Skin, Hair, & Nail Health

In this article I'll share the real reasons behind skin blemishes, damaged hair, and brittle nails so you can heal your body from the inside out. Not only will you come away with better skin, shinier hair, and stronger nails, but you'll also experience better health and wellness overall.

Skin

People often turn to lotions and tonics to treat skin issues like wrinkles, blemishes, or under-eye circles, but these topical treatments won't offer the true healing people are after. Although some antiviral and anticancer skin salves will support skin issues, and some creams mildly soften and moisturize the skin, these ointments only do so much.

When it comes to figuring out skin problems, including loose skin, blemishes, and liver spots, we have to assess what's going on below the epidermis (the surface layer of the skin) and heal underlying issues.

The Liver

The health of your liver plays a huge role in the health of your skin. The more toxic your liver is, the more likely you are to develop wrinkles and other skin problems that are typically associated with aging. Many people's livers are burdened with toxins. Many of us enter the world with toxins already built up from plastics, petrol oil, DDT, toxic heavy metals, and other toxins that are passed on from our forefathers. I discuss this unknown truth and many others in my books Medical Medium, Life-Changing Foods, Liver Rescue, and Thyroid Healing.

Many things happen inside your liver. The tremendous amount of blood that floods into the liver not only contains oxygen and nutrients, but it also has toxins the liver must filter out. Once the liver cleanses and processes the blood, it sends that blood to various areas of the body. If the liver directs blood that contains unfavorable material to the skin, you may develop liver spots, wrinkles, flabby skin, and other issues. Some people inherit incredibly toxic livers, and as a result they're forced to deal with major skin, hair, and nail issues, sometimes beginning early in life. Fortunately, there are ways to clear out these toxins and heal your skin. For more on this topic, including in-depth guidance on how to heal the liver, check out Liver Rescue.

Adrenaline

Adrenaline can create liver issues and negatively affect the health of your skin. If you've had to endure a number of acute stressors early on in life, it's likely adrenaline has negatively impacted numerous organs, including your liver. When emotionally-charged situations occur, such as the loss of a loved one or a financial hardship, corrosive adrenaline floods your system. This adrenaline hinders the liver and can impact your skin. Supporting your adrenals by grazing and using supplements and nourishing foods is a key part of revitalizing your skin.

Support for Your Skin

You can help your adrenals, cleanse your liver and support your skin with these practices:

• Drink 16oz of straight cucumber juice daily—it's a phenomenal practice for promoting liver and skin health.
• Avoid fried foods, eggs, dairy, gluten, pork, canola oil, corn, and soy, and keep your fat intake low. Your liver can be burdened by too much fat, and if you want healthy skin, you must support the liver. Read Liver Rescue to understand what an ideal amount of fat is and which foods to avoid or emphasize.

If you're a meat eater, reduce the amount of animal protein you consume and eat it no more than once a day. If you cut your animal protein consumption in half, it'll lower your overall fat intake and leave room in your diet for an abundance of liver-cleansing fruits, leafy greens, and vegetables.

If you eat a plant- based diet, you can reduce your plant fats by 50% also. For example, you can minimize oils, and reduce nuts and seeds to just a couple of tablespoons per day. Or if you're eating a lot of avocados, you could reduce consumption to 1/2 to 1 avocado per day.

People who notice improvements in their skin when they cut out pastries, packaged goods, fried foods, and unproductive oils will likely notice even greater improvement once they reduce their intake of fat from both animal or plant sources. The Liver Rescue 3:6:9 Cleanse in Liver Rescue would be a fantastic option to help improve skin and heal skin issues. You can do it on repeat or do it frequently if you would like to get the best results.

It's important to increase your fruits and veggies significantly no matter which fats you reduce to ensure you're still consuming enough calories. If you feel sluggish or low-energy after you reduce animal protein/fats or plant fats in your diet, it could be because you're not eating enough calories from fruits, leafy greens, vegetables, and other healthy foods.

