Pursuit of Wellness - How I Healed My Acne Naturally: Finding The Root Cause, My Supplement Regimen & Diet | Solo Episode

Starting point is 00:00:00 The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Mari has grown her to fitness and nutrition brand. Co-founder of Bloom Nutrition. Forbes 30 under 30 list. A successful entrepreneur. Someone who has lost 90 pounds. Today's guest is Mari Llewellyn. Mari Llewellyn.

Starting point is 00:00:16 My friend Mari. Welcome to the Pursuit of Wellness. Hi guys, welcome back to the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. Today we have another solo episode, and this one is highly requested. I asked you guys what you wanted to hear from me, and it was resounding that you wanted to hear about acne and how I cleared my acne. So we're going to dive deep today. I have had acne for over a decade. That is crazy to say, but I was thinking about it. And truly, I have had some form of acne for the better part of 10 years. And this is the first

Starting point is 00:00:54 time in my life that I think I've had naturally clear skin. I've obviously tried a number of things and I've had periods of time where my skin has been clearer and it's not 110% clear right now. I have acne scars and maybe like one or two actives, but this is probably the clearest I've seen my skin in legitimately 10 years. I wish I could say that my acne hasn't impacted my self-esteem, but I want to be honest, it has. I've gone years not looking people directly in the eye, avoiding having direct sun on my face, changing where I'm sitting at a dinner table because I feel like the lighting's making my acne look worse, even quitting my YouTube channel. That was largely because of my acne and I couldn't face seeing my face up close every single day. It really has been a

Starting point is 00:01:45 massive challenge for me and definitely something I've learned a lot from and I've gained a lot of strength from. But I want to tell you guys about this journey I've been on and the things that have really worked for me. I have legitimately done everything and anything to try to solve my acne over the years. And I'm going to tell you all of them. I am not recommending any of these things that I have tried in my 20s. Because if you think about it, I first started struggling with acne when I was so young and I was in such a different place. And I was so desperate to get it off my face. And I'm sure any of you listening who have had acne can relate. So in college, I developed a tanning bed addiction because it was the only thing that truly cleared my skin. The second I

Starting point is 00:02:32 stopped, the acne would come back. I believe I was just drying my skin out to the point where the acne would disappear over and over again. But ultimately, I just ended up increasing my oil production and causing a new slew of issues. I was also on birth control. The second my acne got bad, I was put on birth control. I think I've been on like four different types of birth control in the past. You know, some of them cleared the acne more than others, but ultimately wish I had never done that as well. I was on a number of antibiotics. I remember after I had to drop out of school and move home, my acne was at its absolute worst. And now looking back, I can kind of see why, but I remember going to the dermatologist and just being put on so many different antibiotics. And ultimately, I think that just made everything worse because

Starting point is 00:03:26 as we all know, that can contribute to a really unhealthy gut. I tried spironolactone. I was on spironolactone for, I want to say four years, and I tried different doses, higher, lower. You know, I found at some points it impacted my motivation at the gym, at work. It really was a surface level drug that just lowered my testosterone but didn't attack the root cause. I tried keto diets. I tried getting in the sun. I tried facials. I tried laser. I tried Alveclear. The only thing I never did was Accutane, which I am so grateful for. And you know, I might get shiz for this, but I feel like Accutane is pretty glorified nowadays, especially on TikTok. I know there are some really big content creators out there who speak about their success with Accutane and I'm happy for them. I'm glad that worked. But I think

Starting point is 00:04:26 we're not discussing the impact it's having on our inner health. And I'm not sure the people using it are realizing the havoc it's wreaking on our internal systems. Not to mention if you're drinking on top of that, it just makes me cringe to think about. And now knowing the reasons I had acne, I'm so happy I didn't take Accutane because I know it would have just made everything worse. And it's kind of promoted as this magic pill, but it's really putting a heavy load on your liver and can affect long-term vision. I mean, imagine taking something that's going to affect your long-term vision. I just think the long-term health implications of Accutane are not worth it. But anyway, that's a discussion for another day.

