Dec 11, 2023
Research and clinical experience clearly supports the gut-skin connection. This episodes uncovers how gut health is related to healthy skin and how those suffering with skin conditions can best address their problems.
Erin Kinney, MS, RD, LDN, HCP, NASM-CPT
podcast, umillennial, Gen X, podcasts for women, women over 40, women over 50, gut health, skin health, parents of teens
(transcript generated through AI; may contain spelling errors)
Regan Jones 0:00
If your skin doesn't know whether to breakout or wrinkle if you're
caught between planning the third grade class party and researching
retirement plans or if you want to work out with the idea of
CrossFit makes your 40 Something knees ache you've come to the
right place. Welcome to This Unmillennial Life.
I'm your host, Regan Jones and welcome to today's show. First of all, I want to say a quick thank you to those of you who have reached out to let me know how helpful you found the previous episode of This Unmillennial Life, episode number 129 the uterine fibroids episode, how helpful you found that episode to be, I want to say upfront that in the spirit of transparency, this podcast truly is a labor of love. It is something that I am opting to continue to do because one, I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Researching topics like this diving deep. Finding information that not only helps me but also helps you really is a shot in the arm, so to speak, to keep it going. The reality is and again, being totally transparent. This podcast barely pays for itself. And I don't say that to garner any type of sympathy, I know that you hear some advertisements that run here. And those are important because things like podcasts and websites and any type of media that you're hosting yourself are producing yourself, for the most part, not counting your time that it takes to produce it, it actually requires money to have server space, and it costs money to do those things. So that amount of advertising that you allow me to share with you really does help offset the costs of hosting this podcast. But for the most part, within the seven seasons of doing this podcast, and this is the case for many podcasters podcasts aren't actually typically monetized near as well as some of the other activities that people do like social media, being influencers or having a website where there's consistent advertising. So the reason I want to be transparent about that is one, it definitely affects how much I am able to or how frequently I'm able to release episodes because I am in a rebuilding season after COVID and in my cancer treatments, rebuilding my career in a way that I've not had to do in a really long time. And that requires me to spend a little more of my time on projects that are providing revenue, which I'm sure you can understand. But knowing that these episodes are being listened to and downloaded and shared and are helpful, absolutely makes it worth it. So thank you when you reach out and let me know that something that I have done as an episode, something that I've released as an episode has been helpful to you. So I appreciate that. And I'm hopeful that today's episode is also going to be helpful. I think it can be helpful for many of us, not only for ourselves, but certainly for those of us who are parenting, you know, teenagers and young adults, because today's episode while it is the gut skin connection, and I'll tell you about my guest in just a second, we are going to have probably a stronger focus, I would say on acne in particular, you're going to hear my guest and I talk about acne and then I encourage you to hang around after my interview and I want to give you some just personal experience and some anecdotal evidence about some things that I've seen with one of my children. Okay, so let me tell you about my guest. My guest is Erin Kenny, Erin is on Instagram, as nutrition rewired you may have seen her because she is quite popular. In fact, she has over 93,000 followers on Instagram and for good reason she is on there all the time, but not in a fillip your feed with useless information way that some influencers tend to be. Erin is full of high quality, solid nutrition information, primarily specializing in gut health. And that is one of the reasons that I'm having her on today. You're gonna hear us mentioned a couple of times in the episode that the way we met was through our faith driven entrepreneur group. I've mentioned that at least once or twice maybe here on the show, I'd like to do an episode about the faith driven entrepreneur group in the future. But I'll give this little plug we will be starting a third round of this eight part Bible study in 2024. If you are a registered dietician and you are interested in potentially being a part of that, please reach out to me message me on social media or send me an email or leave me a voicemail you can leave me a voicemail at this This Unmillennial Life .com Or you can send me an email Regan at this unlink neolife.com If you are not a registered dietitian, and you are an entrepreneur, just know that faith driven entrepreneurs is open, available free to everyone. It is an extremely high quality, impactful, well done eight part series that you could do on your own or put together a group. That's honestly what I did just pulled together. Some registered dieticians in 2022. To work our way through the eight part series. We pulled together a new group and I say we, myself, my colleague, Jenna Braddock, you've heard her here on the show my colleague, Jim White, you've heard him home on the show. We've pulled together, you know, a second group for this last year, and we're going to pull together a third group moving forward. So you know, whether you're a registered dietician, or whether you're not, if you are someone who would like to deepen your understanding about how the work that you do on a daily basis in your vocation, can be something that is serving the kingdom, I highly recommend faith driven entrepreneurs. Okay, so let's get back to Erin. Erin Kenny, is a dietician who helps individuals address their digestive issues from a root cause perspective, conditions like SIBO, inflammatory bowel disease, IBS, constipation. And you'll hear her talk about her story. But it was really after healing her own gut, after feeling very disappointed in conventional medical treatments, that she made it her passion to help others. And that's what she will be doing for us today as she unpacks this topic of the gut skin connection. So with that, I'll say, Erin, welcome to the show,
Erin Kinney 6:44
Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to discuss this
topic today.
