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Here's how to keep your skin clean, calm and radiant from the inside out

Clean skin starts in the kitchen. Learn how food, herbs and digestion directly affect your skin.

In early January, we always get a lot of questions about blemished skin. And usually women then think it's because of the skincare they use. But it's not your skincare. It's what you've been eating lately and what your body now has too much of. Your intestines are full of substances that your body wants to get rid of. Doing a detox right now and completely cleaning out your damsels helps tremendously for beautiful skin."

At MOTHR EARTH PROOF®, we see it every day:
what you eat every day is one of the main contributors to beautiful, clear skin - or conversely, blemishes, redness, rosacea, puffy eyes and a dull appearance.

That's not an opinion. That's our skin philosophy.

Your skin is not a separate organ. It is a mirror of what is going on inside you. And everything starts with nutrition.

Your skin reads along with every bite you take

From the moment you put food in your mouth, your body is already reacting.
The lymph nodes under your tongue send signals: can I digest this - yes or no?

I myself often notice it immediately. I get certain body reactions.
Then I know: this is not what my body wants.

Those signals run via the lymph nodes and pathways in your mouth through your neck to your chest and breasts - in women and men.
Sore or tight breasts? Then you're often eating foods that trigger hormones and inflammation. And this is almost always reflected in your skin.

Sensitive skin is rarely a skincare problem.
It's usually a gut and diet problem

It's all about your digestion

In all my training - both Western and Eastern medicine - the same thing keeps coming back.
Eastern medicine in particular shows a one-to-one relationship between what you eat and how your skin reacts

"Everything keeps coming back to your digestion.
At the fire in the middle of your body."

An ancient Eastern saying says:

"If you can heal the Middle (read: Stomach / Spleen / Pancreas), then you can heal anything."

Ayurveda, TCM and East Asian Traditional Medicine say exactly the same thing:
take care of your digestive fire.

Why?

Strong digestion → good blood production
Good blood production → nourishment of organs and tissues
Good circulation → clear skin, calm bowels, clear head

If you neglect this fire - with cold drinks, raw food, ultra-processed food or food that your body does not recognize - you will see immediate consequences

blemished or sensitive skin
bloated belly
puffy eyes
swollen face
heavy legs
fatigue
brain fog

Body and mind are one

In the West, we learned something different.
Descartes said, I think, therefore I exist - body and mind as separate systems.

But that is highly disruptive.

In reality, body and mind constantly influence each other and are one.
A weak digestion makes your mind restless.
A lot of brooding, worrying and not being able to stop thinking again weakens your digestion.

In menopause you see this amplified.
Women often become more worrisome. Not "between the ears," but because digestive fire decreases.

Oriental clear thinking belongs to a strong Stomach/Mil/Pancreas.
Brain fog comes from a digestive system that barely digests anymore.

And yes - your skin also reacts and shows this via blemishes, rashes, irritation.

What do you eat for beautiful, clear skin?

The most skin-friendly eating styles are:

pure Japanese cuisine (do watch out with tofu (hormonal reactions) and seitan (pure gluten so inflammatory reactions)
Ayurvedic cuisine
Chinese cuisine
Korean cuisine

Thai cuisine but without the spiciness of hot spices

You don't have to take everything literally, but you can take a huge amount from it. Like, for example, having a hot breakfast with collagen soups with vegetables and a little protein.

Overview: foods that support your skin

Good foundation

rice
quinoa
lentils
all legumes
aduki beans

Vegetables (preferably prepared hot)

all green vegetables
root vegetables
tubers and turnips
radishes
Jerusalem artichoke
green beans
broccoli
pumpkin
celery

fennel

Fruit

only local fruit
only in season
preferably baked or stewed

Tip: Consider baked apple or pear with cookie spices.

Baking

+ spices = pre-digestion

Fresh and dried herbs

eat lots of fresh and dried herbs

What is better to leave out for calm skin

For clear skin, it is important to avoid (temporarily or structurally) these foods

❌ dairy (digests poorly)
❌ gluten (inflammation)
❌ spicy/hot food (irritates intestinal wall)
❌ chocolate (lots of histamine → rosacea, inflammation)
❌ alcohol (especially red wine & spirits → vasodilation, rosacea, redness and heat)
❌ fried foods (trans fats → inflammation, blemishes)
❌ pasta & bread (gluten)
❌ tomato, bell bell pepper, bell pepper, eggplant (histamine, inflammation, redness and heat in skin)
❌ melon (cools strongly, stagnates lymph)
❌ white & red cabbage (too cold, difficult to digest - sauerkraut may)

Also pay attention to fruit out of season when you can pick it.
Then it makes your digestion cold, causing waste products to stick around. And those waste products, in turn, affect your skin.