Starting point is 00:05:09 And if you have taken Accutane and seen success, then I'm happy for you. It just wasn't the path that I chose. So let's talk about what I did to clear my skin. For the first time in my life right now, my face is not covered in painful acne. I feel like I can see my face again. It's not perfect, but wow, it feels so good. I feel like I can breathe. I feel like I can see my face. I feel like me again, and I can look people in the eye. Not only that, but my lab work has improved night and day to what it was. I killed the candida and bacterial overgrowth in my body. I feel amazing. My hormones are rebalancing. So this is going to be a very in-depth breakdown of everything that I've been doing to get to where I am right now. You might want to grab a pen and paper because this is quite

Starting point is 00:05:59 detail-oriented. You may hear me bring up my doctor slash naturopath she's a blood chemist I'm not quite sure what to call her my guardian angel is one thing I might say but her name's Emily Morrow she helped me a ton during this journey and I do plan on bringing her on the show at a later date to discuss the lab work in more detail there are certain medical terms and explanations that I'm just not going to do justice. So if you want to work with Emily, you can actually order lab work on ClearStem right now. This is not sponsored. I just want you guys to have an accessible option if you do want to get your lab work done. If you go on the ClearStem website, you can order lab work and Emily will be going through that and making suggestions for you because

Starting point is 00:06:45 lab work is so, so important. Anyway, if you hear me reference her, I will be bringing her on. And there's certain things that she can explain in a way that I cannot because I'm not a medical professional. Okay, we're going to do this by steps, guys. And this is going to be detailed and it is going to be slightly overwhelming. But trust me, it is so worth it. And the one thing I would say about acne is be grateful that your body is showing you something's wrong because I think so many people go through life having internal issues and underlying problems that they are simply not aware of until they're 50 years old and something horrible happens. So be grateful that your skin is telling you something's wrong. Step one, discover the internal problem, the root cause. I would recommend finding a naturopath or a holistic

Starting point is 00:07:39 clinic where they can prescribe lab work or go on ClearStem and order yourself some lab work. I did a number of tests at the beginning that I have used as a reference point throughout this journey. I did a Dutch test for hormones. I did blood work. I checked vitamin deficiencies. I did a stool test for my microbiome, aka a poop test. Real-time lab mycotoxin testing, which is for mold. You can also test for heavy metals and bacterial overloads. One thing I have learned through this journey is that everything is connected and I didn't realize that going into it. I think when I first started this journey, I thought, oh, I have a hormonal imbalance. I have PCOS, my testosterone is high, my other hormones are imbalanced, etc, etc. But the question is why? There are no isolated issues in the body, in my opinion, unless you have an injury or something of that nature. If your hormones are off, there is a reason why.

Starting point is 00:08:39 Hormonal issues start somewhere. So I knew from my tests that my testosterone was high, my progesterone was low, and I had poor estrogen clearance. But this isn't a diagnosis, it's just a symptom. And I found out through other tests why that might be. Healthy hormones start in the liver, and we could see that my liver enzymes were overloaded. They were high. And then we went on a full investigation as to why that was. And that's how we found underlying infections, mold, heavy metals, bacteria overgrowth, which is something that so many people have. And that can show in different symptoms.

Starting point is 00:09:20 You know, some people have gut issues. Some people have acne. Some people have hair loss, whatever it may be, but there's always an underlying issue. Think you know diamonds? Probably not as much as you think. Over a billion years old, the natural diamond is very much still a part of the present. Our engagement ring, the gift from a partner, or the jewelry we buy to celebrate a win sparks a lot of joy. But did you know that stone is connected to 10 million people around the world? From Canada to Africa to Australia, the impact of the natural diamond industry is huge,

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Starting point is 00:10:42 laundry jugs to sit in landfills for centuries to come. And this is where I found Earth Breeze. I think this is such a genius product and one that I'm surprised not everyone is using at this point. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it actually replaces the cup of gooey detergent. It's a pre-measured liquidless laundry detergent sheet that dissolves in all wash cycles, hot or cold. So there's no measuring, no mess, and no heavy lifting, and no plastic jug. It has become my new favorite detergent, and it's so easy to use. The packaging is a cardboard envelope that saves so much space. I can fit 720 loads of sheets where I used to just fit one 60 load laundry detergent jug. I also didn't