Regan Jones 6:49
We have done gut health topics over the years. And as listeners
know, my my good friend and colleague Kate Scarlatta has often
joined me. But once I had the pleasure of meeting you through our
faith driven entrepreneurs group, and really learn more about you
your story, and most importantly, just started following you and
saw all of the amazing information that you were sharing online, I
knew I wanted to have you on the show. So before we jump into to
this topic today, do give listeners a little bit of background on
you, and how you specifically got interested in this area of
nutrition.
Erin Kinney 7:24
My journey into dietetics really stemmed from my own issues with
gut health and skin issues. And I think like most dietitians, when
they tell their stories, they kind of talk about a lot of their
history when it comes to nutrition and this evolution, evolution of
learning about how nutrition and lifestyle can impact certain areas
of the body. And my personal story was a very long one, we don't
have time to cover everything today. But I really struggled with
digestive issues from a very young age and over time that
eventually led to horrible acne, and skin issues that really were
not being able to be treated by conventional medicine and feeling
very frustrated and overwhelmed and confused. I decided to educate
myself and basically heal my gut and learn how to address my skin
from the inside out. So that's really, you know, the big picture of
how I became a dietitian. And now I'm very passionate about helping
individuals do the same and really find a journey that allows them
to find sustainable healing.
Regan Jones 8:38
Eventhough I know some of your background and some of your story, I
actually didn't even realize that it were it was the connection
between skin and gut health. That was really the first starting
point. I mean, I know you now as a gut health dietitian, who works
with a number of different conditions like inflammatory bowel
disease, constipation, IBS, you know, SIBO, I knew that I didn't, I
didn't even realize that the skin connection was really the
beginning. So that makes it even more special that that's the topic
that we're we're talking about today. So let's transition over to
actually talking about the gut skin connection. Unpack for
listeners, what skin conditions that, you know, research has shown
has been associated with gut imbalances.
Erin Kinney 9:21
There's actually several different skin imbalances that have been
shown in research to be influenced by the gut microbiome or at
least there to be a correlation between the two. Acne is the most
common one that I typically talk to my clients about. eczema,
psoriasis, rosacea. udah Karissa, also known as hives, dermatitis,
and even vitiligo, and if you even dig a little bit deeper into the
research, you'll see a connection between skin cancer and and gut
issues. So there's a wide variety of connections here and not
limited to just acne and psoriasis.
Regan Jones 10:00
Ok I did not know that. And I will tell you from a selfish
standpoint, and people know this, that I've been listening to the
podcast now for seven seasons, that often these topics come up
because there's either something happening in my life or the life
of someone in my family, that kind of leads me down wanting to know
more about it. And specifically, when I saw one of your posts that
talked about skin issues, and the the connection to acne, I mean,
I'm the mother of two teenage boys. And so that is something that's
certainly on my radar radar. So I'm really excited to kind of
unpack this a little bit and see if the knowledge that I gained
from you can actually help them. So let's talk about getting some
of that knowledge. How long really are we talking about, that you
would take someone to see some changes in their skin health, when
they're working on healing their gut. And I think one of the most
important things that we need to talk about is like when we say
healing your gut to change skin issues, like we have to talk about
what does that look like? So let's talk about both of those things,
the timing, the timeline, and then really, functionally, what are
we talking about in terms of, of healing the gut?
