Category Archives: Healing

Adult Acne: I Explain the Causes and Offer Ways to Heal it Forever

Photo Credit: aehack

Photo Credit: aehack

I received the following email from a lovely woman named, Belene, last week. I asked her if I could share our correspondence because I felt it might also be of help to others out there, possibly you. She graciously agreed. Thank you, Belene!

If you would like to know more or if this information was helpful to you, please let me know in the comments below. :)

Belene’s Email:

I am emailing you because I am having facial problems I have never encountered in my entire life. For the past 5 weeks, I have had severe acne from temple to temple and smaller bumps on my cheeks and chin. Each day I get a new pimple and they are scaring. I am of Ethiopian descent and the scaring is black. Prior to this I had almost flawless skin. If I were to have a break out it would be a single one. Not every sq nanometer of my face. Please advise.
Thanks so much.
Bliss

My Response:

Hi Belene,

Nice to meet you!
Thank you so much for your inquiry.

I understand how you might be feeling. Acne can be a troubling condition. I had acne for many years until recently – I tried everything to heal it over that entire period of time and nothing seemed to work. My skin is beautiful now and I found that it was caused many factors, some of which took some time to heal.

Acne is a complex issue. There are a plethora of possible causes including:

  • Diet
  • Toxic load in the body
  • Stress & Stored Emotions
  • Hormone Imbalances 1) Increased insulin production can signal the body to release extra male hormones, called androgens, which are involved in pimple formation. 2) Changes in the hormonal balance, such as those brought about by pregnancy, menstruation or hormonal abnormalities.
  • Medication – including some contraceptive pills, anabolic steroids, some anti-epileptic medications, lithium and iodine-containing medications.
  • Chlorinated industrial chemicals may induce the occupational skin disorder known as chloracne.
  • Rosacea can often be confused with acne – some causes include small intestinal bacterial overgrowth; demodex mites, caffeine; foods high in histamines (red wine, aged cheeses, yogurt, beer, cured pork products, etc.); microdermabrasion and chemical peels; high dosages topical or nasal steroids or benzyol perioxide. Also a very acidic diet contributes to rosacea.

I have some questions for you:

  1. Have you changed your diet recently? You could be detoxing.
  2. Have you had an abnormal amount of stress lately?
  3. Have you experienced any changes in your health recently?
  4. Could it be Rosacea? Have you used any corticosteroid (cortisone) creams or any steriod type medication?

Here are my recommendations:

1) First, try to determine if it is indeed acne or rosacea. You might need to see a dermatologist to determine this. You may also look for an alternative medicine practitioner that can make this determination. You could also diagnose yourself by researching online – I do this all of the time.

2) Good skin care makes a significant difference with both conditions. If it is acne, look for products that are antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant. With ingredients such as MSM (methylsulfonylmethane, a vital naturally occurring sulfur compound), Niacinamide (vitamin B4), Willow bark extract, Neem, Zinc Oxide, Witch Hazel, and Lavender, Tea Tree, Rosemary, and Chamomile Essential Oils.
Click HERE for some products that will help.

If it is rosacea, I would recommend very soothing and healing products for you, such as Rose Cellular Renewal, RoseGlow Face Creme, RoseGlow Serum, Seabuckthorn Tamanu All Over Lotion, Blue-Green Algae Mask

3) A healthy diet and body free of toxins is also essential. I definitely recommend a healthy Vegan diet.  A Raw Vegan diet is even better for beautiful, blemish-free skin. Regardless, specifically steer clear of sugar; refined starches and grains; alcohol; caffeine; chocolate; dairy products (especially pasteurized cow dairy), red meat, and all processed and chemical foods. Consume an abundance of fresh vegetables and vegetable juices. Eating foods with Omega-3 fatty acids and fermented foods or a non-dairy pro-biotic supplement is also important for clear skin. Increase your pro-biotics for sure.

You might consider a green juice fast for at least several days or more – this will be intensely healing and alkalizing to the body.

4) Your body may need help detoxing. I highly recommend Colon Hydro-Therapy!!

5) Acne can also be caused by poor fat metabolism. This means that the liver is not capable of fully digesting and assimilating all of the fat and oil entering the system. The health of the skin is often a reflection of the health of the liver. There are various ways to cleanse the liver. Drinking water with lemon every day helps. Eating Raw, Fresh, Organic Fruits and Vegetables is important. I add large amounts of dandelion to my fresh juices for liver cleansing. Milk Thistle and Dandelion Root in tincture or tea form are also simple ways to keep the liver healthy. Avoiding drugs, alcohol, and for some of us, even chocolate, which has a stimulating effect on the body and taxes that liver, is essential. Also look into doing liver flushes and cleanses, seasonally, or more frequently for a congested liver.