Starting point is 00:11:26 realize how much of an impact the old fashioned detergent was having on my skin. But Earthbreeze is dermatologist tested, which was someone like me who's acne prone. I have really seen the difference and I've really made a point of switching out all of my household products. And that's been a huge reason why my skin has cleared up. So you can sign up for their subscription. I love that it's delivered with free carbon offset shipping right when I need it. And most importantly, you still get the powerful clean. Earth Breeze is tough on stains, fights odors, and my clothes come out clean every single time. Trust me, there is no reason not to switch. Right now, my listeners can subscribe to EarthBreeze and save 40%. Go to earthbreeze.com slash pow to get started. That's earthbreeze.com slash pow for 40% off earthbreeze.com slash pow. You guys know I'm all about nutrition and I'm particularly focused

Starting point is 00:12:20 on getting enough protein in during the day. So for all my meals, I make sure I'm working around my main protein source. The place where I always struggle is with snacks. I feel like it's really hard to find good high protein snacks with good ingredients. And that's where I found Chomps. We actually have a ton of them here at the office and I snack on them all day long. They are definitely an office favorite. Chomps really make snacking simple. Their tasty meat sticks are packed with mouthwatering flavor and only the best ingredients. Each delicious Chomps meat stick has the protein your body needs with over nine grams per stick without any unhealthy additives and zero sugar. They are low carb,

Starting point is 00:13:02 keto friendly, allergy friendly, and don't contain any fillers. That is so hard to find in a good snack. Chomps are simply made with natural ingredients you can feel good about. Plus, you know, we are big on where things are sourced from here at Pursuit of Wellness. Chomps only source from farmers who raise animals humanely and farm responsibly. So we're looking out for the environment and our animal friends as well. They come in nine flavors. So there's something for everyone or you can grab a variety of pack to satisfy your whole family's taste buds. Greg and I definitely have a different taste. So I'm so happy we have different options there. They're great on their own or you can pair them with fruit, hummus, crackers and more. Right now,

Starting point is 00:13:44 Chomps is offering our listeners 20% off your first order and free shipping when you go to chomps.com slash pow. Go to chomps.com slash pow for 20% off your first order and free shipping. That's C-H-O-M-P-S dot com slash pow. Don't forget to use the link so they know we sent you. The gut test showed me signs of bacterial overgrowth, also known as SIBO. I also had staph and strep and candida. I want to give you guys more details on that, but I'm not a medical professional and I think Emily can do it justice, but I had bacterial overgrowth, which was definitely contributing to the acne. When I did blood work, I had low platelets, which is a sign of longstanding and ongoing infection. I had low cholesterol, which can be caused by mycotoxins, also known as fungus, aka candida, which by the way, guys, I think it's a myth that many of us

Starting point is 00:14:47 believe that high cholesterol is the worst case scenario. Low cholesterol is also not good because it impacts so much in our body. I had high creatinine, which is elevated by heavy metals and excess protein. And metals are also common for stressing the kidneys, which is something I've been working on. My liver, the enzymes were elevated. And one of the liver's main roles is to help regulate the balance of sex hormones, thyroid, cortisone, and adrenal hormones. I had signs of chronic infection and stress and other indications of heavy bacteria and fungus.

Starting point is 00:15:28 So, with that said, as someone who was living a super healthy lifestyle, I mean, that was like my whole life. My whole life was eating clean, exercising, sauna-ing. You guys know I'm health obsessed. And to see that my lab work was this way was so shocking to me. And there can be a number of reasons that this is the case. It could be the fact that I lived in my sorority house six years ago and there was mold that I was breathing in every day. It could be the fact that I was getting coffees out and about and they weren't cleaning out their machines or the coffee beans were moldy. Mold is so common as is bacteria. And I think just by doing frequent lab work, we can catch it early. And I have learned so much through this process about how to get rid of things like that. So with that said,

