Clear Skin Now: A Whole Body Approach

By Ann Karson

Forget what you have been told about acne. There is much more to the cause and cure of acne than you have been lead to believe. Acne is more than just a skin disease or a result of excess hormones. This book delves into the latest research on the causes of acne; what underlying factors can contribute to it; how lifestyle and the environment impact acne, and discusses other topics that go beyond the myopic view of traditional medicine. The same details given to the roots of acne are given to suggestions for clearing the skin. At the core of the book’s methodology, is that acne requires a whole body approach to the cause and cure. Only then will those who are prone to acne get relief.
What is a whole body approach? It first recognizes that acne and diseases cannot be segregated from the rest of the body. A whole-body approach addresses the health of the body as an integrated system. It takes into consideration all aspects on an individual, such as diet, life style, hygiene, environment, habits, exercise, stress, and spirit. For example, this book teaches about food as medicine, a concept that is gaining momentum in healthcare fields.
The book is the culmination Ann Karson’s five years of meticulous research on skin health for the organic skincare company she cofounded. It is also an extension of her knowledge as a yoga and spiritual teacher. She has witnessed how this approach to healing acne has helped family, friends, and customers.
"Clear Skin Now: a whole body approach" is packed with the tools and guidance to help you have better skin. Discover how exercise, meditation, lymphatic massage, and other healthy modalities can improve acne. There are ideas that you may not have considered, such as why using a clean pillowcase nightly is helpful. There are suggestions to identify food sensitivities that can prevent the healing of or contribute to worsening of acne.
This book takes healing acne to a new level. You will learn what foods to eat and what ones to avoid. There are also healthy delicious recipes filled with nutrients that skin loves. The nutrient content of each recipe is even discussed, so you know how they help your skin. There is much more, including a six-week plan to help you on your way to clear skin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ann Karson
• Release date: Feb 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311219954

Book preview

Clear Skin Now.

a whole body approach

By Ann Karson

copyright 2011, by Abhijit Chandra, LLC

Smashwords Edition

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

This book may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, sold, rented, leased, shared in part or in full without the express permission of the publisher, Abhijit Chandra, LLC., P. O. Box 83566, Gaithersburg, MD 20878

All rights reserved. Published by Abhijit Chandra, LLC.

The information in this booklet is for educational purposes only; it is not intended to treat, cure, prevent or, diagnose any disease or condition. It is also not intended to prescribe in any way. This information is for educational purposes only and may not be complete.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

How to Apply This Book

Understanding Acne

Acne More Complex Than Just a Skin Disease

Hormones and More Hormones

Endocrine System

The Liver’s Part

Lymphatic System

Candida and Leaky Gut Syndrome

Inflammation’s Role in Acne

High Glycemic Diet Connection

Other Conditions Can Complicate Healing

Eastern Medicine Tradition View

Blemish Formation Cycle

What Is a Whole Body Approach?

Body System Optimization

Digestive System

Toxin-Waste Systems

Top 10 No-No’s

Food as Medicine

Mono Crop Farming: Influence on Nutrition and the Body

So What to Eat?

Vegetables

Fruits

Meat

Dairy

Grains, Legumes, and Seeds

Hydration

Enzymes

Prebiotics and Probiotics

Vinegar

Elimination Diet

Exercise Helps Skin

What Exercises?

Skincare

Hygiene/Face Cleansing

Exfoliation

Avoid Washing Face in the Shower

Hydration

Cold Compress

Clean Linen

Scars

Pimple Extraction

Lymphatic Stimulation

De-Stress for Better Skin

Breath

Meditate for Clear Skin

Keep a Journal

More Suggestions

Get a Check-up

Spring/Distilled Water

Steam Facial

Vinegar Toner

Massages and Foot Reflexology

Alternative Medicine

Esthetician

Recipes

Yum Oregano Vinegar

Yum Sweet Potato & Cilantro Hummus

Yum Asian Style Anti-Inflammation Soup

Yum Spicy Sweet Potato and Parsnip Soup

Yum Citrus Spinach Pecan Salad

Yum Fruity Chia Oatmeal

Yum Sautéed Greens and Golden Garlic with Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Yum Patty Pan and Zucchini Squash Sauté

Yum Roasted Vegetables

Yum Quinoa Italian Stuffed Peppers

Yum Hearty Eggplant Italian Sausage Sandwiches

Yum Spaghetti Squash with Mushroom/Lemon Basil Sauce

Yum Quinoa Fiesta Taco Salad

Yum Coconut Milk Fruit Shake

Pink Salt & Pepper Truffles

Clear Skin Rundown

Food Elimination Tracker

Clear Skin Plan

Hormone Mimickers

Conclusion

Citations

Bibliography

Preface

My interest in helping people with acne is a result of one of my children and other family members having acne. My daughter had teenage onset acne that eclipsed into her adult life. She started seeing dermatologists at thirteen, going to the best in our city. I was with her every step of the way as she did two treatments of Accutane and the resulting detrimental effects. She has had chemical peels, facials, and other treatments. I always asked the doctors questions and researched the prescribed treatments and products–to the extent I could. We were always assured that there was nothing she was doing or nothing she could do outside the commonly prescribed protocol to improve her skin.

We have since learned differently. In her late twenties, she became a yoga instructor and started to learn and live a more holistic lifestyle. She learned that certain foods triggered her acne while other foods helped improve her skin. Meditating and other lifestyle changes also helped to improve her skin.

I have always been into health and nutrition, but when I also became a yoga teacher I learned even more about how our bodies are an integrated system and how food can harm as well as heal the body. In addition, learning about genes and how they can be turned on and off has led me to new insights about healing. Interestingly, one of the way genes can be turned off and on is through diet and other lifestyle choices.

