Welcome to Grounded Wellness. I'm your host Bethany McDaniel,
founder of Primarily Pure, mom of Three, and biohacking
enthusiast. We created this podcast to bring
you practical advice to live a more vibrant and intentional
life rooted in long lasting health.
We record right here on our regenerative farm, grounded with
our feet in the soil, exploring bold truths, overlooked wisdom,
and holistic tools that support true well-being.
These conversations will challenge everything you know
about health and Wellness. I am so excited for today's
conversation. It's one that many of you guys
have been asking for, and it could not be more perfect timing
because June is Acne Awareness Month.
Today's guest, Maria Marlowe, is someone who I deeply respect.
She is a certified holistic nutritionist and author, a
podcast host, and someone who truly gets the emotional toll
that skin struggles can have because she has lived it.
After years of trying every conventional acne treatment out
there with little to no success, something I can relate to, Maria
discovered something that changed her life.
The healing power of food. This conversation is filled with
practical tips on how to heal your skin from within the
grocery store, mistakes making it worse, and why true beauty
has nothing to do with injectables.
Let's dig in. Maria, welcome to Grounded
Wellness. I'm so excited to have you here
to talk all things acne and nutrition.
But I want to get started on a personal note because you became
a mother about 10 months ago. How has Mother had been for you?
It's been a roller coaster with a boy.
It's a lot of like movement all the time, but it's been, it's
been a fun journey, fun roller coaster.
My gosh, I fully get that. We were just talking about being
boy moms before the show. It's it's wild.
And you had a home birth. How was that experience for you?
That was amazing. So even before I got pregnant, I
was very confident and felt like I wanted to have a home birth
for me. I felt like that would be the
most natural way to do it. And yeah, luckily it all worked
out and I was a seven hour, 7 hour labour.
I spent most of, I actually spent pretty much the entire
time between the shower and the bathtub, eventually got in the
birth pool. And yeah, the baby came out and
I, I, I will say that like it's not all rainbows and butterflies
at home birth, like it still hurts.
It was the most it, it was the hardest thing I've ever done in
my life. For sure I would.
Agree with that, personally. Yeah, I did home births as well.
Yeah, and loved it. Amazing experience.
I mean, I did it three times. So I kept, you know, coming back
for more. But it was not like those
peaceful videos that you see online of, like home births
where they're singing or like, humming gently.
Like it was still very intense for me.
It was very raw and it was very like I say, it was like very
fast and furious and definitely not for the faint of heart.
Like I thought my husband might faint, you know, everything
going on. He didn't, I believe, but it's
it's intense. And I had, I not prepared myself
for it and really understood physiological birth and what was
going to happen when. And there's definitely that
point a transition where you're just like, I can't do it
anymore, Like I want to give up. But knowing that that was going
to come and knowing I was going to experience that, I was able
to say, Oh, OK, I'm in transition now.
I know it's not much longer and, you know, just let my body do
its thing. I had learned about the fetal
ejection reflex. You know what this is that no.
OK, so I whenever I am interested in something, I do
extensive research, as you'll see with nutrition and acne and
all that stuff. So with birth, I mean, I did
like a super deep dive and I needed to learn everything I
could possibly learn. That's.
The same way. And so I learned that mammals
have something called the fetal ejection reflex, which is when
the body is ready to give birth, it literally pushes the baby
out. But when we watch TV or movie
shows, right, they're always like push, push, push, push,
push, push. And apparently you don't have to
actually push. Your body will push it out.
So I said, wow, this is a, a crazy concept.
Why have I never heard of this before?
Nobody's really talking about this.
I was like, I want to experience this for myself.
And the idea is if you just wait long enough, your body will just
open and push it out. And that that is exactly what
happened. So I did not physically push my
body, just. Took over and never.
Pushed. No, like it made the intentional
decision like I'm going to. Push.
No, not at all. Interesting.
So yeah, there's something with. So you know, when you dilate and
like you get to 10 centimeters, that's when you're supposed to
like start pushing basically. But apparently it actually opens
a little bit more than 10 centimeters.
So if you wait a little bit longer, that's when it kicks in.
But it also, it will really only kick in if you're, you know,
you're calm and you don't have like an epidural or anything
like that. So it's, it's a bit of a waiting
game, but it's it works. Wow.
Yeah. And you also had a viral reel
about eating dates in the last Is it 4 weeks, 8 weeks of your
pregnancy and how that can speed up labor?
Is this something you tested personally?
Yes, it is. And I will say my labor was 7
hours, which is very short for a first time mom, super short,
super short because I believe it's about 202124 hours,
something like that for a first time mom typically.
So I can't say for sure if it was just the dates, but I can't
say that it wasn't. I don't know.
It was a very, it was a very quick labour.
But anyway, the, the how I learned about it, I spend half,
half my time in Dubai and one of my friends is from Saudi and
there it is customary that people do eat dates before,
before giving birth because it's believed to help with birth.
And, and so I was like, OK, let me try it.
Let me look into it. There are actually a few studies
that have looked at it and, and have found that women who eat
it's five to seven dates in the four weeks leading up to, to
birth everyday. Yeah, it's Ajwa dates.
So they're the smaller dates. They're not like the big medjool
dates that we usually got. They're the small Ajwa dates but
it has been shown to reduce labor time, like reduce need of
intervention and basically speed things up.
Wow. Yeah.
OK, if I have a fourth I'm gonna give.
That a twat I. Mean what's the downside like?
Exactly, there's no downside, although I will say I love dates
but I was sick of dates at the end.
Of smoothies, yeah, OK. You can put them anyway in any
recipe you want. OK, interesting, because I,
yeah, I had great birth experiences, but they were like
I, I, I push. So maybe I shouldn't have done
that. That's.
OK, don't say should you're really.
Cool. Yeah, I mean, there's it all
worked out, Yeah. But I will say, like, it felt it
was extremely challenging, especially like so that last
phase of like pushing the baby out and maybe dates would have
helped. I don't know.
It's worth a try I think. You might as well, and you'll
have something to compare it to. I had nothing to compare it to,
so I don't. I don't know.
