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Want Better Skin? Start Here.

August 23, 2026

If you ask a conventional medicine practitioner to help you address your skin problem, you’ll likely go home with a prescription. 

If you have psoriasis or eczema, for example, your doctor will probably suggest pills to shut down a part of your immune system, helping to calm inflammation. 

If you have acne or rosacea, the conventional approach often involves antibiotics to kill off skin bacteria that contribute to breakouts. 

While these and other conventional solutions can certainly help to manage and reduce symptoms, they don’t address the underlying problem. As a result, you often must use these prescriptions—and deal with their side effects—long term, if not the rest of your life. 

In functional medicine, we view skin issues very differently.

Your skin is a window into your body. 

Dermatological problems often hint at deeper, more systemic issues. Address those imbalances, and you’ll end up with youthful, clear skin on the surface.

Read on to learn my top tricks to get glowing skin from within.

The Hidden Driver of All Skin Issues

On the surface, many skin issues seem like separate problems that require separate solutions. 

Acne comes from excess oil (sebum) that clogs and infects pores. Psoriasis is the result of an autoimmune reaction. Rosacea is triggered by heat, exercise, and stress. You get the idea.

However, if you dig deeper, you’ll find that these seemingly disparate conditions all share one key feature: inflammation. 

Of course, there’s the localized inflammation characterized by swollen, red, irritated, and painful bumps and patches of skin.

However, long before localized inflammation ever erupts, chronic, low-level, bodywide inflammation can lurk beneath your skin’s surface. Indeed, for nearly a decade, scientists have known that levels of C-reactive protein—a marker of chronic, low-level, bodywide inflammation—can predict someone’s risk of getting everything from psoriasis to rosacea to eczema.^1–3 

For example, with acne, a chronic, low-level immune response can create a bacteria-friendly environment in the oil-producing glands in your skin, leading to pimples.^4–6 

In other skin conditions, this inflammation can dilate tiny blood vessels, making them more permeable. As these vessels leak fluids, swelling results. The immune system then responds with inflammatory cells that cause even more swelling and redness.^7–9  

So all of this begs the question: If chronic, systemic inflammation is messing with your skin, what’s causing the chronic, low-level inflammation in the first place? 

Well, without running a series of tests, I can’t know for sure what your unique situation is. However, if you’re like the thousands of people with skin conditions that I’ve treated over the years, the chronic inflammation likely stems from one of the following:

Insulin Resistance 

Insulin is a hormone that shuttles blood glucose into cells that need it. 

However, if you have insulin resistance, that means your cells don’t respond appropriately to the hormone. This forces the pancreas to make even more to do the job. Sometimes, even these high amounts of insulin aren’t enough to manage blood glucose. As a result, both insulin and blood glucose remain elevated.

This metabolic disruption stimulates fat storage and the production of inflammatory cells, which can create a vicious cycle by leading to even more insulin resistance and potentially contributing to all of the following conditions: ^10–12 

• Skin tags¹³
  
  
• Acne¹⁴
  
  
• Psoriasis¹⁵
  
  
• Rosacea¹⁶
  
  
• Dry, itchy skin¹⁷
  
  
• Dandruff¹⁸
  
  
• Excessive hair growth¹⁷

Gut Issues

Trillions of bacteria line the walls of your gut. When in balance, these bugs promote good health. When disrupted, however, bad bacteria can start to outnumber the good ones, creating a toxic environment that weakens your gut lining. 

As your gut lining weakens, it becomes more permeable, allowing contents from your gut to leak into your bloodstream. Your immune system reacts to your bloodstream’s new guests with systemic inflammation.¹⁹  

Nutrient Deficiencies 

A handful of anti-inflammatory nutrients can help to keep systemic inflammation in check, including magnesium, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, and B vitamins.^20–22 However, it can be difficult to consume enough from food alone. 

When you’re deficient in any of those nutrients, your body has a harder time putting the brakes on chronic, systemic inflammation. 

How to Heal Your Skin from Within

Use the following four-step plan to uproot some of the most common causes of inflammation and the skin problems that follow. 

