Your Gut Is Talking. Are You Listening

Your Gut Is Talking. Are You Listening

I have to admit, I'm seeing this everywhere on my feed these days - Gut health, gut health, gut health. You've heard the commercials where some random person from another country promotes yogurt as a skincare essential since the early 2000s, but now people are literally adding gut health as the first step of their skincare. It's very odd, but honestly, the more I read about the topic, the more it all clicks with me.

Your gut and skin are connected in more ways than we could probably imagine,

and with the rise of breakouts, dull complexions, and the dreaded puffy under eyes no matter how much sleep you get, instead of adding a new serum to your routine, you should be starting from within. After all, skin is an organ, and like all other organs in your body, it's dependent on the state of your gut.

Quick Science Lesson

Your gut microbiome consists of trillions of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, which affects your digestion, inflammation levels, and even your mental health (topic for another day). An unhealthy gut flora can lead to chronic inflammation, which hinders your skin's ability to heal. Another problem could be an inflamed gut lining (leaky gut, controversial among medical professionals), which could lead to things like eczema or acne breaking out. Now, I'm no medical professional, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed that the month I started improving my diet, my skin had cleared up. Could be a huge coincidence, but with the amount of people claiming to have had similar experiences, it's hard to dismiss it as one.

Fermented foods, The MVP

Fermented foods are loaded with probiotics, or healthy bacteria, that can aid in repopulating your gut. These include yogurt (with live cultures!), kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso, etc. Believe it or not, Indian cuisine has been doing this for us since ages - dahi (curd) with every meal, buttermilk/chaas after meals, pickles (achar) that are fermented using traditional methods, even idli and dosa batter undergo a fermentation process! My mother's curd rice (curd + boiled rice) has been a staple of mine ever since I can remember. Who knew that gut health was a priority even before it was a priority?

Fiber, and prebiotic foods - the unglamorous but important part

Fiber is food for the healthy bacteria in your gut. The prebiotic foods (onion, garlic, leeks, bananas, oats, legumes) help them grow, while probiotic foods (fermented foods mentioned above) help populate your gut with them. They're both extremely important - a good balance of the two leads to a happy gut, and subsequently, a happy complexion. Common probiotics in Indian cuisine are moong dal, chana, rajma, bajra and jowar rotis (flatbreads made from millet). Most Indians fail to consume the recommended daily intake of fiber, myself included, but adding these foods to your diet (or increasing the quantity of the ones you already eat) can work wonders.

Healthy Fats For Your Skin Barrier

Believe it or not, healthy fats play a starring role in maintaining a healthy skin barrier function. This prevents excess water loss through the skin and allows it to combat environmental stressors better. Foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids (walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseed, fatty fish) and oils (olive oil, ghee) are a good bet. Now, ghee in moderation is considered to be pretty healthy and has been praised in Ayurvedic practices for centuries for its ability to improve gut and skin health.

hydration, which we all know but rarely take care of

WATER IS ESSENTIAL

Hydration keeps your GI tract functioning properly (which prevents bloating, or constipation if you will). Constipation can lead to a dull complexion and/or breakouts. Water hydrates your skin, preventing it from looking dry or dehydrated (two totally different things). I suck at this part, which is why I keep a bottle of water on my desk!

ADDED SUGARS - THE VILLAIN

I'm personally not a fan of this point. Added sugars are basically fuel for the bad bacteria in your gut, which can wreak havoc on your gut flora and lead to inflammation (which = bad skin). The occasional treat won't hurt, but keeping a track of how much added sugar you're having is a good idea. My gut immediately responded when I cut back on the sugar in my evening chai, and I noticed a drastic improvement in my skin in about 2 weeks.

Foods To Actually Try:-

• Any plain curd or kefir you can get your hands on

• Buttermilk/chaas, especially after a heavy meal

• Traditional pickles (achar) that are

• fermented, not the vinegar ones

• Idli, dosa - the batter is fermented

• Kimchi, sauerkraut - the unpasteurized stuff in the store

• Moong dal, chana, rajma, any legumes really

• Bajra, jowar rotis - instead of having white flour rotis everyday

• Garlic, onion, bananas, oats

• Ghee (in moderation), fatty fish (salmon, mackerel) if you can go for it

• Walnuts, flaxseed, chia seeds

• Water!

In the end ,

I can't say that this helps with everything. Sleep, stress management, and sun protection still reign supreme. But I feel like this is a step that many of us were missing while buying the newest serum. Start small - add some curd or kimchi to your meal, have an extra glass of water everyday, reduce the amount of sugar you add to your food. Try these things, and see how you feel in a month. Your gut and skin have been trying to communicate with you this entire time, and you should start listening.