Yeah, yeah, the female body goes through so many changes and our
skin all throughout pregnancy. What changes did you experience
personally and how did you support your body nutritionally
or with supplements throughout your pregnancy?
So one thing that I was aware of and that I wanted to make sure I
prevented, well, two things would be acne and stretch marks,
which are quite common during pregnancy.
So with acne, I think the three things that helps, you know,
prevent me from getting any breakouts would be that I kept
my blood sugar stable, which is really, really key.
Sometimes it's hard, especially in the first trimester.
If you're really nauseous and you can't keep things down,
you're maybe craving more processed foods or refined
carbohydrate foods. I get it's tough, but if you can
try and, you know, push through that and eat as well balanced a
meal as you can and include your fiber, include your protein,
include your healthy fats. Keeping your blood sugar
balanced is is really important. The second thing would be
regularity. So a lot of times during
pregnancy, sometimes women can become constipated, especially
for example, if you're taking the iron supplement that can
also cause Constipation. And then if you're not eating
the weight, like a lot of fiber, you know, then that could also
cause Constipation. So staying regular, I think is
really helpful because we know that there is a link between
Constipation and acne. And then the third thing was
just keeping it as nutrient dense as possible because we
need to make sure that we're getting, you know, all the
vitamins and minerals, not just for a baby, but also for a skin.
So those three things helped. And then in terms of stretch
marks, I'm not immune to stretch marks.
I, I definitely got stretch marks during puberty on my legs,
but I knowing everything that I know now, I know that everything
that we eat is the building blocks for our skin.
So I wanted to support the stretching and elasticity of my
skin and, and try to prevent stretch marks if I could.
So was all about the protein, having a lot of bone broth,
having a lot of collagen to really support my skin to
stretch and grow and then go back.
And luckily it worked, so no stretch marks.
What about topically? Did you do anything topically to
support your growing belly during pregnancy?
Yes. So I did put all sorts of creams
and lotions and potions on there.
I tried a bunch of different things.
I think I've used. Let me see.
I use mango butter. Something with mango butter.
I used black cumin seed oil and I think there was something else
that I used which I can't remember, but I was just
slathering things on there. But I will say there got, I got
to a point where I was like, I just, I wasn't doing it
regularly, I'll be honest. Yeah, yeah, I feel like it felt
so good for. That's one thing I really kept
up with. And I used our baby bomb.
OK, I'll send it to you. Yeah.
For your next baby. Don't tell my husband that he's
gonna try and rush it. But it has tallow and it has
marshmallow root infused into the extra virgin olive oil,
which is really good to support like skin elasticity.
And then I did all the same stuff as you, like the bone
broth and collagen and all of those things and didn't have any
issues. It makes it makes a big
difference. Yeah, yeah.
What about postpartum? What are some issues that can
arise postpartum and how can women support their bodies
through that phase? Yeah.
So I think, you know, postpartum we first of all our healing and
our body, we're healing from the birth.
And then, you know, our body is kind of returning to its state
and so we need actually more nutrients and more calories even
postpartum than we do before. And especially if you're
breastfeeding, if you're breastfeeding, then you know,
you really need to make sure that you're eating a very
nutrient dense diet because if you're not, whatever you're,
you're having, the nutrients are going to the baby and you are
going to end up really depleted. And that's where things like,
you know, postpartum depression come in and, you know, other
sorts of imbalances can creep up.
So it's really important that we're fueling our body with
food. So what I did, in certain
cultures, it is customary for a a new mom to spend 30 or 40 days
kind of resting and being taken care of by her family members
and friends. So I was like, listen, guys, you
guys are taking care of me. You know, I told my sister
you're cooking for me. You know, my husband, OK, you're
doing this. Everyone was, you know, the
mother in laws, everyone was helping out because I, it was
really important to me that I ate very nutrient dense after.
So I actually printed out a whole recipe book of postpartum
recipes that were really rich in minerals, rich in protein, you
know, fiber, healthy fats, all of these things.
And I printed it out and I was like, OK, just make me make me
these things. Wow, that's so great.
And I think that a lot of women forget about that.
Like we focus so much on pregnancy and the birth and then
forget to kind of like support our bodies afterwards as well.
Yes. And I've heard you talk about
about Gray hairs as well. Yes.
Is that something that a lot of women experience postpartum?
It can, it can be possible because especially if you're
breastfeeding and you're not keeping up with, you know,
enough minerals in your diet and there's other factors as well.
But if we are lacking certain minerals that can actually cause
premature graying of the hair. So it is really important.
Like I do have some friends who are like, every time I give
birth, I feel like I have more Gray hair.
It's like, OK, because you're probably lacking some, some
minerals at that point because the body is just using up so, so
much of it. We really need, it's kind of
hard to get it solely from the diet.
Like at some point you probably need to supplement just to
really support your body. What do you like for a mineral
supplement? What would you recommend so for
minerals? I mean, I like, I like, well, I
do like taking electrolytes. So I think that's really
important with hydration. So one recipe I was making all
the time was this ginger switzel, which is like water
ginger lemon electrolytes. It's really delicious.
So I drank that all throughout labor and then also postpartum.
And yeah. And then I would say if there's
a certain deficiency, then I like to kind of, you know, do it
based on what the deficiency is. Is there anything women can do
to to prevent it? Sounds like getting ahead of the
game in terms of like taking the minerals.
Yeah. And eating nutrient dense foods.
Once the Gray hairs appear, is there anything that can be done
to reverse that? Yes, OK.
So first of all, seaweed I would say is actually my favorite way
to kind of get minerals. Like just the seaweed snacks.
Yeah, so there's all different types of seaweed.
So like sea snacks are one like the nori sheets, those typically
are, but things like dulls, guacame, arame, like there's all
different types of seaweed and they all have slightly different
minerals in them and and amounts of minerals.
So eating them regularly. So one soup that I made pretty
much every actually every single day for I think 30 or 4030 days
was this Korean postpartum soup, which is basically beef and
seaweed. And I would, I would have that
every single day. And I feel like that really
helped me with my energy and especially because you're not
sleeping at that time, but I felt really good at that time
because I was, I was just nourishing my body.
So I would say seaweed is my favorite way to get to get
minerals. Nice.