Erin Kinney 11:09
Yeah, and this is, this can be very frustrating for a lot of
patience. And, you know, I'm very much able to sympathize when it
comes to skin issues. Because when I had acne, you know, this was
in middle school, high school, this is a very vulnerable time for
most people. And not to say that it's ever, you know, a comfortable
time to have issues with your skin. But you know, you're you're
looking for some urgency, right? And I remember going to doctors
and asking for, you know, what's the quick fix? How can I get rid
of this as soon as possible. And of course, the first line of
treatment is typically antibiotics or topicals. And, as we know,
this can further present issues with the gut microbiome. And so
when we talk about the gut skin connection, there's several
different mechanisms that are involved. And we don't have time to
go over every single one today. But the first one is immune
involvement. So this, the microbiome is a it's a key regulator for
our immune system. And it helps to maintain this healthy balance by
communicating with different tissues and organs in this very bi
directional manner. So if we have dysbiosis in the skin or in the
gut microbiome, because we do have a skin microbiome as well, this
is associated with an altered immune response. So this is where we
can see patients developing, you know, things like atopic
dermatitis and psoriasis, because of this immune involvement. In
addition to that, right, we have the more obvious side of you know,
when it comes to dietetics, we know that we absorb nutrients in the
gut. And if we have inflammation, immune dysfunction, dysbiosis,
meaning an imbalance of bacteria in the gut, that's going to
interfere with certain nutrients that are essential for healthy
skin, things like zinc, vitamin C, iron proteins. So it's really
important to consider those two aspects. In addition to that the
fact that our microbiome is the largest endocrine organ producing
30 different hormone like compounds, short chain fatty acids,
cortisol neurotransmitters like GABA, serotonin, dopamine. So
there's several different mechanisms that we're looking at. And
each individual is going to have a different story of what their
gut health looks like, what their hormonal profile looks like, you
know, how long their journey has been with this gut imbalance or
skin imbalance, the healing journey in and of itself, right, the
big the big question of how long is it going to take for my skin to
get better? And the thing that I tell clients always is that what
I've found in my practice is that the skin is usually the last
thing to heal. And this can this can be very frustrating, right? As
I mentioned, we all want that quick fix, and we want to see results
right away. But as mentioned, the gut is involved in so many
different aspects of our health and when we're getting to the root
cause of the gut issues, therefore skin issues, then we typically
need to go through this gut healing process. Maybe we need to
eradicate bacteria like H. Pylori, which are strongly associated
with gut and skin issues. Candida maybe they're the patient has a
lot of intestinal permeability, meaning what's inside the gut is
able to transfer out into our bloodstream where it typically isn't,
that's going to activate a lot of immune response and inflammation.
So those things alone eradications imbalances, you know, those take
time. So to think about, you know, how long it's going to take for
healing the skin and seeing improvements in the skin. I usually
have patients have a realistic timeline of at least three months,
and that's a minimum. Sometimes it can take six months for patients
to really start seeing benefits but what I've seen And anecdotally
in my practice is that it is typically the last thing to heal,
they'll first start to notice maybe improvements and energy
improvements in digestion and mood. And then towards the end, their
skin starts to really reap those benefits.
Regan Jones 15:14
Okay, so let's let's think about if someone I'm trying to think
through like just a case scenario and how you handle it in your
practice, say you have a teen or a young adult who really has
historically for years been suffering from pretty severe acne, let
my listeners know, like, what is the process look like, on your end
of working with that person? Because it sounds like what I'm
hearing for from you is that we can't just give generalities about,
Hey, these are the five steps that you need to take to clear up
your acne, for instance, because the underlying condition that may
be there may or may be a number of different things, how do you
tease that out? To to figure out to figure out what the course of
treatment is for them?
Erin Kinney 15:58
That's a great question. And, you know, it really, really depends
on the person and their intake form. And food record, we always
start there with the basics. And this is this goes for any
condition, right? We always, always look at what they're eating,
what their lifestyle is, like, if they're getting enough sleep. And
those are the baseline things, because you know, those can make a
huge, huge difference. And then we might do further testing. So we
might do a stool test, I use the GI map in my practice, and have
found it to be very useful in terms of, you know, looking at
overgrowth of bacteria looking at intestinal permeability. And that
will really guide us on more of a deeper level, if there is a, you
know, strong involvement in the gut and the gut immune system, in
terms of you know, how we're addressing the treatment plan. What I
wanted what I what I wanted to address today was all of the
different, you know, nuances where people will say, Oh, dairy, or
sugar, or chocolate, these are all acne causing foods. But in
reality, we don't actually know that the research is is so
conflicting on, you know, those foods in their associations with
acne. So we're really looking at gut imbalances, we're looking at
immune involvement, we're gonna look at vitamin D, because we know
that's involved with the immune system, we're going to look at b
12, to make sure that they're having optimal absorption of certain
vitamins. So we're going to start with standard blood tests, we
might use a stool test. And then if we're really not seeing much
showing up on these tests, we might go further and do something
like a Dutch panel to look at some hormone imbalance. So the the
journey is not very linear for you know, every single person, but
we typically start with the basics. And then if we're not seeing
much change there, then we're gonna dive more into the functional
testing.
Regan Jones 17:47
Ok that's pretty comprehensive. And you probably threw out a couple
of tests there that my audience is less familiar with, because I
know they have not popped up on our radar before. So if you don't
mind do a little bit of a deeper dive into what the GI MAP test is.