Step #1: Identify and Remove Problematic Foods 

Many foods can mess with your gut, creating a cascade of inflammation that eventually messes with your skin. Common offenders include dairy, soy, gluten, tree nuts, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, corn, sugar, caffeine, nitrates, and ultra-processed foods and their many additives and preservatives. 

There’s only one way to figure out which foods cause problems for you: an elimination diet. You remove the most common allergens and gut inflammation triggers for four to six weeks. Then, you reintroduce one food once every three or four days. 

For example, you can reintroduce dairy for three days and see if you react. If you don’t have any issues, then you try gluten for three days and see what happens, and so on. 

This is the basic logic behind my 10-Day Detox, which includes a structured elimination of inflammatory foods while replacing them with nutrient-dense whole foods that support skin, gut, and metabolic health. 

For a true elimination test, consider the Detox your kickstart, then continue avoiding your suspected trigger foods (e.g., gluten, dairy, sugar, ultra-processed foods) for a few more weeks before reintroduction. 

(For a much deeper dive into the whys and hows of elimination diets, listen to my podcast episode with registered dietitian Lisa Dreher.)

Step #2: Follow an Anti-Inflammatory Diet 

During and long after your elimination diet, fill up on whole, minimally processed, nutrient-dense foods known to soothe inflammation, counteract insulin resistance, and provide polyphenols and other essential nutrients for skin health. These include:

• Vegetables
  
  
• Fruit
  
  
• Seeds
  
  
• Nuts
  
  
• Gluten-free whole grains
  
  
• Healthy fats from oily fish, nuts, seeds, coconut, avocado, and olives
  
  
• High-quality protein from grass-fed beef, wild game, low-mercury fish, free-range poultry, and eggs (check out How to Double Your Protein Intake to learn more)

Step #3. Repair Your Gut 

Specific gut-friendly foods and supplements can nourish beneficial gut bacteria and help to repair your gut lining. They include:

• Naturally fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, pickled vegetables, miso, and unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
  
  
• High-fiber foods and foods that feed beneficial gut bacteria (prebiotics), such as apples, artichokes, asparagus, dandelion greens, jicama, onions, garlic, and seaweed (read How to Double Your Fiber Intake to learn more)
  
  
• A high-potency, multi-strain probiotic supplement—I particularly like Seed DS-01® Daily Synbiotic, which includes both prebiotics and diverse probiotic strains 

And be sure to stay hydrated. Water helps break down food, move waste through your digestive tract, and support your gut bacteria. (As a bonus, it also bolsters your skin barrier and keeps your skin cells plump and hydrated. For you, that can translate to more glow and a clearer complexion.) 

Step #4: Fill in the Gaps

Consider supplementing with the following skin-nourishing nutrients that are difficult to get from food alone. 

• Vitamin D3
  
  
• Omega-3 fatty acids
  
  
• Magnesium glycinate (gentle on the stomach) or magnesium citrate (can help with constipation)

It’s also a good idea to take a multivitamin to ensure you’re getting enough B vitamins, zinc, selenium, vitamin E, and many other skin-nourishing nutrients.

Your Next Step Toward Glowing Skin

What you put in your body matters. A lot. 

My 10-Day Detox is designed to use food as medicine to help you dramatically lower inflammation and start feeling better than you have in years. 

Of 250 recent participants who completed both the before and after Medical Symptom Questionnaire, they saw a 60% reduction in chronic symptoms, including a 76% reduction in acne. 

When you remove the fuel for inflammation and give your body what it actually needs to heal, you can experience brighter skin, better energy, improved sleep, and reduced joint pain and bloating—and that’s just the beginning. 

Explore my 10-Day Detox program now. 

References

1. Sinikumpu SP, Huilaja L, Auvinen J, Jokelainen J, Puukka K, Ruokonen A, et al. The association between low grade systemic inflammation and skin diseases: A cross-sectional survey in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Acta Derm Venereol. 2018 Jan 12;98(1):65–9.

