Have you ever eaten too much sugar and had your face breakout more than normal? I bet you never put a lot of thought into it, but it actually all stems from your gut health! My gut inflammation led to horrible, painful rashes all over my hands, but it can be different for all of us.
Just like your gut can affect your skin, what you put on your skin can affect your health as well. Many products on the market today are full of ingredients that we don't want going into/on our bodies. One ingredient I always tell people to avoid in their products is “fragrance.” So if your face moisturizer has “fragrance” in the ingredients list, it’s time to ditch it and make this instead!
Daily Face Moisturizer Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup - of organic coconut oil
- 1/2 cup - Shea butter
- 7 drops of frankincense oil
- 5 drops of Royal Hawaiian essential oil
- 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
Directions
- Take a double boiler and melt shea butter and coconut oil.
- Once completely melted, remove it from the heat and let it cool for 20-30 minutes.
- Add the frankincense and royal Hawaiian oil to this mixture.
- Add Vitamin E oil to the mixture and stir well.
- Refrigerate this mixture for 10 minutes till it is partially solidified.
- Now whip this mixture for a few minutes till a butter-like consistency is achieved.
- Store this mixture in a container and place it in a cool and dark place.
- Your homemade moisturizer is ready for use.
- This is one of the best homemade natural moisturizers that you can store for 6 to 12 months.
Sometimes I'll add in Carrot Seed essential oil for some extra spf and tea tree essential oil if I'm feeling like my skin is a little oily or if I'm worried about a breakout.
Benefits of oils:
~ Frankincense: improves immune function, mental calmness, and reduces inflammation
~ Sometimes I'll add in Carrot Seed essential oil for some extra spf and tea tree essential oil if I'm feeling like my skin is a little oily or if I'm worried about a breakout
Give this a try and let me know how much you love it!
This is the biggest mistake I see people make when they're trying to feel better or heal their gut is to simply take a probiotic and say they’re good to go! While yes, a high quality probiotic can be really helpful, but there are many other factors as well!
We often think that simply adding a probiotic to our diet is the way to go because only food affects our gut health, but there’s actually so much more. Your mental and emotional state can cause disruptions and flare up in your gut just like food can. So with that being said, what are ways that you can practically support your gut health and feel good?
One great way is to reduce stress (which is sometimes hard to do!), but you can also find different stress reduction techniques to help your body handle it better and not became so triggered when you are stressed. Taking time to intentionally deep breathe can be truly amazing practice to implement to help with stress and overwhelm. It sounds like it's no big deal or doesn't even really do anything for you, but in reality it does a lot for your body.
In today’s society, we are always thinking about the “next thing” because we are so busy and live in a fast paced environment. Constantly worrying and stressing rather than being in the present moment can actually cause your stress hormones to be activated for long periods of time. When your body is always experiencing undue stress that's when the risk of diseases increases in your body. Breath-work helps calm you down and move your body and mind out of fight-or-flight mode.
Lastly, adding foods that have probiotics into your diet can be really helpful when it comes to that gut bacteria!
I have a freebie that is a great place to start if you’re looking for good foods to implement in your diet to support your gut health; you can grab it here!
Snackwell's effect, which was characterized as the tendency to eat more of a food labeled low-fat or healthy than you would have otherwise.
The Fat Free war.
Way back in the day I was one of the casualties of it (like many of us) and thought that consuming fat free foods was the way to be skinny (whole other conversation there) when reality if I had focused on real food it's quite possible I'd have had a lot less gut issues, alas, hindsight is 20/20
During these times, I ate some less than stellar foods when I was younger (not that what I eat now is all perfect, obviously) but looking back at my food journal and choosing not only something as gross as fat free bologna, but not caring at all about what was actually in my food just surprised me.
I didn't know how the ingredients in certain foods impacted your overall health and definitely impact your gut health.
For some context a few of the ingredients present in that fat free bologna and fat free mayo were corn syrup, sodium nitrate (has been linked to development of heart disease and diabetes), soybean oil (holy inflammatory), natural flavors and modified food start (has been linked to allergies, headaches, diarrhea, bloating, other forms of digestive distress and fatigue.)
Bottom line, what you put in your body truly does impact many different parts of your body not just the ones listed above.
If you've fallen victim to this as well, we've all been there! But I've found a better way and I'd like to help you do the same. I created a guide to help you overcome any struggles with your gut that you may be experiencing to help you feel good and enjoy food again! Grab it here!
Consuming processed food and having a diet with an increased sugar intake can actually have effects on your gut health. These kinds of foods can eliminate the good bacteria in your gut leaving you susceptible to inflammation and other gut troubles. Pretty much everything around the gut is related to everything else in the body (in case ya didn’t know)! You may have noticed after consuming excessive sugar or alcohol that your face breaks out…. That’s because it disrupts your gut!
My new client that I’m working with is looking to lower her elevated insulin levels and although there can be a lot that goes into this, one really big aspect we’re diving into is, you guessed it, gut health. It’s a great place to start and make sure things are in order with your gut before moving on to other potential causes.
A lot of the research out there on this relationship is fairly new and more studies need to be run but a few studies have shown that those with higher levels of Coprococcus bacterium tend to have a higher level of insulin sensitivity. This means that the cells of the body are able to use blood glucose more effectively (which is what you want). Coprococcus bacterium is a type of good bacteria in your gut that we want to nourish and support with good foods.
A lot of times we look for the “quick fix”, but that’s not always the case. This is not one of the strains that you can pop a probiotic and walk away - it's one that is best obtained by consuming foods such as onions, leeks, asparagus, garlic and artichokes as Coprococcus feeds on the oligosaccharides within those as well as polyphenol-rich foods like berries, cocoa, green tea and grapes. That’s a lot of fancy words, but basically we want to eat good foods to support the good bacteria in our gut!
Gain access to my Gut Health Made Easy Guide HERE that is packed with tips, resources and recipes to support your gut!
Your gut health can affect so many different parts of your body and it's likely more than you realize. Often times we think it just affects our physical body or the way we feel, but it's so much more than that!
We've been talking about the gut-brain axis and how it relates to immune health and then some! I was browsing some studies on PubMed at 3am (as one does🤣) and found a really interesting one on the research around depressive disorders.
Your gut microbes can actually contribute to immune responses and a chronic inflammatory state may lead to increased responsiveness to stress and lead to the development of major depressive disorder.
So that's a big deal! The gut-brain axis is sensitive to stress and is important in the development of stress-related disorders. Communication between the gut and brain involves so many different systems in your body and all of these can interact with the gut microbiota. Studies have shown that with the introduction of pre/probiotics to the gut that the mood actually improved!
Bottom line, gut health REALLY matters!
With that being said, it’s so important that we take proper care of your gut and food is a huge factor. So let's talk about a few of the top foods that I like to incorporate when it comes to my gut.
~ Fermented foods like pickled veggies (think beets, onions, carrots-you name it!)
~ Coconut yogurt- I like the brands with as few additives as possible! (bonus for a dessert, I add cocao powder and it's like a chocolate mouse!)
~ Kombucha-I'm careful with this too-there are certain ones with less sugar as they alter the fermentation process, so you still get some of that gut goodness but without a lot of sugar!
Grab my Gut Health Made Easy Guide HERE to learn more about caring for your gut!
