Dermatologist’s Natural Health Advice for Your Skin

Dermatologist's natural health advice for your skin was rarely discussed in exam room when you saw your dermatologist. It is becoming a more common topic in recent years, partly because we are finally learning the link between skin and overall lifestyle and health. 

I've always known that taking good care of your body and mind is essential to having beautiful skin. - Dr. Bailey

This was not taught to us when I was in medical school back in the early 1980s. Nor was it emphasized in my dermatology residency in the late 1980s. In fact, mainstream medicine discouraged 'alternative' health and focused on diagnosis and treatment of disease. Any physician interested in the mind/body/diet connection outside of cardiovascular or diabetic care was considered 'fringe'. I knew differently. 

My interest in healthy diet and lifestyle choices started when I was 15 years old.

For me, the ‘aha moment’ was people watching in the check-out line at my home town Lucky’s supermarket. I could match the person's appearance and vitality to the stuff in their grocery shopping cart; folks pushing carts full of junk food had dull complexions and didn’t look as vivacious as people pushing carts filled with fresh foods. I didn’t want that for myself and I’ve been a healthy lifestyle advocate ever since.

I've also kept my eye on the scientific medical studies and watched them evolve over my career. As I update this post in 2023 it's refreshing to know that I am no longer a 'fringe' member of the medical profession. 

For most of us, our skin is a good barometer of our general health and well-being. Over the years since starting my blog in 2009, I've written many articles sharing what I've learned about the connection between skin health and a lifestyle and diet choices. In these articles, I share scientific studies and my practical tips for improving your health and having healthy skin naturally with simple diet and lifestyle changes.

But we all know people with unhealthy lifestyles that look good, right?

Of course, we all know a lucky few who manage to look great without taking good care of themselves; living in the adrenaline rush of chronic stress, sleep deprived partying night after night, living on junk food and cigarettes. Do you notice that most of them are young? As we age, and for most of us, our wear and tear on our skin with dark circles and bags under our eyes, sallow complexion, acne, worsening of rashes like rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis etc.

Your largest organ - your skin - reflects your overall health, vitality and physiology.

 It's not just diet, but it's lifestyle as a whole that impacts your health and beauty. To me this means exercise, diet, stress management, and how we choose to spend our time. Patient after patient I see that taking good care of our body and mind ultimately leads to healthier, more beautiful skin naturally.

Pioneering Natural Skin Health Expert

Over my many years in medicine and practicing dermatology, I’ve paid special attention to any new information on the mind/body/nutrition/exercise connection to beauty and natural skin health.

Most health kicks (both mainstream and alternative) come and go, but some have endured and proven their value. I’ve integrated them into the natural health recommendations I give my patients and the health practices I use myself. - Dr. Bailey

Find my natural skin health recommendations in my blog series on Diet and Natural Health

Some of the topics that I cover include:

1. My nutritional recommendations for healthy skin,
2. My vitamin recommendations for healthy skin
3. My probiotic recommendations for healthy skin 
4. Exercise and beautiful skin,
5. Stress and the impact it has on your skin
6. Random natural health topics unrelated to the skin like inflammation and cow dairy products, gluten and your bone calcium, turmeric and cancer, etc. 

Find my natural health and diet tips for vibrant skin by clicking on my Diet and Natural Health articles.

This will take you to all the articles I have tagged with this topic. 

Please recognize that my blog content on the topic of Natural Skin Health will be based on my experience and clinical observations over my career.  Some of what I'm sharing are my opinions and observations collected from my experience and the experiences of my patients, as well as my sifting through the health trends I’ve witnessed over the past 35 years. I hope that some of what I find useful will be useful for you too.

Our complexion reflects what we eat and our lifestyle choices - for better or worse. I aim to give you the information you need to make the best choices for your life. - Dr. Bailey