Pursuit of Wellness - How I Healed My Acne: Gut Health, Treating H. Pylori & Skincare

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast, and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn. Hi, guys. Welcome to a solo episode all about skincare and gut health. For me, those two things are very closely connected. And if you've been following me for a while, you know I have struggled with acne on and off for 10 years, mostly on. Like I have had breakouts, acne, scarring for about 10 years. And right now is the clearest my skin has been in a very, very long time. It's also been clear now for a few months and I'm feeling just like really confident in my plan. Now, if you've been following me for a while and listening to the show, you'll remember I did go through a period of time where my skin had cleared up back in LA for like a month or two and then it all came back. And now I know the reason why.

Starting point is 00:01:03 And I did this without doing Accutane, without spironolactone, without birth control. So these are all my tips and tricks for how I healed my gut health, got to the root cause of my acne, the skincare I use every single day, basically everything I do, the way I eat to prevent acne as someone who is a very acne prone person. So keep listening if you're interested. I'm going to really dive into details here. So if you are someone who struggles with skin, just know I see you, I hear you, I get it. It was one of the hardest things I've ever been through in my life to have acne all over my face. And I will try to, I mean, somehow maybe we'll do a newsletter or something, show you guys really the worst of my acne. Mine

Starting point is 00:01:54 always seemed to be at the lower half of my face. So from like cheekbone down. And it was very concentrated in the cheek, lower cheek, jaw, chin area around my mouth. Very indicative of like high testosterone, hormonal problems. And I do have PCOS-like symptoms, but I could always feel that there was something else going on because it felt like, okay, I live a very healthy lifestyle. I drink a ton of water. I eat clean. I take my supplements. I wash my face three times a day. Like why me? I always had this feeling of why me and, um, kind of feeling like something was wrong, but not knowing what, and I'll go into how I figured that all out, but it was very much like it ruined my confidence. I couldn't look people in the eye.

Starting point is 00:02:48 It was all I thought about all the time. Like I had very obsessive thinking about my skin, a lot of like anxious skin picking and over obsessing. And it just like really shaped a lot of my twenties, to be honest with you. And having clear skin now, regardless of the hyperpigmentation and scarring I have, I feel so much more confident. I feel like I so appreciate my skin and my body for healing the way it did. And I feel like I can look people in the eye and show up as myself. And I'm so grateful. I also feel like the acne really taught me to dig deep and appreciate

Starting point is 00:03:26 myself at like a soul level, you know, rather than being obsessed with or being focused on the way I looked. It was like, okay, why else do you love yourself? And it was really like a test and also learning that other people love you beyond what you look like, which sounds silly, but like showing up at workouts or hangouts with friends in the morning and not wearing makeup and having them. I mean, I had friends tell me like they never even noticed that I had acne, which was so crazy to me because it was all I could see. So it was a very, very, it was a very, very, um, it was a learning. I learned a lot through having acne and, um, it was really hard, but I think it also made me stronger in a lot of ways. So with all that said, let's hop into my full acne, like how I healed my skin, all of the things I do for gut health,

Starting point is 00:04:26 all the skincare I use, et cetera. So the first place I'm going to tell you to begin is lab testing. You guys have heard me mention red light therapy so many times. I was actually doing a ton of it this past weekend because of my horse fall. I wanted to help my injury, help with inflammation. And my favorite brand is Boncharge. It is a holistic wellness brand with a huge range of evidence-based products to optimize your life in every way. Founded on science and inspired by nature, all of Bonchargege's products adopt

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Starting point is 00:05:40 eczema, migraines, acne, scar tissue, razor burns, wound healing, ingrown facial hair, and so much more. All you need to do is 10 to 20 minutes a day. It's so easy to use. I like to do it while watching TV, reading a book, cooking a meal. It's so easy to have it stack with. I also think it is so much better than the other brands because it removes the circadian rhythm and sleep disrupting blue light from their red light mask. It can sometimes interfere with your sleep, especially if you do it at night. You can also switch between both NIR and red light in one device. There's zero EMF radiation,

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Starting point is 00:07:55 Lab testing was the thing that helped me figure out what was wrong. And initially, if you guys listened to my podcast about maybe almost a year ago with Emily Morrow, you guys know she did extensive lab testing with me. We found mold, ocrotoxin A, SIBO. I think we had some candida in there. I had heavy metal toxins. I had a lot more toxins than I ever anticipated. And I was on a pretty rigorous supplement regime, all natural stuff that did help me get rid of all of that. My lab tests came back much better. My skin cleared up, but it was somewhat temporary. We could also see my white blood cells were high, which means they were fighting some kind of infection. And the thing that's tricky sometimes with toxins and getting to the root causes, they can actually hide themselves. And

