The Extra Scoop: Can You Eat Your Way to Glowing Skin?

0:00At Sierra, discover top workout gear at incredible prices, which might lead to another discovery. Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time. Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Race the rudders. Race the sails. Race the sails. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait, is that an enterprise sails solution? Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your B2B audience today. Spend$250 on your first campaign and get a free$250 credit for the next one.

0:40Get started today at linkedin.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply.

0:48Welcome to The Extra Scoop, our expert-led bonus episodes, giving you the need to know on the topics everybody is talking about. That's right. From gut health to sleep, hormones to skin, we are cutting through the noise with top experts, so there is no fluff, just facts. Exactly. It's all quick, practical, evidence-based advice to fit into your busy lives. So this is The Extra Scoop. Let's get started.

1:17So today we've got Thivy Marathapu with us, who's going to be talking about everything and whether trendy fixes really live up to the hype or whether or not we're just all putting way too much pressure on ourselves for totally unrealistic beauty standards. and I think if we start by saying look diet and skin health we hear it all the time but is that actually aside from the usual you know I'll eat your vitamin a or have your healthy fats is there a way of eating for glowing skin or is it mostly genetics you know those people that just seem to eat whatever they want and have great skin is there a link it's such a good question and I get asked about it all the time so you know your skin health it's multifactorial there's so many different things that are playing a role here.

2:01So it is your diet. Your diet is an important part of general skin health. Your skin is supplied by all the nutrients from the food that you're eating. They do reach the skin. So what you're eating is reflected in your skin. But also, of course, your genetics. Some people are going to be prone to certain skin conditions like eczema or breakouts. It doesn't matter what they eat. Although eating a really good balanced diet is important as an anti-inflammatory part of taking care, even if you have a skin condition. And of course, your skincare routine matters, how you live your life matters, whether you're doing lots of exercise or whether you're getting good sleep, whether you're keeping hydrated, whether you have lots of alcohol.

2:37It's actually all of it together that plays a really important role in how your skin looks and feels because your skin is so important in how you feel about yourself as well. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. It's amazing the impact it has on your self-esteem. And I think that's something we can all relate to. I know every time I open a magazine or I'm doom scrolling social media, which I do more than I don't care to admit, you see things like the 10 things you've got to eat for glowing skin or the eight skin superfoods and all sorts of quite clickbaity headlines. Are there, as you said, it does matter what we eat, but are there specific nutrients or specific superfoods, things in our diet that make a really big difference?

3:20What should we be thinking about adding? So when I'm in the clinic and I'm talking to people about what should you eat to look after your skin. And obviously in the clinic, I'm using it in conjunction with sometimes with medical treatment, sometimes with skincare routines. I always use my little acronym GLOW, and it just helps people to remember what other nutrients are and try and think about how they want to build their plate, because it's all about bringing good food into your diet rather than cutting things out. So the G stands for greens and all the colorful fruits and vegetables full of antioxidants.

3:51L is lean protein, that could be chickpeas that could be tofu whatever sauce you want to get it from but you need that protein for healthy skin o is your oils and healthy fats your omega-3 we want to have lots of olive oil flax seeds nuts and seeds and finally w is whole grains which always seems to be something people are trying to remove from their diet but actually it's so important for your gut health and your gut is linked to your skin and so i really try and make a balanced plate and i really talk to people you know when you look at your plate have you got all those nice things in your plate it doesn't have to be every meal of the day, but throughout the day, think about including all of those nutrient dense foods.

4:28And what I love about what you've just said is it's not just go and have an avocado, or just just go and eat a handful of nuts for skin. You've literally discussed what I would call a balanced plate as a nutritionist, you know, this is how to eat most of the time, it's not fatty, it's not expensive, this is your everyday balanced plate. So I guess a thought and a question is if we've got this skin microbiome as well with gut health and there's lots of posts out there and people talking about these individual nutrients how true is that when it comes to somebody saying well you're not eating enough vitamin e therefore your skin isn't going to be plump and look lifted and hydrated so so there are deficiencies that will show up in your skin so say iron deficiency might get dry itchy skin low vitamin d is linked to lots of different skin conditions actually but picking out those nutrients doesn't automatically give you better skin if you're you know actually generally quite healthy you don't need to supplement with specific things to improve the health of your skin I really feel that actually you should be getting it from the food that you're eating and you might end up wasting money and really the focus shouldn't be on supplementing all the time it should be getting your diet right and then supplementing as you need it I love that as well because what you're recommending to people as Rhi was just saying is like not particularly expensive.

