Getting to the Root of Adult Acne - Part 1 of 2

Itʼs frustrating, isnʼt it: having acne as a grown woman when you thought you shouldʼve “been there, done that” as a teenager.

Treating acne topically helps to deal with what is going on on the surface, but the root cause is usually much deeper. Even antibiotics have side effects that can cause other imbalances in your body over time, and may even backfire in the long term when it comes to acne. Well, it doesnʼt have to be that way.

What if you could get to the root cause and take care of your acne once and for all? If it were in your power to make a few key daily choices and resolve your acne for good, would you?

The secret lies in a trifecta I see often in my work which, when addressed together, can resolve acne from the inside out. The three parts to the trifecta are: (1) hormones; (2) stress; and (3) food.

Hereʼs how it works: Hormones tend to play an important role in adult acne. Not always, but a lot of the time. Hormones are impacted greatly by stress and by the food you eat... or, in some cases, donʼt eat. If you are not processing your stress well, if you are not eating in a way that effectively neutralizes stress, or if you are unknowingly eating foods (even “healthy” foods) for which you have an unidentified intolerance, then you will likely have a hormonal imbalance that can trigger your acne.

And stress is impacted, for better or for worse, by the state of your hormones and the food you eat or, again, donʼt eat. And round and round it goes.

So, food is like the hub of the wheel here, with stress and hormones being two of the strongest spokes. There are other spokes on this wheel, but letʼs focus on this particular trifecta for now. (Weʼll focus on the other spokes in Part 2 of this article.)

So, how are you supposed to break this vicious cycle?

* Identify your personal food intolerances by undertaking a healthful, balanced elimination-challenge diet like the Delicious Cleanse. Note that this is not the same as getting a food allergy test, as your food intolerances may never show up on an allergy test. Food intolerances often have systemic effects on your body, i.e. as headaches or acne breakouts - which cannot be tested using a conventional allergy test - rather than a more straight-forward allergic response, e.g. stuffy nose, so donʼt confuse the two.

The two most common food intolerances that cause adult acne are gluten (found in wheat and several other common grains) and dairy, but there are often several others
as well, such as nightshade vegetables, excess seafood/iodine, sugar, and alcohol.

* Add essential skin-nourishing nutrients to your diet. Specific nutrient deficiencies can contribute to hormonal imbalances and/or trigger acne breakouts. Evaluate your diet and be sure you are getting the correct levels and ratios of zinc, essential fatty acids including Omega 3, Omega 6, and Omega 9 fats, and the B vitamin complex. You may be surprised at how deficient you are and also how quickly your skin can benefit from correcting nutritional deficiencies like these. Check in with a practitioner trained in therapeutic nutrition to evaluate and address your personal deficiencies.

* Manage your stress better. Easier said than done, right? Well, it may be easier than you think. Slowly shifting what and when you eat can balance your blood sugar levels and help your body become more resilient against stress. Replacing foods that arenʼt serving you well with delicious, varied alternatives can also remove food-related stress, cooling down inflammation and breakouts, sometimes in as little as 2-3 days.

Outside of food, identifying and working to resolve the major causes of stress in your life, as well as learning tools for how to deal with stress better (this is real life, after all... stress will always be there in some form) will help your skin retract the acne and reward you with the glow youʼve been craving.

With all of these suggestions, small changes often lead to big results. All it takes is the willingness to look beyond the surface, experiment, and shift a few food and lifestyle habits.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article where I will share with you information and tips on how to deal with four other key contributors to adult acne.

Until next time ~

The author, Simla Somturk Wickless, MBA, CHC, CNE is a holistic health coach, nutritionist, healthy lifestyle expert, speaker, and founder of Delicious Health. She works with women entrepreneurs, busy professionals and autoimmune clients internationally, transforming Busy Bodies into healthy Balanced Beings™ so that they can enjoy deliciously fulfilling lives. She loves inspiring her clients to take action and make lasting changes to increase energy, tame stress, find their natural weight, and promote self-healing… for good.

Does This "Official" Nutrition Advice Make Your Hiney Look Fat?

The “official” USDA dietary guidelines, released as a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) and the Department of Health and Human Services, make a splash every five years when they are updated based on the most recent research. This past month was no exception.