And what the Dutch testing is.
Erin Kinney 18:04
The GI map is a highly specific PCR DNA stool analysis. And it is
not cheap, you're paying out of pocket for this test. And you take
this test and you use a stool sample that you send to a lab and the
results come to me to assess, you know, kind of what's going on in
their gut microbiome. Now, the things that are reviewed in this
test, I mentioned h pylori, so that's a very common type of
bacteria that can be overgrown in the gut, it's going to look at
intestinal permeability, it's going to look at pancreatic function,
it's going to look at inflammation, that marker is calprotectin.
It's also going to look at opportunistic bacteria, right. So
there's certain types of bacteria like staph strep, there's
Citrobacter, there's Klebsiella. Those Those bacteria themselves,
if they're shown to be very high in a patient stool tests can be
high histamine producing bacteria, which can contribute to skin
issues, they can cause inflammatory molecules to be secreted in the
gut. So there's, there's so much that you can learn from the GI MAP
test. There's also a lot of limitations from the test. And I feel
that that's always important to discuss, because I think a lot of
patients or even practitioners who aren't familiar with these tests
might feel like, you know, we don't really have the research for
them. But I can tell you from my practice, and all of the research
that I've done, there is a lot that you can gain as long as you
know how to interpret the GI map. In addition to the GI map,
there's the Dutch test and the Dutch test. They have several
different types of tests. They have cycle mapping tests they have,
I forget the other types of tests that they have, but they have the
Dutch test. They have multiple different types of tests that you
can use to assess hormones, but also their metabolites. So When you
go and get a standard blood tests for hormones, right, you go in
and maybe you're checking estrogen, maybe you're checking
progesterone, prolactin, FSH, LH, you're just looking at one single
point in time. And what's great about the Dutch test is that you're
not using blood, you're using a urinalysis and saliva, which are
much more accurate for things like cortisol, things like FSH, LH,
estrogen, and you're also looking at metabolites and pathways for
these hormones. So we know that there's three different types of
estrogen, right, e one, e two, e three, and the pathways where
these estrogens go is really important for assessing breast cancer
risk detoxification pathways. So a very, very in depth way to
assess hormone balance that you will not find in conventional
medicine. So these two tests can be really helpful in assessing a
patient's underlying root cause.
Regan Jones 20:54
Okay, so I that is a great explanation of some of the more detailed
testing and some of the testing that you use in your practice. I am
going to, though put myself in the position of the listener, who is
saying, Okay, I'm not either at a place to or willing to actually
do a really deep dive with a practitioner at this point. Do you
have any general guidelines for me so and, you know, thinking
through, like you mentioned, hey, the research is not clear that
you can eliminate dairy, and it would improve things or you can
eliminate sugar? Do you have any general guidelines, though, for
people, if they're thinking yeah, I would like to begin to either
evaluate or just try to implement some, some gut healing
strategies, just to see if it improves my skin health.
Erin Kinney 21:40
So the trouble with this, and I, I always have to add the nuances.
And that's because there are certain foods that can be claimed to
be gut healing. But for example, you know, bone broth might be
might be marketed as a gut healing food. But if you have a patient
who has histamine intolerance, which is causing you to carry on
psoriasis, then that food is not going to be gut healing for them,
it's actually going to exacerbate those issues. So my My best tip
for listeners, if they're not looking to invest in those options,
is to start keeping a food diary of food and symptom diary. And one
big reason why this can be helpful, especially with thinking about
hormone involvement is if you're starting to notice any trends into
when your eczema is flaring up, maybe you notice that's happening
when you're really stressed. If you're still in your premenstrual
years, maybe you're noticing that it's right around ovulation and
in your luteal phase. So just understanding maybe some trends or
triggers that could be coming up for you can kind of guide you in
the direction of what could be a large factor into why you're
experiencing these issues.
Regan Jones 22:49
I think that's an excellent tip. Because so many times some of the
guidelines that we give to people for various things do involve
eliminating this taking that, you know, really just trying to jump
in and implement things that are going to air quotes, fix the
problem. But it doesn't cost anything to keep a food diary. And it
is amazing. Once you actually start recording different things and
start looking for patterns, how they will show up in a way when
you've recorded them that you just your brain can't remember to see
those connections. So I think that's a wonderful tip.
Erin Kinney 23:24
Yeah, and that was honestly the biggest game changer for me. And my
own journey was the second that I actually put pen to paper and
said, Alright, I'm going to start keeping track of this, I started
to make these connections. And that was really, you know, a big
helpful tool for me. And so for patients, it's a low cost. It's
not, you know, it is time consuming to do. But that investment that
you're making is worth it. And it also empowers you as the patient,
because you're actually learning a lot about your body.