Starting point is 00:08:50 I'm not going to explain this very well, but Emily explained to me that sometimes like certain things can hide behind other things to the point where they won't show up in lab testing. So I got as far as I could the natural way. And Emily helped me so much during that time. I really learned a ton about functional medicine. I was very restrictive with my eating because of my skin. I wouldn't eat eggs. I ate pretty much paleo, no sugar, no dairy, no gluten. I only drank king coffee, no regular coffee

Starting point is 00:09:24 because I was afraid of like the coffee beans being moldy and just kind of really lived in fear. Honestly, I think I thought that my acne was because of the things I was eating and probably a little bit to a detriment. I was eating in a very restrictive manner, really afraid of eating the wrong thing, afraid of consuming canola oil, like when I was out and about, just like really afraid because I thought something I was eating

Starting point is 00:09:54 was contributing to the skin. And that was a period of time where I felt, honestly, like I was getting so, I was very impressionable because I so badly wanted to get rid of my acne that I would listen to just about anyone. So if someone told me, oh, you should only be eating meat or, oh, you should eliminate tomatoes or you should try doing this. I would try anything because I was so tired of having acne. I remember I would swallow like chunks of

Starting point is 00:10:23 liver every day because I thought that would help. And I just went to such extreme lengths. And looking back, like I don't, yes, I think diet has a lot to do with skin. And I still eat in a way that I know is nourishing for my skin and my body. But there was no need for me to live in that type of fear. I get why I did that, but now knowing what I know, that wasn't helpful. And if anything, the stress was probably making it worse. So I moved to Austin and that was when, back in March, I moved to Austin and that was when my skin started to break out again. And I remember getting here and all of a sudden, my skin just re-exploding. Like it had been clear for a month and all of a sudden it was back.

Starting point is 00:11:10 And I was so traumatized by it because I finally felt like I had solved the problem and it all came back and worse. So I really was just at a loss at that point. You can probably even see if you listen to my other podcast episodes or watch my Instagram reels, like my skin just a couple months ago was still so, so bad. And I ended up connecting with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. And I had Emily's blessing. She was like, you know, maybe this is beyond naturopathic work.

Starting point is 00:11:46 Maybe you need to work with a real doctor. So I ended up connecting with Dr. Gabrielle lion, who we all know and love. If you don't know her, go check her out. She is now my doctor. And we did a really deep dive on lab testing, like even more than I had done before. Not just blood, but like urine and spit and like everything. And we ended up finding something called H. pylori, which has now become my personality trait. But basically with H. pylori, and I found the definition for you guys, I'll read it. It stands for Helicobacter pylori. It's a type of bacteria that infects your stomach. It can damage the tissue in your stomach and the first part of your small intestine. This can cause pain and inflammation. It can also cause painful sores and ulcers in the upper digestive tract.

Starting point is 00:12:38 I never experienced this, but I do know that long-term age pylori can be really damaging. It can have different symptoms in everyone. And ultimately, if you don't treat it, it can lead to cancer, which is really, really freaking scary when I read that. But what I found out is if you have H. pylori, it's either in your house or in your spouse. And when I first heard that, I was like, what do you mean? And Dr. Gabrielle told me, well,

Starting point is 00:13:04 H. pylori is something that will just continue to live if you're in the same environment or with the same person. And that was the moment that I kind of had, it just clicked. I was like, okay, I've moved house so many times in my life. Like I've lived in so many different places. I've probably lived in 20 houses in my lifetime. That can't be the case. I'm in a brand new house, but I have been with the same person for 10 years. And that is Greg. And I told you guys, this is when we coined him bacteria boy, but this was the moment that I was like, oh my gosh, Greg probably has H. pylori. And I don't know if this is just

Starting point is 00:13:45 my theory, but we're trying to have a baby and we're like in close contact frequently. And I was like, oh my God, maybe that is why I keep having these acne flare-ups. So, and he definitely has some symptoms, not acne. Greg has never had as in his life, but he gets fatigue. He has these kind of autoimmune responses to certain foods. And we kind of discovered he had high levels of H. pylori as well after doing both of our lab testing. So we both had to do intense rounds or in one intense round of antibiotics. It was two to three weeks with a couple different types of antibiotics. I don't think I need to share the names of those because, you know, whatever your doctor recommends is what you should do. And I don't remember the name of them, but multiple types of antibiotics

Starting point is 00:14:36 for two to three weeks, which was pretty intense. The first couple of days I felt pretty nauseous. It got better and better as the time went on. But after that, we went through a gut rebuild phase, which is kind of what I'm still doing right now. I'm taking glutamine, HCL, butane, digestive enzymes. I take my bloom colostrum every single day. I take my bloom greens every single day. I take certain supplements with every meal just to make sure I'm digesting properly to rebuild the gut after the antibiotic treatment. And I have not had an active breakout since then. I think I've had one zit since that. And now I'm at the point where my skin is basically just hyperpigmentation and scarring. I don't have any active, like I can run my fingers

