Things that you think are helping with your hormonal acne vs what actually will
Today's topic is going to be about what you think is helping your hormonal acne vs what actually will help.
Let's start with what you think could be helping. The first one is obsessing over your skincare routine. This is the thought pattern that I definitely had when suffering from cystic acne. It feels like we're constantly looking for the best product or the best routine. The reality though, is what works for some people may not work for others in the same way and vice versa. Now there are a lot of products that will indeed help your acne like different chemical exfoliants, acids, moisturizers. But the overarching theme when it comes to hormonal acne is that it’s not your skin that’s the problem. It doesn’t matter how many face masks you try or how many times you're washing your makeup brushes. Because the root cause of your breakouts is hormonal. You can tell if it’s a hormonal breakout if it’s more concentrated along your lower face like your cheeks, jawline, chin, and neck. Especially if it's right before ovulation and/or your period. What you also need to remember is the function of your skin. It not only protects you, but it’s also an excretory organ. So it helps get rid of waste. So instead of obsessing over what product you should try next or how much the next routine is going to cost you, focus on how to better support, its function which will reduce the breakouts on its own.
The second thing that you could think is helping but really isn't, is detox trends. When I was on the birth control implant, I had gained so much weight and I was very bloated. That was when I started to get cystic acne. I figured maybe a detox tea would help me because they do advertise it as reducing bloating, helping your digestive system, and all that. The tea that I used was called Fit Tea at the time. I went through quite a few of them. All to try to get rid of the bloatedness and water weight. But something I wish I had known at the time is that these are usually more gimmicky because your body has its own detox center. It's a built-in detox center. That being your liver and the rest of your digestive system. So instead of going for the detox trends, that advertise “this will help to smooth out your digestive system and your colon and all this other stuff”. The more direct approach would be to support those systems in you that is getting rid of all the waste anyways. That mostly is your liver. Your liver's number one job is to process not only what you eat but also other things you come into contact with like fragrances in your perfume, pesticides, etc. That's why sometimes it can get overwhelmed and overworked. That’s when it starts to slow down and become more sluggish. So it needs some extra support and love to function optimally.
This next misconception was more prevalent a few years back. It’s cutting out all fat from your diet. The whole idea was that all fat was bad, all oils were bad because they increase cholesterol. But that isn’t the case at all. You actually need fats because they are some of the essential building blocks to most of your hormones. What’s important is the types of fat that you are consuming. Healthy, beneficial fats would be things like olive oil, flaxseed oil, and avocado oil. While the bad fats cause inflammation throughout the body. So limit vegetable oils, peanut oils, and definitely canola oil. You do need a balance between the good fats also known as Omega 3’s, and the bad fats also known as Omega 6. But you need a lot more Omega 3’s to Omega 6’s.
Now let's talk about birth control. It seems like, in recent years birth control has been described as a way to treat hormonal acne. But similar to what we talked about with skincare, you need to find the root cause of the acne. Don’t get me wrong, birth control does indeed help breakouts. It can reduce them while you are on it. The issue is that it can come right back once you get off of it. What a lot of people don’t know is that when you're on birth control, it puts a film-like effect on your body. That’s because your body isn't able to talk to you and let you know what's happening. You no longer get your monthly report card aka your period. You can tell so much about your health through your period. What’s going on if it's late, if it's on time, the color, how much you bleed. All of these are ways that your body communicates what’s going on. Birth control doesn't allow your body to go through the different hormonal flows. The other issue is that birth control can negatively impact your gut microbiome. Which in turn can also disrupt the gut-brain connection. That's why some people experience more anxiety or depression in certain parts of their cycle. That's why birth control is more of a band-aid to the issue.
Speaking of digestion, the next big one is intermittent fasting. The whole idea is that you're giving your body time to rest and not have to be constantly digesting. So you fast for 10-14 hours. But when you have a hormone imbalance, it can cause stress on your body because it already isn’t working properly. Your body likes stability. Know that it's safe and that there is no drought or famine, plenty of food. It doesn't need to store sugar or fat because food is abundant. But because you can't tell your body that directly, you have to show it that. This is done by, roughly eating food every three to four hours. This will help reduce the insulin spikes and drops that can happen if you having too much food in one sitting or if you having too much sugar at once. If you're having a really big meal and then dessert, but then the following day you're skipping breakfast and going straight to lunch, this can cause a huge influx in how much insulin your body has to release into your system to be able to get your blood sugars stable again throughout the day.
Let’s now switch over to what will actually help get rid of hormonal acne. Which of course is balancing your hormones because that is the root cause of it. So how can you balance your hormones? The first way is by eating based on where you are in your cycle. What this means is that throughout your cycle, your body goes through different phases. What your body is doing in your luteal phase is very different from what your body is doing in your follicular phase. As such it needs different types of micronutrients. For example, what you need during your period is very different from what your body needs during ovulation right? So for instance during and after your period your body will need more nutrient-dense food and iron to be able to replenish those reserves after your period. But on the other hand, you need more fiber-rich foods during ovulation to make sure that your body can process the used up and excess hormones. The best way that I approached this is that each week I'll look at where I'm at in my cycle, and I'll do a grocery list based on that. That way I get a wide variety of different meals so it doesn't get boring, but at the same time keeping my hormones happy.
The next thing you can do to balance your hormones is to keep your blood sugar levels stable. Remember how earlier I mentioned if you go too long without eating you can get a blood sugar level spike? Eating small quantities of food more frequently will help avoid too much insulin being dumped at once. Keeping your blood sugar levels stable will help your liver by not having to overburden it by having more things to break down. Which will let it focus on breaking down used up and excess hormones.
The next big key player is your gut microbiome. The good, beneficial bacteria help you properly digest food and absorb the nutrients from what you’re eating. It is also responsible for most of your serotonin production. That’s due to the gut-brain connection that we talked about earlier.
Another big gut disruptor is stress. Cortisol can cause widespread inflammation in your body, especially your digestive system. Stress also steals from your magnesium reserves. Which is needed for most of your main sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. When you’re low in magnesium it can also lead to a drop in melatonin which is needed for good quality sleep. It can even steal from the precursor of progesterone. Which can contribute to estrogen dominance because there isn’t enough progesterone to balance it out. This is why stress can be so toxic to the body. Actively try to reduce the amount of stress you're exposed to.
Then finally, probably one of the most important things to balancing your hormones is having patience with both yourself and your body. The process of healing your hormones can take a few cycles, but your body has its own innate wisdom to know how to get into balance again. I know what it's like when you're frustrated and just anger at your body because you feel like it's betrayed you. Trust me, I've been there. When you’ve tried so many different diets, skincare products, it feels like you've tried literally anything and everything that anyone's ever recommended to you. I know it can be very frustrating. Especially when nothing is working but you have to remember that just because there is a miscommunication between you and your body doesn't mean that there's something innately wrong with you. It’s just that, a miscommunication and once you forgive your body as well as yourself you'll be able to start that healing process within you as well. Not only on the physical level but also the emotional and mental level as well.
If you’re ready to start your healing journey, then I invite you to check out my Hormone Alignment Program. It’s a 3-month program to get your hormones balanced and learn how to keep them that way!
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