Admit it, the first things people notice when you talk to them are your confident smile and steady gaze. That is only possible when you know you’re putting your best face forward. Dr. Shayna Peter, a Holistic Dermatology expert, sheds a ray of hope in this episode and shares the good news that acne is definitely treatable! It’s time to stop falling into a pit of helplessness, thinking you’ll never be able to get rid of your skin impurities. Learn the secret behind clear, glowing skin and radiant health then start your journey towards a more beautiful you, today!
In This Episode:
Let’s go beyond skin-deep to identify the root causes that inflame acne in the first place.
What and how you eat will spell out the ABCs for healthy, clear, and glowing skin.
The pitfalls to avoid that make it difficult or nearly impossible to cure acne.
Make it simple to stop pimples. Adopt this daily regimen to finally achieve your clean beauty goal.
Why acne irritates more than your self-image and red flags more serious health problems below all those breakouts
Dr. Peter: Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. So many of you guys have been asking about skin health. And so we're going to talk about acne in this podcast. You guys are gonna get so much good quality information about this one talk about the root cause factors that cause skin irritation and acne. We're going to talk about the best foods you need to avoid. And, the best foods to consume are key nutrients that you need to be on the lookout for we're gonna talk about some functional testing that can help you understand the root cause of skin issues like acne. And so I've got my friend. Dr. Shayna Peter. She's a functional medicine doctor and holistic dermatology specialist. She's helped hundreds who've tried everything for their skin problems. She's been left feeling frustrated, helpless and hopeless. She is the founder of Well Ahead Chicago, a functional medicine practice offering health consulting and educational resources for people of unresolved skin conditions. Dr. Peter is the author of “It's not just acne” , really good book guys. We're gonna talk a lot about this book, but it's a really great book. “It's not just acne” and she's been published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology and she's spoken about allistic health on numerous stages including Chicago woman magazine and the American Diabetes Association, so, Dr. Peter Welcome to the podcast.
Dr. Peter: Hi Dr. David. Thanks very much for having me. I'm so excited to be joining in on this conversation. Yeah, absolutely.
It’s Not Just Acne History
Dr. Jockers: Well, let's start by just talking about your book as your inspiration for writing this.
Dr. Peter: Yeah. So we'll let me write the book. So it was really inspired by the exact same principles that I use in my practice to help people that have been struggling with acne and wanting to heal from the inside out. Out and so I wanted to put the book out there. I was looking at books on acne and I didn't really see any books that really delved into functional medicine that really help people to understand. You know, how I can help them. What all holistic medicine has available that can help them not just to treat acne even really get to the underlying cause and you know and I both know acne is such a huge problem about 80% of the population between the onset of puberty and at age 30, it was acting at some point.
So it's a huge huge issue and I wanted to make the information accessible to people and even seen people in my practice. Even if I'm working with them one-on-one. The book is a great reference for than to help reinforce. A lot of things that I'm teaching them. I am someone who struggled with acne so I know the struggle I started my career with. Career on the conventional path of Dermatology and while I was in medical school, I really started struggling with acne for the first time in my life and you know, so that was the irony and I went through a lot of what conventional medicine has to offer, you know, the antibiotics, you know, different medications topical medications and Skin Care the aesthetic treatments all of those things and you know, none of the game any lasting release if I noticed, I'm really you know, the minute I stopped it and came back. So at that point, I knew that the root cause was not being addressed and so while I was doing with that on a personal level I was in medical school at the same time. So I was also seeing patients with acne with you know, all the way from mild to severe acne, you know, seeing the options that were available to them dealing with their parents and a lot A lot of parents had a lot of really, you know, serious and valid concerns about their kidney from birth control you like a cutie means a lot of very serious side effects and they wanted to know, you know, what else what other alternatives were available to them. So this is kind of the back story behind the book and how I got into functional medicine.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. Well, you know, it's always interesting when somebody has gone through the experience and kind of has a Purpose story where they've dealt with the challenges. - the hell challenge that they then become an expert in because they've walked down that path
Medications For Acne
Dr. Jockers: Would you say that the three most prescribed medications for acne or antibiotics are birth control pills? And what's the other one like a synthetic vitamin A. Is that correct?