• Eat more beta-carotene-rich foods. Beta-carotene is critical for healthy skin, and it's found in a number of fruits and vegetables. When you provide your body with carotenes, the liver can send carotene-rich blood through the subcutaneous fat up to the skin. The liver can label and slightly alter the carotene so that it survives the trip to the dermis (a layer of skin below the outer epidermis layer). The liver is a master at manipulating chemical compounds, and it allows a completely different form of methylation than science and research are currently familiar with. When the liver knows carotenes are available to send to the skin, it fuels the delivery differently by making sure that there's ample oxygen in the blood that supplies the carotenes to the dermis. This incredible process hasn't been discovered yet. Foods high in beta-carotene include mangoes, papayas, mamey sapote, sweet potatoes, raspberries, colorful melons, and leafy greens like spinach.
• Eat foods that contain silica. It'll be years before science and research discover that there are two different kinds of silica. One type offers tremendous support for the bones and the other is particularly helpful for the skin. This second variety of silica is in vegetables, including asparagus, artichokes, and kale stems.
• Horsetail and nettle contain both varieties of silica, and when you ingest either herb, your liver separates out the two kinds of silica and delivers each to the area they best support. A high-quality silica supplement that supports bone health can provide a number of additional benefits.
• Rid your liver of pesticides, heavy metals, and other toxins. One great way to remove these toxins is by drinking the Medical Medium Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie daily, as it contains the top five foods for detoxifying heavy metals from the body: wild blueberries, cilantro, spirulina, barley grass juice powder, and Atlantic dulse.
• Stay hydrated. Hydration is essential for healthy skin. People who are chronically dehydrated can actually have skin that's deficient of water. Drink lemon water, celery juice, and other healing liquids, including fresh fruit and vegetable juices daily.

Hair

Just like the health of your skin, the health of your hair is largely due to issues deep below the surface.

Adrenaline & Emotional Stress

Adrenaline from emotional events and life stressors can have a major impact on the health of your hair. When you experience a painful situation or serious hardship, adrenaline floods your system, affecting your liver, skin, and hair. Under stress, your hair may develop a straw-like texture and fall out. These symptoms can occur after a hardship takes place and may continue for a period of time unless you provide your body with the nourishment and support it needs.

A protein-packed hair care product won't give your hair the restoration you hope for. One of the best things you can do is support your adrenals, because their health helps determine the health of your hair. Learn more about adrenal fatigue and ways to nourish your adrenals in my book, Medical Medium.

Alopecia

Medical experts incorrectly believe alopecia is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system attacks the hair follicles that generate hair growth. The truth is that alopecia is an adrenal issue.

Medical research and science are unaware that adrenaline is made up of a complicated group of hormones that haven't been identified yet. If someone has alopecia, his or her adrenals are lacking one of the undocumented hormones that make up part of the 56 different blends of adrenaline that I detail in Medical Medium. Ashwagandha can help restore a trace of the missing hormone. I've worked with people who had alopecia, and once they addressed their adrenal health issues, their hair grew back.

Liver Health

If your liver is overburdened with toxins, you're more likely to experience hair problems, hair loss, and scalp issues, like dermatitis, eczema, or psoriasis. Again, Liver Rescue offers critical support for these issues.

Supportive Supplements & Teas

Skin, hair, and nail formulas may have a minuscule amount of beneficial ingredients, such as horsetail or nettle leaf, but they're also usually packed with fillers and other ingredients that aren't helpful. If you want to support your hair, or if you have alopecia, consider these supplements:

• Ashwagandha, a powerful herb that can support adrenals and transform the hair health.
• Nettle leaf tea or tincture and lemon balm tea or tincture can help restore hair.
• Milk thistle can support the liver and revitalize hair.
• A high-quality liquid zinc sulfate is beneficial for a host of health issues, including hair, skin, and nail health.
• Spirulina and barley grass juice powder support hair.

Find high-quality supplements on the Medical Medium preferred supplements page.

Nails

The state of your nails can indicate more about your overall health than you may realize. Although divots or ridges in your nails may be annoying, they can be helpful signs of internal issues that need to be addressed.

