Naturopathic Beauty's Clear Skin Sessions
Clear skin and aging beautifully conversations, trainings and challenges by Dr. Stacey Shillington ND.
Naturopathic Beauty's Clear Skin Sessions
The First Clear Skin Prescription with Dr. Stacey Shillington ND
Unlock the secrets to clear skin as Dr. Stacey Shillington, a seasoned naturopathic doctor with 18 years of experience, guides you through the foundational elements of healing acne from within. What if the secret to clearer skin lies in something as simple as tackling mineral deficiencies and dehydration? Join us in this enlightening session of Naturopathic Beauty's Clear Skin Sessions, where Dr. Shillington reveals how poor soil quality, processed foods, and gut health issues contribute to mineral imbalances that affect skin health. Learn how addressing these imbalances not only promotes clear skin but also supports hormonal balance, gut health, and detoxification processes, potentially leading to significant health improvements.
Discover the transformative power of hydration in managing acne and enhancing skin health. Dehydration can hinder your body's detoxification processes, leading to persistent breakouts. Dr. Shillington shares practical tips for boosting hydration—emphasizing minerals and electrolytes—and introduces a refreshing hydration tonic recipe to kick-start your day. Explore resources like her Clear Skin Group program and an insightful acne quiz, designed to help you identify potential root causes of acne such as poor lymphatic drainage or hormonal imbalances. This episode is packed with strategies and resources to support your journey to clear skin and improved well-being.
Click here for the parasite kit I love. (Code to order is jwJq6IcY). Always be sure to consult with your primary care practitioner before implementing any new supplements.
Check out my new FREE Training: The 'Acne-Free Blueprint', where I share the different types of acne and how to treat each one. Click here to watch it now.
If you are ready to start your clear skin journey with me, there are two options:
1. My Clear Skin Group Program, which delivers my complete clear skin strategy and 4 months of LIVE Group Coaching Calls. Click here to learn more.
2. My 1:1 Advanced Clear Skin Program, where I work with you personally to discover the root cause of your acne through gold standard functional medicine testing and design a protocol to clear your skin and balance your body as efficiently as possible. Click here to book a free call to talk with a Clear Skin Advisor now.
Welcome to Naturopathic Beauty's Clear Skin Sessions, where we heal your acne from the inside out. Hello, beauties, and welcome back to the Naturopathic Beauty Clear Skin Sessions. I'm Dr Stacey Shillington. I'm a naturopathic doctor. For the last 18 years I've been helping women heal their chronic acne, and this podcast is all about sharing my wisdom and experience with you so that your clear skin journey does not have to be as long and agonizing as my clear skin journey and that I can really help you not only heal your skin, but heal whatever other imbalances are going on in your body, because acne is not a diagnosis. It is a symptom that there are other imbalances in the body and as we heal the body from within, the skin miraculously clears and you get the skin of your dreams. So I have experience with acne. I know how you feel. I know what you're experiencing. I know how devastating acne can be and it can really start to rule your life. You don't have to live like that. I know how to help you heal your acne, and this podcast is all about your first clear skin prescription. So I've worked with thousands of patients all over the world.
Speaker 1:I've looked at many, many lab tests with my patients and I want to tell you where to start on your clear skin journey, because we don't just jump into healing acne directly. That's not going to work. There are many different imbalances in the body and, after looking at so much blood work, one of the most prevalent things that I see is mineral deficiency and dehydration, and it's almost impossible to heal and balance the body fully if we're in a state of mineral deficiency and dehydration. So I'm going to talk a little bit about how this is going to affect your skin and exactly what you can do to replenish your body and to nourish your body so that we can really start you on a trajectory of balanced body and clear skin. All right. So I've read thousands of lab reports during my 18 years of treating acne.
Speaker 1:I've looked at a lot of blood work, a lot of GI mapping tests, a lot of organic acid tests, a lot of hormone tests. I've really looked at it all. But there's something that I see consistently on blood work and I want you to understand that when I'm looking at blood work, my reference range is very narrow compared to a traditional doctor. So, whereas your doctor might say, oh, your blood work looks completely normal, I'll take a look at and I'll be like well, you know, I'd like to see this optimized and this optimized, and this is what this means. And one of the things that I often see is I see a lot of dehydration. I also see some mineral deficiencies and I can see electrolyte imbalances as well.