Dr. Peter: Accutane, Yeah,I would add spironolactone
Dr. Jockers: So let's go into the medical profession before we get into functional medicine. What do they think when they think about Acne and why do they treat it with those things?
Dr. Peter: So it's funny because you know on some level in conventional medicine. It is being acknowledged that it's, you know, an internal issue, especially if this is more severe so this was all the lactones meant to modulate hormones and lack of testosterone. The Accutane is meant to expose the synthetic form of vitamin A so it's meant to control the semen production. Yeah antibiotics. Meant to deal for bacterial overthrow right because it's typically like some sort of infection at the skin level, right? Yeah, and internally at the end it expresses itself.
The root causes of Acne
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. Now let's talk about the root cause factors that were looked at in functional medicine that contribute to acne.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, so there can be a lot of them. So that's one of the reasons why I can be so difficult to treat sometimes because it is very multifactorial and people a lot of times are you know, and it's not their fault. We've been conditioned to think about acne as being a matter, you know, using the right skincare products, you know, unless it's very severe. So some of the key root causes that I like to look into obviously are things like nutritional deficiencies. So that's one of you know, the first thing that I like to look at, you know, and I'm always reminding people, you know nutrition is the foundation of help. We've all heard them. That's right. So that's one of the chapters in the book where I go through some of the key nutritional deficiency, so I couldn't go through all of them, but I tried to pick the key ones that I see the most commonly in people that are suffering. From acne. So things like vitamin A deficiency vitamin D, C, B6, Chromium young along those lines, you know, very common patterns and people that have acne, so of course we want to have, you know, a long-term resolution. You've got to address those things. So you don't want to just keep using skincare and ignoring something, you know, fundamental like that.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. Those nutrients are really key, I would also add maybe Omega 3 and I know you talked about that in the book as well.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, Omega things are huge for bringing down inflammation. And also yeah helping to control the serum production so that the sebum is not too viscous and drying.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, that definitely makes sense. So nutritional deficiencies. That's one of the big root cause factors. What are the other things?
Dr. Peter: Yes. Oh Gut health is going to be a huge Factor. So that helps obviously very broad for your audience. So they're following so certainly bacteria. So, you know the arrangements in the gut microbiome something like that bacterial overgrowth, fungal overgrowth,Parasite and parasite infections can all be problematic and then set the stage for things like leaky gut. So that's you know, really trendy topic these days. And for those who aren't familiar with that term leaking that is when the intestinal barrier is compromised. So the barrier between the digestive tract and the blood stream is not as strong as it should be the large molecules are able to travel through that cause inflammation throughout the body so that can be a huge factor for people and that can lead to food sensitivity. So both of those things. Yeah. So the leaky gut derangement imbalances in the gut microbiome can trigger a food sensitivity. So another way causing inflammation. So that's really what it boils down to, you know is figuring out where the in Information is coming from from a lot of different angles. And obviously hormone balance is better gonna get back to your cells, a lot of times. That's what people think of first. You know, I've got something wrong with my hormones and a lot of time that's true. But what I try to help people understand is how all of the different ways that our hormones impact other parts of the body and vice versa.
Hormone Imbalance can cause acne
Dr. Jockers: If you have high testosterone, right whether you're a man or a woman, there's a reason for that. There's a root cause of that like women we see that with insulin resistance and PCOS and you talked about that in the book, you know with men. It could be an insulin issue as well could be obviously, you know steroids that they're taking or something along those lines that can be a factor. So there's root causes for those hormone imbalances and gotta get to those root causes.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, exactly. So that's the part that's missing a lot of time with conventional medicines. They just you know, try to regulate the hormone in some way and you don't address the the cause.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, that's why I don't get like birth control right something along those lines.