OK. Now in terms of yes, if your
hair has started prematurely graying and it's caused by a
mineral deficiency or heavy metals, that's another
possibility. Which deplete your body of
minerals. Of minerals, yeah.
So that's kind of the the, the balance with heavy metals.
When we have higher heavy metals, they do block the, you
know, absorption and utilization of minerals.
So you kind of have like a double edged sword there, I
guess. And So what we want to do is we
want to get rid of the heavy, heavy metals and also increase
the minerals. And if, if that is the cause of
the Gray hair, then yes, it's very possible to, to, to reverse
it. And I've done it like I've been
doing it for years. So I've had over a dozen, dozens
of of, you know, hair start to turn back.
You can see like the top is white and then the bottom is my
natural color. Interesting.
I didn't know that was possible. Yeah, I've heard also PRP
injections in the scalp can help to reverse Grays.
I haven't tried it personally. Yeah.
That I'm not I'm not sure it's definitely possible.
I mean, another thing that's really helpful is bringing
circulation to the area because first of all, we're all like
hunched over on our phones all the time.
And then this, you know, our muscles can in our neck and our
back, they all get tight and that can start to block blood
flow. And if we're not getting good
blood flow to the scalp, that means we're not getting the
oxygen and the nutrients there. Yeah.
So for me, I actually noticed when I would press over here on
top of my ear on this side, because in interestingly, I only
had Gray hair in like one small area, like one line right here
on the right side. And when I was pressing, I said,
oh wow, I have like a knot here in my head.
And so using acupuncture and scalp massage, I was able to
kind of break that up and get rid of it.
And I believe that also helped with circulation and getting
those nutrients where they need it to be.
Yeah, that makes sense. I every night, like after I take
it if my hair's up or whatever, like I'll, I will always just
spend time like massaging my scalp and it feels so good.
Yeah. And I just think like, I don't
know that most people do that, but it feels so like once you
start doing it, you just become like addicted to the feeling and
you like can't not just get in there and like massage the heck
out of your scalp. It's so good, it's even good for
hair growth and your hair, it looks nice and thick and
healthy. So a scalp massage has been
shown to increase hair growth and even increase hair
thickness. So it's definitely it works.
I also like doing Do you ever do oil massage?
No, I don't because OK, it would.
I feel like it'd be so hard to wash out.
It is, yeah. It's very hard to wash the oil
out of my hair for whatever reason.
Also, you really have to give it a few washes, and I do.
I wash basically with conditioner first and then I do
shampoo and I feel like that helps to get it out.
Really. Yeah, interesting.
But the scalp oil massage is is really nice.
I try to do that once a week, not every week, but as often as
I can. OK, maybe I'll try that
sometime. I feel like it's already hard
for me to, to get all of the oil out of my hair when I wash it
cuz I wash it maybe every week and 1/2 or two weeks.
And so there's a lot of build up in there.
But it's time I wash it and I have to do like two or three
rinses with shampoo to even like get my hair clean without oil.
So I'm like if I put oil in my hair, but I have to do like 6
washes just to get this. I don't know, maybe it's worth
it. I'll give it well you.
Know what? If you're doing the massage, you
might not need the oil. Because I will say, sometimes I
get out and I think my hair is clean and then I'll dry it and
I'm like, Nope, there's still oil.
Yeah, yeah, we have a lot of moms in our audience.
What would you say to any new moms who just had a baby?
They're in that first year. Maybe they're feeling
overwhelmed, trying to care for themselves and their baby.
How would you encourage them? I would say it gets better with
time, every month I feel like and just rest as much as
possible. And this is something that's
very hard for me because being from New York and being very go,
go, go and always wanting to do things and feeling like if I'm
not doing something, I'm not being efficient or productive.
Becoming a mother has helped me realize that slowing down is
something and, and, and it's OK to slow down.
So I think just resting because your body is going through so
much, you're taking care of a baby, your body is healing.
If you're feeding the baby, it's even more of an exertion on you
on top of that. So just rest, be gentle with
yourself and you know, don't look at social media where you
see these moms were like 2 weeks postpartum and they're in a visa
in a bikini or something. You know, that's not not real,
that's not common, right? Most women are at home also
struggling. Like motherhood is hard.
It's not easy, It's fun, it's rewarding, it's it's beautiful,
but it is also very hard. So I think I think more women
need to talk about the hard parts because we tend to only
see the happy parts on social media.
And we need to also know that, OK, it is really hard.
Breastfeeding is really, really hard.
It's very challenging and getting the baby to sleep and
all of these things are all really challenging.
And I think just knowing that you're not alone and giving
yourself grace. That's good advice, especially
with the first baby. We were talking about this
earlier. It's like your entire world
changes overnight, and you now have to adjust to that, and your
body's depleted from pregnancy. And then if you're
breastfeeding, that's like, even more of a strain on the body.
And it's all amazing and worth it and it's miraculous, but it's
challenging. Yeah.
Let's shift to the skin.
Tell us about your personal journey with acne.
So acne. I had really bad acne for four,
almost five years, and I tried just about everything to make it
go away. So I started with the drugstore
topicals. Then I graduated to Proactiv.
Was very popular at the time. Infomercial.
Remember that all the kiosks in the mall.
And then then I went to the dermatologist and I was
prescribed antibiotics, worked for a little while, but then
once you go off the antibiotics, the acne came back.
And even worse then I was prescribed birth control, I was
prescribed spironolactone. I was eventually prescribed
Accutane, which at that time it was a lot harder to get an
Accutane prescription. It was really the last resort
when you kind of exhausted everything else and it wasn't
working. So I'd kind of went up that
totem pole of, of acne medications.
Nothing was working over the course of almost five years.
And I remember finally getting that prescription.
I remember filling the prescription, picking up the bag
from the pharmacy and, you know, staple to the front, there's
that little sheet of paper with the side effects.
And one of the side effects was severe depression that could
lead to suicide. And I was like.
What? Like, that is insane.
And I was already feeling quite depressed about my skin because
I had internalized that there was something wrong with me
because I was doing everything I was supposed to do, whether it
was what my dermatologist told me or all the magazines at the
time told me that I was supposed to be doing to clear my skin.
