Acne and Pimples: Top 7 Factors to Healing Acne, Pimples and Other Skin Conditions with Chinese Medicine

Don't we all hanker after a healthy looking face and beautiful skin? Worrisome skin problems can range from symptoms as excruciating as acne, pimples, psoriasis and eczema to simply having a sallow dull skin complexion. In Chinese Medicine there are some basic principles that we follow to heal skin problems such as acne, pimples, eczema and psoriasis. No matter what type of skin problem we might have it can be very uncomfortable and embarrassing if it affects our face. For long term skin and face health you need a multi pronged approach. Don't get seduced by the single quick fixes for acne and pimples and other skin problems that you read about on the internet – especially the topical creams that you put on your face and skin. They may be simple but they are usually not effective enough for face and skin health.

There are seven key factors that need to be addressed to have a healthy face and healthy skin. They are as follows: 

1. Treat the gut: leaky gut and parasite issues are in fact a big deal in the treatment of face health and skin health through Chinese Medicine. This approach is not well known or widely used in Western or conventional treatments. Conventional treatments focus mostly on topical skin treatments: skin and face creams, antibiotics and steroids which of course affect the digestion, kill off the good bacteria and can make the acne and pimples worse. When the digestion gets worse the face and skin get worse and it becomes one aggravating and frustrating, even embarrassing vicious cycle. So improving your digestion is an important step to improve face health and skin health and to reduce acne, pimples and other skin problems.

2. Improve your Diet: a simple first step is to determine if you are more Yin or more Yang. A lot has been written about general diet for the management of acne, pimples and other skin problems, for example avoid greasy foods, eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, go on a detox diet, but in Chinese Medicine we are much more specific. We hold the same general principles but why is it important to determine if you are Yin or Yang? Because then you can be more aware of the foods that are right for you and therefore be more effective in reducing acne, pimples and other skin conditions. If you're more Yang for example you would want to avoid hot spicy foods because they would exacerbate the heat toxin that is already in your body creating the skin condition of acne or pimples. If you are too Yin you would want to avoid cold or damp foods, which contribute to different skin and face problems.

3. Reduce Heat Toxins: in Chinese Medicine there are various forms of heat such as heat in the liver, heat in the stomach or lungs, heat in the blood and damp heat. Different kinds of heat can result in different kinds of skin and face problems.

4. Healthy Breathing: oxygenates the blood, improves circulation and lymph flow and helps the body, face and skin to detoxify so that acne, pimples, psoriasis and eczema symptoms can be reduced. Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Yoga breathing, – these are all good ways to improve the circulation to your skin, help your body detox impurities from the skin, get that heat toxin flushed out and acne and pimples on the skin cleared up

5. Avoid toxic skin products: these can contribute to the heat toxins in your body and skin and contribute to acne and pimples on the skin. Even in "organic" skin products you can find petrochemicals and preservatives that don't just irritate your surface skin but also get absorbed through the skin into your body. So read the labels and become skin care savvy. eg avoid methyl and propyl parabens, vaseline, and excessive use of skin creams that might have a petroleum base. Household and garden chemicals, household cleaning products can also create heat toxins which affect your skin health.

6. Release old Trauma: areas of your body where you have had accidents can be weaker than the rest of you and therefore be more susceptible to skin problems. Any area of trauma or emotional distress creates what we call "stagnation" in Chinese Medicine and contributes to heat toxins in the blood. This can manifest as skin problems such as acne, pimples, psoriasis or eczema.

7. Emotions: in Chinese Medicine bottled up emotions build and create heat just like old trauma, so make sure you de-stress as much as you can, to reduce the chance of acne and pimples on your skin and face.

Bonus tip: Probably the most important question that a doctor of Chinese Medicine should ask someone one with acne, pimples, eczema or psoriasis is "are you constipated?" This would also help them determine what kind of Yin or Yang foods and activities would help the skin. So make sure that you're not constipated and pay attention to the above factors for beautiful, healthy face and skin.

And get your FREE self evaluation copy of

"Are You Yin or Are You Yang? Why You Need to Know This",

to help you on your way to beautiful healthy skin

when you sign up for our monthly FREE Healthy Skin and Digestion coaching calls at http://www.MyHealthyDigestion.com

To Your Best Health

From Dr Susan Lange OMD, L.Ac and the Meridian Center for Holistic Medicine  

Are you continually wrestling with your weight and feeling deprived by austere diet regimes? Maybe you are living on salads and forever counting calories?