Regan Jones 23:53
I love that. That's a great perspective. Okay, so one of the sort
of final questions that I have for you really has to do with kind
of, I guess, the opposite, in terms of like, Are there skin
conditions that really don't, aren't associated with overt gut
issues?
Erin Kinney 24:10
That's a great question. And I think more of the research that I've
done is finding these associations, but in general, there seems to
be it's kind of the chicken or the egg situation. So most patients
who have some type of skin issue, whether the gut is the root cause
or not, they tend to have some gut imbalance from what I've seen in
the research. And you know, whether it's due to hormonal imbalance
or food sensitivities, those other outside factors typically still
influence the gut microbiome. So I honestly don't know I don't I
don't I haven't seen any specific condition that I've listed that
isn't associated with some imbalance in the gut.
Regan Jones 24:53
You know, it's just amazing to hear you frame it that way and
explain it, you know, based on what you've seen in the room.
Search, which this is what you do day in day out, because you
mentioned earlier, you know, going to your doctor and a doctor
prescribing topicals. And it does seem to be that that is typically
the standard approach is either some sort of prescription or some
sort of topical, and to think that likely the root cause is not
being addressed. You know, it's, it's a miss, really, if you think
about it.
Erin Kinney 25:25
Right. And and, you know, there's even harsher treatments that
patients are being prescribed. I had a family member growing up who
was on Accutane, I think many people are familiar with this, if
they've ever struggled with pretty severe acne, and this was going
to be the next step for me. And, you know, there's a lot of side
effects, including side effects to the gut microbiome for the long
term of using these medications. And I'm, I am not anti medication,
trust me, I have used medications in my life that have really
changed my life. But in general, we have to kind of think about the
implications that some of these antibiotics or things like Accutane
can have on our gut microbiome long term, if there's something that
we can do to avoid it, that would be the ideal route. Ideal.
Regan Jones 26:10
Absolutely. I could not agree more. Okay. So Erin, on this
particular topic, is there anything that I haven't asked you about
that you think listeners need to know?
Erin Kinney 26:19
I think you know, a lot of people want to know about probiotics,
that might be something to touch on just briefly, you know,
patients want to know, what's the best probiotic for X skin health,
or what's the best probiotic for, you know, vaginal health. And we
do have associations between, you know, what's what's the most well
researched probiotic strain that has been useful in this condition,
and in a small case study, say, and, unfortunately, we don't, we're
just not there in terms of how we can use probiotics. And in fact,
some probiotics even exacerbate skin issues. So I would tread
lightly with probiotics, I would make sure that when you're
implementing them, you're using them in the right context, you're
finding a good quality product. And your expectations are realistic
in the sense that, you know, probiotics typically aren't going to
cure any sort of gut imbalance on its own, which also leads to you
know, skin health. So just important to keep that in mind.
Probiotics are beneficial in many ways I use them in my practice,
they are well researched, but the way in which we use them, you
know, is really important.
Regan Jones 27:31
And that's really ultimately why it is so important to work with
someone like Erin who, who specializes in this area of gut health.
I mean, you know, all of us who went to school become to become
registered dieticians, you get like a general education and
nutrition. But people like Erin, who's who specialize and focus on
this area of nutrition, just have an immense amount of knowledge
that the rest of us simply don't have, which is, I guess, the segue
into you giving everybody some information about where they can
find you. Because I think one of the main things that I hope people
take away from this is that if skin conditions are something that
you are someone that you know, or someone in your family are really
struggling with, that it really is worth working with a
knowledgeable practitioner, like Erin, to get those things
uncovered as to what the root cause is and to get those treated. So
Erin, let people know how they can find you online.
Erin Kinney 28:29
I'm most active on Instagram, nutrition rewired? And I always
answer my direct messages. I can't always say that it's within 12
to 24 hours, but I will always get to your messages. So feel free
to send me a message there. And then you can also email me at
erin@nutritionrewired.com.
Regan Jones 28:49
Okay, and as I do with all episodes, I will be sure to place a link
in the show notes to both Erin's Instagram account, which is again,
actually even though I knew Erin and we are in this faith driven
entrepreneurs group together, which was this was actually Instagram
was where I first saw some of her content talking about this topic.
And I thought, wow, this is this is information that needs to come
back to this audience. So her Instagram is very, very good and just
full of good information. And then I will also recap her email
address in the show notes. And as a reminder, you can always find
the show notes on whatever podcast app you are listening to this
podcast on. And they are also always archived on this This
Unmillennial Life. Erin, thank you so much for joining me today. I
really appreciate it. Regan,
Erin Kinney 29:36
Thank you so much for having me. This was a great conversation.