Starting point is 00:15:26 over my face and not feel bumps, which for me is so crazy. I used to wake up with one to two news it every single day. So I am, yes, still knock on wood traumatized that the acne will come back, but I am almost certain, and this is the longest my skin has ever been clear. And I've put it through travel. I've put it through eating different things, dairy, whatever, and it has remained clear. So I'm pretty sure the H. pylori was the underlying issue to my acne the whole time. Now, this may not be the case for you. I think everyone's different. And I want to recommend if you are going to get lab testing done, I would either check out Function

Starting point is 00:16:10 Health. That is Mark Hyman's company. I've spoken about it many times. I think it's a fantastic way. I mean, it's a lot of testing and they will send you professional advice based on your results that you can improve. If you are looking for acne specific lab testing, I would check out the ClearStem website. They have acne lab testing that Emily Morrow actually runs the program of, which is fantastic as well. So if you want to you guys know i love cooking but i also love to have quick easy options in the house when we have guests or if we're just craving a quick easy meal and that's why i love wild grain it is the first ever bake from frozen subscription box for sourdough breads, fresh pastas, and artisanal pastries. The croissants are like a fan favorite in my household. They're so, so good. They come out like perfect Parisian

Starting point is 00:17:12 croissants and also the sourdough is really good. What I love about them is the ingredients are so simple and whole. There's no like added weird stuff in there every item bakes from frozen in 25 minutes or less with no thawing required the wild grain box is fully customizable you can choose from any combination of breads pastas and pastries i like to get the sourdough bread um the croissants and the cookies are so good they just launched a brand new plant-based box featuring a wide selection of plant-based pastries breads and hand-cut pastas for a limited time you can get 30 off the first box plus free croissants in every box when you go to wildgrain.com slash pow to start your subscription you heard me free croissants in

Starting point is 00:17:55 every box and 30 off your first box when you go to wildgrain.com slash pow that is wildgrain.com slash pow or you can use promo code POW at checkout. In terms of diet, I can definitely eat more freely now. I eat eggs again and they do not seem to be breaking me out. I still focus on protein, healthy fat, clean carbs, not too much sugar or alcohol. There are certain things I'm sure if I did in excess would still break me out, things like dairy, things like sugar. But I've definitely been experimenting much more and allowing myself to have sourdough bread and things I would have never had before. And my skin is

Starting point is 00:18:43 absolutely fine. I went to Europe for a couple of weeks. I was having cheese. I was having everything. I was fine. So I will say during the initial weeks of the gut rebuild, I was pretty clean with everything I ate. And yeah, that's the story for me, guys. Like that's the gut health journey that I went on.

Starting point is 00:19:04 Next, we'll dive into skincare because that is another important piece. But for me, the inner healing had to come first. And I don't think like skincare for me is important and the cherry on top, especially if you're working on scarring and hyperpigmentation. but initially like I needed, my skin was so angry every day. And I knew that there was something going on and it was the bacteria. Also in terms of like where the H. pylori came from, Greg and I have traveled a lot. We went to Ecuador a few years ago. We both got very sick. Like it could have come from anywhere, anything, Lulu letting her kiss me on the mouth. I don't know, which is hilarious

Starting point is 00:19:45 because I remember people telling me to not let her do that. And I was like, no, I'm never going to stop kissing Lulu or Arnold. But yeah, the H. pylori could have come from absolutely anywhere. Greg and I clearly gave it to each other, whatever. We got to the root cause. That's all that matters. So I want to run through with you guys my favorite clean skincare for acne. And yeah, as I said, for me, this is the cherry on top, especially as I'm focused on healing, scarring, and hyperpigmentation right now. So the first step, and I'm going to try to use all the brand names, give you all the deets. Bioderma makeup remover is my favorite for gentle makeup remover. I just put it on a cotton swab and get the first layer of makeup off. And then generally, once I've done that, I will go in with the Rococo Botanicals Pore Cleansing Oil. It's an acne safe oil that really just gets

Starting point is 00:20:47 everything off. Generally, I'll only use that if I had makeup on that day. If not, the Bioderma Makeup Remover is enough. Okay, the cleanser I love is the Gentle Cleanser by Clear Stem. You guys have heard me talk about Clear Stem a million times. I absolutely love ClearStem. It to me is one of the only truly acne safe skincare lines on the market. If you want to get your skincare from one place and you're acne prone, get it from ClearStem. This is not sponsored, but I do freaking love them. I also carry my Lips and Cutes lip balm absolutely everywhere because I break out around my mouth a ton. And if I use lip balm that isn't Clear Stem, I will break out. And I'm also addicted to this stuff. So I'm going to put it on right now. It's amazing. Also, while I'm talking about Clear Stem,

Starting point is 00:21:40 I use products from them other than their skincare. I also love their body lotion. I don't want to use a body lotion that has like a weird fragrance or something that's going to clog my pores because it ultimately like does get near your face. So I love their body lotion and their hair care is amazing. I use the shampoo and conditioner every day. That's something that's going to be like running on your face when you wash your hair. So be really cognizant of that too. But then obviously I love their cleanser. I love their sulfur spot treatment.

