8 Things I do for clean skin

When people tell me that I have clean skin now at 30, I remember how my complexion looked at 25 and say “well that was a clean skin back then”. Three years ago I developed rosacea and really tried to figure out what I was doing wrong, I searched for a lot of information and I made the following changes:

1. I went gluten-free (no wheat, barley, rye, oats). This had a major impact on my skin, visibly decreasing redness and I know it sounds like a whim or a trend but it’s not: gluten causes intestinal inflammation for most of the people and blocks the absorption of nutrients when it’s combined with other foods. Nutritionists are aware of this, so I don’t know why this is not mainstream information. An altered gut function, impacts the skin dramatically and may cause conditions like acne, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis etc. My mistake was that I that I thought as many people do, that sliced toast, french toast, bagels, pastry means BREAD when it’s just PROCESSED FOOD, with half low quality white flour and half additives.
2. Sugar-free diet. This is something I did almost ten years ago, just because sugar is an addictive poison without any nutritional value. I still crave it (especially when I see someone eating in front of me 😀 ), but I know it’s junk, so I stay away.
3. Quit conventional dairy. This is a transition that I’ve made recently (almost 9 months ago) and now I only eat unpasteurized dairy products, completely removing dairy available in supermarkets, because I’m sure a box of milk that stays on the shelves for one month or more, cannot be healthy. I limit milk products intake up to 2-3 servings per week.
4. No fried food whatsoever. It causes oxidative stress and premature aging of the body.
5. No canned or processed food. Things like ketchup, sauces, cold meats are full of preservatives, additives and sugar that only fuel the body with carcinogenic toxins.
6. Introducing nuts and seeds in my diet. My favorites are almonds, chia seeds and hemp seeds.
7. 3 days a week I only eat vegan and as much as I can raw, almost only fruits and vegetables with some rice or potatoes. Juicing has become a part of my constant routine (mostly vegetable juices) and my favorite combination is carrot, lemon and ginger. This also has a huge impact on the skin, which looks much firmer and younger.
8. Simplify my skincare routine. Sticking only to cleansing, gentle  peels and moisturizing  and being careful with the products I pick (no fragrance, parabens etc). To find more about what products I like, please check the skincare section of this blog.

As you can easily see, most of the things I do for a clean skin relate to nutrition, more than anything else. And yes you can tell me you’ve met people with beautiful skin that eat whatever they want, but for me it never worked the easy way. Whatever I attained working hard, had a long-lasting result and it paid off in time. As a bonus, aside from clean skin, choosing real food instead of anything processed, made me lose 4-5 kg, which led me to my normal weight and more energy.

I think food choices are personal, everyone should choose whatever they want, but at the end of the day we all live with the consequences of our choices. In the last couple of years I’ve spent the most on good quality, nutritious food and it’s been the best investment I have done so far.