Regan Jones 29:39
Okay, that wraps up my interview with Erin. Now I want to continue
the conversation a little bit farther past just our interview by
talking to you on two different fronts. One as a follow up to a
session that I attended at finsih which is a food and nutrition
Conference and Expo that I attend typically every fall, it's hosted
for registered dieticians, and nutrition professionals. And I want
to talk to you about some information that was presented
specifically related to this topic today, gut and skin connection.
And then also tell you about how we anecdotally I've implemented
some things with one of my kids and what we've seen from a gut skin
connection. So you probably picked up on that Erin said within the
context of our interview, that there's really no one magic bullet,
you can't just say, get rid of sugar, get rid of this food, get rid
of that food, and it's going to be a cure all. And I think that's
important to underscore that that really is the framework that we
are operating under. However, in attending a conference session at
finsih. On this topic, one of the things that was presented is that
while it is not conclusive, and I have to underscore that it's not
conclusive, there actually is evidence to show that in particular,
fluid milk, milk, cow's milk, I would say dairy, but it's not dairy
across the board. So milk itself is sometimes in studies associated
with an increased incidence of acne. Okay, so let me give a couple
of disclaimers. First and foremost, first and foremost, I'm not
anti dairy, I'm not anti milk. If you don't know my background, I
worked in the dairy industry for many years. And I think that the
dairy farmers in this country are some of the finest people in the
land. So I don't share that information lightly. Because I know
some people can hear something like that and think nobody should
consume any dairy ever. I'm presenting it because I have in my
family figured out that with one of my children, that there does
appear to be a connection for him. I'll unpack that in just a
minute. But let's let's go back to this potential connection. So
the reason I'm giving it as cautionary is because one of the things
that we know, as registered dietitians, is it's very difficult to
see cause and effect, unless the study is set up to see cause and
effect. In other words, a study that says, hey, tell us about what
you how many glasses of milk you drank over the last six months on
a daily basis. If someone reports a high amount of milk
consumption, and someone else reports a low amount of milk
consumption, but their recall is actually not that clear. You know,
what they consider a serving is not equivalent. In other words,
there can be just like a lot of variables that sort of dirtied up
that data for lack of a better way to put it, it can sometimes show
correlation, a correlation, a trend that we don't necessarily know
is 100% accurate. And that does appear to be one of the bigger
criticisms between connecting milk and the incidence of acne. Okay,
so you've got that disclaimer, but as I said, because it was
presented in this session with two other registered dieticians, who
specialized in gut health as something to potentially look at with
patients and clients who are suffering from acne, to look at their
their fluid milk consumption. I have one of my children who was
experiencing pretty significant pretty significant acne. And so
being a mom, I came back and say, This is what I've heard. In this
session. Let's give it a try. And we did two different things. So
we cut out fluid milk. And we also started taking a vitamin
supplement that was specifically geared towards teens and healthy
skin. Okay, so I feel like I'm almost doing a second episode just
to kind of unpack this for you. But I really felt like this was
good information to have almost mom to mom, you know less about me
as a dietitian and more just like, hey, this is what we did in our
family. And we did immediately see an improvement in his skin. Now
where it gets interesting is this improvement lasted well for about
a month after we implemented it and he was pretty diligent about
staying off of milk. And then we were away for the Thanksgiving
holidays and he enjoyed a milkshake. And I will admit it was almost
instantaneous that his acne came back. Now you may be thinking to
yourself, are we talking like severe acne? Are we talking a pimple
here and there and the best way that I can describe it is I can see
a difference between like a few pimples here and a few pimples
there, I consider that a just a normal part of being a teenager.
That versus really intense read inflammatory. What I call just like
angry at me. And angry at me was what popped up after the
milkshake. So is that just coincidence? Does that have to do with
other things that we're eating over the Thanksgiving holiday
absolutely could be the case. Because the other thing that you see
when you kind of look at the literature and look at the
conversation, and I've even had this conversation with a
pediatrician, and this is pretty clear is that there is also likely
a higher incidence of hormonal type acne, especially in teenagers
with what's considered a high glycemic index diet. So high glycemic
index foods, you know, typically being like higher sugar, things
that would raise your blood sugar very, very quickly. So are those
things being eaten over Thanksgiving? Absolutely. Could that be the
culprit? Maybe so, so I'm not telling you that in any definitive
way. But I want you to have just all the different angles to look
at. I think Erin has done a phenomenal job of really making the
case that for these skin conditions that people struggle with, and
acne is just one of many that people have, the very best way to
tackle that is with a practitioner like Arun, to really get to the
root cause. I know that that is not going to be either an option or
of interest to everyone. And so sometimes, we do want to just try
things and see how they work out. My caution in saying that is to
realize if you have a teenager that is in their growing years, or
young adult or child, that you don't just strip out milk from their
diet without making sure that you are replacing it adequately,
because milk is such an important dietary and easy way of getting
in calcium, and to a certain extent, vitamin D. Now, you'll also
notice, and I say, this is turning into being almost like a second
episode in and of itself. You'll also notice that I said earlier,
it didn't doesn't appear that yogurt and cheese fall into the same
category. And frankly, I'm not exactly sure why other than the fact
that milk is a higher glycemic food, so a lot to consider there.