Starting point is 00:16:11 let's move on to supplements. This might be overwhelming, guys, but it was a huge part of my healing journey. Before I get into it, I would recommend ordering a large organizer on Amazon I have shown it in my story a bunch of times and I will link mine in the description of this podcast it's pink and I think it's a very popular organizer with senior citizens because they do take a lot of pills and things like that there's a Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday and I organize by morning lunch and dinner it it so easy. I refill it every two weeks. And that's how I stay on top of my supplement game. And you can also pop out the individual days, which is super helpful. So I was already on certain supplements for my general health. I was on fish oil, zinc, vitamin

Starting point is 00:17:03 D, bloom greens, obviously, which are all an essential part of the healing process and all supplements that I kept in my routine. So that should be your ground level basic supplement regime. But I also added in certain herbal supplements to help fight the infections in my body. You almost need to think of your infections as an injury. We need to treat the injury. And these were all prescribed through my naturopath. So you may need different things than me. My husband, Greg, is now working with my naturopath and he is on a different supplement regime because he had different infections in his body. But I want to list some of the supplements out for you guys, because I do know

Starting point is 00:17:45 I get tons of questions about them. All of the supplements I took were prescribed by my naturopath for my specific infections. My husband, Greg, is now working with Emily and he has different infections. Therefore, he's taking different supplements. So I do want to say, take this with a grain of salt. But I do want to list out some of the supplements I took because a lot of you were asking. So first things first, something called Circtonic, which has selenium and molybdenum. Again, I'm not a medical professional, so I don't know how to say that word. This was a big one that I've been taking from the beginning. Golden Thread Supreme, which is for bacteria, toxins, and parasites. I also started having liquid glutathione and I also started injecting myself with glutathione every single week. Actually,

Starting point is 00:18:32 Greg was injecting me because that's kind of scary. You can also do it through IV. Glutathione was something that showed up low on my blood work and I've continued doing that because I think it really helped my skin. Shisandra Supreme, which is for the liver and infections. I was also taking PC Body Bio, which is for the cell membrane to support exporting mycotoxins and metals. I actually take that in liquid form now. GastroDigest, which is great for digestion, obviously, along with my Bloom Greens. And now I also take black cumin oil, a tablespoon a day

Starting point is 00:19:06 for parasites. Something you can order on Amazon really easily right now is spore powder. It's a red and black bottle. I will try to link that in the description as well for you guys, but that's something I still take every day. Camu, Camu, C-A-M-U, Elysium, which is one of the supplements I was taking for infections, Astragalus Supreme, and Mirinda Supreme. So again, Emily will describe these in more detail when she comes on the show, but I wanted to give you guys some pointers of what I used. Now let's move on to food. My favorite, favorite topic, because I think food is medicine and I think you can do so much with food. And I would say diet has been a huge part of clearing my skin. I thought I was eating in a way before that was going to clear my skin. Turns out there were things I was doing daily that were probably

Starting point is 00:19:55 contributing to my acne. So let's go through. First things first, I would say you can't just out supplement a bad diet. You can take all the supplements I listed and do all the things, but if you're eating poorly, you're not going to see progress. So the supplements have to go along with a clean diet that works for your body. The first thing I did was I switched out the oils I was cooking in. So I switched from olive oil and avocado to only ghee, grass-fed butter, or tallow. I still use olive oil cold on salads, but I never, never cook with it. Emily will go into the science of this, but basically what I gathered is that heating those oils will make them unstable and they can create the wrong type of long chain fatty acids that disrupt the structure of the cell membrane.

Starting point is 00:20:46 So those oils aren't really designed to be heated up, whereas butter, ghee, and tallow are more fat stable and able to be cooked in, or even something like bacon grease. So now I pretty much only use ghee or tallow. Actually, yeah, I only cook in ghee or tallow. Even when I'm traveling, I make sure that I have access to that because I really, really don't want to eat things that are cooked in oil, especially canola oil. You guys know how I feel about that. It's highly inflammatory. So when I go out to eat and I order a steak, I will be annoying and say, hey, do you know what they cook in? Actually, I recently went to Sonoma for a wedding and they were cooking the steak in duck fat, which I was so pleased about because that's quite rare. Most places use vegetable oil and it was delicious.

