There's no need to hide your skin when you eat clean. It's possible to reduce inflammatory skin conditions with a good diet that's right for you.
Inflammatory skin conditions include psoriasis, acne, rosacea, eczema, unexplained rashes, dermatitis, keratosis, and more. People who consume a standard American diet are more likely to suffer from one or more of these skin conditions.
A recent study from UC Davis Center for Health evaluated what happened when individuals with inflammatory skin conditions switched from eating a standard American diet to a clean diet that was right specifically for their body.
They found that one of the worst offenders toward inflammatory skin conditions is added sugar in the diet. Ditch the sugar, improve your skin. This is nothing new. We've known this for quite some time. Excess sugar is highly inflammatory for most individuals. And often times the inflammation shows up through the skin.
I've been working with teenagers and pre-teens for several years now. Even though I work with them in an educational setting, they still ask me what they can do to reduce acne breakouts. I find that those who have worse acne are eating a lot of sugar. Some of them have a casein or a gluten sensitivity as well, and reducing or eliminating dairy and/or wheat consumption can also help a lot. I personally never dealt with bad acne as a teen, but I did experience bad eczema, dermatitis, and scalp psoriasis. My conditions improved dramatically when I eliminated gluten consumption. I didn't know I had Celiac Disease until my late-20s. But I definitely had symptoms of it long before my diagnosis. Most of my symptoms showed up through my skin.
Another offender of the skin is harmful fats and oils. If you want clearer skin, ditch the trans fats and seed oils such as canola, cotton seed, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and soy oil. These are all highly inflammatory and are not healthy for anyone, contrary to what you may have read or heard. Show me someone with a bad sunburn and I'll show you someone who consumes too much vegetable/seed oil. Read food labels carefully. Avoid any product that lists the words "hydrogenated oil". Your skin will thank you.
The UC Davis study also noted that improving the quality of your diet can have a positive impact on your gut microbiome. In turn, this can improve the condition of your skin. This isn't really anything we didn't already know. But it's great to see that their study confirms this. Joint inflammation also improved with a shift toward good gut bugs.
Study participants were able to reduce inflammatory skin conditions with diet improvements in as little as 10 weeks. So if you're suffering from one of the skin conditions listed above, consider ditching sugar and bad-for-you fats. Supplement with a probiotic and work with a trained nutritional therapy practitioner to help keep you motivated and on track. That way you can be happy with the skin you're in once again.