Dr. Peter: Yeah. Yeah, exactly
Toxins in the liver can cause acne
Dr. Jockers: So you also talked a lot about the liver in the book as one of the key factors toxins and the liver.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, so toxins in the liver can be a major factor. So as far as identifying cause this is not something that are always test for directly. I usually look for other markers that you know may suggest that there's some liver dysfunction, but that's an area where you know, we all have to be conscious, you know, we live in an environment where we're just going to be exposed to toxins quite a bit. And so We have to be very diligent to minimize our toxic load in our toxic exposure as much as you can and especially with skincare. A lot of times if people are using a lot of skin care products to treat a skin condition like acne. They're using all these different products in the ingredients may not be the best. You know, it can be a lot of chemicals in a lot of the products that contribute to our toxic load it can get into the bloodstream and it hormones and you know stress out the liver put more stress on the liver and contribute to that hormone and down so it can be, you know, like this forward feeding cycle.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah makes a lot of sense. And so you know the big factor that I've seen as well and there's research on this is low stomach acid. So people not being able to produce enough stomach acid, which can lead to nutrient deficiencies can also lead to infections in the gut and there's definitely Between that and Acne
Dr. Peter: So go even going back to talking about the gudden imbalances in the gut microbiome a lot of the time and can set the stage four most stomach acid. And so if that's not corrected, even if a person, you know takes digestive enzyme that if you don't get to the root of you know, why the low stomach acid and then why the long digestive function there, you're not gonna be able resolve it.
Laboratory testing for acne
Dr. Jockers: What do you like to do to get to the root? Cause like what was sort of labs. Do you like to see any other sort of testing that you like to do?
Dr. Peter: Yeah, so for the labs I'm a bit. I'm a huge fan of checkingnutritional deficiency. So people that see me they know that I think that that's so foundational and there's so much information that you can extract away from that know about the way that other organ systems are functioning
Dr. Jockers: Which test you like to use for them.
Dr. Peter: Well, I have different ones. I probably use Spectracell the longest.
Dr. JockersYeah, Microutrient test.
Dr. Peter: Yeah.
Dr. Jockers: I love that test.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, I love that one. Some other tests. I'm a big fan of checking for leaking, get your checking for leaky gut on using blood some other tests and for a few reasons that I kind of touched on that a little bit in the book checking for Lipppolysaccharide. So antibodies to little polysaccharide one of the toxins that's produced by a lot of the bad bacteria in the gut. I'm really afraid of using that because it can give us, you know information about both things. So if there's if the intestine is compromised and then if there's a lot of bacterial overgrowth,typically you'll see that so I find that to be just a lot of well with of information, you know from both of those. I'm definitely a fan of checking hormones,
Dr. Jockers: Which test do you like to do with hormones? Do you do the Dutch Test? Do you do solitary?
Dr. Peter: I've used them both. I love Dutch but I use a lot. I've done serum, I've done some of the more General saliva testing and use the Dutch.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. It's well so for the listeners the Dutch is a dried urine. For comprehensive hormones, that's kind of what in that means Dutch D-U-T-C-H we do offer that on Dr. Jockers.com, also a lot of functional practitioners like, dr. Peter can help you get set up with that great test that really looks at your cortisol levels higher metabolizing cortisol, your estrogen, all your different subtypes of estrogen testosterone really gets a lot of good information. That is a great test others also sellerbarry adrenal hormone testing, which has been Used for quite a long time doctors were relatively new a lot of practitioners are moving towards that because I feel like it gives you know, like a world wide variety of data right like just a more broad range of data then salaberry. So I like that a lot.
Dr. Jockers: What are you using for LPS and gut permeability? What what what labs you like?
Dr. Peter: Um, so I have use Cyrex and I had a Vibrant.
Dr. Jockers: Okay? Yes Cyrex labs, which is a great lab. They really do a lot of Great testing, you know, what ideas as well one to look at is Dunwoody Labs
Dr. Jockers: oh, yeah.
Dr. Peter: Yeah like histamine in there and he looks at your histamine levels and how your metabolize histamines on Elin LPS, right? All that kind of stuff. That's a good one, too.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, and we’re in Atlanta.
Dr. Jockers: That's right. Yep. So guys just so you know, we're talking shop here. I like talking with cutting-edge functional practitioners because we get to talk about what labs We like and you guys get to listen in on this so it's always good.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, definitely.
Dr. Jockers: All right, any other labs that you're looking at with them looking at blood work like comprehensive blood analysis or anything like that?
Dr. Peter: Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I'm a really big fan especially if they're local. I like to run those things, you know things like the CBC comprehensive metabolic panel. I do like to see Iron panels as well for the hormones. Thyroid panels. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Jockers: I like to see, are you looking at? Like fasting insulin hemoglobin A1c.