The only other thing that I would add is that prior to my interview
with Erin, I actually had purchased for my son, these moles, this
multivitamin, to clear face, the improvement in in his skin has,
again just sort of correlated with this dietary change in, you
know, kind of eliminating fluid milk. But also starting this, this
multivitamin, I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had had this
interview with Erin first because there are, of course question
marks in my mind, like, how beneficial could this be it contains,
you know, a multivitamin multi mineral, it's also got some
different what you'd say I think more like anti inflammatory
compounds, and it has some different probiotics. And after
listening to Ayran, I don't know if I would have purchased it,
because I probably would have felt like, Hey, this is maybe a waste
of my money. But because all of this correlates with the change in
his diet and the introduction of this multivitamin. We're sticking
with it for the time being. And I also again, just in full
transparency, I would not tell you that if you ran into us in the
grocery store that you would say, Oh, his face is 100% clear, you
know, he is a teenager. And so that is as most of us are in
remember, you know, just kind of a constant battle. But I also
know, there's just kind of a bigger difference between really angry
inflammatory acne, like I mentioned, and pimple here and there. So
I hope that you're clear about the difference. I hope that I've
made it clear that I don't want you to think that I'm telling you
this is definitive science and this is the path to reducing acne
but it is something that we've tried, and it appears to have
worked. Okay, so a lot of information for me. Stick around for a
very quick ending to today's show the odds and ends ending and
right now I'm going to jump drop in a quick commercial break.
Today's episode is brought to you by your color guru, your color guru.com is where I went a few years ago now at this point to have my colors done and as I have said on previous episodes, the idea of having your colors done is something that I find a little bit comical for those of us who are unmillennials because it's certainly something that people were talking about and read books about in the 80s but what your color Guru is offering is so much more comprehensive than that. And frankly, it's so much easier. The whole process to have your color guru do your customized color palette that essentially makes pulling together a wardrobe that makes you look your best. The way they do that is so simple and so easy. It's as simple as going to your color guru.com, filling out some information, uploading some pictures, and then you get back a customized color palette that frankly takes so much of the guesswork out of figuring out what to wear. Now, you've heard me mention this in previous episodes, how much I love your color guru and how I think it's absolutely transformed. Like even the compliments that I get. It's so much easier to put something on nowadays and someone say, Oh, that looks nice on you, or oh, that really brings out the color of your eyes. That's one of the big benefits. But recently, as I was last minute trying to get ready to go to someone's home, or a very casual holiday dinner, I realized I had not figured out exactly what to wear. But what I have increasingly started doing is only buying clothes that fit my your color guru color palette. I'm a moonlit summer. So when you get yours done, I'd love to hear from you what your color palette is. But once you start choosing clothes that fit your color palette, what you realize is that all of those clothes work together. So in putting on a jacket that I just grabbed out the pair of boots that I had with the top that I was wearing, it all coordinated really well in a way that frankly, I just don't have the fashion aptitude to put together on my own. And the only reason that it worked is because they all fit together in my moonlit summer color palette. So for listeners of This Unmillennial Life that would like to have your colors done or gift it to someone, it would make a wonderful gift at the holidays and especially if you're you know shopping last minute, it can all be done digitally, you can go to your color guru.com and use the code Reagan, R e g a n for 10% off your color consultation. So again, that's your color guru.com use the code Regan for 10% off, there is a link in the show notes.