And my skin wasn't clearing. So I was like, there obviously
must be something wrong with me. And I, I saw that side effect
and I was like, you know what? Nothing else has worked.
I'm not willing to take this risk with this side effect.
I'm not going to take it. And at that point, I kind of was
just relegated to the fact that I was cursed.
I had bad luck, I had bad genes, I don't know, bad karma,
something. I had this acne.
And so I persisted a while longer, and then eventually I
got to college and I was eating lunch with a friend and
complaining about my skin. And she had mentioned she's
like, you know, there might be caused, it might be caused by
what you're eating. And I was like, that's crazy.
I've been to all these different dermatologists, and not one of
them have ever asked me what I was eating.
She's like, yeah, you know, you should, you should try it.
And meanwhile, I'm sitting there, by the way, having two
slices of pizza, Coca-Cola and Entenmann's chocolate chip
cookies. So anything would have been the
fruit of a bat. So anyway, I was like OK just
tell me what to do, you know, give me guidance.
And Long story short, I overhauled my diet, worked on
repairing my gut, and within about 3 months my skin cleared
up. Five years.
Wow. Which is insane.
That is wild. Our stories are so similar and I
won't go through all of it, but I mean basically what you just
said is my story also, and I point blank asked my
dermatologist at one point like can I change anything about my
diet or lifestyle? I just felt like there was this,
there had to be something that was causing it, but I didn't
know how to figure that out at the time.
And I asked her and she said, Nope, it's purely genetic.
There's nothing you can do other than use these creams and take
these antibiotics. And that was the answer she gave
me. And at one point, I remember
even, like, wanting to be on Accutane and my mom wouldn't let
me, which I'm so thankful for now.
Yeah, I'm curious, did your doctor verbally tell you the
side effects or Accutane or you just happened to see that on
your own? I just happened to see it
happened to see it. And honestly that this is
something I feel really strongly what about because I know a lot
of people side effects, not everyone's going to get side
effects, of course. And I know people who've taken
Accutane and are happy that they took it and they seem fine,
they're good. But I also know a lot of people
who were injured by it and severely injured.
And, you know, there's also stories in the news of people
who have, you know, teenagers who have committed suicide of
this. And, and I, I don't think we're
doing enough to, you know, educate people, especially
children and teenagers, the importance of diet and
lifestyle. And I think that that's really
where we need to start. We need to figure out what is
the root cause because acne, this is actually something
really interesting. A lot of people think acne is
caused by bacteria, right When we were growing up, that's what
you saw in all the magazines and everything.
You know you need to use this cream or cream or scrub, you
know, for acne causing bacteria. It was like wipe out all the
bacteria from your skin and just scrub it as clean as you can and
then you'll be good. Exactly.
Which never worked. No, just nothing worse.
But So what we now know is that acne is actually caused by
inflammation. So in the early 20 TENS, after
decades of research showing that acne is indeed caused by
inflammation, not bacteria. So the bacteria that we've, you
know, that's called the acne causing bacteria.
It's also present on clear and healthy skin and typically in
equal amounts. You can also have someone with
acne who doesn't have that specific bacteria on their skin
and they still have acne. And you know, bacteria may play
a role in acne, but it is not that first domino that sets up
the whole chain of events. That's inflammation.
So now, if you actually look at the definition of acne, it's a
chronic inflammatory skin disorder.
So we really need to understand what is causing the
inflammation. And I guess the challenge is
that there's so many factors that can cause inflammation.
So it's not going to be the same for me or you and every other
person. It's going to be, there's going
to be variation. And so I, I do really think that
once we understood that acne was caused by inflammation instead
of bacteria, that should have really changed how we treat and
address acne, but it didn't. We're still Antibiotics are the
most commonly prescribed medicine for acne.
Which is insane and totally disrupts your gut bacteria which
makes your skin way worse. Even if it helps short term,
it's never going to be a long term solution.
Exactly, and the reason that it likely is working is because the
class of antibiotics that is used for acne also has
anti-inflammatory properties. So often what happens is when
someone is on antibiotics for acne, their skin may clear up,
but once they go off within 369 months because of the gut
dysbiosis that was created, the acne comes back and often with a
vengeance. You mentioned spironolactone
earlier and I feel like that is often seen as a more mild acne
medication, but what are some side effects of taking
spironolactone? So spironolactone, it's an anti
androgen so that's often why it's prescribed for for acne.
It's kind of like an off label use.
So side effects, you could have things like dizziness and like
headaches and that that sort of thing.
It's also diuretic. So you're also going to be
losing minerals and electrolytes.
So you can end up with nutrient imbalances.
And then you can also, it can also affect your, your period,
your menstrual cycle, and you can't take it if you want to get
pregnant. So I think, you know, when it
comes to medications, there's a time and place for them.
But I think when it comes to acne, the first place to start
is always going to be your diet and lifestyle and trying to
understand what are the imbalances, what is creating
inflammation for you? So how do people go about doing
that? How do they figure out what that
trigger is for them? So.
That's a great question because on your own it is, it is quite
difficult. And I will say sometimes people
will come to me and say, you know, I already eat quite
healthy, but I'm still breaking out.
So I think it's important to note that a few things like
everyone's definition of healthy is different, right?
So is it actually healthy for your body or not?
Maybe you are eating healthy, but are you absorbing all your
nutrients? Maybe you have some gut issues
where you're not actually absorbing what you're eating.
So there's so many different factors at play.
So I would say really working with someone, a nutritionist who
specializes in acne would really be the the 1st place to start
because they can look at your history and look at your food
diary also. And kind of give you a good
starting point because we know that, for example, nutrient
deficiencies are associated with acne.
So things like vitamin A, omega-3 and zinc, these are very
common deficiencies amongst people with acne.
And oftentimes the worse the deficiency, the worse the
severity of acne. So, you know, I could look at
someone's food diary and say it looks like you may not be eating
enough of this particular nutrient.
Why don't you get this tested, you know, and then check and
then, OK, we need to add these foods in.