Speaker 1:So deficient minerals and electrolytes and dehydration are two things that are potentially really holding you back from healing your body completely. And you can be doing so many great things, you can have a perfect diet, you can be taking great supplements, but if this foundational measure is not intact, then it's going to be really difficult to heal the body. No, I'm not only talking about healing acne, but I'm talking about other things as well. I'm talking about hormonal balance, I'm talking about gut healing. I'm talking about allowing your body to detox properly.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, this is not going to apply to everybody. Some people are going to have great hydration levels, they're going to have great mineral balance levels, but in general, we are pretty deficient in minerals and electrolytes. Now, electrolytes are minerals that conduct electricity when they're dissolved in water. So when I talk about mineral deficiency, it goes without saying that electrolytes are often going to be deficient as well. Electrolytes control fluid balance. They control our blood pressure. They control muscle contraction and this includes the heart muscle contraction as well, and it also helps us to maintain pH. And if you're wondering if we're really deficient, check out some of these numbers. This is according to the CDC and the USDA. So nine out of 10 people in the USA are deficient in potassium, seven out of 10 people are deficient in calcium, three out of four people are deficient in magnesium and 92% of the population is suffering from at least one mineral deficiency. So this is really saying that mineral deficiency is widespread, and if we can correct mineral deficiency, I'm sure we could see a huge shift in the chronic disease rate of the entire country.
Speaker 1:When it comes to skin health, minerals are incredibly important for maintaining the health of the skin. So why are we deficient in these minerals? Poor soil Our soil has not been taken care of due to poor farming practices, processed foods we're consuming a lot of processed foods that are devoid of minerals that we should be naturally consuming in foods. Poor gut health and absorption Often our guts are not in great shape. We're not absorbing no nutrition as we should. And when it comes to poor soil when we have poor soil, we're growing foods that are mineral deficient. So hundreds of years ago, when we ate a carrot, it was full of minerals that we're no longer able to consume from the carrots.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of reasons why we're deficient in minerals, and this is something we really need to pay attention to, because minerals are crucial building blocks for thousands and thousands of enzymes. Every chemical reaction that takes place in our body is facilitated by an enzyme. Minerals are critical for enzymes to work properly. So when we don't have enough minerals which most of us don't our enzymatic reactions are not going to be optimal properly. So when we don't have enough minerals which most of us don't our enzymatic reactions are not going to be optimal. And without optimal enzymatic reactions, we cannot have optimal health, and that is why it is so important to ensure that our mineral levels are adequate.
Speaker 1:So Minerals facilitate a multitude of biochemical reactions in the body. They're also a requirement for normal growth and development, as well as neurological functions, and I mean we can talk about this for days and days. But children should not be mineral deficient. They need minerals to grow properly. Minerals also serve as antioxidants. They support the blood system. So often when I see blood markers in a lab report that are off. I can trace it back to mineral deficiency. Minerals are also necessary for certain hormones and they're also required for normal gonadal development.
Speaker 1:There's so many things that minerals do, and when we are deficient in minerals, there's going to be many different signs and symptoms. It's not specific, because so many different organ systems and so many different reactions in the body are affected, but I want to talk about one very key symptom of mineral and electrolyte deficiency, and that is dehydration. And I'm talking about this because when we're dehydrated, it's going to really especially show up on the skin. Minerals are essential for allowing water to be absorbed by the cells of the body. When we don't have enough minerals, you can drink tons of water, but that water isn't necessarily going to be absorbed and utilized properly by the body. Instead, that water is likely to just be peed right out. So when this happens, our skin is not going to look great, our skin's not going to be plump and juicy, it's not going to be able to heal, it's not going to be able to circulate properly, we're going to experience lymphatic stagnation, and all of that affects acne, all of that affects the skin. So in order to fully absorb water into ourselves, including our skin cells. We must have adequate minerals to facilitate proper absorption.
Speaker 1:Okay, so why is hydration important? So 78% of the body is water. We are mostly water. So think about it. If we're mostly water and we're dehydrated, things are not going to be working properly and, on top of that, things are not going to be looking great either. The skin alone is 64% water. So if we are dehydrated, the skin is going to show it it's mostly water. We need to get that water back in our skin in order to heal acne properly, and water aids digestion. It gets rid of waste. So when we're dehydrated, waste is going to stick around. It's not going to leave the area, and that's often what happens with acne. The skin is not able to detoxify adequately. Toxins stay there, infection ensues.
Speaker 1:So what are some signs of being dehydrated? So see if any of these speak to you. So if your lymph is stagnant and if you have acne, chances are your lymph is not circulating optimally. If you have circles under your eyes, if you have dull skin, if you've congested skin, if you have breakouts in the same area they keep coming back again and again If you're thirsty, if you have headaches, if you've dry skin, if you're fatigued, if you've constipation, dizziness and low blood pressure, loss of appetites, muscle cramps, swollen feet. So many of my patients have these signs and it's all because there's not enough minerals in the body and thus the body is not able to achieve an adequate state of hydration.
