Want to start on the path to clear skin and happiness? Here are 10 simple things that you can start doing right now to begin your journey to a shiny happy face:

1) Start Loving Yourself

No, I’m not joking. Stress is a HUGE factor in creating an acne condition that’s a heck of a lot worse than it needs to be, and a lot of unseen stress is created by not loving and accepting ourselves despite our flaws and insecurities.

2) Take Stock of What’s in Your Cupboard

Are you seeing more processed food in there than that of the real, fresh, wholesome variety?

Start coming up with some ways that you can replace some of that junk with healthy foods like fruits and vegetables that are essential for gorgeous skin. Go to the farmer’s market, research some recipes, and clear out the fridge to make room for the good stuff.

3) Pick up a Jump Rope

A healthy lymphatic system that can remove toxins from your blood effectively is going to have a very positive effect on your skin’s health. Guess what the best exercise is for moving your lymphatic system is? Jumping!

Plus jumping rope is an exercise that’s easy, fun, quick, and cheap. Click here to read more about why I love my jump rope.

4) Drink More Water

Something as simple as replacing all the soda, milk, juice, coffee, energy drinks, and alcohol you drink with water can make a humongous difference to your skin! Not only are you hydrating your body with an essential, life giving substance, but you are also eliminating all the other not-so-great-for-you stuff in the things you were drinking before – like sugar and caffeine.

5) Start Practicing Mindfulness

Most of our stress comes from either imagining the bad things that are going to happen in the future, or from dwelling on things that happened in the past. Most of us are so stuck in the past and future that we end up missing out on the right now. This can result in an imbalanced state of mind, poor digestion – and yes, could even lead to more acne.

Start by paying attention to what you are doing right here right now. When you eat, sit down and really taste the flavours. When you walk, notice the leaves on the trees and the way the wind feels in your hair. When you play, really play – don’t let your mind be somewhere else or you are missing all the fun.

Learning to be more in the moment – called being mindful – is one of the most important skills you can learn to increase your happiness quotient.

6) Get More Omega 3s

Omega 3 fatty acids are extremely important nutrients in our diet that are essential to so many things – brain power, hormonal balance, cardiovascular health, and the integrity of your skin and hair. Plus, it’s powerfully anti-inflammatory, which means starting to get more of it in your diet can go a long way in getting rid of acne.

The best, most absorbable forms of Omega 3s come from cold water fish such as wild salmon and sardines. You can also find it to a lesser degree in things like grass-fed beef, and seeds like flax and chia.

Admittedly, it’s difficult to get enough Omega 3s in your diet, due to the small selection of foods that contain it. Taking a fish oil supplement is a good idea, but if you take one that is of inferior quality it can do more harm than good. I highly recommend fermented cod liver oil as one of the best supplements you can take for your skin, as it contains Omega 3s as well as other important nutrients for lovely skin such as Vitamin A and D.

7) Throw Out all Your Harsh Commercial Products

Your skin would probably be a lot better with a lot less acne if you would only stop attacking it with all those harsh cleansers, moisturizers, and acne creams. Sounds counterintuitive to what we’ve always been told, but it’s true. Those aren’t helping you to have nicer, smoother skin.

Try switching to gentle, completely natural skin care. Or you could even try foregoing all skin care completely, for some surprising results.

8) Try Having a Green Smoothie for Breakfast

Dark leafy green vegetables such as kale, chard, spinach, nettles, collard greens, mint, beet greens, or countless others pack a big punch full of nutrients that can make your skin glow.

Getting enough of these in your diet is though, because they aren’t always a lot of fun to eat.

The solution?

Try a green smoothie. It’s when you mix these nutrient packed greens with fruits in a smoothie – the sweetness of the fruit covers up the greens to the point where you can’t even taste them. But you are still getting all benefits! Genius!

9) Plan to take a Month Off from Dairy Products

Dairy products – milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and everything else made from milk – are the single most common food that can cause acne. Not everyone is sensitive to dairy products (and it’s certainly not the reason behind everyone’s acne), but there are numerous reports of people that had struggled for years until they cut out dairy and it cleared right up.

Make a plan to see if you can cut out dairy products completely for at least one month to see if it makes a difference for your skin. You might be surprised, and you don’t know if you don’t try.

10) Invite More Fun and Laughter Into Your Life!

Don’t take life and yourself so seriously! Life is full of pleasures and is meant to be enjoyed.