I always like to do a Food First approach approach when when
possible. Another area or another possible
factor could be too many pro inflammatory foods, whether
that's the vegetable oils or the processed foods, the packaged
foods that could be that could be an issue of source of
inflammation, gut dysbiosis. Our modern lifestyle almost
seems designed to disrupt our guts, whether it's medications
we're taking, antibiotics, of course, but even other
medications like birth control, for example, can disrupt our gut
and also deplete our nutrients. Stress is bad for our gut.
It's disrupting our gut microbiome, the chemicals around
us, the foods that we're eating. There's just so many things that
disrupt our gut microbiome. So if there is dysbiosis there,
that can cause a problem. And we know that acne patients
tend to lack some of this good Lactobacillus and bifidobacteria
in their guts compared to healthy controls.
We know that they tend to. They may be more likely to have
increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut, which
is really the main source of inflammation in the body.
It's often starting in the gut with leaky gut and hormonal
imbalances That could be a problem.
But I always tell people with hormone imbalances, it's not
your hormones that are the problem.
It's the factors in the diet and lifestyle that are causing your
hormones to become unbalanced that's the problem because
hormones are messengers. So they're reacting to things,
right? And they're giving messages
based on your environment, your diet, all of this stuff, your
thoughts even. And so when there is an
imbalance, we need to try to understand why there's an
imbalance. And I think that's the better
way to fix it versus, you know, trying to artificially
manipulate the hormones and blood sugar imbalances.
That's a big one. That's another root cause and
stress. I would say those are some of
the biggest ones. So really kind of doing a deep
dive into your diet and lifestyle and, and being honest
and seeing where, where maybe you're falling short or where
you can make improvements. Before someone does any sort of
testing, are there certain foods that you would recommend adding
into your diet and eliminating from your diet in order to
improve acne and improve your skin?
Absolutely, because testing can also be expensive.
So sometimes it's enough to just like add the things and remove
the things that are not great. You may not even need to do the
test because it makes such a big difference.
But I would say in terms of adding in dark leafy greens and
bright orange veggies, these are really great.
They're a great source of carotenoids, antioxidants,
fiber. So I would say those are really
helpful. Anything rich in omega-3.
So I love ground flaxseed. I love wild salmon, anchovies,
mackerel, sardines. Liver is a super food for the
skin. So whether that's beef liver,
like your beef liver smoothie. I'm so sorry I don't have one
for you today. I slacked off and couldn't get
it together. I'm going to try and making it
at home when I get the time to make.
One I want to send me and we'll like FaceTime and drink one
together. I love that.
Yeah. So I'm really curious how it how
it tastes. Yeah, if you get it right, you
can't taste it. Yeah.
So I'm just doing one cube. That's it.
Yeah, Not seven. Yeah.
Just one yeah, one. No, I don't do 7 anymore.
I was so hardcore at that time and just like chugged it to get
it down. But no, you don't even need that
much like one cube personally. That's fine.
I also love cod liver oil, which we talked about.
Cod liver oil is amazing. And I like cod liver oil because
it's also a source of vitamin A&D and it's very easy feel like
if you just hold your nose, I guess even like the smoothie, it
goes down. Yeah, it's not bad.
I actually, I give, we were talking earlier, we both take
the same brand, Rosita, and they have like the oil, just the pure
oil in the bottle. And they also encapsulate the
oil. Yes.
And so I give my kids the little the capsules and they chew on
them and they actually love them.
Like they beg for them. It's so interesting.
Oh, wow. Yeah, that's great.
And they taste like fish, like they're not yummy.
They're not like flavored with anything.
Oh my God, I know. But they.
Do it has like a very pure taste, like the Rosita cod lip
oil? Yeah.
It's a very clean and mild taste, which is nice.
And if you've tasted other cod liver oils, they taste either
rancid or they taste very artificial because there's some
artificial. Flavor.
A lot of them are rancid, right? They aren't.
Yeah, and I mean, I haven't seen any cod liver oil that can match
Rosita in terms of nutrients, naturally occurring nutrients,
because the vitamin A and the D that are in Rosita cod liver oil
are naturally occurring. They use a cold processing, you
know, way of getting the oil. So it maintains the the
nutrients. Whereas all of these other
companies, they're using heat to extract the the oil, which is
going to degrade the vitamin A and the vitamin D So they often
end up adding back synthetic to, you know, to bump up the label.
Interesting. Yeah.
And vitamin A is such an important nutrient for acne.
Preventing acne, healing acne. I mean, that's what Accutane is
like in a synthetic form. And I think that's what's so
great about getting vitamin A naturally, is it, it's present
in a more balanced combination with, you know, it's, it's in
real food form. So you're not going to get this
the side effects of liver toxicity and other things that
synthetic vitamin A can have. Exactly, Yes.
And that's also, I'm glad that you bring that up because that's
also a point that I make to people.
If you're even thinking about Accutane, try, well, first just
assess your diet. And you'll see pretty quickly
whether or not without even out, without doing testing, you can
look at your diet and say, OK, am I actually eating vitamin A?
Because if you're not eating liver and you're not eating an
abundant amounts of dark leafy greens or orange veggies, you're
most likely not getting enough. Yeah.
I mean, it's almost guaranteed. So I would say, yeah, liver is
just an amazing skin superfood. So our body uses vitamin A for
skin cell turnover. So it helps to prevent clogged
pores. So if you're even considering
Accutane, before you do it, assess your vitamin A and try
just adding it back in and you may find that you don't need it.
That is such good advice. What foods across the board
would you recommend eliminating from your diet if you're
struggling with acne? So trying to avoid vegetable
oils as much as possible. I say as much as possible
because of course at home you want to eliminate them.
But if you're eating out here and there, I think it's OK.
We don't want to stress so much that the stress causes a
breakout and disrupts our guts. So I think in this day and age,
it's inevitable. Of course, we can do our best to
choose restaurants that don't use seed oils, and thankfully
there are more and more restaurants that are cooking
without seed oils. I'm that annoying person that
when I go out I will ask for like my food to be cooked in
pure butter or pure extra virgin olive oil.
If you just ask for olive oil, a lot of times that's cut with
canola oil and I used to kind of be wishy washy about it and feel
kind of bad. Now, I do not feel bad at all
because and like everyone needs to be asking these questions and
then things will change. Like, if everyone were demanding
better, more quality oils for their foods to be cooked in,
restaurants would eventually get sick of it and just, like,
switch to avocado oil and butter and, you know, all these.