Speaker 1:So how do we improve hydration? So the number one thing is that we have to add minerals into the body, and one of the best ways is to add electrolytes into the daily water. Now there's a lot of great electrolyte formulations out there. I actually like LMNT. It has a very high sodium content and this is important because every single cell in our body has a sodium potassium pump, and this pump is what allows water into the cell and out of the cell, and there's five times more sodium than potassium to make this pump work optimally. So we need enough sodium in our body. Often we're sodium deficient, especially when we are confronted with stress, when we experience a lot of chronic stress. A lot of acne patients are under stress. More sodium is required because we tend to excrete a lot of sodium when there's high stress in our lives. So I really like LMNT as a electrolyte formula, and I start each day with a hydration tonic and I'm going to share my hydration tonic recipe with you in a moment.
Speaker 1:And you also want to avoid dehydrating beverages such as black tea, coffee and alcohol. You want to eat plenty of fresh organic produce, and this is when organic produce is really important, because organic food is grown in soil that has been taken care of, so the soil is going to have higher amounts of minerals in it than the soil that conventional vegetables are grown in. So really investing in your food, investing in good quality, mineral rich food, is going to really do wonders for your health. And then take a daily mineral supplement. My favorite mineral supplement is CT Minerals by Cellcor. I'll put the link in the show notes for you to purchase.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this is my hydration tonic recipe. This is what I drink every single morning when I wake up, and I'll also drink this throughout the day. Some days when I do a lot of exercise, when I'm really busy outdoors doing a lot of gardening, I will have this in the middle of the day as well. So you want a quarter teaspoon of good quality sea salt. So I usually use Himalayan sea salt, and I like this because it has naturally occurring minerals in it. It's like a combination of minerals it's not just sodium, and you do not want to use table salt. Table salt has been stripped of all the mineral. Iodine has also been added to it. It can be aggravating for some people. So sea salt is important. The juice of half a squeezed lemon, half a squeezed lime, and this is important because it's going to increase our levels of potassium, and so many of us are deficient in potassium. One and a half cups of unsweetened coconut water. Coconut water is incredibly hydrating. It contains a lot of natural electrolytes and two cups of filtered water. Now, instead of the coconut water or the water, you can use herbal teas and add electrolytes such as LMNT. So there's a number of different ways that you can adjust this recipe.
Speaker 1:But doing something to rehydrate your body every single day, along with some type of mineral supplement, is so important as the first step in healing your acne. I can't say it enough, because trying to balance their body from the inside out when they don't even have enough minerals to allow basic enzymatic functions in their body to take place, it's very difficult. Now, remineralization is not necessarily going to solve your acne completely, but it's going to set the stage for healing, and that is why this is always one of my first prescriptions for my patients when they come to see me. It's replenishing minerals, replenishing electrolytes and increasing hydration in the body. So this is my number one thing that we must do. It's so foundational to healing and when you start to become hydrated, you are going to notice an improvement in the overall look and feel of your skin. As I said, this may not be the thing that completely clears your skin, but it's going to improve your skin, improve the quality of your skin visibly. So this is the very first clear skin prescription that I'm giving you, and I have put together a program that contains my clear skin strategy, one step at a time, and this program is based on my 18 years of experience as a naturopathic doctor the success of thousands of patients and 90% of people are able to heal their acne when they go through this program.
Speaker 1:In my previous podcast, I talked about how to heal acne without doing lab testing, and this program does just that. It's designed for people with mild to moderate chronic acne. Often there are situations where lab testing does need to be done, and I did talk about that in my last podcast, but the Clear Skin Group Program is where you need to start your clear skin journey. If you have mild to moderate acne, step-by-step I take you on a journey to heal your body a bit at a time until we're at a place where you are balanced and your skin is clear. And one of the really special things about my Clear Skin Group program is that if you feel you do need to do lab testing, I've included a lab testing guide so you can work with your primary healthcare practitioner to do the lab testing that's required to learn more about the root cause of your acne and continue on your clear skin journey. That's if you decide not to join my one-on-one program. You don't have the funds for that, or you have a practitioner that you really love working with and you want to do your clear skin testing with them All right.
Speaker 1:So I hope that this podcast has been helpful. I hope that it has given you a place to start on your clear skin journey, because I know so many of us that's the biggest hurdle when do I start clearing my skin? And there's so much information out there, there's so many different supplements out there, but if you don't address this foundational measure first, you're going to have a very difficult time healing your body and clearing your acne. So if this podcast has helped you in any way, if it's given you an aha moment or it's given you a piece of information that you don't know, please leave a review.
Speaker 1:Positive reviews are the way that I'm able to reach other women that are struggling with acne, help them on their clear skin journey, and in my show notes I have links for you to number one, my acne quiz. If you are wondering what the root cause of your acne is, take my quiz. This is not a substitute for a medical diagnosis, but it is going to give you some insight into what may be contributing to your acne whether it's poor lymphatic drainage, whether it's poor gut health, whether it's hormones, whether it's stress. So take the quiz and I promise you it's worth your while. And there's also a link to my Clear Skin Group program so you can check it out and learn a little bit more about my strategy for clearing your skin. All right, guys. So have a beautiful day. I will see you in the next episode and thank you.