If you’ve been following along with me here for a while now you will know that I have some dietary issues that can wreak havoc on my skin. When I am home doing my thing my skin, for the most part, is pretty good. When I am on the road traveling however, it’s an entirely different story.
The other week I was home only 1 day the entire week. Which means, I wasn’t eating normally. Although I watched what I ate when the girls and I here from Skin Revival took a little trip to Saint Sauver, I still indulged in some sugary treats. I probably would have been okay if I didn’t then turn around and go to Quebec city for 4 days. Uber eats and restaurant meals…especially when you are trying to navigate the menu in another language…not the ideal situation for me.
One of my first breakfast meals I ordered poached eggs, no toast…. My poached eggs came on an english muffin…apparently because it stops them from rolling away on your plate. Fantastic, if gluten isn’t your arch nemesis. Not the waitresses fault, I didn’t actually specify an allergy and she was very cute to tell us that her english wasn’t very good.
It’s always a gamble any time I order food.
Unless I am willing to live only on salad, which I am not hehe, then it comes with its side effects.
After one week, I had a little patch of bumps on my upper cheek, and at the corners of my mouth. As I complained to myself, I thought writing this blog and talking about “Acne mapping” may be an interesting topic for anyone else suffering from skin issues.
Remember how I am always saying that our skin is smart, and shows us when something is wrong. Well, your skin is actually an elimination organ. It acts as a filter to remove waste from the blood. When other organs aren’t functioning properly the skin tries to push out toxins through your pores.
Let’s talk about my breakouts:
If you research acne mapping you will see that our cheeks and chin are directly linked to our stomach and large intestine. For someone like myself who has allergies and food sensitivities this is the first place I break out. For you it could be eating too much fatty food or even increased sugar intake.
Typically people associate any type of acne around the chin to be hormonal, this can be true if they seemingly come and go with your menstrual cycle or after a change in birth control or hormone levels.
However, gut health can have a huge impact on acne. The chin area is linked to the large intestine. High carb food, dairy and meats with added hormones and fried foods are the big ones.
All of this is why I stress the importance of looking at your diet.
You can use the absolute best skin care products ever, get all the facial treatments but if something is happening that is setting your skin off, we need to get to the bottom of it.
One, slightly annoying, thing I suggest anyone with acne do is keep a diary. We need to look at a few key factors everyday:
- How does your skin look? Do you have any new breakouts, is it dry or irritated..the more detail the better.
- What did you eat? I don’t need an exact calorie count lol, but say I had a latte, pasta etc… This way we can see if there is any link to certain foods. Example: Okay, everytime I eat X, (diary, gluten, sugary drinks etc…) I wake up with a pimple the next day.
- Lifestyle, are you stressed, have there been any major changes…
- Environment. Where are you? Sometimes something like a change in office, a move can play a factor.
- Sleep… How much are you getting?
After we have about a month of data we can go through and see if there are any links to your skin health.
That in combination with finding the right products for you can have a massive impact on your skin. Listen… your skin didn’t get like this overnight, unfortunately change won’t happen overnight either… be patient, do your homework, invest the time and learn your skin.
I am a resource to you, use it.
And when in doubt- Let’s talk!
As always,
Your skin revival
Alexis Fry