Dr. Peter: So yeah, like more of a cardio metabolic.
Dr. Jockers:Yeah.
Dr. Peter: Yeah. I love that because you know people get their comprehensive metabolic panel. Yeah, when they have their annual checkup, you know, most people have access to something like that. And the thing about it is, you know, unless they're out of range. They're told everything is normal.. So I like to see that so that I can look at it within the functional winds and I like to look at some other markers so that I can get some other markers of blood sugar regulation so that I can get look at it from different angles because sometimes people can be, you know, within a decent range, but then there are other signals, you know that point to blood sugar dysregulation of the beginning stages of insulin resistance and what I was trying to remind people is you know with those serum test is just a snapshot in time. So are you have some other things you can compare that reflect a longer time here. That's always beneficial.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, that's really good advice. So if somebody was just getting some basic panels, let's say they were getting complete blood count, a metabolic panel and let's say lipids and liver enzymes. Okay, that was all kind of a sort of part of like their insurance, you know, they were just getting that done if they could add five tests to that blood work right that they can ask their doctor and their doctor would run them. When would you like to see would you like to see vitamin D, would you like to see insulin.
Dr. Peter: Yes, I would think insulin vitamin D will be part of that. Yeah, but definitely insulin hemoglobin A1c CRP, I would go on that.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, that’s an inflammatory marker, so really good. Good measurement they’re gonna look a good information.
Dr. Peter: Those are the biggest ones that I can think of off the top that they could get in there doctor.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, those are all definitely be good ones. Let's see can also run like something like a homocysteine which kind of helps, you know, see how your body's metabolizing B vitamins like B12 and folate and be 6 so that sometimes I can get like a little bit no in there too. So that's a good one, too.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, Definitely
Foods that can trigger acne
Dr. Jockers: All right. So let's talk about some of the top food triggers because you mentioned earlier how a lot of people have acne the really one of the things that's triggering and flaring them up our food sensitivities because they have leaky gut which of course is the cause. Well, what are the most common food triggers you're seeing?
Dr. Peter:Yeah. So the most common food triggers definitely, Gluten is really a huge one for those who aren't familiar with the term. ERM so typically the way is defined, you know, it's in wheat barley Rye oats, you know, the broader definition of Gluten- free
Dr. Jockers: Yes, not just wheat, there are other greens barley Rye. What is there anything else? We barley Rye it can be in chemi Cross contaminated with oats. Amaranth can be another one right? But yeah, you want to definitely make sure you're looking at going gluten-free. I think that's important. What else?
Dr. Peter: Yeah. Oh, yeah Dairy is a huge for a couple different reaasons and so not only is it allergenic, you know damages intestinal lining that type of thing but some of the proteins in way they also stimulate a hormone called insulin like growth factor, which this cited a lot and acne that helps that provokes acne and a lot of people in they may not necessarily show up as being sensitive to dairy You know on a food sensitivity test, right?
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. makes sense.
Dr. Peter: Sugar.
Dr. Jockers:Yeah, right.
Dr. Peter: So anything with sugar anything that he's you know, bacteria fungi creates inflammation. It's going to be a No-No things like alcohol can really be major culprits fried foods hat you don't have a lot of unhealthy oils.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. bad rancid oils
Dr. Peter: Yeah bad rancid oils that are going to contribute to throwing off that omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio, and I talked a little bit about in the book. So the drive inflammation. So that's a huge thing that people have to be conscious of with the standard American diet is we generally don't get enough healthy omega-3 .
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, I would know it add in you know, like Basically, just what you said like those fried oils. You also have rancid fats in their rights. Not only are they high omega-6 like an corn oil soybean oil, but they're also like damaged fats that have you know, they're highly reactive in the body create a lot of oxidative stress inflammation and there's also trans fats, right so you think about like partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. And then just when you cook with corn oil you're creating trans fats, right? And so that's going to cause problems. I remember growing up, you know, we used to get vegetable oil because we thought well it's vegetables right healthy and we would cook eggs and stuff like that and I can almost just feel it in the air. I can feel my skin reacting to it as a teenager even as it was just being cooked in the air and I was just like this. I just can't even be around this and it really literally will because it's releasing free radicals. It can interact with you in the air if you're cooking with that so really talk Stuff and then when you're cooking like Starch like like making french fries, for example, your cooking down the starch in these battles and you're creating acrylamide and you're creating like all of these other highly reactive compounds that can be really damaging. So yeah fried foods. Definitely a big one.