The new USDA dietary guidelines offer a great starting point to talk about how you can become wiser with your own food choices and become an advocate for your own health. Why? Because general guidelines – “official” or not – are not always the best advice for you personally.

The USDA dietary guidelines recommend Americans consume more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits and whole grains, and to consume less sodium, saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and refined grains. They also place stronger emphasis on reducing calorie consumption and increasing physical activity.

All good and well so far, right?

While I salute the idea of generally eating less and consuming more fresh foods; the health crisis in the U.S. today is about more than calories or physical activity. Our bodies each have a unique set of needs.

Unfortunately, the guidelines continue to lack sound, clear nutrition advice in how to make healthy food choices on a daily basis. This confusion is mostly due to the USDA’s dual mission to both educate Americans about healthy eating habits and to promote the foods produced in our country. Typically the dietary guidelines are filled with mixed messages thanks to corporate food interests and lobbies for dairy, sugar, and junk food.

I think the best example of the confusion is found in the section of the guidelines called, “Selected Messages for Consumers.” The tips focus on three main areas: balancing calories, foods to increase and foods to reduce.

Dietary Guidelines say:
Enjoy your food, but eat less.

Simla says:
I’m all for enjoying your food! Enjoy delicious meals that satisfy your body, your appetite, and your soul.

We Americans are notorious for huge portion sizes. It's important to get your portion sizes under control and really listen to your body to stop eating when it's comfortably full. More on portion sizes in another post.

In the meantime, be sure not to skew this advice the other way. Don’t eat too little or skip meals. Many people trying to get healthy will actually yo-yo diet from one extreme—eating too little—to the other extreme—eating too much. This up-and-down cycle is very detrimental to the body. Ultimately, extreme dieting will contribute to stressing out your body, further nutrient depletion, possible insulin resistance, and gaining back any weight you may have lost (and then some). You should aim to feel comfortably full after each meal, and don’t wait more than 3.5 – 4 hours between meals or snacks.

Also, having too few calories OR fats will jeopardize your health and can actually cause you to gain weight.

Many Americans pride themselves on eating non-fat or low-fat versions of foods such as cheese, yogurt, milk, and other foods which are naturally meant to have a higher fat content. This is a mistake.

When eating a primarily balanced, real/whole-foods based diet, calories, fat intake, and other elements of a healthy diet tend to balance out easily. We must have a balanced intake of a variety of fats from high-quality sources (even saturated fats!) to balance out our hormones, assist with brain function, assist with metabolism, satiating hunger, absorption of a wide range of nutrients, moods, and many other everyday functions in our bodies.

So, take the "official" dietary advice with a grain of salt (pun intended!) and always focus on balance and what's right for YOUR body.


The author, Simla Somturk Wickless, MBA, CHC, CNE is a holistic health coach, nutritionist, healthy lifestyle expert, speaker, and founder of Delicious Health.

She works with entrepreneurs, busy professionals and autoimmune clients internationally, transforming Busy Bodies into healthy Balanced Beings™ so that they can enjoy deliciously fulfilling lives. She loves inspiring her clients to take action and make lasting changes to increase energy, tame stress, find their natural weight, and promote self-healing… for good.

Questions? Feel free to post them on Simla’s Facebook page here.

Beauty is NOT Only Skin Deep

“Beauty is only skin deep...”: Whoever said that was a bit misinformed.

Beauty bubbles up from the inside out and gets impacted from the outside in as well.
Itʼs easy to forget that skin is our largest organ. It breathes, protects, and adorns us. Its condition reflects the total exposure we have to both the internal and external elements of our lives.

Letʼs start with the external. The sun, wind, car exhaust, and cat scratches of the outside world can all wear your skin away, causing sun spots, wrinkles, aging, and... um... scratches. This is where high-quality, toxin-free skin products can make all the difference, creating a protective and healing barrier between your skin and the inevitable onslaught of the outside world.

Internal elements are less visible but impact your skin like nobodyʼs business, even more than the external. What are these elements?

Water Studies have shown that you can improve your skin and reduce wrinkles by up to 30% simply by staying hydrated all day long. Try sipping room-temperature water all day long rather than chugging a glass of water when youʼre already thirsty. Better yet, squeeze some fresh lemon juice for an internally cleansing effect. Overall, aim for at least 1/2 cup each hour that youʼre awake.

