What's Your Problem?
- Acne
- Allergies
- Arthritis
- Babies - Fruit Juice
- Babies - Sleeping
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- Blood Pressure - High
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- Body Odour
- Bruises
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- Children - Speech Impediment
- Children and Television
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- Conjunctivitis
- Cystitis
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- Fasting
- Female Sexual Hygiene
- Fever
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- Grief
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- Halitosis
- Hangover Cure
- Head Lice
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- Heart
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- Hypoglycaemia
- Immunisation
- Insomnia
- Jetlag
- Kidney Stones
- Knee Problems
- Memory
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- Period Pains
- Polycystic Ovaries
- Pre Menstrual Syndrome
- Psoriasis
- Restless Legs
- Sexual Performance
- Stings - Insects and Snakes
- Stomach Ulcers
- Thrush
- Underweight
- Varicose Veins
- Warts
- Water Drinking
- Worms
Please read our Golden Rules of self help before considering the information on this page.
Acne
Just when you start to show the signs of being a real grown up (like breasts and facial hair for girls and boys respectively that is), the most annoying thing happens that just RUINS your life: ACNE!
Why do teenagers get acne? People always ask me and I always answer by quoting a study that was done in the USA a couple of decades ago. It had been noticed that Caucasian American teenagers seriously suffered from acne, whereas first generation Asian Americans didn’t. But wait! When the second generation Asian Americans came along they started suffering from acne as much as their Caucasian counterparts. The reason is so simple you are going to hate it:
The first generation Asians mostly ate their parents’ diet, however by the time they were integrated, their own children were totally sold to the American teenage diet. And what is this diet? Hamburgers, milk shakes, ice cream and soft drinks. The two great culprits: fat and sugar.
Why should this give them acne? Glad you asked: hormones are carried around by fat; in response to the incredible rush of hormones that suddenly happen in puberty, fats in the body become denser and the body produces more of them all on its own. However, if the body gets flooded by saturated fats from the diet, this is more fat than the body can handle and we have an acne explosion.
But wait there is more! Because the acne pimples cause the skin to break, these breaks are the ideal sites for bacterial infection and if this was not enough, people afflicted with acne tend to squeeze their pimples don’t they? More bacterial infection, followed by inflammation, followed by scarring. No wonder teenagers have the blues!
Taking antibiotics for acne only prevents the secondary infection, it does not treat the cause and as soon as you stop them, your face explodes again. Besides, taking antibiotics regularly is really bad for your immune system.
The solution is simple. Stop eating the teenage diet! No more hamburgers, chips, milk shakes, ice cream and soft drinks. OK now you hate me again, but remember this: everybody does things only because everybody else is doing it and as soon as everyone does something else, then everyone will do that! For instance: only a few years ago you never saw young girls walk around with bottles of mineral water, now they do. Just toss the junk and your friends will follow suite.
Now I hear a couple of grown-ups complain: well, they never had acne as teenagers but now, in their thirties they do and they are certainly not having the teenage diet. Well this is still an hormonal problem linked to fats metabolism: either there are too many saturated fats in the body or there are not enough fats. In either case, the body is going bananas trying to get the right stuff to manufacture and distribute hormones. Which is why women often have outbreaks around their periods even if they don’t suffer from acne.
What to do?
Whether you are 16 or 36 the things to do are:
Seriously cut down on saturated fats such as found in hamburgers, biscuits, ice cream, sour cream, chocolate, so called health bars (they contain lots of saturated fat)
Have small amounts of saturated fats from lean meats (twice a week), a little butter and yogurt.
Use oils (olive, canola, macadamia) in cooking and salad. Remember hormones need fats.
Cut down on sugar as this: a) worsens the inflammation around pimples, b) burdens your liver.
Have a lot of green leafy vegetables steamed or stir fried to stimulate the liver and clean up toxins.
To repair the skin, take the following nutrients:
Vitamin A (cod liver oil capsules are the best), vitamin E and vitamin C. These are the three musketeers of tissue repair, take them together after breakfast. The fourth one is Zinc, it’s a lonesome hero, so take it on its own at night.
Go to a herbalist to have a herbal mix made for you. Or you can just get in touch with this herbalist and after consulting with you we shall send you the right herbal mixture (which is going to be different if you are male or female, 16 or 36).
There are a few topical preparations in the market which help repair the surface damage. I make one such cream which I call "Just Peachey”. Because this is what your skin will be like after you've used it.
Now, some of you will ask: if hormones need fats to be manufactured and carried around, does this mean that chubby people are sexier than skinny ones?
Maybe… I’ll just keep you in suspense and answer this question some other time! Stay tuned!
For a personalised treatment please contact me here.
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