THE GOOD SKIN DIET

We’ve often heard the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ – but can you feast your way to great skin? We chat to Carla Oates, founder of The Beauty Chef, to find out what impact our diet has on our skin.

It’s often said that ‘you are what you eat’ – but can you feast your way to great skin?

Carla Oates doesn’t mess around when asked if she believes it’s possible to eat your way to excellent skin. “Absolutely,” she says resolutely. As the beauty and wellness worlds have evolved, the two have become more entwined than ever before – and the roaring success of Oates’ inner beauty supplement line, The Beauty Chef, is undoubtedly a testament to this.

While nowadays we’re all aware that a thorough and efficient skincare routine can contribute to radiant skin, when it comes to skin health, we are realising that the inside counts too. It’s often said in the fitness world that it’s impossible to outrun a bad diet – and the exact same thinking applies to your skin health. Even if you religiously coat your face in huge amounts of the latest game-changing serum, it’s unlikely you will be able to outsmart your poor lifestyle choices with your skin.

“Everything you eat – or don’t eat – affects the health and beauty of your skin,” explains Oates. “This means no matter what your skin type or condition, it can be improved by diet. Conversely, no matter how good your skin is naturally, problems can arise from a poor diet.”

DIET SHINING THROUGH

While the old wives’ tale that eating chocolate will immediately cause your skin to break out has been disproven – enjoying a square or two of chocolate every once in a while isn’t going to turn blemish-free skin into an acne-prone complexion – more research is being invested in nutrition and the role that it plays in certain skin ailments, such as acne. The past 50 years have seen a dramatic increase in allergies and autoimmune diseases, and science is turning its attention to what’s going on in our gut – and specifically our microbiome (the ecosystem of tens of trillions of microbes in our gut)

– to look for answers.

Oates, an ex-beauty editor, started thinking about the age-old saying ‘you are what you eat’ because of her daughter’s own experience with eczema. Oates strongly believes that all skin conditions are affected – both beneficially and detrimentally – by a person’s gut health and diet.

Research is starting to catch up with her ideas – a 2017 article in the World Journal of Dermatology said that the intimate relationship between the gut and skin is undeniable. The article then went on to add that it’s especially important to understand how diet, medications, and psychosocial stress can influence or contribute to altered microbial communities within the gut, which may directly or indirectly affect skin health. Oates points to the various studies which have shown that those with symptomatic rosacea are more like to have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. “More and more studies confirm that where there is gut inflammation, there will be skin inflammation,” says Oates.

SKIN-FRIENDLY PHILOSOPHY

“My philosophy has always been that beauty begins in the belly,” says Oates. She adds that her belief is that health and beauty are inextricably linked.

“When you are healthy on the inside, your skin will radiate with a natural glow,” she explains.

The first step to achieving the luminous glow that so many of us turn to skincare for is balancing your digestive health, says Oates.

“When you are healthy on the inside, your skin will radiate with a natural glow.”

“While it might not sound very glamorous, the gut is where 70 per cent of our immune system lies. It’s where we make nutrients, regulate hormones, neutralise pathogens and regulate detoxifying enzymes,” says Oates. “Basically every biological process carried out there can have a profound effect on the skin in a good or bad way.”

She explains that while human genes do have a profound impact on our skin and overall wellbeing, we actually have many more microbial genes than human genes. The Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health at the University of Washington in the US estimates that the number of genes in all the microbes in one person’s microbiome is 200 times the number of genes in the human genome.

The majority of these microbes live in the gut – therefore, it makes sense that we turn our attention to how we fuel our body.

“What influences our microbiome more than anything else? Diet,” says Oates. ”So, while you may have good human ‘genes’, you still need to look after your microbes with a good,

Around 70 per cent of your immune system is in your gut.

wholesome diet, as poor microbial health will eventually catch up to good ‘genes’.”

Oates says that the state of our relationship with our microbes is influenced by how we interact with them. “Predominantly, what you feed them, how stressed we are, our sleep cycles,” she says. “To nurture a happy microbiome, you need to be a happy, healthy host. They really are our best friends when it comes to having good skin. And the best way to nurture this relationship is through diet – making sure it includes nutrient-dense, organic whole foods rich in fibre as well as lots of lacto-fermented food teeming with beneficial bacteria – aka probiotics. Think foods like sauerkraut, kefir and kimchi, as well as The Beauty Chef products of course.”

THE FUTURE OF SKIN

Oates believes that while there are already exciting steps being taken to better understand the role that diet has on our health, there’s still much, much more to come.

“This is such an exciting area, as researchers are uncovering how profound an impact our gut health has on our wellbeing – from health issues such as obesity, auto-immune diseases and mental health, to skin conditions,” she says. Still, research into gut health and the microbiome is only in its infancy.

“While the microbiome is still relatively mysterious and we know there are certain species that seem to be good for most people … there is still a lot to be learned about different genera, species and strains of gut bugs and how they affect us individually – and also within certain contexts (diet and environment),” says Oates.

She believes the future is full of promise, and that the day where we can map our individual microbiome and manipulate it to help our health is on the horizon.