Hello and welcome back to another episode of Essentials with Alexis, where I do the work, so you don't have to. This is my third time trying to film this, so hopefully we can get through this time. So recently I had a couple TikToks go viral, and although the videos were completely unrelated, there was one consistent question I kept getting asked, and that was, what is your skin care routine? What you guys didn't know is that I struggled with acne for about the last 10 years of my life, heavily in the last four, and I became a licensed esthetician because of it. But I've changed so much about the way I eat, the way I treat my skin, lifestyle habits. There's not just one product or one thing I did that I can say truly cleared my acne. It is a multitude of things. Because I don't have a one tip or one product solution, I decided to create a skincare series. This series will be broken down into five different videos, which will be internal, external, lifestyle habits, AM and PM routine. I truly know how it feels to deal with acne and how life altering it can be and how detrimental it can be to your self-esteem and the anxiety and depression that tags along with it. So I really want to be thorough and make sure that I'm completely honest with you guys about every step that I took so that you guys can get to where you want to be and to feel confident and happy in your skin. So without further ado, this video will be on all the internal things I did to take my skin from this to this. The first thing that we're going to get into is nutrition. Now our skin is the largest organ that we have and when it's breaking out, it's its way of communicating with us. It's its way of telling us, hey, something isn't right here. So take a really hard look at what you're eating. A couple of things that really flare up, acne are going to be gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine, a butter, foods that are high in sodium and foods that are high in iodine. These foods are linked to inflammation and a hormone known as angiogen. What is angiogen? Angiogen is a hormonal response that is created from a spike in your blood sugar which then creates insulin which is directly linked to sebum production, taking your natural oil stickier and thicker which then creates clogged pores. Angiogen is a root base for a lot of hormonal issues when it comes to acne. It was a huge problem within my body system. I definitely noticed when I started focusing on balancing out my hormones because when I had a huge change in my skin, when it comes to sodium it has to do with dehydrating your body. You should also note that if you're doing any excessive sweating, whether it be from working out or regular life, you need to be loading up on water because our body is made up of 60 to 70% of water. Fatal carbs and sugar are going to do the same thing in your bloodstream which again is going to spike that insulin level and mess with your skin. So instead of eating simple carbs and processed foods, stick to actual whole foods. That means fruits, veggies, whole grains, actual food. Not chips, not crackers, not cookies, not beyond patties, real food. If you're a big coffee drinker and you're breaking out, I challenge you to cut it out, see if it helps. Because again, caffeine is linked to dehydration. What does dehydration do? Sucks the moisture out of your skin. What does your skin do? Tries to overcompensate by creating more oil to lubricate it, which then turns into clogged pores and then acne. Another tip I have for you guys when it comes to eating is to drink 20 grams of protein in the morning, first thing in the morning before you do anything. This is an easy way to start your day balancing out your hormones. What I think you can do, which also has an anti-angrogen effect, is to drink de-caffeinated, I said de-caffeinated, spear-ment tea and green tea. Green tea is super high in antioxidants and they both lower your angiogen levels. So if you're a creature of habit and you are a coffee drinker and you just want something warm in the morning, something to start off your day, try this instead. Peanut butter is one of the worst things for acne, but you can substitute it for other nut butters. I personally like almond butter but there's cashew, there's sunflower, there's so many different things that you can try instead and I know peanut butter tastes really good but it's really just not worth it and your skin is suffering because of it. The second thing I did internally to clear my acne has to do with supplements. I take a cocktail of supplements in the morning, every morning without fail. The supplements that I truly feel like contributed to my skin success are DIM, Oshwaganda, Tumoray, Probiotic, Multivitamin and Vitamin D. DIM is a really close up of this made from curfacious vegetables such as kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. DIM stimulates the production of helpful estrogen and turns testosterone into estrogen. Testosterone is directly linked to you got it, angiogen, which means it's going to balance out your hormones and reduce your sleep and production. It also helps detoxify your gut and liver which are two major organs that will tell you through your skin if something is wrong. The DIM supplement that I take and I personally have had the most success with is one from Jane Eradal. It also has high levels of vitamin C and vitamin A which are both amazing for your skin as well and don't worry, everything will be tagged in the description. Tumoray is nature's best anti-inflammatory. If you know anything about acne, you know acne is directly related to inflammation. Not only will it help with your active acne flare ups, it will also help with your joints, any muscle aches and any pain you might have