Does chocolates trigger acne?
Dr. Jockers: Now. Some people will react chocolate to now not even like high sugar chocolate, but some people will react to just like if they eat like even like a baking Chocolate Bar like just a lot of chocolate. I don't even know if that's a food sensitivity. Is there anything in chocolate that can provoke food acne that you know of so long sugar, still has Dairy know some of them.
Dr. Peter:Yeah the milk chocolate back to yeah other than a dairy and sugar. I hadn't seen it a whole lot.
Dr. Jockers: Okay. Yeah.
Dr. Peter: Yeah.
Dr. Jockers: So yeah, I know growing up my brother had acne and my mom my mom's actually an natural path and she was she wasn't at that time, but she was like all into this stuff. She later became a naturopath and she was like, that's because he keeps eating chocolate and fried foods and so for me it motivated me because I was like, well, I don't want to have acne said that so I stopped eating a lot of that scumbag kind of stuff in it and it helped so yeah, so for sure. All right.
Best foods for acne
Dr. Jockers: Well, let's talk about the best foods people should be focused on
Dr. Peter: Yeah, so what I say, they're like, you know five foods can cure acne that everybody should know but you are there, you know dietary traits that people people can make on a regular basis to make a big difference in their acne absolutely and what I always try to remind people of is every time you're eating it's a chance to either fight inflammation or fuel it. So that's how I like to think of it.
When I'm thinking about food to bring down inflammation and fight acne. I'm thinking of foods that are nutrient dense. So nutrient-dense Whole Foods not the junk food, not the processed stuff. But usually this means that support the liver that are low in sugar and high in fiber to keep the blood sugar stabilized. So some examples could be like wild caught salmon wild caught Salmons a great food is nutrient dense high Omega-3 active form of vitamin A vitamin B6 vitamin D and then also has a really powerful antioxidant in it called astaxanthin and so astaxanthin is the most powerful antioxidant that we know of right now, so certainly thinking salmons is a great food ,things like green tea high in antioxidant It's the Epic Gallo catechin EGCG it helps to lower testosterone levels as well helps regulate blood sugar. So I would think of that is something being grateful for, things like berries that are high in antioxidants low in calories kind of crunch that sweet tooth. Yeah high in fiber dark leafy green vegetables cruciferous vegetables that Um, you know things like kale cauliflower broccoli brussel sprouts that can help support liver function and help with healthy hormone metabolism. So those are just some examples.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah good. I would also add in there avocados.
Dr. Peter: Yeah. Avocados.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, exactly. I don't know if you know this. They actually have a carbohydrate called the DManO hepta Lohse sugar. That's Avocados it's been shown to improve the skin epidermis and it helps boost collagen formation. Wellr and lots of lutein and zeaxanthin as well which are great for the eyes great for the skin. So yeah a really good one. So that's why I eat avocado a day.
Dr. Peter: Yeah, I would add avocado as well.
Intermittent fasting can help in acne
Dr. Jockers:Yeah, I'm sure now are you a fan of intermittent fasting you can that be something people can do?
Dr. Peter: Yes. I used fan of intermittent fasting. So it is not just acne i talk a little bit about time restricted eating. Meal time, so I don't really but you know time-restricted eating a meal timing that can get form of inch intermittent fasting and people can see a lot of improvement in their blood sugar were no matter where they are on the Spectrum. So if they're diabetic or pre-diabetic insulin resistance or just mild blood sugar dysregulation that can be really helpful tools, its easy to do. Something as simple as going 12 hours between your dinner and your breakfast the next day something as simple as making sure you have for at least 4 hours between your meal so you're not craving all the time things like that can be really helpful to help manage blood sugar and it's not know something extra that you have to take and one thing that I try to educate people a lot on is with fasting, the Intermittent fasting digestion takes so much energy and require so much energy from the body. So anytime you can give your body a break from digestion, you're stimulating your body's natural ability to heal itself because it can divert that energy to other cellular processes, which I'm sure you talked about in your podcast a lot in your
Dr. Jockers:Just a little bit. I this podcast everybody’s listening in length of time we do some in-depth in-depth discussions all about intermittent fasting extended fasting, a huge advocate of it. And that's really because she and I don't know if I told you that's my story but I didn't look down syndrome in my early twenties, you know intermittent fasting was really the single most important to along with an elimination Diet that allowed me to regain my health, right? So this is I didn't even know the term. I just knew you know. When I consult when I compress my feeding window till like a four to five hour window, I just felt so much better and and this was back in 2005 before anybody was talking about that.