Starting point is 00:22:11 I love their clarity serum. I love their sunscreen. If you guys do want to try ClearStem, I have a code. I thought I would mention it now. It's 20% off your first purchase and it's code POW, P-O-W, at clearstemskincare.com. So yeah, Clear Stem is like a staple in my skincare routine. So I will cleanse my skin. The next step is I use my Rococo Purifying Treatment Essence, which is essentially a

Starting point is 00:22:40 toner that I spray on my face. Then in the morning, I go in with mandelic acid. I use the Face Reality mandelic acid. That's a really good gentle acid to use if you are acne prone and it's really good for the pigmentation. After that, I will go in with Beta Gel by DMK. And by the way, guys, these are brands and routines I use based on my esthetician, Jackie, who works at, or doesn't work. She owns Vixen Aesthetics here in Austin, and she gives me chemical peels and tells me what to use at home. So she's been so fantastic. I got a chemical peel with her yesterday and she does extractions and she has really taken my skin from like awful to amazing. Well,

Starting point is 00:23:26 I wouldn't say it's amazing, but it's like getting there. So I really appreciate her. Then we just added this vivid, what's it called? Let me see. We just added this vivid brightening serum by Hydranity and that has really, really, really helped the hyperpigmentation. She just posted a before and after of my skin yesterday on her story, and it's helped so much. I then use an antioxidant peptide by Face Reality. I'm not sure what that does, truthfully. And then Ceramide Booster.

Starting point is 00:23:59 That's kind of a big hydration product by Rococo Botanicals. Rococo Botanicals is a really gentle acne safe skincare line that I found out about from an esthetician I saw in New York. And we still include that. And then I use Eruption Emulsion, which is a moisturizer. I then use my Clear Stem SPF. And then at nighttime, I have a little bit of a different routine. It's all the same products, just kind of in a different order. And then I also incorporate this acne med by Face Reality. That has been amazing. Once I am... Oh, I forgot to mention, when my face is wet after I've cleansed, I use Clean Skin Club Towels. If you have not heard of this brand, it's so, so good. I order it off Amazon. They are single-use soft towels that are good for your skin. If you are acne-prone like me, using like

Starting point is 00:24:53 shower towels or regular towels in your bathroom and like constantly putting them in the laundry is really, really annoying. And these are like very clean, very soft on the skin. I travel with them. Really good if you have acne prone sensitive skin. Sometimes I'll also incorporate ice. Ice is great if you're having an active breakout that you need to calm down, maybe even an ice roller. Another thing I like to use is red light and blue light. Amazing for scarring, amazing for inflammation injury like everything so really love red light blue light I also love the epicutis lipid recovery face masks those are fantastic I believe I found out about those from Emily Morrow and my friend Jackie but I love to wear those at night when I need some

Starting point is 00:25:39 extra moisture and then also using clean makeup as much as possible. I've spoken about that before and that would be a whole other episode, but let me know if you wanna hear more about that. And I think that kind of covers it for my skincare guys. In general, like I try to wear minimal makeup. I, you know, wash my face morning and night. I carry around a spray. I forget what it's called.

Starting point is 00:26:04 It's like a Hypoflores something, but there's like a Tower 28 one. You guys have probably seen it. Really good for bacteria, especially when I'm traveling. So I'm very cognizant of my skincare. And yeah, I really try and stay on routine. So far, so good. I'm feeling the most confident I've ever felt in my skin in a really long time. It feels so nice to feel like myself again. So I really hope this was a helpful episode. We will try to link and mention everything for you guys in the description box. I also have a newsletter where I tend to link products, recommendations. So I will send out a newsletter all about this as well. So make sure you go

Starting point is 00:26:46 subscribe to the newsletter. Do not forget to subscribe and follow the show. We are posting episodes about three times a week nowadays, including our short 10 minute clips of powerful moments. Really worth following. Leave a review. Tell me what you want to hear about. I really do read those and pay attention to what you guys want to listen to. So let me know what you want and I'll see you in the next one. Bye. Thanks for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favorites at marilowelland.com.

Starting point is 00:27:28 It will be linked in the show notes. This is a Wellness Loud production produced by Drake Peterson, Fiona Attucks, and Kelly Kyle. This show is edited by Mike Fry and our video is recorded by Louise Vargas. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Mari Fitness. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. See you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.

Pursuit of Wellness - How I Healed My Acne: Gut Health, Treating H. Pylori & Skincare

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