6) Hygiene is important. Change your pillowcase regularly and avoid touching your face with your hands unless you have just washed them.

7) I have all of the above covered and still get a pimple or three from time to time. Hormonal imbalances, stored emotions, and stress can also contribute to acne breakouts. I participate in various forms of therapy, healing, and other practices to take care of my emotional well-being.

I wish you many many blessings towards your healing. Do not hesitate to ask any more questions you may have. Keep me updated on your progress, if you like, as well.

Warmly,
Jill

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5 Ways to Start Making Healthy Skin Care Choices

Photo Credit: dead redhead

Photo Credit: dead redhead

I apply the same principals to skin care as I apply to food. Both are entering my body, whether through my skin or through my mouth. Therefore, both need to be as close to nature as possible, completely pure, and entirely free of chemicals and synthetics. Unlike the food industry, there are no legal standards for personal care products sold in the United States, meaning that we need to be savvy when shopping for healthy skin care.

1. Become a Conscious Consumer

Read labels! If you can’t pronounce it, forget about it. And if it doesn’t sound natural, it probably isn’t.
You might expect a product labeled “pure, natural and organic” to be, well … pure, natural and organic. But you might be in for a surprise.
Because there are no legal standards for organic or natural personal care products sold in the United States, companies can, and often do, use these terms for marketing purposes. Just because a product is found in a natural foods store, for example, does not automatically mean it’s safe. Read and analyze the ingredient list carefully before buying.

All of the products we will soon be carrying on LivingEarthBeauty.com are 100% pure, organic, vegan, raw, and natural. I use all of our products and I would never put chemicals on or inside my body. Rejoice in safe, natural, luxurious, and powerfully effective skin care and forget the rest!

2. Check the Skin Deep Database

The Environmental Working Group has a wonderful comprehensive database called Skin Deep that anyone can use to check the safety of an ingredient or skincare product.
SKIN DEEP – COSMETIC SAFETY DATABASE

3. Bring Your Own

What about when you go someplace where you are subject to their products, such as a hair or nail salon? Find a hair salon in your area that uses safe, natural products, or do it yourself at home. I have been performing my own pedicures at home lately, and when I do go to a salon, I bring my own toxin-free nail polish (base coat, color, and top coat). Every salon I’ve chosen to has been more than happy to use my products. Also, make sure the salon is well-ventilated; if the smell bowls you over when you walk in, choose a different salon.

Look for Nail Polish that is free of phthalates, formaldehdye, toluene, and acetate/acetone. Aquarella and Suncoat Water-based nail polish are safer brands. To check if your nail polish brand is safe visit the Skin Deep Database.

4. Take a Stand for Safe Cosmetics

Join The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and only purchase from stores that participate. Living Earth Beauty is an official signer of The Compact for Safe Cosmetics. By signing this compact and having our products approved as safe, we have pledged that all cosmetics and personal care products made by the manufacturers we carry exceed the formulation standards and deadlines set by the European Union cosmetics directive to be free of chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is working with more than 100 endorsing organizations, responsible businesses and thousands of citizen activists to shift the cosmetics market toward safer products and to advocate for smarter laws that protect our health from toxic chemicals and encourage innovation of safer alternatives.

5. Stay Informed and Spread the Love

Sign up for our Newsletter here to stay up to date on safe and healthy skincare. Tell your friends and loved ones about protecting themselves from harmful chemicals and share your healthy products with them. Choosing products that are natural, healthy, and close to nature is simple when you feel how sensuous, fulfilling, and enjoyable they are!