And well, I think that's what's happening.
So yeah, I always tell people don't feel bad about asking for
substitutions that would change things.
I think that's totally fine. But I, I also think, and I'm
also like that, but I feel like sometimes you're going to come
across them at some point. You know, if you're on a plane
and you're starving, you know, you didn't pack course.
Yeah, don't stress about it that much.
Just try to eliminate it as much as you can.
But don't, you know, don't go overboard.
The way to kind of counterbalance it if you are
having vegetable oils is to make sure you have a lot of Omega
threes. That's really, really important
if. Vegetable oils are high in Omega
6 and when that ratio is too imbalanced it can there can
cause. Yeah, exactly.
So we want to make sure that our body really has a lot of
omega-3, and that can kind of help to counterbalance what's
that refined sugar, we don't really have any need for that.
And I don't think that means that we can never eat anything
sweet or dessert. Fruit is amazing.
Trying to use whole, like sweeteners as much as possible.
Things like dates, for example, to sweeten desserts, I think
that's ideal. So yeah, refined sugar, we don't
really have a need for that. And then I would say soda for
sure, dairy is a controversial 1 because there is some science on
a connection between dairy and acne and actually a lot of
larger scale studies that have shown a connection between dairy
intake and acne. Now, of course, this is not
looking at raw dairy intake, it's looking at commercial dairy
intake. So I don't know that there's any
research that's actually looked at the difference between people
consuming raw milk. But commercial dairy absolutely
I would avoid if you're acne prone skin.
I've seen you talk about face mapping before.
What is face mapping and what can it tell us about what's
going on inside? Of our bodies face mapping comes
from traditional Chinese medicine and the idea is that
where the acne is located on your face can be an indicator of
the underlying dysfunction in your body.
So typically around the lower part of the face, this is more
hormonal based. You know, there's a certain area
for your liver for your digestion.
I believe the the forehead is digestion.
But what I will say I I do think there is definitely truth to it.
There's no studies to back this up nobody's studied this.
But I think that in some respects our hormones and our
gut are really kind of underpinning all all forms of
acne. And it's really important that
when we are trying to get rid of acne, we really start gut 1st
and that's going to help with the hormone balance and
everything else. So face mapping I think has I
think what's great about it is that that it encourages us to
think a little bit and kind of draw the connection between
what's happening on our skin and what's happening in our body.
But ultimately, I think really starting with our gut is really,
I think all acne is really originating from the gut more or
less. And we've talked about food a
little bit. What are some lifestyle habits
that people can either adopt or ditch to just holistically
support their whole system, their gut, their hormones,
everything? Well, I think spending time in
nature is one of the easiest, cheapest things that we can do
to support our overall health. It helps to lower our stress
levels, our cortisol levels, which is are really important,
is great for our gut microbiome. So I think spending as much time
in nature as possible and you don't need to be out on a farm
like we are right now. You could be at Central Park or
some Green Park in your city, even just on a stretch of grass.
Studies have shown that literally just even sitting on a
patch of grass in your backyard for I think 10 or 20 minutes is
enough to kind of lower some of those stress hormones or
listening to the birds, for example.
Yes, I've started every day, like going outside, rounding,
listening to the birds recently. And I try to take my kids out
there with me and I don't spend a long time out there, but even
like 10 minutes, it really does so much for your body.
And I feel like if people could do that in the morning and in
the evening, it would just change so much for our society.
I think so. Like one thing that I've built
into my day is daily walks. So I do take a morning walk and
I take an evening walk and it's just a great time to first of
all, get a little bit of sun, get a little bit of nature, not
be glued to your phone. And I'm not going to lie, there
are times I look at my phone when I walk, but I try to keep
it away and really listen to the birds and look at the greens and
look at the flowers and things. Because otherwise we're just go,
go, go all the rest of the day and we don't have time to think
one one thing. I also.
I like to do, which I don't necessarily do every single day,
but I like to sometimes walk without a podcast, without
listening to anything, without talking to anyone on the phone
and just being with my thoughts. Because it's during those
moments where I feel like you get the best ideas and the best
intuitions and insights. And maybe you're thinking of a
problem and the solution comes to you when you can actually be
quiet. Because all day long we're
surrounded by noise, TV's and phone calls and social media and
this and that that. We never really have time to
just let our mind wander, and doing it on a walk I think is a
really great way to let your mind wander.
I completely agree, I'm really into walks also and for a long
time I was in the habit of always listening to a podcast
when I walked and so before I would head out I would like OK
which podcast am I listening to? Queue it up and one day I'm
like, wait, I don't, I don't have to do this.
Like sometimes it's nice, you know, but if you're, if you've
just been, if you've had a long week or a long day that's been
go, go, go. Like we forget sometimes that we
can just tune out and like be in silence without having to take
in more information. Even that alone can be so good
for you. And just like such a good way to
clear your brain and clear. Your head restorative.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
We don't always have to be doing something.
Yeah. Which is a hard thing to learn
sometimes, but once you do it you're like wow this feels
amazing. Right.
I feel so much more arrested and restorative.
What other signs that show up on the skin can be indicative of
something going on internally that isn't so good?
Sure. So dark circles under the eyes.
If you're not like if you're actually sleeping and you still
have dark circles under your eyes, then you might want to get
your iron levels checked because that could be a sign of iron
deficiency. If you have bumps on the back of
your arms, like the chicken skin, it's called keratosis
pilaris. That could be a sign of vitamin
A deficiency. Interesting, I've had several
people ask me about that recently.
Yeah, yeah. So that's that.
I actually had someone ask me about that the other day and
she's like, I go to the dermatologist all the time and
they prescribe all these creams and lotions and tell me use this
and that. And she's like, it never goes
away. Like yeah, got to get your
vitamin A levels checked or just add some vitamin A into your
diet. Yeah, some of my nieces and
nephews are struggling with that right now.
I'll give them some procedures. Maybe make them your smoothie.
Yeah, what else? Psoriasis.
That is an autoimmune condition and and most if not all
autoimmune conditions are believed to really start in the
gut from a functional medicine perspective with leaky gut or
increased intestinal permeability.