“Clean” Foods Regardless of how you classify your eating habits (vegan, flexitarian, vegetarian, fruitarian, omnivore... and so on), prioritize a generous variety of high quality “clean” foods. For veggies and fruits, this means organic. For animal foods, look for naturally and humanely-raised options grown without antibiotics or hormones, fed what theyʼre supposed to eat (e.g. grass-fed, not grain-fed, for cows) and, ideally, raised with exposure to the sun. For both produce and animal foods, avoid genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which you can do so by looking for “organic” or “non-GMO” labels. Choosing clean foods will greatly reduce the amount of toxins entering your body and will better support the elimination of existing toxins.

Your Trigger Foods Not all foods are good for all people. You may think youʼre eating healthfully, and yet one of your usual - even “healthy” - food choices may be wreaking havoc with your skin, making it break out in pimples, rashes, or hives, or making it look sallow or otherwise less-than-perfect. Allergy tests combined with a delicious, well designed elimination-challenge diet can make all the difference.

Your Mindset It is no longer woo-woo to believe that what you feel and think impacts how you look and function in your body. There is plenty of science now to back this up. Reducing stress and adopting a more positive outlook on life all have immense immune system and regenerative benefits that will show up beautifully on your skin. So get happy!

As an added bonus: the good internal stuff makes you more resilient to the bad external stuff. Your skin will become a stronger natural buffer against natureʼs and lifeʼs onslaught.


The author, Simla Somturk Wickless, MBA, CHC, CNE is a holistic health coach, nutritionist, healthy lifestyle expert, speaker, and founder of Delicious Health.

She works with entrepreneurs, busy professionals and autoimmune clients internationally, transforming Busy Bodies into healthy Balanced Beings™ so that they can enjoy deliciously fulfilling lives. She loves inspiring her clients to take action and make lasting changes to increase energy, tame stress, find their natural weight, and promote self-healing… for good.

Questions? Feel free to post them on Simla’s Facebook page here.

Natural Anti-Cellulite Ingredients

As the weather begins to warm and we begin to show a bit more skin, one thing we hate to display cellulite. That’s right, the dimply skin (or orange peel) commonly found on our hips and thighs. And while approximately 90% of adult women have it no matter what their weight, none of us wants it.

So what is it and why are women mainly affected? Cellulite is fat deposits and fluid retained in the connective tissues of the skin. Though being overweight ups your chances of acquiring the cottage cheese look, thin women are also susceptible. Why it accumulates, especially on women, is still a scientific mystery though estrogen is thought to be a factor. Connective tissue in females is also thought to be less flexible. Hormones, lifestyle, and genetics may also play a role in the formation of cellulite.

What can be done about it? You probably already know where I am going here. Yes, exercise and a healthy diet will help to get cellulite under control. Weight training firms the muscle under the fatty layers. Cardio reduces fat, which aids in diminishing the appearance of cellulite.

Proper fluid intake can also help to ward off dimply skin. Your body stores extra water when dehydrated, resulting in more cellulite. Avoiding alcohol, salt, and saturated fats will also help.

Dry brushing and massage improve lymph flow, release toxins, and increase circulation. Check out these tips on successful dry brushing at Dry Brushing.net.

Natural body care products made with cellulite-targeting ingredients help to diminish cellulite and leave skin soft and smooth. These ingredients are:

• Green Tea – caffeine helps to break down fat cells and reduce swelling (Karen's Botanicals Green Tea Serum and SKIN Daily Greens Hydrating Repair Cream)
  
• Cypress – detoxifies and improves circulation (Soleo Organics Marine Mist)
  
• Juniper – detoxifies and rids the body of excess fluid (Soleo Organics Marine Mist)
  
• Rosemary – increases circulation (The Answer PMS Balance Lotion and Karen's Botanicals Fennel Sage Toner)
  
• Seaweed – increases skin elasticity, supports cell function, and has a tightening and firming effect (Lily Organics Moisture Mist and Soleo Organics Marine Mist)
  
• Witch Hazel – improves circulation and skin tone (Karen's Botanicals Fennel Sage Toner and SKIN Lemon Fresh Toner)
  
• Sea Salt – exfoliates, tones, and tightens (SKIN Cranberry Orange Salt Scrub)
  

Image: frankfarm at Flickr.com, Creative Commons license.