Dr. Peter: Wow
Dr. Jockers: So, yeah. So anyways, I'm a huge advocate it really like an Evangelical about intermittent and extended fasting. So we're huge on that and I definitely think it's a it is a huge player when it comes to helping improve your skin people that practice intermittent fasting on a regular They definitely have the best skin. You see the age slower, you know a lot less problems with acne and that's because it gets that insulin level down right and when you get better insulin sensitivity, it's can help balance your hormones reducing inflammation and your system help you detoxify more effectively and help you heal the gut lining like you were talking about. So yeah, really powerful stuff there.
Best supplement to fight acne
Dr. Jockers: Now, let's talk about supplements. What are some of the top supplements? I know you do like customized supplement plans, obviously. Because youre a functional medicine doctor and you want to do Precision medicine working specifically with people, but with that said, what would you say have been the best supplements that you've seen over the years help people improve acne?
Dr. Peter: You know, so I would say a good multi. Yeah for and not just taking any multi but looking at it the label and making sure that it has high levels of some of those nutrients that by dispensing some better more correlated with acne Vitamin D for sure especially during the winter months is a lot of times people have more acne in the winter, due to vitamin D deficiency. Omega3 again supplementing those something like that idea sometimes B vitamins and B complex Maybe get a great thing antioxidants sometimes doing like a combination antioxidant formula.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. Yeah for sure. I'm with you on all of those. I'll tell you one that I really like I also have a I have a hiss. I also develop skin cancer in my late twenties as well and supplement that I think on a regular basis that I feel like is so good just for skin health and reducing inflammation. Okay, and I also use intermittent fasting ketogenic diet to heal naturally. I attempt to heal naturally from that but I love Resveratrol. So I think Resveratrol quercetin combinations can hide those Resveratrol and quercetin and so good because you know, you think about it. It's like the outer comes from the skin of the grape, right? It's like anthocyanins. Also, you know, like in the skin of the blueberry right helping protect against radiation. It's kind of almost like, you know, That that law of similars like acnes right. So it's like the skin of some of these things have nutrients that can help benefit our skin.
Dr. Peter:Yes. Oh those are actually in a lot of combination of antioxidant formula isn't even the egcg from the green tea. We're talking about.
Can stress trigger acne?
Dr. Jockers:Yeah exactly. Now all really really good stuff. So love those powerful nutrients getting those in on a regular basis. Let's talk about me you have you have beautiful skin, so It's talked about and you're a busy doctor and you also talked about in the book how when you were going through Medical School you had a lot of stress and you know, that was noticed stress was triggering more acne. So let's talk about two things. Let's talk about The impact of stress and how that can trigger more acne. And then let's talk about your routine. Like what you're doing in a regular basis to keep your stress down to optimize your health and keep your skin looking really good.
Dr. Peter: Okay, so we're starting with how stress can trigger more. Yeah, so the impact of stress, you know, it's so far-reaching throughout the body and that's why it's so important to be aware of it and control it so stress if we go back to even talked about gut health. So we've been talking about that helping the talked about leaky gut so everything is talking about Relate to but we can start with that. So, you know stress triggers looking good in a lot of people. Stress shift triggers the microbiome. So it triggers the arrangements in the microbiome stress up it can cause nutrient deficiencies because it's certain requirements that go up during times of stress. And so if you're not compensating for that, you can develop, you know, more nutritional deficiencies and antioxidants things like vitamin C some of the B vitamins needed magnesium which comes to regulating blood sugar. So those things for sure stress, it can also trigger blood it can also contribute to blood sugar dysregulation, you know, just in general.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah. It's interesting that the book talked about like there was Like a study where they looked at medical students, I believe it was trying to find it in here and they had higher amounts of acne like during exam periods and stuff like.