2. Näslund-Koch C, Kvist-Hansen A, Bojesen SE, Skov L, Kobylecki CJ, Vedel-Krogh S. Low-grade systemic inflammation is associated with risk of psoriasis in a general population study of more than 100 000 individuals. Br J Dermatol. 2025 Jul 17;193(2):250–8.

3. Pala E, Bayraktar M. Relationships between disease severity and the C-reactive protein/albumin ratio and various hematological parameters in patients with acne vulgaris. Cureus. 2023 Aug;15(8):e44089.

4. Tanghetti EA. The role of inflammation in the pathology of acne. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2013 Sep;6(9):27–35.

5. Cruz S, Vecerek N, Elbuluk N. Targeting inflammation in acne: Current treatments and future prospects. Am J Clin Dermatol. 2023 Sep;24(5):681–94.

6. Del Rosso J, Farris PK, Harper J, Baldwin H, Hazan A, Raymond I. New insights into systemic drivers of inflammation and their contributions to the pathophysiology of acne. J Drugs Dermatol. 2024 Feb 1;23(2):90–6.

7. Uluçkan Ö, Wagner EF. Chronic systemic inflammation originating from epithelial tissues. FEBS J. 2017 Feb;284(4):505–16.

8. Shirley SN, Watson AE, Yusuf N. Pathogenesis of inflammation in skin disease: From molecular mechanisms to pathology. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Sep 21;25(18):10152.

9. Smith A, Chow CK. Not just skin deep: reframing chronic inflammatory skin disease as a systemic threat. Intern Med J. 2025 Jul;55(7):1193–7.

10. Kolb H, Kempf K, Röhling M, Martin S. Insulin: too much of a good thing is bad. BMC Med. 2020 Aug 21;18(1):224.

11. Mohallem R, Aryal UK. Regulators of TNFα mediated insulin resistance elucidated by quantitative proteomics. Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 30;10(1):20878.

12. Gelaye B, Revilla L, Lopez T, Suarez L, Sanchez SE, Hevner K, et al. Association between insulin resistance and c-reactive protein among Peruvian adults. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2010 May 18;2(1):30.

13. Barbato M, Barbaresco G, Criado P, Pamplona R, Vasconcelos V. Association between multiple skin tags and insulin resistance. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2012 Apr;66(4):AB127.

14. Sadowska-Przytocka A, Gruszczyńska M, Ostałowska A, Antosik P, Czarnecka-Operacz M, Adamski Z, et al. Insulin resistance in the course of acne - literature review. Postepy Dermatol Alergol. 2022 Apr;39(2):231–8.

15. Gyldenløve M, Storgaard H, Holst JJ, Vilsbøll T, Knop FK, Skov L. Patients with psoriasis are insulin resistant. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2015 Apr;72(4):599–605.

16. Akin Belli A, Ozbas Gok S, Akbaba G, Etgu F, Dogan G. The relationship between rosacea and insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Eur J Dermatol. 2016 Jun 1;26(3):260–4.

17. González-Saldivar G, Rodríguez-Gutiérrez R, Ocampo-Candiani J, González-González JG, Gómez-Flores M. Skin manifestations of insulin resistance: From a biochemical stance to a clinical diagnosis and management. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb). 2017 Mar;7(1):37–51.

18. Tripathy K, Dulai AS, Min M, Sivamani RK. Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and inflammatory skin disease. J Clin Med. 2026 Jan 1;15(1):330.

19. Escalante J, Artaiz O, Diwakarla S, McQuade RM. Leaky gut in systemic inflammation: exploring the link between gastrointestinal disorders and age-related diseases. GeroScience. 2025 Feb;47(1):1–22.

20. Nielsen FH. Magnesium deficiency and increased inflammation: current perspectives. J Inflamm Res. 2018 Jan 18;11:25–34.

21. Yin K, Agrawal DK. Vitamin D and inflammatory diseases. J Inflamm Res. 2014 May 29;7:69–87.

22. Oz HS. Nutrients, infectious and inflammatory diseases. Nutrients. 2017 Sep 30;9(10):E1085.