Starting point is 00:21:31 So anyway, I highly recommend switching. I know it sounds scary. Ghee is amazing. We all know butter is amazing and tallow tastes really good too. So if you are avoiding dairy, go for the tallow. On the topic of dairy, I definitely have been avoiding dairy and gluten this entire time. I was already gluten and dairy free prior because I'd heard that would help with acne. I dabbled with raw dairy after having my episode with Paul Saladino. I was desperate to try and incorporate raw kefir. I did a tablespoon a day and I just found it was making my acne red and itchy. So I don't think I'm healed enough at this point to incorporate dairy yet, but hopefully I will one day. I also limited the amount of nuts I was eating. I switched to coconut milk rather than almond. One thing I found is that when you really take a look at everything you eat in a day, especially if you're healthy, there are a lot of nuts in health foods. So a lot of us drink

Starting point is 00:22:30 almond milk throughout the day. There's nuts in protein bars, almond butter. If you really take a look, there's nuts in a lot of things and they can be inflammatory if you're eating them in excess. So I started watching how many nuts I was eating and really decreasing that. There's also almond flour in a lot of healthy desserts. So just keep an eye out for that. I started drinking spearmint tea, which is really good for testosterone, lowering it, which was my issue. Also dandelion and milk thistle for liver health. I started incorporating three cherries a day for my kidneys. I know that sounds crazy, but I have found that cherries spike my blood sugar. So I always ate them right after breakfast.

Starting point is 00:23:12 So after I had some fats and protein, and also I didn't have too many of them, but those are really good for kidney health. I started mixing chlorophyll drops in my greens every single day because those are good for platelets. I was a bit skeptical about chlorophyll drops in my greens every single day because those are good for platelets. I was a bit skeptical about chlorophyll in the past. You may have heard me say that, but it was something I was doing every day. I don't do that anymore, but on my healing journey, I very much was. I was also drinking warm lemon water with a pinch of salt every day to cleanse the liver.

Starting point is 00:23:42 That was before I ate or drank anything else. This one's interesting, but I think highly effective and I've recommended it to other girls in the office who have been struggling with various things. Raw garlic and pumpkin seeds or parasites and bacteria. So garlic is an ancestral ingredient that people have used over the years for illness and infection. What I ended up doing was getting pre-minced garlic from the grocery store. If you go to the Asian section where they have tamari and soy sauce, they also have minced garlic that you can take a big spoonful of, mix in your salad dressing. I was also blending the pumpkin seeds until they were ground and putting that in the salad dressing so you barely tasted it and it would go all over the salad and I was having that every

Starting point is 00:24:28 single day. I was also having a little bit of mango for adrenal and cortisol health. I'm still doing that for breakfast. Now let's talk coffee. Coffee is a sensitive topic for many people because we all love our coffee, me included. Something with coffee when you get it out and about that you have to be aware of. A lot of coffee beans are moldy and a lot of coffee shops do not use high quality coffee and they're also not cleaning their machines very well. So getting coffee out is a high likely source of mold, I would say. With that said, I have a coffee next to me right now. Like, I'm not perfect. I try not to do it as much as I used to. But also keep in mind that a lot of places are pouring hot coffee into plastic and then you have microplastics in your system, which are just going to exasperate your pre-existing issues. So coffee is something

Starting point is 00:25:21 that I pretty much got rid of on my acne journey and replaced with this, which has become my newfound love. And you guys have probably seen in my story every single day. It's called Organo King Coffee. You can order it on Amazon. I will link it in the description. You spell Organo, O-R-G-A-N-O, King Coffee. It's basically instant coffee that is completely mold free and also is made of Arabica coffee beans and contains ganderma lucidum spore powder, which has great benefits for the immune system and is overall anti-inflammatory. Also, you only absorb eight milligrams of caffeine per packet, which I love because I can have tons of them a day. And I do try to cut my caffeine before like two or three, but this is such a low amount of caffeine and still tastes