just in your body naturally. And if you don't buy the Tumoray that I use personally which I do recommend, make sure you get a Tumoray supplement that has a black pepper extract. This is going to allow your body to absorb the supplement better. Oshoganda is an adaptogen and adaptogen is a natural substance that helps your body regulate its stress. Tend to one, if you're dealing with acne, you most likely are dealing with anxiety, depression, stress and it becomes a cycle. All of these things affect you and affect your hormones and you're feeling this way because you're breaking out. And then that in turn is going to make you break out more. All of the stress truly makes the whole thing worse. So having an adaptogen in your routine is super important to make sure your mental health is in check and to really help you adapt to those stressful situations. I know how it is. A multivitamin is super important because it makes sure that you're not deficient in anything. A lot of us don't know how many vitamins we're getting in our food. So I think having a multivitamin and just making sure that you're not deficient is super important because if you're deficient in something, your body may be trying to tell you that and how does it talk to you. It talks to you through your skin. Vitamin D is directly related to your skin's health. It enhances the skin's immune system and helps destroy free radicals that can cause premature aging. A deficiency can lead to things like dry skin, psoriasis and eczema. Vitamin D can also make your skin really glowy and change the color of your skin. And lastly, a probiotic is incredibly important to your skin's health, to your brain's health, to the rest of your body's functions. Your gut health is one of the most important things that you could be focusing on for your skin health. Your gut is often known as the second brain because it has almost as many nerve endings as your actual brain. Your gut health is affected by your natural microbes, which is a fancy way of saying everybody's natural bacteria. Good and bad. When your microbes are in balance, that's when it creates conditions like acne, eczema, psoriasis and rosacea. By taking a probiotic, you're going to level out the playing field, balance out all of those microbes and make sure your good bacteria is elevated while your bad bacteria is lowered. If you don't have access to getting a probiotic in a pill form, you can actually get it through your diet as well. A couple of foods that are really high in probiotics are going to be yogurt, miso, tempe, sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, really anything fermented, which leads me to the third thing that I did internally to clear my acne, which is hydrochlorinics. Hydrochlorinic is a water-based system that flushes out all of the waste and toxins out of your body. By that, I mean poop. Now hear me out, because I know it sounds crazy, but I would not be telling you this if I truly didn't feel like it would make a difference. This is the thing that took my skin to the next level. At any given time, our body has 15 to 20 pounds of waste sitting inside of our colon and intestines. Just think about that for a second. Especially if you're a person that eats a lot of animal products and animal buy products, it takes a while for our body to digest those things. You can get blockages and it'll just sit inside of the lining of our intestines. Now remember what I said, your gut health is one of the most important things that you could be doing to clear your acne. Hydrochlorinics are amazing for your gut health because it flushes out all of those toxins and it's not just sitting inside of your body, your body's not working so hard to get rid of all of those things. It's no longer trying to communicate that with you. And when it comes to the toxins, toxins are released through either waste or your skin by sweating it out, which can create acne. And by getting rid of all of those things, you're now giving your body a fresh new start. It's literally like power washing your intestines. Everything is all squeaky clean and then at the end of your session, they put a probiotic directly into the tube, which goes into your body, which means you're getting a full on shot to the gut of just awesome bacteria. And because it's a water-based system, it is giving so much hydration directly into your body. Hydrochlorinics have so many benefits and I can't rave about them enough. It helps aid in weight loss, it helps improve energy and concentration. It can prevent colon cancer, encourages detoxification, and obviously helps with digestion. You guys all have the ability to Google and see if there's somebody in your area that provides a service. Go into it with an open mind. It's really not as scary as you might think. If you guys want me to talk about my experience with hydrochlorinics, which I get done regularly, let me know in the comments and I'll take you guys along with me for the ride. And again, I can't rave about this enough. This has been one of the most important things that I've ever done for my skin and for my overall health. Okay, that was everything I did internally to clear my acne. I will be continuing to drop the skincare series over the next five weeks. So if you're serious about clearing up your acne, stay tuned for those. If you use any of these tips, I would love to know. Please let me know in the comments or send me a DM on Instagram. I really hope that these videos help you guys because I truly needed somebody like me doing this for me. And I was going through the worst of my acne struggles. I really am honored to be that for you. Thank you for joining me on another episode of Ascentions with Alexis. I love you guys and I can't wait to see you next week.