How To Have Healthy Skin

Over the years I have seen many people improve and heal various skin problems using a holistic approach. Conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, rosacea and acne can all be treated in such a way using a combination of diet, emotional work and rebalancing practices such as Shiatsu, Makko-Ho and Do-In.

In general, western medicine is not so great at healing them and will treat the symptoms – attempting to manage them with a range of prescription drugs. When things become severe steroid creams are often used, but long term these are not good news. The main disadvantage with the westen medical approach is that it attempts to treat the skin, and ignores the underlying condition which is an imbalance within the internal organs.

From a holistic point of view the skin is a reflection of what is happening within the body and indicates a weakness within the organs such as the lungs, large intestine, liver or kidneys. So, if you want to heal the skin you need to heal the internal organs. We also need to remember that the skin is also an excretory organ, not just a barrier for protection. Our skin in this way is similar to the kidneys and bladder. As an organ, the skin helps the body clean itself from the inside – so symptoms seen in the skin lie deeper within our system.

It’s true to say that our diet has a big effect on the skin. Sugary and fatty foods, for example, can put extra strain on the body and the effect can be seen as the skin attempts to get rid of what is essentially an excess. If we eat a lot of oily foods we get oily skin, too many dry foods we get dry skin and if we eat a lot of meat then this also affects us. As the meat is broken down it can produce urea and this produces body odour. A similar effect happens when we eat a lot of cheese (smelly feet) and explains why when Eurpoeans first visited Japan they were described as “smelly, long nosed people” as an excess of such food produces a very strong body-odour!

Short-Lived Skin Problems

Sometimes we may get a few spots, a rash or hives that last for a few days. This is the skin discharging, and we need to ask ourselves what have been eating over the previous few days? Parents often notice that when their kids eat a lot of dairy, sweets or ice cream their noses start running, an earache develops or they get some spots or a rash. This often happens very quickly and the body needs to deal with the excess through excretion (mucous or spots). Those that give up these foods notice that their skin improves very quickly and it’s common to then become quite sensitised to dairy and sugar once the body has re-established a balance again.

Understanding what’s happening within the body in relation to diet is a strength of a more natural approach to health – and it corresponds with people’s actual experience of making changes and seeing the results (over millennia). I’m always surprised that wetsern medicine cannot make this link that so many people experience! The body can’t deal with the excess fats of dairy, the intensity of refined sugar nor the digestive challenges of refined flour and processed foods. A short term skin problem is often a reaction to this. Complex carbohydrates are much better for us, easier for the body to deal with. With whole-foods the energy comes into the body much more slowly making it easier on the digestive system as well as the liver and pancreas. We do need some fatty or oily foods – but in small amounts, we can deal with this. It’s the big amounts the body can’t deal.

Last year I conducted an experiment. I ate an organic pizza with lots of cooked cheese. It was delicious but within an hour I noticed how my body was reacting to the dairy and refined flour. Firstly my whole chin went numb (in oriental healing the chin relates to the lower abdomen) and this lasted for about three days. Then I got deep skin eruptions and spots which lasted a week. And this was from one single pizza. What happens when we eat these types of food long term?

Chronic Skin Problems

Longer term skin problems such as psoriasis, rosacea and eczema never really go away when treated with western medicine alone. These chronic conditions often show that people are eating excess fats, oils, sugars and processed foods. But also that their internal organs are not coping very well with that excess. An extra load is put on the skin which causes these skin eruptions. In particular when the lungs become weak, liver becomes congested, or the large intestine is not working then the excess stays in the blood and comes out the skin.

Eating A Cleaner Diet

Changing the diet to a more balanced, plant-based one will help a lot, whilst combining this with emotional work will reap good results. Taking the excess out of the system will pave the way for recovery and healing – with benefits far beyond just the skin improving.

Watch the Video

This blog is based on a Facebook Live video that Oliver Cowmeadow created. You can watch the video below.