Starting point is 00:26:12 really freaking good. Like I've had girls in the office be really skeptical of my organo coffee, and then I have them try it and they actually love it. I do two packets in a mug, hot water, and then I cool it down, add some ice. It's delish. And I feel like safe drinking it. You know, like I really decreased the amount of coffee I was getting at coffee shops. And I think it helped massively. They're also really easy to travel with because it's instant coffee packets. And all you need in a hotel room is a kettle and you just pour hot water over it. So coffee solution. Let's talk skincare and makeup products. Now, firstly, I'd like to say, I think so many people focus on the makeup and skincare of it all as if this is like the thing that's going to move

Starting point is 00:26:58 the needle. And while I think it's like necessary and the final push to healing, you got to do the internal work first. So what I did at the beginning was I went through every single product that I use on my skin, my hair, my body, makeup remover, toothpaste, everything. And I ran it through a website that was given to me by Nicola at Pacific Touch, New York City. She's awesome. She reached out to me. And I have to say, on this acne journey, I was quite transparent about it on TikTok and Instagram. And I had such an outpouring of support from women. And it took 10 years to get here. But I really have to say, I feel so supported in this. And I have to say thank you to everyone who reached out to me. Nicola from Pacific Touch sent me a website. It is cosdna.com, C-O-S-D-N-A.com. I'll also put this

Starting point is 00:27:52 in the description. This is going to be a description heavy episode, guys. And I ran every product through that website. I copy and pasted the ingredients into the analyze cosmetics section and looked for acne ingredients on the three to five scale. Anything between three and five, I got rid of and replaced with clean products. So even toothpaste, hair care, everything. And the great thing about that website is you can also see clean options as well. I keep using the word clean. I want to emphasize clean does not mean acne safe. I think a lot of skincare products, a lot of makeup products claim they're clean. That doesn't mean it doesn't have poor clogging ingredients. So keep that in mind. If you want info on good acne safe makeup,

Starting point is 00:28:38 go to Emily Morrow's Instagram page and check out her highlights. She has an acne checkmark, X mark highlight where you can see good options. She also has an Amazon storefront showing acne safe options. Just a few brands that I can think of that are acne safe, Priya, Merit, some of the products, not all, Aleema and RMS. I love the RMS foundation. And they also have this like glow sunscreen that I use every day that's like bronzy and I put it under everything. In terms of skincare, I use a few things. I love Pacific Touch skincare out of New York City. I love their sheet masks. The hydrating sheet mask is amazing. I also love Clear Stem's Acne Safe skincare line. I feel like anything from there

Starting point is 00:29:22 is trustworthy and safe. You guys know I work with them on the podcast, but this is not sponsored. I loved them before anyway. I also love this product called Element. It's spelled E-11-ement. It's the hypochlorous acid face skin spray. And I bring it to the gym or horseback riding basically anytime I sweat. And if I don't have the opportunity to clean my face right away, I will spray that because it kills bacteria. So I keep that with me everywhere I go. I also ice roll my face every morning for inflammation. I also get regular extractions and facials when I can. I will say they're not like enjoyable facials. They're not like super relaxing because when you have active acne, the goal is to just get it out and, you know, do that regularly.

Starting point is 00:30:11 By regularly, I mean like every three weeks or so. Although I will say I have struggled finding estheticians in LA that are nice. So I'm going to put that out there. I'm still looking. So let me go, let me know guys. I also went through everything in my house, including laundry detergent, hand soap, etc. There are so many toxins guys in everything. If I've learned anything from this podcast, it's that everything has fragrances and stuff that's inflaming our skin and our gut and our endocrine system. So we only use Branch Basics in my house and on our clothes. It's super simple ingredients, no toxins or fragrances. It's like pretty much baking soda and water and vinegar, I think, with a couple essential oils,

Starting point is 00:30:56 maybe, if that. So check them out. Again, this is not a sponsored episode, but I do love that brand. I avoid using anything with fragrances, including scented candles, car air fresheners, perfume. I even made my husband stop wearing his La Labo cologne because I put my head on his body and I don't want to smell that and have my endocrine system disrupted. So he doesn't quite get it, but I think I told him like, you're giving me acne and he chilled out on the Lullabo. So that's good. Guys, cozy season is upon us. I'm so excited about it. I don't know about you, but here in LA, it's really cold in the morning, really cold in the evening, and it just makes you want to snuggle up in bed. And Cozy Earth Bedding really is the best choice for the season. It was named one of