Okay, in today's odds and ends ending I want to just address something that I mentioned sometime in a few episodes back that I was going to talk about. And I originally thought maybe I would talk about it in a full length episode. But I think it's best just to kind of acknowledge it here. And that is why I as a registered dietitian have undertaken a new website that frankly has nothing to do with being a registered dietitian and almost no new nutrition related content whatsoever. And that is my new website, this baking life.com You've heard me talk about it here on the show. But if you're following me on social media, or you are a subscriber and you have been getting some of my emails, you will notice that while some of the recipes that I'm developing do have I guess, the need for a registered dietitian, especially one that understands gluten free baking, there's a gluten free web section there. There is a low carb section up there. But the overwhelming majority of the recipes that I'm developing right now are frankly, not low calorie, they're not low sugar, they're not low carb, they aren't necessarily gluten free. They are just a complete absolute departure from so much of what I've done over the last, gosh, 15 to 20 years of my career. And for those of you who've been around for a long time, you may feel a little bit of whiplash in seeing that. And honestly, I kind of get it. But I started this whole episode off being really transparent with you about you know, why maybe I'm not releasing quite as many episodes as I used to. And a lot of it really boils down to rebuilding a career. And on this side of a cancer diagnosis, when you want to start rebuilding a career that has really frankly kind of pulled back you know, a lot of people pulled back during COVID whether they wanted to or not, and then I pulled back even further just you know going through treatment. In doing so I really have to evaluate how I want to spend my time. And it brings me a great deal of satisfaction and joy, as I said at the beginning of this episode to research topics that are of interest to me and that I think will be helpful to you and that's what This Unmillennial Life podcast exists exists for but as I have remarked and joked with friends over the years when I was doing recipe development on lower sugar this and the higher fiber that and and really what I would say like hardcore nutrition developments sometimes I would remarked people say what I really want to do is just get up and bake muffins every day. And so I'm kind of doing that now. I love it. I grew up Um, my first and oldest and most fond memories of my time in my paternal grandmother's kitchen was spent, you know, baking. I remember being an eighth grader and my mom being at work. And I remember baking a chocolate cake for my granddad. I remember my first published recipe was, I think, is like a kindergarten or a first grader. And it was a plum cake that I had learned to bake with my grandmother. I remember being in college and one of my favorite classes, my degree is actually in nutrition and food science. And one of my favorite classes in college was a food science lab. And, you know, you'd go like eight in the morning and cook biscuits to learn about chemical chemical leavening and bring them home to your roommates. And these are just really fun memories that have, you know, followed me all of my life. I remember my very first full time job, I was a Food Editor, Assistant food editor at Weight Watchers magazine, and my boss then, and I would joke about how I had this cake stand. And I always had something baked in the cake stand. And so really, for me, baking has been something that most of my life has been, you know, a pastime, so to speak. And I am not a super accomplished Baker, you know, I don't I wasn't trained in, in French pastries, I just learned how to do basic baking, a lot of quick and easy baking baking that the average person can do and that the average family's going to enjoy. I learned that many, many years ago. And I frankly, love doing it. And so I guess in some ways, I want to apologize if you have been along on my journey and felt like in time, I've talked about reducing sugar consumption, which I still think is very, very important. But I don't think that just reducing sugar consumption in your life means that you can never have yummy desserts. And certainly in my life, what I've realized is I have one child who is literally what I can count are months away from being out of my home, having these kids, you know, it's one of those things like I want to bake for my kids and I want to bake things for them that they get super excited about and that they are treats and they are things that, you know, don't, you don't necessarily need to eat three meals a day worth of. But it's something that I love. It's something that I enjoy. And to be honest with you the site is growing very quickly, because apparently there are plenty of people out there who share my love of baking for their friends and family but want to do it in an easy way. Because that's absolutely what makes this baking life.com different than most baking websites. I do not make it very time consuming lengthy recipes. And that's another one of those things that has maybe popped up as a criticism, I use convenient products, I use things like boxed cake mixes. And I do that because frankly, they work. And they're standardized. And I know if I call for them and you use one that your product is more likely to turn out in like minded because there are no variations and how much you scoop and measure. And that's not to say that there are not recipes up there that are from scratch. There absolutely are. But I am always looking with that website to both combine what is the easiest way to get this baked good out of the oven and shared with friends and family. What's the easiest way to do that without sacrificing taste. So if that at all appeals to you, I hope you'll sign up for recipe notifications from this baking life.com. And if it doesn't appeal to you, and you really have just always been around for the more hardcore nutrition content, don't go anywhere. That is what's still going to be here on this podcast. I don't plan for that to change any. I have again appreciated in the last couple of years a new spirit towards balance and happiness and pursuing things that you enjoy in a way that I didn't before. Sort of everything changed in the last few years. So this has been a pretty lengthy EFS episode as I alter how frequently episodes may be released, it may be that some of these episodes get a little bit longer to kind of sneak everything in. So as I say at the end of every episode, I am just so appreciative for you being here and listening, subscribing, downloading and of course, sharing with a friend as we close out this year. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Have a great week.