Rosacea Lifestyle Tips & Helpful Herbs
By Amy Lupton
When I was 23, I was given a spa gift certificate for my birthday. I remember the spa, very ornamental and zen, quite fancy and I wasn’t a fancy gal. They proceeded to break out all the facial things (keep in mind I had never had a facial before).
Right before the esthetician was going to do a deep peel mask, she looked at my skin and said, “Honey, I think you have rosacea. Have you ever seen a doctor for it?”
I had always thought my skin was just fine, no complaints here, no acne as a teen. My maiden name, Reed, apparently meant “red faced” and I had always been told that when I got mad or upset, my genes were coming out. I did know when I drank a glass of wine I would get red cheeks, but thought that was my dna shining through. The esthetician didn’t do the peel that day, she just did some cooling and calming treatments for my skin and sent me on my way with $150 dollars of special skin products that would get rid of my rosacea. Oof.
I really didn’t notice much difference until I had my two children, and I would have red splotches that would come and go…almost like rashy breakouts that lasted for prolonged periods of time. By my early thirties the rashes came and stayed. I started to get somewhat self conscience about it, and tried every herb, pill, makeup, and product I could get my hands on. Nothing helped.
The Power of Nutrition & Herbs
I then began to research increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut) and its effects on everything. It made sense to me that your intestinal health was paramount to all things absorbing correctly. If my gut wasn’t healthy, then the herbs, supplements, foods, and products I put onto my body could be working against me.
Many holistic doctors were saying it could be a type of auto-immune condition, and something that really didn’t have a cure, but something that would/could have flare-ups for the rest of my life. That did deflate me a bit, but I was determined to find something to manage it.
So I changed the way I ate and looked at many things in my lifestyle. I changed my diet, switched to all natural body & skin products, reduced stress, and safely got sun exposure on my face. I started to incorporate herbs & healing foods into my regimen. I do still have rosacea today, but my flare ups so to speak are very minimal and can be managed.
What many doctors didn’t tell me is that I needed to work from the inside to help my skin on the outside. To several dermatologists, I needed to just slather a product on and hope for the best. Our skin is the largest organ in our body, and a large detox pathway as well. If the skin is not supported from the inside out, then it will be much harder to help this skin condition.
Here are a few things to consider for rosacea, some not well known, but have had profound effects on many, and definitely made a difference in my personal journey as well.
Look at what you put IN your body (aka, your diet). There are several things that you could be eating on a regular basis that could be triggering it. Well known allergens such as gluten, dairy, corn, nightshades, and histamines in food (such as red wine & aged cheeses) can have some correlation documented with rosacea. (1) Also, look into cutting out inflammatory foods, possibly following an elimination diet, cutting sugar, alcohol & caffeine. Tweaking your diet can make a big difference. Also, adding digestive enzymes can help to make sure all nutrients are being assimilated correctly in the body.
Look at what you put ON your body. Chemicals in body products such as parabens, dibutyl phthalate, aluminum, preservatives, colorings, and scents all can have detrimental effects on the skin and can cause someone with sensitive skin to have a reaction or flare up. (2) It is best to avoid harsh skincare, and use natural or homemade skin care products. Even some chemicals found in commercial rosacea skin care can be too harsh for skin, so make sure to read labels.
Use liver support herbs/foods - Herbs such as burdock, cilantro, chickweed, dandelion root/leaf, red beets…all support the liver to help the skin. You can make a chickweed, burdock tea with a slice of lemon for excellent liver support. Work in beets into meals such as a salad or roast them with carrots for a nice side dish.
Skin loving herbs - Herbs such nettle, red clover, lemon verbena, lemongrass, ginger, yellow dock, cleavers, turmeric, yarrow, nettle, gotu kola, rose hips, calendula all support skin health. We have our Skin Zen Tea that has many of these herbs in there!
Reduce stress! This is a big one and can help tremendously. Where you can in your life, try to cut back on stress by saying no to activities, overfilling your days, and working in activities that calm and balance you, such as meditation, self-care, walks etc.
Make sure your skin is moisturized! Many skincare lines will try to dry out skin, when moisture is needed. Aim to find light oil serums or creams that can balance skin and not overdry it. The skin will become more sensitive when overdry and make rosacea worse. Try our Skin Elixir Oil Serums. They have been tested with rosacea and very sensitive skin.
Supplements such as cod liver oil (rich in Vitamin D & A), digestive enzymes, camu camu (rich in Vitamin C), magnesium can all help keep the body nourished and help with skin care.
Resources:
Jillian Levy, Natural Treatments for those with Rosacea. Des Inflamar.
Dr. Axe, 6 Rosacea Treatments - Rosacea Treatment: 6 Natural Remedies to Use - Dr. Axe