Dr. Peter: oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so it is interesting right?
Dr. Jockers: So obviously, you know, we all know that stress can be a major factor certainly can be a factor when it comes to acne and what's happening on your skin. So let's talk about dr. Shana Peters daily routine. What You're doing on a regular basis?
Dr. Shayna’s daily routine
Dr. Peter: my daily routine. So I'm a tea person. So I drink a lot of tea green tea white tea both high in antioxidants. I take my supplements supplement every single day and I check my people don't think sometimes that I'm do the same things. I'm recommending spending but I checked my vitamin levels at least once a year to make sure that their optimal
Dr. Jockers: what supplements are you taking right now as we're doing what's up? His taking right now. Like what nutrients what things are you taking
Dr. Peter: I'm taking it Omega 3. So I take a combination. Yes, Omega369. Okay, I do vitamin D. I do multi and I do an antioxidant. Yeah.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah great balance right there now and then are you doing three meals a day two meals a day? What are you doing? As far as your nutrition guide?
Dr. Peter: I do three meals sometimes two and a half. So a lot of times breakfast is like things. Sometimes I just have tea and at times I'll just have something very light and I try not to think things through. I admit it can be hard especially when you're working from home and during the lockdown.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah.
Dr. Peter:Yeah. Not bathing throughout the day avoiding snacking it really trying to eat nutrient-dense Foods because I know this personally, you know, when you eat real food that is satisfying that has best nutrients healthy. You don't need to snack. You don't have that Urge snack as much what are some of your favorite meals.
Dr. Jockers: Do you what are your favorite meals, like a protein shake on a regular basis something like big salad? What's kind of your typical?
Dr. Peter: Definitely a salad person. I love salad. And anyone that knows me they like you make it look so pretty.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, you get everything with the different colors bell peppers in there cucumbers.
Dr. Peter:Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure I do like a lot of avocados what else Salmon I'm a big salmon a big fish person Seafood. I love lot of vegetables. Could different ways of steaming roasting vegetables all those types of things. I like a lot of Mediterranean types of foods to make hummus on the Mediterranean.
Dr. Jockers: One of my favorites is we make this Mediterranean salad. I've got the recipe on my website. But yeah, we've got black olives and artichokes in their hearts of palm cucumbers tomatoes. I'm missing something onions right in there so good. Yeah, and it We put a Greek we put the Primo brand Greek dressing. It's got like avocado oil base on that.
Dr. Peter: Yeah. Yeah so good.
Dr. Jockers: Now are you what are you doing for exercise? And when do you like to exercise is in the morning? Midday when he's trying to get that in?
Dr. Peter: I like the idea of exercise in the morning. It doesn't always happen. Yeah, so it depends on how my day went, sometime I do it in the evening but I do work out a lot on the weekends. I get a lot of yeah, I try to make up for what do you like to do for working out?
So I love walking. I'm a walker jogging, dancing some big dance person and Zumba kickboxing types of things. Yeah, get that heart rate up. Yeah, and I do some yoga to yeah. Absolutely.
Dr. Jockers: What are you doing to help keep stress under control? Because you know you and I both know. Doctors are some of the most stressed out people so we definitely have to have daily practices to keep stress under control. And then what do you do to help optimize your sleep?
Dr. Peter: So, for yoga. I've been doing that a lot more to help with the relaxation in there's been some studies too that. I've seen recently that it really activates that parasympathetic response. Yeah, I like doing yoga castor oil pack sometimes at night are the way to help you relax.
Dr. Jockers: How are you doing the castor oil ? Are you putting it like on your liver or you putting it over your your stomach where you like to put it over my stomach?
Dr. Peter: Yeah, i put in my stomach There's a way to help stimulate detoxification. Yeah drains. Well dollars exactly. Yeah, yeah it did, you know this setting boundaries, you know, sometimes you just have to set boundaries and you know this time no more work, right?
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, it's hard to do when you're when you're a go-getter right when you're a goal say when you're writing a book right not easy at all.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, and and then are you a late night person you like to sleep in or do you like to go to bed? Early, what's kind of your typical routine?
Dr. Peter: They're probably somewhere in the middle. I'm not a night owl. Yeah. I'm not like a super early riser, but I'm not that person that sleeps late either.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah for sure. What's your typical sleep schedule like?
