Show #9: Save our Skin – Strengthening our skin against common conditions with naturopath Liezel Barnard

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S SHOW ON iTUNES, STITCHER OR SPOTIFY OR LISTEN RIGHT HERE:

In this show…

Today’s show with guest naturopath Liezel Barnard was all about common issue with the skin and what we can do to strengthen our skin on the outside as well as what we can do from the inside and from a general lifestyle perspective. Most skin conditions aren’t a life sentence and there’s a lot we can do to either avoid experiencing them in the first place, OR lessen severity or make it go away!

Liezel Barnard 1

What we mentioned

Weston A Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration book

Weston A Price - Nutrition and Physical degeneration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GUT – the book. Simple. Excellently relatable. A must read.

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Bureau of Meteorology UV Index – to know when to use sunscreen and when it’s safe to dose up on the most natural and effective form of Vitamin D – the sun! For fair skin and red hair, please consult with your doctor when the best, safest option is for you.

Natural sunscreen picks to cover up without irritating the skin?

NOURISHED LIFE has you covered in Australia – Kelapa and Eco are my favourites there! Just pop through the link and check them out.

IHERB in the USA – I LOVE the Caribbean solutions SPF 25. Brilliant.

Love Lula in the UK

Acne in Canadian Inuit adopting a Western Diet.

Here’s article that mentions the original Inuit studies. The studies were done in the 1970’s so will be hard to get my hands on the originals.
Alicja Kucharska, Agnieszka Szmurło, and Beata Sińska. Significance of diet in treated and untreated acne vulgaris. Postepy Dermatol Alergol. 2016 Apr; 33(2): 81–86. .

Acne in Okinawans adopting a Western Diet.

Original research was done in the 1940’s, however here is the article that mentions this study.
Jennifer Burris, William Rietkerk, Kathleen Woolf. Acne: The Role of Medical Nutrition Therapy. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. March 2013, Volume 113, Issue 3, Pages 416–430

The fillagrin gene, eczema and the “Atopic March” 

Ziyab AH, Karmaus W, Yousefi M, Ewart S, Schauberger E, Holloway JW, Zhang H, Arshad SH. Interplay of filaggrin loss-of-function variants, allergic sensitization, and eczema in a longitudinal study covering infancy to 18 years of age. PLoS One. 2012;7(3):e32721. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032721. Epub 2012 Mar 5.

Palmar Hyperlinearity – sign that you may have a faulty fillagrin gene
https://www.mdedge.com/edermatologynews/article/79410/atopic-dermatitis/palm-lines-predict-worse-outcomes-atopic-dermatitis
 

Liezel’s top 5 tips for a healthy skin

  1. Maintain and protect the skin barrier.
    • Use mild non-soap cleansers
    • Moisturise regurlalrly, never let the skin dry out
  2. Maintain and protect the skin and gut flora
    • Avoid strong antibacterial or antibiotic products unless absolutely necessary
    • Eat a wholefood diet high in fibre to feed your good gut bacteria
    • Take probiotics if needed
  3. Have adequate Vitamin D intake
  4. Consume adequate omega 3 fatty acids through consumption of small oily fish or fish oil or algae supplements.
    • Usually 2 fish oil capsules per day
  5. Find out what your skin condition triggers are and avoid them where possible. Keeping a journal is a good start.

 

And that’s all I have for you this week! Have you listened back though the shows yet? I’d love to know your AHA’s and favourites if you fancied leaving a comment.

Please remember to leave a star review or a one liner comment review when you get time on ITunes – It’s like tipping the bartender and it’s greatly appreciated.

Low Tox. Happy Us. Happy Planet

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Comments 21

  1. Hi Alex!
    I loved listening to the podcast on my drive into work this morning, I could really relate to this episode. For quite a few years I have been suffering from extremely itchy and red blotchy legs (mainly back of the legs), it’s been a mission of mine for the past few weeks on trialling different ways to reduce the appearance of these marks and reducing the amount of itchi-ness. Mainly due to the fact that the itching was getting so bad I would end up bruising my skin and leave it bleeding.
    My local GP wasn’t very helpful at all, offering no help. So I took it into my own hands.
    For the past two weeks I have been only wearing Cotton based clothing (shorts whilst working out) and trying to moisturize at least once per day.
    So far, the itchiness has died down but the appearance is still quite bad (the one thing that lowers my self esteem about myself).
    I’m thinking that perhaps I might try moisturizing more and try the Weleda brand and see how I go there.
    Do you have any advice at all? Should I peruse a Natropath or Homepath? Unfortunately I’m not sure of the difference of these two, or perhaps a Dermatitis?.

    I love listening to the podcast each and every week!

