foods: so fruits, vegetables. If that's within your diet, some people include grains, some people don't. I'm not here to discuss that. Of course, if you're human, sometimes you'll ingest processed foods, but really trying to avoid highly processed foods is critical.
With respect to the specific foods that can improve skin appearance and skin health, it's very clear that diets that are of the so-called low-inflammatory type that don't spark inflammation—so these would be things that sometimes are referred to as the Mediterranean diet or a Paleo-like diet. You hear these terms, but what, what are we really talking about? Mostly Whole Foods, minimally processed foods. Again, I'm an omnivore; I love fruit, I love vegetables; I do like rice, oatmeal, and some pastas; I like a great sourdough bread; I like butter; I like olive oil; I like meat; I like fish. I think I am representative of most people out there because I eat most all those things, but I also eat the occasional croissant. I also eat the occasional slice of pizza. I don't eat a lot of that stuff, but I eat it now and again.
One of the, I think, best accounts on dermatologic health and skin health and appearance on the Internet is Dr. Andrea Suarez. She's a medical doctor, board-certified dermatologist, and she has a wonderful video that describes the various foods that one can eat to promote skin health and skin appearance, and she certainly mentions collagen and bone broth. She also mentions various sources of omega fatty acids that are often lacking in people's diets that they should pay extra careful attention to get—so things like walnuts, flax, fatty fish. It's also suggested that we eat a lot of leafy greens, so dark leafy greens. You're probably noticing a lot of these recommendations are kind of typical for what people describe anytime they're talking about nutrition for health, and of course, we should get our colored fruits and veggies—so our oranges, our strawberries; the reds and oranges are critical out there. And she also highlights something very important that I want to reiterate, which is that we have a critical need for Vitamin A for our skin health. She appropriately cautions against supplementing with vitamin A because it's a fat-soluble vitamin; it's very easy to overdose vitamin A if one is supplementing with too much of it. She recommends rather getting enough vitamin A from things like oranges, carrots, sweet potatoes. She recommends as much berry intake as is appropriate for someone and one can afford; the berries are so delicious, but they tend to be expensive. So you're getting the theme now.
Inflammation is bad, not just for the skin but for all organ systems of the body. It's not just about the high density of calories and the high density of taste present in highly processed foods; those are problematic, but a lot, lot of the issue with these highly processed foods is the high heat conditions used to make those foods stable on shelves or stable in packaging over time. The point is that when these highly processed foods are basically made, they involve the interactions between sugars and proteins and fats at high heat that make them stable on the shelf or in packaging, and those can be very inflammatory, and that can show up in the form of reactive skin. It can make your psoriasis worse; yes, it can make your acne worse; it can make your skin more tense, tender, and painful; it can make your skin basically more reactive to some of the underlying predispositions you might have either because of genetics or other things you're doing or not doing. Maybe you're going through a particularly stressful time; maybe you're getting a little bit of extra sun, and you're eating more highly processed foods, and those things are combining and making your skin break out or flush more than it would ordinarily. Again, there's so many reasons to eat most of your foods from non-processed or minimally processed sources. And of course, and now I sound like a broken record, cuz you can hear this all over the Internet: ingesting foods that are excessively high in sugar, excessively high in sugars combined with fats—just not good to do; pro-inflammatory; it's going to cause all sorts of issues, as you probably know. When you ingest foods that are high in sugars or even just carbohydrates generally that also contain a lot of fats, and in particular when those foods are highly processed, well then you initiate an inflammatory response and set for it a whole domino set of issues related to hormone pathways and cell growth pathways that make everything—acne, psoriasis, and overall appearance—worse. Yes, your skin will appear to age faster. Does that mean you can never have a french fry? No. You decide what's best for you, but know what you're doing.
As a segue to talking about acne, we need to talk about the gut microbiome, and this is a direct outgrowth of our discussion about nutrition. Here's the simple takeaway that I believe everyone should follow, not just for the sake of healthy-appearing skin but also for the sake of every organ and tissue system in your body, which is the data clearly show that ingestion of sufficient amounts of fiber—so prebiotic and probiotic fiber—so fruits, vegetables; sometimes this can also come from grains; some people will supplement with additional fiber if they feel they need it, as well as ingestion of low-sugar fermented foods—things like kimchi, sauerkraut—the sort of sauerkraut that has to stay in the fridge, so not the stuff that's stable on the shelf at room temperature; anything containing a brine, that salty brine—these low-sugar fermented foods are powerful enhancers of the gut microbiome, and when the gut microbiome is healthy, you have reduced overall inflammation in the body. This is often reflected at the level of the skin, and basically skin health and the youthfulness appearance of skin is enhanced. Okay, this can also help with conditions like acne or psoriasis, especially in conditions where there's a direct immune system-skin relationship that we'll talk about more in a little bit. Okay, so I highly recommend people have anywhere from one to four servings of low-sugar fermented foods per day, and let's face it, low-sugar fermented foods, if you find the ones that you like, are really great to ingest cuz they're tasty and they're good for you.
We keep coming back to inflammation as a general issue for skin health, and that points us also towards some specific dos and don'ts as it relates to lifestyle. Let's face it, if you sleep well, your skin is going to look so much better, so much healthier, more vibrant than if you are not getting enough sleep. If you drink alcohol and you wake up the next morning, you know your skin is going to look puffy; it's not going to look good. Doesn't mean you never have a glass of wine; doesn't mean you never have a beer or a cocktail if that's your thing, but alcohol consumed in excess—and it doesn't take much to get there—is going to cause sleep issues, microbiome issues. So get great sleep; avoid alcohol in excess; maybe avoid it altogether; drink plenty of water. This sounds like such basic advice, but proper hydration is key; get enough water in electrolytes. It absolutely will impact your inflammation levels by reducing them; it absolutely will impact your skin health and appearance in a positive way. So these are just basic things that I'd be remiss if I didn't mention. And as we all know, our emotions impact the appearance of our skin, and yes, it can exacerbate so-called breakouts, but I've done entire episodes about controlling your stress. We have a master stress episode that talks about real-time tools that you can use, like the physiological sigh; it's the fastest way that I'm aware of to reduce one's levels of stress. This is something my laboratory has studied in detail at Stanford. There are also things you can do, and we're all aware of what they are: proper sleep, meditation, non-sleep deep rest—all things that we can do that are zero cost, very minimal time investment, and that reduced stress can dramatically improve not just the health but the appearance of your skin. Stress is part of life, but learn to control your stress in real time and through tools like non-sleep deep rest that are zero costs that can help you reduce your overall levels of stress, get great sleep, and keep in mind that things that improve blood flow, reduce inflammation, give you lower stress, better sleep—all of that is going to make you look more youthful. It's not an imagined effect; it is real [Music].