Dr. Peter: Usually like 10-6 11-7.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah, that's good. That's typically what I'm doing is well something like that usually 10 to six during the week and like 11:00 to 7:00 on the weekends. So So yeah, it's good not to deviate. So a lot of people won't go like two or three hours or like stay up two or three hours later on the weekends and I can totally throw off your circadian rhythms. You want to kind of keep an hour range.
Reach out to Dr. Peter
Dr. Jockers: So I think that's really good. Well, you know, this has been a really great interview we've gone through so much and you also have a free gift the first two chapters of your book guys, you can go to and we'll have the link in the show notes, but it'snotjustacne.com forward slash gifts you get the first two chapters. Of her book show email those over to you so you can check that out and then if people are interested in working with you, what's the best website for them to go to?
Dr.Peter: WellaheadChicago.com.
The functional medicine approach
Dr. Jockers:Let's talk quickly about that. What does that look like for somebody to work with you as far as kind of the process?
Dr. Peter: Yeah,We were talk about some lab. So I like to get a lot of information in that initial appointment so I can have a better understanding of what they're going through and what their biggest. Concerns are and then we'll talk about Labs based on that. And then once we get the labs in then we do it with a review of finding and developing a plan to move forward and how we can correct those imbalances and how they can maintain these over the long-term. So I'm really excited. There's a lot of work. We've been helping people a lot with the lifestyle piece. Yeah. and able to maintain A lot of the lifestyle changes in a way that's doable.
Dr. Jockers: So good and it's important because acne obviously can be a huge thing for somebody's self-esteem without a doubt but acne is really a reflection that there's problems going on inside right that you're at a much greater risk of chronic disease on the inside. And so if you're out there and you've tried nutrition changes you tried some of the things we've talked about and yet you're not seeing changes with your skin your I mean different things like that. Definitely reach out to dr. Peter here because you definitely want the guidance and you know, you can live, you can live free of acne and also at the same time by eliminating that you're also going to really dramatically reduce your risk of chronic disease and improve your overall health, your energy levels Your vitality. So this is a key thing that you got to look at hiring an expert like, Dr. Peter’s a great idea.
Dr. Jockers: Now last question you one thing we didn't talk about was Was skin care. What do you do? What do you do for your skin? Like as far as like topically we talked all about being a everything on the inside which is really the root cause of acne but people are interested too in what things they can do on the outside for their skin. What should they be looking out for like a good skincare routine?
Dr. Peter: Yeah, so I actually have a chapter in the book as well. So I'm a huge fan of people being on a good skin care regimen that is suited for their skin type. So if people don't know what their skin type is, we actually have a quiz on the website that can help us figure that out. So that's key that's going to be really Key. So using products that are suited for your skin type. I'm a big fan of even if you're young using products that help to heal the Skin Barrier and have some anti-aging benefits to them as well. but your skincare routine doesn't have to be you know, super complicated. Yeah, a cleanser toner moisturizer, you know sunscreen is something that has anti-aging ingredients. You could do a serum. You might like more serum than the wintertime.
Dr.Jockers:Yeah.
Dr.Peter: Yeah, but every I'm a fan of people being on just a good skin care regimen all the time for sure And like all natural ingredients. You're trying to minimize. Sighs toxins. Yes. Exactly Yeah clean, I guess that's the best way to clean is clean Beauty. That's right. That's right. Yeah so important.
Dr. Jockers: So yeah really great interview great tips here any last words inspiration for our audience?
Dr. Peter: Yeah. I mean it's doable all of these things are doable and I always want to encourage people struggling with acne, you know, not to be depressed about it. See it changes how you see it.See it as an opportunity to optimize your health and you can have, you know, clear skin and Better Health than you ever thought possible.
Dr. Jockers: Yeah so good. Well, thanks so much. Dr. Shayna I appreciate it guys again. The book “It’s not just acne” can find that on Amazon. And also again you can get her forever free two chapters of her interest in just checking it out. See if it's good book for you. That is at it's not just acting.com forward slash gifts. So guys check that out. Thanks again Dr. Shayna. We appreciate you and your time and your expertise guys. We'll see you on a future podcast. Be blessed everybody.