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Unraveling the Myth of Aging & Disease

photo credit: fatboyke
photo credit: fatboyke

Choose to End Disease

Disease and premature aging is so prevalent in our world, especially here in the United States, that it seems natural to us. Accepted as a fact of life that happens to nearly all of us. Only if we are really, really lucky, we may manage to dodge it. Most disease is not just something flying around that hits us if we are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Disease and pre-mature aging is something we are doing to ourselves, a choice we make every day. Unfortunately, we do not often know that we are actively causing our own demise. We live in a world where artificiality is prized, in the form of the foods we eat, the chemicals we use on our bodies and in our homes, the drugs we take, what we use and do for work and entertainment. Even our own bodies are filled with artificial parts or missing crucial organs for aesthetic or medical reasons.
Disease is our body sending the message that it has been working overtime to remove the toxins we have been putting into it repeatedly for years and it is now burnt out and has had enough! We have ignored all of the signals it has been giving us in the form of “symptoms” over the years and it is giving us the ultimate signal in the form of disease. Disease is simply a message from your body to you. It is NOT death sentence. Sometimes when a disease manifests, we feel like its victim. We feel like a victim of our bodies.

Our bodies make no mistakes. If our bodies were prone to mistakes, our evolution would have ceased long ago. We hold the ultimate empowerment. Our bodies are infinitely more advanced than any machine or pill we could ever invent. We were born empowered as the most miraculous manifestations on the planet. We have the power to create disease, we have the power to heal disease, and we have the power to never have disease and live a long and vibrant life. We trust our bodies so little, that we truly are led to believe that once we have a disease, we’re done for! That we either have to live with it for the rest of our lives, or we try to “kill” it by exposing ourselves to even more dangerous things than the disease itself, such as powerful drugs and radiation. The truth is that disease can be healed in a shockingly short amount of time. The body has the innate capacity to create, regenerate and heal itself, but accumulated toxicity interferes with the body’s own healing wisdom and mechanisms.

Our bodies are working tirelessly to undo the damage caused by our choices every day. Type II Diabetes (previously known in the medical community as Adult-Onset Diabetes) is caused by over-consumption of processed foods, sugar, and bad fats. Type II Diabetes is being cured every day after only a month or two of a diet change! (See Raw for 30, the work of Dr. Gabriel Cousens, and Dr. Neal Barnard). Cancer patients told that they only have two months to live, have healed themselves, with tumors disappearing in a matter days. (See The Gerson Institute). This type of rapid healing is normal and natural. Healing is NOT a miracle, our amazing human bodies are! We are DESIGNED to be perfectly healthy always. We are DESIGNED to thrive! We are actually capable of living extremely long, vibrant, youthful lives, perhaps even decades or a century longer than we currently are. Our bodies are a miracle, the ultimate example of divine perfection. We are a condensed version of the entire universe!

“The cell is immortal. It is merely the fluid in which it floats that degenerates. Renew this fluid at regular intervals, give the cells what they require for nutrition, and as far as we know, the pulsation of life can go on forever.”
Dr. Alexis Carrell – Nobel Prize Winner

What Causes Disease?

Nature Deficit Disorder. As humanity has become more and more “civilized,” “industrialized,” and techno-cratic, the more prevalent and common diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease have become. The more we have disconnected from ourselves, our source, and from nature, the more degenerative disease shows up. The more we become separated from the Earth, the more diseased we become in our body, mind, and spirit. We can be so removed from ourselves that most of the time we do not realize that we exist within or beyond the shell of our skin. Why do we forget about the intricate, complex universe inside of us? Perhaps because we can visually witness a wound or injury healing, but we are not able to visually witness the healing of the body on the inside in the same way. It is obvious to us that if we have a bicycle accident with internal injuries, our bodies heal with rest, care, and gentleness. We do not get on a bicycle the next day with the potential of causing further injury. This is how disease is caused in the body – repetitive internal injury to the body, without allowing it to heal. This repetitive injury comes in the form of anything unnatural, such as the “food-like substances” (Michael Pollan) we eat, the chemical-laden water we drink, the toxic vaccines we receive, the endless pharmaceuticals and drugs we take, the chemicals we clean with, spray on our food, and especially put on our precious bodies. “Headaches are not caused by a Tylenol deficiency.”

Anything that is manufactured by humans and does not come from nature is toxic to us. We consume these toxins over and over, day after day, not allowing the body to heal from the damage done by these toxins. The body is made to be perfectly healthy and is always trying to return that perfectly healthy state when damage is done. The only way it can heal is by receiving a rest from the damage, and by hopefully, eliminating everything that is damaging the body.

“The person who takes medicine must recover twice; once from the disease and once from the drug.”
Sir William Osler, MD, co-founder of Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine, father of Internal Medicine.