Zinc Deficiencies, Adrenaline, & Liver Issues

Do your nails have white spots, divots, ridges, pockets, bubbles, or vanishing half moons? A long-standing zinc deficiency is typically part of the reason for nail issues. The second part of the problem is usually liver-related. When you experience an emotionally-charged situation, whether it's falling in love or enduring a breakup, adrenaline often surges through your system. The adrenaline can break down the body if proper adrenal support isn't in place. Frequent adrenaline rushes can harm the liver and lead to thin, brittle, unhealthy nails. Fortunately, there are supplements and foods that can help restore the underlying issues that result in poor nail health.

Supportive Supplements

When it comes to restoring nails, people often become focused on protein deficiency. Instead, shift your focus to providing your body with the vitamins and minerals that can revitalize your nails:

• Zinc is a critical supplement for restoring nails. Pumpkin seeds contain some zinc and can be a great addition to your diet. However, a zinc supplement (as liquid zinc sulfate) is essential for almost everyone.
• Selenium is another great support for nail health.
• Ionic manganese free of citric acid, molybdenum, and silica can also help.

If you work with a practitioner to bring in these supplements and support your liver and adrenals through a diet full of fruits, leafy greens and veggies, you'll begin to notice positive changes in your nails and overall health.

The Truth About Protein

Many medical professionals believe that increasing protein consumption is the answer for better skin, hair, and nails, but this isn't entirely true. High quality protein (which can easily be procured from spirulina, barley grass juice powder, and foods like kale, spinach, lentils, black beans, and walnuts), is valuable. However, overloading the liver with large quantities of protein can actually tire out the organ and undermine the health of your skin, hair, and nails. Thousands of compounds and chemical functions play a role in the health of your skin, hair, and nails, and it's detrimental to exclusively champion protein as the most important element. Too much protein can have negative effects on your liver and therefore your skin, hair, and nails. Shift your focus from protein to the foods and supplements that offer genuine support. Learn more in my Truth About Protein article and radio show.

The Truth About Fish Oil Supplements

Omega-3 fish oil has been widely promoted as a support for hair, skin, and nail health, but this information is misguided. The highly concentrated mercury found in krill and fish oil supplements harms the body. Even products that claim to be mercury-free still contain this toxic heavy metal. Regardless of the diet you choose to follow, switch out your fish oil supplement for a plant-based omega-3. This doesn't mean you can't eat certain fish you enjoy, like salmon, because a serving of fish has less mercury than concentrated fish oil.

For more information on fish oil supplements check out the “What Not to Eat” chapter in Medical Medium.

Supportive Foods for the Skin, Hair, & Nails

The food choices you make can have an incredible impact. These foods will support your liver and adrenal glands, and therefore will improve the health of your skin, hair, and nails:

• Red leaf and butter leaf, which can provide your body with powerful omega-3s.
• Hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and walnuts (in small amounts) also contain wonderful omega-3s.
• Celery juice and cucumber juice offer invaluable liver support.
• Figs are wonderful for hair, skin, and nail health, as well as women's reproductive issues. If you can't find fresh figs, include a few organic dried figs in your diet.
• Wild blueberries offer the most powerful support for your liver of any food in existence.
• Cherries and other berries are also good for your liver and can support hair, skin, and nail health.
• Figs, avocados, and bananas are rich in potassium, an essential element for the skin.
• Bananas are fantastic at helping flush out the liver, cleanse the intestinal tract, and support hair, skin, and nail health.
• Papayas and mangoes are particularly helpful for supporting the skin.
• Lentils that are sprouted divide into a carbohydrate and are stored as glycogen, which offers incredible support for your skin, hair, and nails.

Moving Forward

When you want to improve your skin, hair, and nails, become curious about what's going on underneath the surface. Could your liver need support? Have your adrenals been under severe strain? Learning more about underlying issue can help you address the root causes.You can heal your body from the inside out when you know these truths, apply the correct protocol, and have patience. You'll be rewarded with the gift of better health. Reach out for support along your journey, and remember that your body is capable of true healing.

This item posted: 12-Jun-2017

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