Boot Camp, Yoga, Meditation? How Do You Get Fit?

This is the time of year when, even thought completely covered most of the time, we begin to put some thought into our bodies. And for most of us this is from a more aesthetic point of view, than health conscious.

The holidays are long gone, but our eating and exercise habits may be stuck in the same old rut. And with that brings thicker middles, sagging (ahem) areas, and an overall lack of energy. An annual dilemma. What to do?

There are many schools of thought on the subject of fitness. But let’s concentrate on just a couple of them here. Mainly, Western-ized fitness regimes and Ayurvedic thought on fitness.

Our country is full of fitness fanatics. Sure, we may be one of the fattest nations on earth, but we are obsessed with working out. And our Type A-ness has turned it in to something it may need not be. We get up before the crack of dawn to do crazy things to ourselves in the name of fitness, often leaving us more stressed out and exhausted than before. This by no means applies to everyone, but tell me you have not talked to a friend or two burnt out from working, mothering, running a household, AND getting up at 5:00 every morning to jog or go to the gym. Let’s face it; her day would be much easier if she could sleep until 6:30 or 7:00. Working out and being physically fit does make you feel great, but only if it is not coming at the expense of your overall wellbeing.

Next, let’s take a look at the Ayurvedic approach to exercise. Monica Bloom of HeyMonicaB!.com has come out with a new online talk show. It is on Tuesday nights at 6pm PST/9pm EST and she covers different areas of Ayurveda each week in her unique, fun and lively way.

Well, this week Monica’s show was on … yep, exercise. I love it when the starts align like that! After much research on which new fitness program I was going to try next (the old thrice weekly run and weight lifting are no longer cutting it) I happened to tune in to Monica’s show (they are recorded so you can listen to them whenever you want). As much as I love and believe in Ayurveda, I was skeptical. I have tried yoga, and while I really like it and still practice it, know that it alone will not keep me in great shape. You have to do the cardio – a hard pill to choke down, but true.

Monica went on to say that while yoga is a truly beneficial practice for almost everyone, you do need to walk, run, swim. Whatever cardio is best for YOU. And that is the Ayurvedic approach to exercise. Do what feels right for you. If you have taken up running and are icing your knees each time, it may not be for you. Maybe you should try swimming instead. And there are those of us who simply need a good run regularly. For our bodies and our minds. It is all about choosing what feels good for you, not what works for your neighbor or best friend or favorite movie star.

So, how much cardio? Experts say we all need to clock 30 minutes of cardio each day. Many people freak out when they hear this. But really, this is one half hour of each day. And since many of us are very sedentary at our jobs, this is not that big a deal. The fact that most of us think it is is probably why we are such an obese country.

Cardio used to be a no-brainer. As children we would run, jump, tumble daily. Now we are busy driving to and from activities or peeling our kids away from the TV. My daughter is taking a tumbling class and so badly wants to learn how to do a cartwheel. As I was driving away from the class this week I thought to myself “When did I learn to do a cartwheel?” And you know what, I can’t remember. I am sure this is because I just figured it out in the many hours upon hours of time that I spent outdoors in the grass as a kid.

It is sad that we are so scheduled and not as free as we were years ago. But hey, if we have to get our kids on the treadmill or turn on a Justin Bieber cd and dance with them to get their 30+ minutes a day, let’s do it. We may not be able to set them free as often due to stranger-danger or more homework and activities, but that is no excuse to not get physical.

One more point I would like to consider is the Law of Attraction. Don’t click away, just here me out. A friend of mine recently told me how she had started to visualize her stomach as flat each night at bedtime. After a few weeks she reported her stomach actually WAS flatter and she even bought a pair of jeans two sizes smaller than what she had been wearing. Can you think yourself fit? Obviously, you must take certain actions toward getting in better shape. But thinking of yourself as already fit will plant the seed to those actions. My friend said she ate healthier and smaller portions once she started thinking herself thin. Definitely something to consider.

What is your fitness program of choice? Do you love it? Hate it? Feel like trying something new?

Image: Jef Harris at Flickr.com, Creative Commons license.