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Starting point is 00:33:02 P-U-R-S-U-I-T. Anyone who knows me knows I am absolutely in love with my animals. They are my whole life. I have two dogs, Arnold and Lulu, and I've been using Farmer's Dog now, I want to say for about three years. And you guys know I am obsessed with health and nutrition when it comes to myself and my family. And that applies to my dogs too. I want them to live a long, healthy life. And what I love about the farmer's dog is I can really see the ingredients in the food. And I know that I've seen such great benefits in the dogs. Their coats are shiny, their breath is good, the poops are healthy, which if you own dogs, you know how important the poop health is. The farmer's dog makes and delivers fresh, healthy dog food. It's developed

Starting point is 00:33:44 by vets, nutritionally balanced, and made from real healthy ingredients to human food safety standards. It really is the best option for dogs at all stages of life because it's not kibble and it's not canned goo. It's just real healthy food. Traditional dry and wet dog food options are highly processed and can use much lower quality ingredients than they claim to and are extremely difficult to portion accurately. What I love about the farmer's dog is that it

Starting point is 00:34:10 isn't just fresh high quality food. They also send the food pre-portioned specifically for your dog based on their unique nutritional needs, which makes it easy to help your dog maintain their ideal weight, which is one of the biggest indicators of a full healthy life. Get 50% off your first box of fresh, healthy dog food at thefarmersdog.com slash wellness, plus you get free shipping. Go to thefarmersdog.com slash wellness to get 50% off your first box, plus free shipping. Okay, let's talk additional lifestyle and therapy support. These are kind of like added extras that have helped me but aren't fully necessary and maybe aren't as easy to access, but I wanted to mention them. Sauna and cold plunge two to four times a week. Now I feel so blessed to have my own sauna and ice plunge in my yard. It's been a goal of mine for years and years. And I'm in there minimum

Starting point is 00:35:11 two times a week. I think that really helps detox the skin, lower inflammation, clear out the liver of any toxins. An added bonus when you get in the sauna. Oh, and by the way, I should mention, if you don't have access to a sauna, you can buy a sauna blanket. Fi actually has one from Higher Dose that I gifted her and she's been using it every day. So you can get sauna blankets on Amazon and things like that. So I would check that out. You can just lay in it while you watch TV, detox a little bit. Before you get in the sauna, put some castor oil. Make sure it's in a dark bottle, glass, and it's cold pressed. Put it on your liver, which is on the upper right-hand side of your body near your rib cage. And that will help your liver detox while

Starting point is 00:35:56 you're sweating. You can also do a castor oil pack at night. You need a wrap and you need the castor oil. You can order all of that on Amazon. And I've done a couple of those at night, you need a wrap and you need the castor oil. You can order all of that on Amazon. And I've done a couple of those at night and it really, really is helpful. I know it looks weird and it sounds weird, but if you're trying to cleanse the liver, it's fantastic. IV drips and injections for glutathione. Glutathione helped me a lot during this journey. Exercise, I think is always important. Like at the core of it, I think a lot of my acne was coming from internal stress and living in fight or flight, which I'm still working on. But I think the more I work on it, the clearer my skin gets. Getting outside and getting sunshine on the eyes

Starting point is 00:36:36 first thing in the morning for cortisol. This was quite literally prescribed to me by Emily and has been really helpful. Tracking blood sugar for spikes. I wore a levels glucose monitor for a week and found it wasn't mind blowing to me because I do eat a primarily high fat, high protein diet. But I found that the cherries spiked my blood sugar. And I know that if you're going to have an alcoholic beverage, it's better to have fat and protein beforehand to prevent that spike. So keep that in mind. De-stressing, having a ritual with meditation, journaling, deep breathing, finding a way to wind down at night. Believe it or not, our stress has a massive impact on our skin. And I have found that every time I'm in a stressful patch of my

