Mindset is an important, albeit overlooked, piece of the skin health puzzle. How you feel about your skin condition can have a huge impact on your skin health journey! My guest today is my colleague, Michelle Nilan, CNS. Michelle is a clinical nutritionist, yoga teacher, and ACSM-certified personal trainer. She is the associate clinical nutritionist in my private practice and has been working with me since June 2020! She has a master's in human nutrition from the University of Bridgeport and a bachelor's in philosophy from Humboldt State University. Through her work with me, Michelle has developed an extensive understanding of the complex relationship between the skin, gut, and overall health, and values being able to turn this into practical, actionable guidance to help others become well. She is additionally well-versed in metabolic conditions, insulin resistance and diabetes, and nutrition for high-risk pregnancies. Michelle also has a history of her own skin struggles with severe cystic acne, fungal acne, and tinea versicolor, as well as with managing thyroid, hormone, and autoimmunity issues, and knows all too well what it feels like to have significant life-impacting symptoms completely dismissed and be told by doctors that she’d “just have to live with it." She is grateful for the opportunity to help others avoid the years of suffering she had to endure while trying to find and address the root causes on her own. Due to her work in philosophy, as well as her personal history of childhood trauma, she has a deep appreciation for the invisible mental and emotional suffering of skin and health issues that aren't obvious from the outside, and allows this to guide her approach of seeing a whole person rather than merely a collection of symptoms or a problem to fix. When she’s not working with clients, Michelle enjoys staying updated with the latest nutrition research, lifting weights, reading, going to museums, spending time in nature, drinking coffee while people-watching, and playing with her cat Daoshi. Join us for Michelle's first-ever podcast interview as we discuss why you could be struggling to maintain momentum with your skin. Have you lost momentum in healing your skin rash? Tell me about it in the comments! In this episode: The three different types of mindsets when it comes to viewing your skin issues Self-sabotage + why this is a problem many of us struggle with Clues that you're possibly in a self-sabotaging behavior pattern Realizing the value of self-compassion How to begin accepting where you are + taking consistent action Quotes “There are really three main ways that you can see your skin issues, and those are engulfment, rejection and acceptance.” [1:43] “Depression a lot of times does come along with skin issues and there can be a learned helplessness because all of these protocols haven't worked, you've done this medication and that medication and this diet and read that book. But that's really a learned behavior, which means that you can learn to come out of that.” [2:02]