It’s okay if you don’t eat 100% healthy food ALL the time.

It’s okay if you don’t look like a supermodel on the cover of the magazines. Nobody does. Not even the supermodels themselves look like that, due to the use of professional makeup and an excessive use of photoshop.

It’s alright to have some spots. In fact, it’s normal. No one except you really notices them that much. People actually like you for who you are – and you have amazing unique qualities that are so much more important than what you look like. If you disagree because of the culture of sex and objectification that we live in – well, you need to realize that our culture is purposely fabricated in this way because the worse we feel about ourselves, the more money it makes for people who want to sell us things. That’s the truth, and don’t think it isn’t. It’s difficult not to let it get to you, but believe me – you DO have self worth that is so much more than your looks.

You need to do what makes you happy, and don’t let acne hold you back. So many people create their own acne by allowing their spots to control them. It seems like a paradox, but letting go a little and allowing yourself to laugh, play, go after your dreams, and really enjoy yourself no matter what life throws at you can be one of the biggest steps you take right now to make your skin, and your life, better.

Watch This Article In Video Form

Need more help with clearing your skin naturally and effectively? Check out my in-depth guide, Ultimate Secrets to Acne Freedom.

photo by lanuiop

Today, I want to talk about the lymphatic system and how it might affect acne and the health of the skin.

Most people probably don’t know what the lymphatic system of the body is, and that’s understandable. It’s a pretty underrated system! But it’s a absolutely vital to our body’s abilities to detoxify, nourish and regenerate tissue, filter our metabolic waste, and keep up a healthy immune system.

Now, you may have heard that one possible reason for acne is that your body creates unpleasant symptoms to deal with excess metabolic waste, toxins, and hormones when it can’t keep up with detoxifying them. As a back up plan, it may end up eliminating the excess through your skin as acne or other skin disruptions (your skin is your body’s largest detoxification organ, although should not be your primary one).

Well, congestion of the lymph system is a possible reason why it can’t keep up with the load, and could result in exacerbating an acne condition.

What is the Lymph System and How Does it Work?

You know your lymph nodes? Those little lumps in your throat and groin that swell up when you get sick?

That’s your lymphatic system. Part of it, anyway. The most famous bit.

The whole system actually comprises of an entire network of organs, vessels, ducts, and capilliaries that run all over your body. It’s your secondary circulation system and runs right along side your body’s network of veins and arteries, except it doesn’t carry blood, it carries a clear liquid called lymph fluid.

You know when you squeeze a pimple, and instead of blood, you get that clear, white, fluid that then forms a scab? Yeah… that’s lymph fluid.

The lymph fluid circulates infection fighting white blood cells, which help you to avoid infection and sickness, as well as create antibodies so your body can respond to invaders better in the future. It also collects extra fluid from the body and filters the waste, toxins, and excess hormones from it by sending those things to the lymph nodes to be destroyed. It’s proper circulation and functioning is super important to keeping you healthy. It’s often referred to as the body’s “drainage system” or “sewer system” – and you don’t want your sewer or drains clogged up, do you?!

The odd thing about the lymph system though is that unlike the main circulatory system which pumps blood around the body via the heart, the lymph system does not have its own pump, and it only circulates in one direction.

This means that it relies on the movement of your muscles and the movement of your diaphragm (deep breath now!) in order to circulate.

Is Lymph Congestion Causing Your Acne?

I don’t really think lymph congestion causes acne or is an underlying factor in the development of it, but I do think it can make things worse. This is because the metabolic wastes stay in your body longer than they should. Plus, a weak lymph means your immune system can’t fight the acne infection promptly – that may result in pimples that seem to take forever to go away.

Signs that you may have a sluggish lymph system include:

Acne and cystic acne along the jawline, near the ears, cheeks, and/or sides of the mouth and chin (this is where lymph vessels run close to the surface)
Your acne takes forever to go away and leaves marks that stay for ages
A tendency to have swollen lymph nodes in neck, groin, and under arm pits
Allergies
Fatigue
Lots of colds, flus, and other illnesses that indicate a weak immune system

Top Ways to Move Your Lymph System and Decrease Acne

Luckily there are many ways to get your lymph system circulating and working better than ever before!

1. Exercise

Yeah, I know. Boooorrring.

But seriously, remember how I said that your lymph system doesn’t have its own pump? And relies on the actions of your muscles and diaphragm in order to circulate?