Starting point is 00:37:25 life, it has a huge, huge impact. Another thing I want to mention with my diet is although I wouldn't call myself a strict carnivore, I definitely simplified my entire diet. For the most part, I eat red meat that's grass fed,finished, sourced from a ranch, farmer's market, whatever it may be. I do eat turkey and chicken as well. And I have avocado. I have a couple vegetables here and there, carrots, a little bit of salad. But I really focus on the protein as my main part of the meal. I also have berries, a little bit of mango and the cherries, as I mentioned. So I'm kind of eating a paleo, somewhat keto diet that's a little bit carnivore inspired. And I have seafood about once a week now. I was having salmon almost once a day at some point. And farm raised salmon is one of the

Starting point is 00:38:20 leading foods that can have parasites. So if you are trying to clear your skin or detox, highly recommend not eating seafood that frequently, which is hard because I love sushi, I love seafood, but keeping it to once a week has helped immensely. And I know this diet might sound restrictive, but I have to say I am really enjoying it. I feel so satiated. It's not a calorie thing for me. And I've said that before. I think I probably eat more calories than most people because my food is very calorie dense. It's really about the ingredients. And I will start incorporating more now that I feel I'm in a better place. But at the place I was in when my lab work was so, so bad and my gut health was struggling, this was the diet that really helped me. And I've really found that the less plants I

Starting point is 00:39:10 ate, the better my skin looked. And I know everyone's different, but that's what worked for me. And I wanted to mention that here. I know this all sounds like a lot and I was overwhelmed at first too, but the more I started incorporating these habits, the more it became a lifestyle and the easier it got. I really found ways of incorporating things in my pre-existing habits. For example, putting the chlorophyll drops in my greens. I found ways of habit stacking and making my life easier or even adding the raw garlic to my salad dressing. Order the pill organizer, put it in your schedule, make it a part of your routine. It is pill organizer, put it in your schedule, make it a part of your routine. It is an undertaking, but if you're consistent, you will see results. I cannot believe

Starting point is 00:39:52 how much I improved my blood work just after a few months. Like I really took everything Emily said and applied it as consistently as I possibly could. And I have seen dramatic improvements in my blood work, my skin, my health in general. All of us have different levels of sensitivities and our bodies have different ways of showing us something is wrong. For me, it was acne. For someone else, it's stomach issues or even yeast infections. One thing that got me through my acne journey was considering it a blessing that my skin was telling me something was wrong. And I mentioned that before, but I want to say it again because it really did help me get through. Most people don't even know what's happening in their own

Starting point is 00:40:35 bodies and they have years of compounding issues that show up later. I had an affirmation that I would say to myself every time I looked in the mirror when my acne was at its worst, because I know how hard it can be to wake up and just nitpick your entire face and feel like you can't even see your own skin. I would say I am grateful for the messages my skin is sending me. My skin is healing. My skin is doing its best. So if you're having acne right now, try saying daily affirmations to yourself and try to know that good is coming and your skin will clear up, I promise. And who knows, I could have a horrible breakout tomorrow, but this is the most consistently clear I've ever been. And I really wanted to share this info with you guys because I know what it's like. And I've been through years and years and years and years of trying absolutely everything.

Starting point is 00:41:29 And it's exhausting and emotionally taxing. So I love you guys so, so much. Thank you for listening to this episode and for supporting the show in general. Hopefully there was some helpful information in there for you all. If you want to see more acne content, make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok. I talk a lot about acne there, and I will have all the products and websites and helpful things I mentioned in the description of this episode. Make sure you hit the subscribe button if you haven't yet. I have new episodes every single Monday. I don't want you to miss one, and I will see you next time. Bye. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only.

Starting point is 00:42:07 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. Thank you for listening to today's episode. Go comment on my last Instagram, at Mari Llewellyn, with the guest you want to see next.

Starting point is 00:42:24 I'll be picking one person from the comments to send our bloom greens to. Make sure you hit follow so you never miss my weekly episodes. If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to share and leave a review. See you next week. episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

Pursuit of Wellness - How I Healed My Acne Naturally: Finding The Root Cause, My Supplement Regimen & Diet | Solo Episode

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