“Our body is the best drug-producing company and laboratory there is. Upon demand, we will create our own anti-depressants, anti-cancer, anti-biotics, pain relief medication etc. with no prescription needed, literally no side effects, in the precise dose and concentration and administered exactly where it is needed for as long as it is needed. No human brain can even begin to comprehend these complex processes. What makes you think that a medical doctor after a rather brief interview, makes a snap diagnosis and is able to come up with the exact amount of the right chemical that is missing?”
Dr. Tudor Marinescu

“Chronic conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer etc.) develop as toxic accumulations, layers upon layers, over a long period of time. There is no wonder pill in nature that will make you get totally well overnight. The opportunity one is faced with is to travel the sometimes sinuous path to unveil the real cause of dis (un) ease, instead of reaching for the “quick, drive thru” fix that brings with itself a greater toll down the road.”
Dr. Tudor Marinescu

Our bodies are a sacred creation, an expression of divine love, perfection. Many of us are so disconnected from their bodies, that we make no connection between our mind, soul, and body, when in truth we are one synergistic being, everything we eat, drink, do, think, feel affects every aspect of our being. Just as if we steal something, there are repercussions with the law; if we say something hurtful to our partner, there are repercussions in our relationship; if we use chemical laden, genetically modified foods and beauty products, there are repercussions in our body and our entire being.

Back to Nature

I recently heard an incredible interview with David Wolfe. He spoke of the metaphysical and spiritual reasons behind heart disease. He said that disease of the heart can be caused by a lack of love from mother or emotional charge around mother. Mother being “THE mother” or the Earth. Heart Disease comes from not touching the Earth directly, from not being in intimate relationship with Her, as we as “Earthlings” are designed to be. When we are not in direct contact with the Earth, our bones decalcify (calcium leaves our bones and goes into the bloodstream) and our arteries calcify (balancing out all the calcium in our bloodstream by putting it somewhere). The earth is charged with negatively charged electrons, so all positively charged calcification and sclerosis of the arteries reverses itself when we are enveloped in that negatively charged field. When we touch the Earth with our bare hands or bare feet (yes, that means no shoes or socks), the negative charge helps protect us instantly, at the speed of light, from atherosclerosis.

Have you have noticed how different people who live a a very urban city are from people who live more connected with nature on a daily basis? I lived in New York City ten years ago and was so shielded in my sensitivity at the time, that I was just one of many unhappy-feeling people. I was so taken aback when I was recently attending classes at a nutrition school in the heart of the city. This was a group of some of the most healthy people in the entire city. The students I met that lived in the city were, in general in much poorer health and less happy than the students from smaller towns and places where there was more concentration of nature. The New Yorkers I met were the ones in the group drinking coffee (it is rare to find a nutrition specialist that drinks coffee on a regular basis). They felt and looked tired and run down. We are not meant to live on pavement, in skyscrapers, and eat only the chemicalized creations we find at so many restaurants. Our hearts and our bodies yearn for connection not only with ourselves and with each other, but with nature. The happiest, healthiest, most ageless people I have ever met are the people that are the most deeply connected with nature in the way they live, eat, and care for themselves.

We are made to exist harmoniously in balance with one another and with our Earth. Our mother Earth provides us with the absolute perfect foods to nourish our bodies, and the perfect medicines to heal our bodies. Most foods, even the completely artificial ones, are derived from plants. All medicines, even the chemical drugs so prevalent in our world now, are derived from plants. Why not just return to the Source?

Eat plant-based foods directly from nature, from the soil or from a tree, as they were made to be consumed just for us. Use lovingly-crafted products and skin care made directly from the Earth. Touch the Earth directly, feel the warmth of the sun on your shoulders and feel the coolness of the soil beneath your feet. Allow yourself to revel in the beauty that surrounds us and feel how deeply we are loved and enveloped in it.

“When before the beauty of a sunset or a mountain, you pause and exclaim, “Ah,” you are participating in divinity.”
Joseph Campbell

Through our communion with nature, we come closest to the Source of our existence. Nature, in its pure, untainted state is a perfect synergy. Every living being and element in nature is a creation of love and perfection. By returning to nature, we return to our highest potential as divine beings.

“Nature is the visible face of the spirit. It is to nature that the soul goes for rest, renewal, and vision. Through the ages Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, and the prophets all sought vision in the wilderness. It is there they came closest to the Source of their existence. Leaving behind the social self they sought holy ground where Earth, Spirit, Nature, and God are one.”
Sparrow Hart

How do you notice disconnection from nature causing disharmony or disease? How have you chosen to reconnect?

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