How to Eliminate Post Birth Control Syndrome Acne

In a previous post, I share how the pill affects your body and how the menstrual cycle works. I believe that knowing the science is key to healing because then you can fully believe in what you are doing. If you don’t believe in what you do, you won’t do it!

If you don’t know much about post-birth control syndrome, check out my previous post here, and if you want to learn about my healing journey post-pill check this post here.

One of the most frustrating parts of coming off the pill is acne. It can be extremely frustrating and make you question why you came off the pill in the first place. I hope this post can serve as a reminder that you CAN HEAL and have clear skin again.

MINDSET.

One of the pillars of my Whole-Body Healing program is MINDSET. And when it comes to acne, I like to start here because acne can mess with your self-confidence. It can be a roller coaster of a journey especially when it is so easy to compare yourself to everyone who has perfect skin. Loving your body is accepting it just as it is, even if you are covered in breakouts. Here are a few things to tell your mind to rewrite the story you have.

1. My body is talking to me and acne is a sign that my body needs some extra love.
2. My skin doesn’t make me less valuable and it doesn’t mean I am not doing “enough”.
3. Worrying about my skin every day and every second is just a block from enjoying my life.
4. I will do my best every day and accept and trust that is healing is on its way.

I believe that mindset is a big part because healing won’t happen overnight. Some days your skin will be clearer and other days it will be so broken out so accepting where you are is part of that journey.

NUTRITION.

If you haven’t downloaded my free guide to glowing skin, why not?!? This guide is exactly the steps that I have mastered to clear my skin and where I recommend everyone start. Also, you can read this post where I talk about foundational nutritional beliefs. Before or after the pill, here is what I recommend you focus on when it comes to food that will help your body to transition off the pill.

1. Eat 2000 calories of nutrient-dense real food.
   The best way to get nutrients is to eat more food. The pill depletes your body of nutrients and so you need to restore these nutrients to support your gut and liver. I don’t recommend counting calories unless you have no idea how much to eat. If you want my opinion, send me an email with 3-5 days of daily food intake and I will give you my thoughts. (no strings attached – chelsea@cjwellness.com ) Also, nutrient-void food doesn’t count. You want to eat lots of protein, vegetables, and starches. Junk food doesn’t count because it will mess up your blood sugar (causing breakouts) and it will take a toll on your gut and liver.
   
2. Eat Grass-Fed Meat.
   I mention this in my nutrition principles blog post, but when coming off the pill I think it is very important. Many people recommend going vegan to clear the skin, but I do not. Going vegan made my hungry and crave sugar. And if eating enough food is hard enough…going vegan makes it even harder!! Meat is packed full of b-vitamins, iron, and zinc which is CRITICAL for healing the skin, providing energy, and boosting the immune system. The serving size of the protein is about the size of the palm of your hand.
   
3. Eat Foods High in your Depleted Nutrients.
   The common nutrients depleted by the pill include b-vitamins, vitamin c, e, selenium, zinc, and magnesium. Here are where you can find these nutrients:

• Vitamin B6 foods like salmon, avocado, eggs, bananas, and legumes.
• Magnesium-rich foods like leafy greens, nuts, and seeds, and oatmeal.
• Vitamin C rich foods like lemons, strawberries, oranges, bell peppers
• Vitamin E foods like almonds, sunflower seeds, avocado
• Zinc-rich foods like beef, oysters
• Selenium rich foods like brazil nuts, turkey, eggs, shrimp

I highly recommend doing a nutrient test if you want to know exactly what nutrients you are deficient in! That way you can focus on your body specifically and you will get better results. Apply here if you are interested in testing and working 1:1 for fast results! 😊

Gut Health.

After working through nutrition and following the steps to nourish your body, this will automatically support your gut and liver health. Supporting the gut and liver is always helpful, but especially when coming off the pill because the pill can imbalance the gut and the liver needs to remove all the excess hormones and chemicals from the pill.

Here are 3 ways you can support your liver and gut health post-pill:

1. Eat fermented foods. You want to support your gut bacteria and the most cost-effective way to do this is by eating fermented foods. Fermented foods include sauerkraut, fermented veggies, kombucha, kefir, tempeh, etc. Fermented foods include both natural probiotics and fiber which leads me to the next way!

2. Make sure you eat enough fiber of about 25 grams. The most important thing you can do is to make sure you are pooping DAILY. And taking a daily laxative doesn’t count. You want your body to naturally excrete toxins daily and if you aren’t pooping those toxins processed by your liver stay in the body. Your body detoxes in many ways…but in my opinion pooping is the most critical. Haha

3. Choose one upgrade to limit your exposure to toxins. You can add in tons of healthy stuff, but sometimes removing something can be even more healing. For example, when a drain is clogged you don’t keep shoving all the good stuff down the drain to “heal” it, you have to work to stop the clog from happening in the first place. Ideas include: upgrade your cleaning products, upgrade your make-up, upgrade to filtered water, upgrade your air, upgrade your kitchen pots, upgrade to glass, etc. The list could go on. These are all relatively simple things you can start doing today. Pick one that feels doable and commit to it! Check out my non-toxic living resources post for more details.

If you want a more specific action plan, I recommend an HTMA test. An HTMA test can show you the heavy metals being released from your hair. When we know that, we can then review your environment to see where these heavy metals are coming from. For example, we might find out your are releasing lots of aluminum and then we can review your day to day and connect where your highest exposure to aluminum might be from. You can learn so much more from an HTMA test which you can read more about here.

And those are just a few things that you can start doing today to support and heal your body post-pill. If this sounds like a lot, or you don’t know where to begin, I highly consider hiring a consultant. If you are interested in working with me, I start all my clients with a 1:1 deep dive session so I can fully get to know you and your health story. You will leave this session with so many ah moments and where to start on your healing journey. And then we will create small actionable goals so you know exactly what to do and we can get you healing FAST. No more researching, no more guessing on your own! If you have questions or want to learn more – you can apply to work with me here. 🙂

xoxo
Chelsea Jolene