Would you be suprised to know that eating nothing but salads can actually make you gain weight? Well it’s so!

What about weight loss without dieting? What a concept!

We always teach that to reach and maintain a healthy weight it’s important to have really healthy digestion. We believe that good digestion is the foundation for good health. If you would like to learn more you can listen to our FREE recordings where we talk about digestion that are archived under "resources" at our main website, www.MeridianHolistic.com <http://www.meridianholistic.com/>

We also offer a FREE monthly teleseminar on the first Monday of each month where we answer your questions and debunk myths about digestive health and digestive cleanses.

*But here’s a completely different “Quantum Weight Loss Approach” that we want to share with you …***

Yesterday, Susan and I had a fun visit with the psychotherapist and author of the book “Freedom from Food", Patricia Bisch. Patricia is a lovely person who drew largely from her own experience in creating her book. What I think is unique about her approach to weight loss is that she isn’t promoting a new kind of diet, instead she addresses one’s need to eat and what one is trying to emotionally fill or solve by eating. Her approach is directed towards identifying the psychological wounds that drive us to consume food and gain excess weight. She then gives really practical advice about how to resolve these issues with the ultimate goal being that we can eat what we want to without having to be over weight.

I believe “Freedom from Food” is a worthwhile read and presents a good method for anyone interested in weight loss without dieting. But the main reason I want to bring Patricia’s work to your attention is that it furthers the ideal of achieving better health through inner change and that is something that Susan and I will always support.

And by the way, when she wasn’t looking we spied in her refrigerator and it was stuffed with all kinds of goodies. She told us that she’s famous for having a fridge with no room in it. And Patricia really enjoys her food, we know, because we saw her freely savour several slices of the date bread we brought. I wonder how she stays so slim and gorgeous? Find out in her book which you can get, along with her CD, at her website www.FreedomFromFood.net <http://www.freedomfromfood.net/>

And if you'd like some ongoing tips and encouragement to reduce bloating, improve your digestion and to feel better about yourself join us on our free monthly conference calls at http://www.My-Digestive-Health.com 
 

How to avoid the mistakes of the young and foolish when traveling, and to stay healthy and sound in your body, mind and spirit.  A parable by Dr Susan Lange, OMD, L.Ac (1996)

I first became intimately acquainted with parasites and digestive problems when I was twenty years old. I was hitchhiking from England to India during a University summer vacation. Having been berated by a fellow traveler in southern Iran for throwing away a date with a maggot in it (food was scarce in the desert and we needed our protein), I obediently – or was it foolishly? -drank the Holy water at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India – just like everybody else there. Along with the other worshippers, I took a bowl, dipped it into the turbid brown water and drank it reverently. Later, I watched idly as two old men washed themselves down in the very same temple pool. I was young …….

 That night we took a train to Delhi. The carriages were packed with families, children and animals. I was lucky because I managed to clamber up onto a narrow luggage rack where I would remain immobile until dawn, high above the cacophony and the struggle for space below. My triumph was short lived. To find out what happened next  click on the next page  

]]> http://meridianholistic.com/healthyliving/dr-susan-lange-omd-lac-healthy-living-blog/comedy-of-parasites-an-adventure-into-the-bowels-of-india/feed 1 http://meridianholistic.com/healthyliving/healthy-digestion/from-hysterectomy-and-despair-to-healing-and-hope http://meridianholistic.com/healthyliving/healthy-digestion/from-hysterectomy-and-despair-to-healing-and-hope#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:06:19 +0000 Susan Lange http://meridianholistic.com/healthyliving/2008/02/08/from-hysterectomy-and-despair-to-healing-and-hope/ If only she had come in before her hysterectomy!

If you are suffering from any kind of symptoms such as leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome, menstrual problems, or hormonal issues please read Catherine's story  before you take any kind of drastic action.

Excerpt from a Hysterectomy Testimonial by Catherine
about the benefits of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.

 “My name is Catherine and I first came to Dr Julian Lange probably about a year following a hysterectomy in which I fought for my right to keep my ovaries.What began to happen is that the ovaries, particularly my left ovary, began to swell and I was in a considerable amount of pain on a daily basis, but also had intermittent, what I called, attacks, where basically I was bedridden. These attacks came once a month, once every couple months, as time went on they became more and more regular. My GI tract was completely stopped up and I was in pain whenever I ate. [The] surgeons recommended that I have surgery again.

(This does have a happy ending. To find out  go to the next page.)

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