Well, that means you gotta get off the couch or it isn’t going anywhere! Exercise can increase lymph activity by 10 to 30 times its activity at rest.

Any exercise will do, but try to get it on the more vigourous side at least some of the time – strength training, cycling, aerobics, tennis etc.

One exercise that is particularly good for lymph movement and drainage is what they call rebounding! In other words, jumping on your trampoline! So if you’ve got one of them, start bouncing.

High pony-tail required

Also, I know we’ve been talking about yoga a lot lately (here and here), and another reason yoga is so good for your skin is because it’s excellent for lymph circulation. This is because of the rhythmic breathing and intense muscular contractions needed for many of the poses.

Yoga poses that involve muscular contraction of the legs and arms are very effective in aiding the transport of lymph fluid. So are inverted postures – where your legs are above your heart – as it allows gravity to work on the lymphatic passageways.

Here’s an old video of mine that I made for High on Health, showing you some simple yoga poses you can do to help with your skin and lymph:

2. Deep Breathing

Again, this is because the movement of your diaphragm (that big muscle that helps you breathe) is essential to moving your lymph fluid through your body and detoxifying it.

Check out these videos of mine that demonstrate three different breathing techniques:

Are You Making This Mistake When You Breathe?
Try this Breath Technique for a Stimulating Pick-Me-Up That’s Better Than Coffee!
Want to Balance Your Brain? Try Alternate Nostril Breathing

3. Get a Massage!

Who could say no to that? (aside from your pocketbook!)

Massage manually gets the lymph flowing, and there is a particular type of massage called Manual Lymphatic Drainage Massage. It uses a specific amount of pressure (less than 9 ounces per square inch, ie. quite gentle) and rhythmic circular movements to stimulate lymph flow. Apparently too much pressure can actually pinch and shut down lymphatic flow, so it’s important that it’s gentle.

It sounds like doing the massage properly to yourself can be a little complicated, so it’s best to get treatment from a registered massage therapist with experience in lymphatic drainage.

Either way, here is a video demonstrating the procedure so you know what it’s like. I tried doing what she was doing to myself as I watched this video, and OH WOW! Even if I was doing it wrong, it felt amazing!

4. Dry Skin Brushing

Dry skin brushing is a very popular method of lymphatic stimulation that is easy to do at home. And if you look up the benefits of skin brushing, almost everywhere says that it majorly improves the skin, amongst many other benefits!

As a quote from the blog Crazy Sexy Life, dry skin brushing does this for you:

Dry brushing loosens dead cells, stimulates acupressure points, tickles your chi, massages your meridians, moves the lymph, helps reduce CELLULITE, stimulates your immune system, wakes up circulation and makes your skin soooo soft and velvety!

The basics of dry skin brushing are that you take a dry, natural fibre bristle brush (click here for instructions on how to choose one), and lightly brush all over your body, always moving in the direction toward your heart (as that is the way the lymph flows).

Instructions from whole-body-detox-diet.com:

Brush your dry body before you shower or bathe, preferably in the morning.
Start at your feet and always brush toward your heart. Use brisk circular motions or long, even strokes.
Brush all the way up your legs, then over your abdomen, buttocks, and back. If you have cellulite on your hips and thighs, concentrate there a little longer. For complete dissolving of cellulite, brush for 10 minutes daily for several months.
Brush lightly on sensitive areas like breasts and more firmly on areas like soles of the feet.
When you reach your arms, begin at your fingers and brush up your arms, toward your heart. Brush your shoulders and chest down, always toward your heart.
Avoid brushing anywhere the skin is broken or where you have a rash, infection, cut or wound.
Finish by taking a shower and if you choose, use cold/hot therapy to further stimulate the lymphatic system and improve circulation.
Dry off vigorously and optionally massage pure plant oils into your skin such as almond, sesame, avocado, coconut, olive or cacoa butter.

And here’s a video demo:

5. Alternating Hot and Cold Showers

This one doesn’t sound as fun to me as massages and dry brushing – brrr!

But yes, alternating hot and cold temperatures (sometimes called Contrast Bath Therapy) is very invigorating for the lymph system. The reason is because cold temperatures cause the blood and lymph vessels to contract, and hot causes them to relax. Therefore, the alternation increases lymphatic peristalsis.

Basically all you do is stand in the shower and then turn the water from hot to cold and back again several times. The amount of time to stay on each is debatable… from what I’ve read, two minutes on each for five to seven rotations sounds like a good average. Apparently you should try to end on a cold note.