The Gut Health Skin Connection
April 23, 2019
Our skin is a big deal – literally. With an average surface area of more than 21 square feet and up to 16% of your body weight, your skin is actually your largest organ! And because you can easily touch, see and check your skin health daily, it is a great indicator of what’s going on inside your body – in particular, your gut health.
When something is not quite right inside our bodies, our hair, nails and skin are usually the first to suffer. This is because when nutrients are in short supply, your body will prioritise them and deliver them to essential organs like the heart, brain and liver. Makes sense, right?
So why would your nutrients be in short supply? Turns out there are many things that prevent the proper absorption of nutrients, most commonly poor gut health and indigestion. These issues can affect the way your body retains the nutrients found in your diet, leading to poor absorption of the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. So even if you’re eating all your greens you still may not be getting all the good gut stuff needed to keep skin looking healthy and potentially worsening existing skin conditions.
Another important part of a healthy digestion process is your stomach’s digestive enzymes, which help to break down food into small molecules for your body to easily absorb. A lack of digestive enzymes can reduce the amount of fat and protein that you absorb, and leave your skin feeling dry and dull.
Natural health supplements, such as Goop that are designed to support healthy digestive function can actually help to rest, repair and rebalance the gut and restore a healthy amount of good bacteria, which may in turn help to improve the skin and improve breakouts.
Love ya guts!