So definitely for psoriasis, I would start there and for
rosacea as well. There are a number of people who
have rosacea who also have SIBO, which is small intestinal
bacterial overgrowth. So if you're struggling with
rosacea, I would say definitely doing comprehensive gut testing
and testing for SIBO. I want to circle back to blood
sugar because we touched on it a little bit, but what are the
other concerns with having imbalance blood sugar?
Like we know it can trigger acne.
What else? What's happening in your body
when your blood sugar is elevated, and how else can it
show up on the skin? Yeah, So the the biggest issue
with imbalance, blood sugar, I would say it would be
inflammation. And inflammation doesn't just
trigger skin problems, it triggers a host of other
problems in the body. It's also associated with weight
gain, brain fog. So it's affecting our mood, it's
affecting our gut health. It's going to be wiping out some
of the good bacteria in our gut as well.
So it could be manipulating our hunger, right?
It can also make you more hungry.
And then typically when you start eating a lot of sugar, you
just want to eat more sugar. It kind of becomes this hamster
wheel. So it's really important that we
are keeping our blood sugar stable so that we, you know,
we're supporting our gut, we're supporting our skin, our mood,
all of these things. And again, I it's not
necessarily about never eating anything sweet, it's about doing
it wisely. So using whole sweeteners,
things like dates or fruit are going to be way superior to
eating a cookie. And I know it's not as fun.
So that's when you have to kind of get creative and use the
dates to make a cookie, you know, with some other stuff.
With a steak before you eat the cookie and not in the reverse
order. Exactly, so that's another big
tip is if you're going to eat something sweet, not don't do it
as a snack, do it as dessert always should be dessert and
don't eat dessert first. Eat dessert last after you've
had a well balanced meal with fiber, protein and fat.
That is going to help keep your blood sugar more stable.
Interestingly, there's also research to suggest that if you
have a plate that has let's say vegetables, protein and
carbohydrates, the order in which you eat those foods
actually makes a difference on your blood sugar.
So if you eat the carbohydrates 1st and then the veggies and
then the protein, your blood sugar is going to rise more than
if you were to eat the fiber first, then the protein, then
the carbs. Your blood sugar will be a bit
more stable because the fiber actually creates kind of like a
shield in your gut to prevent some of that sugar from being
absorbed into your bloodstream. And also protein and fat, same
thing. They're going to help keep your
blood sugar more stable. That's something I'm trying to
get better at remembering because I I always tend to eat
the protein first, but having some kind of fiber even before
that, I've I've heard the same thing that you just said that
that can be really helpful. So I'm trying to now eat like a
raw carrot every day before dinner.
Oh, nice. Carrots are amazing for your
skin. Although I had a viral video on
this. Really.
Yeah. Super viral.
It was crazy. I wasn't expecting it.
But carrots contain carotenoids, which are the plant pigment that
give carrots their orange color. Carotenoids, their antioxidants,
beta carotene. In carrots, our body is
converting that into vitamin A, Yeah.
So it's helpful for our skin in that regard.
But carotenoids are also stored in the skin, so they actually
give your skin a nice sort of yellow, golden tan color or more
glow. And what's interesting is, you
know, when you think of someone who's sick, you think they're
very pale, right? Yeah.
And if you think of someone who's healthy, they typically
have some color to their skin, and so eating a carotenoid rich
diet can actually help your skin maintain a little bit more of a
glow or a tan. That's so interesting, I am
doubling down on my pre dinner carrots now.
Yes. That's for sure.
What are some other sources of carotenoids?
Anything orange, so sweet potato, butternut squash, any of
those winter squashes would be good.
Anything orange basically would have it, or even red and yellow.
Red and yellow like bell Peppers for example.
Those will be a source of carotenoids.
And good for the eyes too. Right.
Exactly. I've heard that, like, those are
those foods are more in season during the winter because it's
darker and it actually helps our vision, helps us to, like, see
better when there isn't as much light.
Interesting. Yeah.
I don't know. I just think it's cool how,
like, everything in nature is designed to promote health and
healing. And it's so easy to become
disconnected from that in the world in which we live in, where
foods are shipped in from another country.
And, you know, we're not in tune with like, eating seasonally and
being outside and having our circadian rhythm and our
hormones regulated by light. I just love like, learning about
how everything actually is so connected, and if we can kind of
go back to some of these old ancestral ways of living,
they're going to support our health and our bodies so much.
Yeah, I think seasonal eating is maybe not the easiest thing to
do. No, it's not.
It's hard to find seasonal food sometimes because we do, you
know, especially if we're living in cities, there's no farm
nearby and, and everything is being trucked in from all across
the country. And so sometimes you can't even
find anything that's grown locally.
But if you could, if you could find or maybe even start, maybe
it's even just herbs, you grow some herbs on your window sill
or something. Just having something you know
in your garden, I think, I think helps.
You've been really open about your views on Botox and anti
aging. Does Botox actually age the skin
prematurely? So what we're seeing now,
especially with this push towards preventative Botox, of
doing Botox in 20 year olds who don't have wrinkles yet, is that
when you paralyze the skin and there's no movement, the skin or
the muscle, I should say, actually atrophies.
And so it can become more loose and saggy and more wrinkled over
time. So you kind of have to keep
doing it. And yeah, that's sort of the,
the unspoken, you know, truth about Botox is that when you
start doing it too early, it can actually end, end up making you
look older than you are. Besides for the fact that having
a very frozen face does make you look older because young faces
aren't frozen, you know, so we have movement in our face.
So yes. So I think with Botox, everyone
needs to decide what to do for themselves.
But I think this is another pharmaceutical that we're using
that people aren't fully explained all of the side
effects, you know, before, before it's injected.
And I, I think that there are definitely some people who like,
OK, I don't care, sign me up, let's do it, you know, But there
are some people who may pause before doing it because there
are some serious side effects of using Botox.
It is, after all, the most toxic poison known to man.
So do we really want to be injecting that into our bodies?
I don't. I don't think so.
And you've shared your experience about injecting or
having Botox injected into your armpits?
Yeah, at an earlier age. Tell us about that.