Argan Acne Serum was the first facial product I created when Yum Scrub Organics was formed. I put all the knowledge about acne I learned along the way, with my yoga teaching background, and extensive research into the formulation. I wanted to create a healthy and organic product that worked for my daughter. She was ecstatic to find a product that finally worked and has been using it since. She also inspired me to write this book because of the success she had with diet and lifestyle changes. Now, I want to share this information with you.

Light and Love, Ann Karson

[Researchers believe that acne is on the rise. What causing this? Stress, hormone mimickers, environmental toxins, mono-diets, increased sugar consumption are where research is starting to point.]

Introduction

I hope the suggestions in this book will assist you in taming acne. Acne whether it is teenage or adult onset is a complex disease. As with all diseases, it requires a multi-prong approach to get it under control. It has been the long held belief that acne can be controlled or healed with just topical products or with the heavy handedness of antibiotics and other prescription drugs. But, now new research is showing that clearing the skin of blemishes requires more than this.

Many dermatologists still have the antiquated belief that hormones and bacteria are the only factors contributing to acne. This prevailing attitude is the reason dermatologists prescribe antibiotics and topical products in the hopes of improving breakouts. Most dermatologists ignore a patient’s life style or diet as a connection to acne. They even tell patients that food and lifestyle do not play a role in formation of pimples or healing them. Although, new studies show that inflammation and nutrition can play a role in this skin disease. This tunnel vision approach while often effective at the onset of treatment does not offer long-term control of acne. Misinformed doctors tell patients that food or lifestyle has no bearing on acne even when studies show something different.

A review published in Dermatology, compared acne prevalence in indigenous hunter-gather tribes to the prevalence of acne in western societies. The study showed that hunter-gather tribes had no acne while acne in the western world is increasing. The study suggests that lifestyle does play a part in the formation of acne. Of course, it does not mean that we need to return to a hunter-gather lifestyle. It does suggest there may be things within our personal and shared environments that affect our health and therefore acne.

As mentioned before, traditional treatments with antibiotics and topical ointments show good results initially. However, most people’s long-term results are disappointing. Traditional treatments can also make acne worse. One reason for this leveling off of good results is that the body becomes immune to the effectiveness of prescriptions and topical ointments. The other problem happens because of how antibiotics work in the body.

Antibiotics do not just target the bacteria that help form acne; antibiotics affect the entire body, killing good bacteria as well as the bad. The beneficial bacteria that could help acne are also destroyed. In addition, the killing of systemic wide bacteria further complicates the clearing of acne because the body goes out of balance. With the death of good bacteria, yeast becomes overpopulated in the body. So, now the body’s internal systems are not only trying bring back into balance the original cause of acne, it is also fighting bacteria, and trying to compensate for the over-growth of yeast, among other things.

If you add in a poor diet, one that is rich in simple carbohydrates from sugar, pastas, cookies, processed food, etc, it is no wonder that acne thrives and is hard to control for most people. In simple words, a complex vicious cycle forms, making it all the more important to look at acne healing in new ways.

In other situations, when prescription medicines are used as the sole treatment of acne, there can be detrimental consequences. One of the more appalling after-affects of acne medications happened with Accutane. While it is no longer sold under that name, it is still available under the generic name, isotretinoin. Accutane and other like drugs are high doses of vitamin A. Many patients after using Accutane have experienced inflammatory bowel disease, Chrohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, extreme dry eyes, depression, and suicide by some was linked to isotretinoin.

Of course, this does not mean that western medicine should be dismissed entirely. We have benefited greatly from the advances in medicine. However, the Achilles heel in western medicine is the propensity to treat only the disease and not heal the body. Western medicine’s typical approach is to separate the disease from the rest of the body as if there were no connection between the two. In this book, I want you to see the connection. In order to clear the skin, a whole-body approach is needed.

[Not so long ago, the standard treatment for acne was radiation to the face. Now, patients who underwent these treatments are prone to higher incidences of skin cancer due to the high amounts of radiation exposure.]

How to Apply This Book

With the speed at which we can have just about anything in our modern times, patience is often what most of us lack nowadays. But, patience and perseverance are what you need in order to see any changes in your skin. Know it can take up to eight weeks to notice any improvement. You also have to be diligent in applying the suggestions and ideas in this book. You must be committed to wanting to improve your skin. Patience, perseverance, diligence, and commitment are what will keep you going when you become discouraged.

You will especially need all of the above if the acne gets worse before it gets better. More breakouts are a distinct possibility because of the body’s natural process of releasing built up toxins while it is working on coming into balance. The skin is one of the organs where toxins are released. Do not despair or give up if you have more breakouts for a short period. Keep on the program; the skin will calm down and start to show improvement.

Of course, I would like you to apply everything in the book immediately. However our natural human tendency is be gung-ho in the beginning of a new program and try do everything all at once. Then because the changes are not happening fast enough; or there are more breakouts from toxins being released; or out of boredom, the person gives up and says, It didn’t work for me. It is better to start the whole body approach slowly, but stay at it consistently with small changes.

Small changes in lifestyle on a consistent basis have longer lasting results. This is because a person is inclined to stay with a modification that does not seem to interfere with his/her daily life. These changes also tend to be more permanent over the long term.

Here’s an example of this behavior. A friend of mine is always trying to lose weight. She will go on a low calorie diet of 900 to 1200 calories a day. Not many calories for a busy mom. She will lose weight quickly in the beginning (who wouldn’t when starving yourself). She becomes excited about the weight-loss and being able to fit into her old jeans. But then, because she is starving or just craving something to satisfy her need to eat,