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      So glad you’re enjoying the show and that’s no fun re your condition! Glad it’s getting less severe though that’s great. I would definitely see a naturopath for this one and give the Weleda white mallow a try as it has the cocooning ability as does the Skin Food with the Lanolin in it. x

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  2. Hi Alexx, wondering out for the favourite suncreens you mention which one you’d recommend for kids (who don’t like heavy/sticky suncreens with strong fragrances!)? Thanks

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      Hi Michelle – For babies I like the Eco Baby Spf 30+ – Apply regularly every 1.5 hours when they’re under 2 if in the sun a lot and ensure they get early morning sun without protection for their vitamin D x

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  4. Hi Alexx, really enjoying the podcasts!
    I have a 7yo with severe and chronic eczema that has flared really badly the last 5 months for no obvious reason. I find it a bit frustrating that pretty much everything recommended for eczema (including all the weleda products) are made with almond oil. Given the relationship between eczema and allergies this always surprises me. My little boy is anaphylactic to all nuts and we can’t use anything with almond oil (or any other nut oil) or shea butter in the ingredients. Do you have any other products you can suggest? Many thanks 🙂

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      Hi Delle

      Oh no that doesn’t sound fun at all. Eczema can be so many things – even Winter is one. Could you do the bath every other day or even every 3 days? And possibly consider a shower filter instead of bath so there’s no chlorine to aggravate either?

      You could try Egyptian magic which is fragrance / nut free from memories. A good, thick balm .Badger Balm is good too. RoseHip Plus from Nourished life is great too – http://bit.ly/NourishedLifeHOME (you can get the shower filter, badger and egyptian magic all from there too)

      Here’s what Weleda say about using almond oil: Weleda uses almond oil in skin care products for sensitive skin because from an anthroposphical viewpoint almond has great strengthening properties to restore the vitality and barrier function of the sensitive skin.

      From a scientific viewpoint, the essential fatty acids in combination with Vitamin E found in almond oil plays an important role in reducing inflammation and supplementing the hydro-lipid layer of the skin. We extract the oil part from almonds, leaving the protein and fibre behind. As the immune system usually reacts to plant or animal proteins, we don’t expect someone to have an allergic reaction to the almond oil in our skincare products. So unless you have a severe (anaphylactic) allergy to almonds, almond oil in skincare products is safe to use on the skin.

      Weleda has done numerous tests on the safety of almond oil and that is why they are confident to include it as an ingredient in the skin care ranges for sensitive and eczema prone skin.

      So basically the only reason they don’t say it’s ‘perfectly safe’ is that their production isn’t huge scale industrial perfection, and while almond oil is protein free given it’s an oil, and therefore non reactive, they can’t promise in case of severe allergy that a little protein molecule or two didn’t make it in, so if it’s just an intolerance you’re fine, but if it’s an allergy then yes, best use something else. Hope I’ve given you a couple of other ideas there to explore x

      Reply

  5. Thanks Alexx, I’ll check out the nourished life products. He’s anaphylactic to all nuts , there’s no way I could use a nut product on his skin. We already have a whole house water filter, hasn’t made a scrap of difference unfortunately. Our water tastes delicious though lol. Thanks again for your reply

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  6. Hey Alexx, I am absolutely loving ALL these podcasts, but rarely find the time to say so!! (Altho I have partaken in the review process!) And this podcast is no exception, as Weleda my fave brand, and altho I have enough Skin Food for a herd of elephants, I am running low on other supplies 😉 I thought I’d try a couple of newbies too – never tried the birch cellulite system… AND the White Mallow… what is this good for again? My go-to’s are skin food and the rose cream for the face, then one of the body lotions. So I’m wondering how to incorporate the Mallow? Cheers, Sadie 🙂

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      SO glad you’re loving the podcasts and thank you, thank you, thank you for the review. Much appreciated! Birch Cellulite is brilliant. The drink while a bit tart is a wonderful morning starter. White mallow has the cocooning property of the mallow extract in there so that one’s great for sensitive skin and skin conditions as well as babies. x

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  7. Hi Alexx, your podcasts are a pleasure to listen to. You speak so clearly and succinctly, and of course the topics you cover are fascinating. I have been on the low tox journey for a while but I am learning that we are all constantly learning and evolving, working out what sits best with us at that time.
    And, I am LOVING my ettitude sheets – gifted them to hubby for Father’s Day, LOL.
    About to hit the Weleda website – have used a few of their products in the past but happy to try a few more.
    I really appreciate you doing the ‘leg-work’ on companies. I would like to support companies that ‘tick all the boxes’ from a low tax, ethical, sustainable stand point, but I really don’t have the time to do the research – so again, MANY thanks.
    Amy

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      Oh yay! Love that you so selflessly bought them for ‘father’s day’ that’s gold! Enjoy Weleda! So glad you’re finding the show worthwhile and interesting. I am absolutely loving putting them on and we go weekly from October which I cannot wait for! x

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  8. Thanks Alexx,
    Really appreciate your work. I sometimes have felt a bit alone on the lox tox journey- you can feel a bit like people think you’re a nutter! So it’s so great to hear of others who are like minded. Leezel mentioned a condition that affected her eye lids. I didn’t catch the name so wondered if you could let me know. I think what I’ve called eczema for 15 years might actually be that!! Many thanks Rebecca.

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  9. Love your blog. Sometimes the food we eat can cause unwanted health concerns, such as digestive imbalances or gut flora issues.
    GUT – the book is a good read as you’ve mentioned in your blog, I recommend it!

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  10. Pingback: Podcast of the week: Saving our skin - issues and fixes · Prescribing a Healthy Life

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