So yeah, I mean, had this not happened to me, I might be
injecting Botox in my forehead right now.
But when I was like like 1718 years old, I remember getting my
nails done and reading all the magazines.
And at the time, it was very popular for celebrities to get
Botox injections under their arms to prevent them from
sweating. And I sweat.
I was like, I don't want to sweat.
I'm going to go to my dermatologist.
I'm going to ask for Botox under my arms.
I went, they did it within a few days or a week, whatever it was,
I'm still sweating. And I wasn't supposed to be
sweating at this point. And at this time, I have no
concept of lymph nodes and, you know, health or anything like
that, healthy eating, lifestyle, nothing.
And so I go back to the dermatologist and I'm like, I'm
still sweating. They're like, OK, we'll do it
again. So they inject it again.
Again, I have no idea how much they put in.
After that second time, my lymph nodes under my arm started
swelling like crazy. I mean, under this arm, it was
like a golf ball and it was so painful and it would really, I
would have this swelling kind of going on and off honestly for
years. And I also developed like
shortly thereafter, something called morphia, which is a form
of localized Scleroderma. Basically, it was like a sheet
of scar tissue. Like right.
You can actually see it, it's like red now, but this was an
entire sheet of like shiny scar tissue.
It's starts to, it's still like you can still see my skin is
discolored here. It's a bit red, but, and I did
micro needling to try and get rid of it.
And this is 20 years ago. So I'm, I still have this, but
it, it's an autoimmune condition basically, which I believe was
set off by the injection because it's also right, you know, where
I was having the swelling. So that's actually what got me
into Wellness, not so much the nutrition, but and doing things
like sauna, doing exercise, jumping, moving the lymphatic
system. Because otherwise, you know, if
you don't do anything, your lymph is just it's sagnant
there. So you really need to move it
and doing like lymphatic massage.
All of this stuff I think is really important.
That is a wild story. I didn't even know that was a
thing. Yeah.
Are people still doing that to prevent sweat?
Yes, they are. It's it's used for, it's called
hyperhidrosis, which is like excessive sweating.
People still use it. So I will say I don't sweat as
much now and I believe it's because my body is also more
balanced. And I think just like anything
else, just like acne, just like premature grey, whatever it is,
if you're sweating excessively, it's a sign of some imbalance
and it's better to figure out, OK, what's causing that
imbalance versus trying to cover it up.
Agreed, Yeah. In your opinion, what are the
real foundations for aging gracefully and supporting
healthy skin long term? I think a nutrient dense diet is
definitely number one, plenty of protein.
Bone broth, I think it's really great.
I've also gotten into meat stock lately, which is similar to bone
broth, but you're just using bones that have more meat on
them. Very healing for the gut,
keeping your blood sugar stable. I think it's really important
because when we have blood sugar fluctuations that can actually
degrade our collagen, so that can break down our collagen
leading to lines and wrinkles. So it's important to keep our
blood sugar stable. And I think not stressing
things, which is sometimes the hardest one.
And sometimes we're like, I'll eat anything, just tell me what
to do, you know, but trying not to stress and actively getting
yourself to a place where you don't let things stress you out
that much, that is hard to do and something that I think we
all have to actively work on. And I'm also not perfect with
it, but I know, for example, when I'm active, like meditating
regularly, life is so much better.
And it's not that my life is different, it's that I'm
different. It's that I'm calmer and it's
I'm less reactive. And so I think that managing our
stress is really important. And I can see that even now,
like amongst my parents and my in laws and their all their
friends and things, when I look at that generation, some of them
are very healthy and some of them are not.
And it's not necessarily the ones that are eating the
healthiest that are the healthiest.
It's the ones that are the happiest.
That's what I'm I'm seeing. And so yes, I'm not saying
they're eating vegetable oils and junk food, but I it's not
just the food, it's the mood, it's the attitude.
Yeah, absolutely. And you touched on a few things.
But for you personally, what are some other ways that you support
your stress levels in your day-to-day life and routines and
rhythms? So I think having a plan for me
helps reduce stress because I know what's happening when and
I'm prepared for it. I like to be prepared.
So I like to know what's going to happen when.
So for me, that works. Some people that might not work,
that might stress them out more. So find what works for you and
that's. Not funny.
Like I'm the same way. I kind of I like to schedule
things and that doesn't mean that that never changes or
fluctuates, but I like to have a plan like you said.
My husband on the other hand, likes to just fly by the seat of
his pants every minute of the day.
Everything is always in motion. I'm like, I, I don't know how
you do that. Like I would go crazy.
I it's the same with us maybe. I guess opposites attract.
It's yeah, it's complete opposite.
So that's one thing. I do feel meditation helps with
stress. I find time in nature helps me
with stress. So I do try to do my morning and
evening walk every single day, even when I'm traveling, even,
you know, no matter what's going on in life.
And again, I do miss walks here and there, but for the most part
I don't. And I would say those are
probably some of the big things. Not eating sugar.
I I definitely find because I, I'm not perfect, like I don't
eat perfectly all the time. And I do find when I eat, for
example, chocolate or something, I am a bit more anxious.
I am a little bit more, you know, on edge.
And so eating a healthy diet also does help with stress
because I feel like I just feel more calm and balanced also.
Yeah, absolutely. Maria, this has been an
incredible conversation. You are a wealth of information
on all things healthy living and caring for the skin from a
holistic perspective. Where can our listeners find you
and continue to learn from you and tap into all of your
resources? So best place would be my
website mariamarlowe.com and Marlowe is spelled Marlowe.
I'm also on Instagram as Maria Marlowe and then YouTube and
TikTok are Glow by Marlow. Awesome.
And if you could give one last bit of encouragement for anyone
who is struggling with their skin and just feels discouraged
and doesn't know where to turn next, what would you say?
Acne or any skin issue, it's really a blessing in disguise.
I know it doesn't feel that way right now, but it is because
it's on our face or skin. It helps us to try to figure out
the root cause. And typically that once we
figure out the root cause, that's going to help not just
our skin, but if we change our diet and lifestyle, it's better
for our immune system, our mood, our overall health.
So really it is a blessing and once you get to the other side,
I think that will be more clear. Love that.
Thank you, Maria. Thank you.