5:48It's just normal, normal food that are delicious and easy to cook simple meals with every day. And if we look beyond our diet, how much do our other lifestyle factors play in? So what we eat is really important, but do we see stress, hydration, sleep? Do we see that showing up in our skin as well? Absolutely. So sleep deprivation can worsen itching from eczema. It can impair your skin barrier. So it actually has measurable effects on the skin. Keeping hydrated, you can see more fine lines and wrinkles if you're not fully hydrated. So yeah, all of those things are super important for skin health.

6:24And it's not sort of just my word for it. Actually, there's science that backs it up. There's science that backs up if you eat more brightly colored fruits and vegetables, you will eventually age better and have less fine lines and wrinkles in the long term. Isn't that really amazing? So it's actually, there's good research that backs up that actually looking after your overall health is very important for the health of your skin. Not to be negative, but on the flip side, things like alcohol, do we see that or potentially over consumption of ultra processed foods? Do we see, and I'm not demonizing having a margarita, love it, but like a consistent, more excessive consumption of alcohol foods like ultra processed foods, loads and loads and loads of sugar.

7:06Does that have a negative impact? So excess alcohol consumption is linked with flares of skin conditions and also accelerated aging, particularly the upper part of the face. So I always encourage people, you know, enjoy your wine, enjoy your margarita, but moderate it. Do you know what I mean? When you said the upper part of the face, do you mean the people that drink around their eyes and their forehead? Yes, exactly. It's an American study and they actually found that the upper part of the face had more fine lines and wrinkle in people who are drinking more than what they are recommended to.

7:37Yeah. And of course, does that come out differently with your different genetic makeups? Have you got different skin colors, textures? Yes. Yeah. So some people do age better. Yeah, exactly. Of course, some people, you know, they will, they can get away with sort of lifestyle habits a bit more easily. But, you know, we talk about general trends and the general trend is, you know, alcohol isn't the best for skin aging and general skin health. And, you know, if you've got eczema, rosacea, psoriasis, eczema, you know, all of those things can flare with alcohol. And what about food? Because I think as well as reading like eight things that will change your skin, sometimes it's the flip side of like trying to say never eat these things ever again.

8:14Is there any truth in that? No, so I think you've got to balance it all. I mean, there has been some recent research that showed that ultra processed food were linked with more severe psoriasis, but that is people who are really consuming a lot of it. So it is part of everybody's diet. You don't need to demonize it, but you do want to be eating fresh, healthy, homemade meals where possible. So there'll be lots of people listening to this that at home experience severe acne or something they've had their whole lives. They've had to go on various medications. Is there any advice for listeners out there that are going through that or they've been on?

8:46Is it Roacatine that some people take? Roacatine, yeah. Yeah, it's a strong medication for acne. so as I said in the beginning skin conditions are multifactorial and for some people you know a lot of it is driven by genetics and even if their diet is so good they're still going to have acne they're still going to have rosacea or psoriasis or eczema and I see so many people who've tried to cut lots of food out of their diet and actually really that isn't the way to cure in inverted commas any skin condition you've got to if you've got a good balanced diet you're meeting your nutritional needs we need to go in with some effective medical treatments a really good skincare routine.

9:22There are so many options that you shouldn't sit at home and suffer trying to sort of make your diet smaller and smaller in order to get results. That's a very empowering statement. So thank you for sharing that because I think that because it's such a hot topic skin, it almost feels like it's your fault. And I think it's really empowering to know. I think it's a big part of this show for us is to just showing, be that suffering with some skin challenges, be that anxiety, et cetera. These feelings are so normal and it's so normal, life ebbs and flows and there's nothing wrong with you or what you're doing.

9:54And I think it's quite easy to feel like that in the online world where we're just so bombarded with other people's lives. So much of it's not even true. It's certainly an augmented reality. And so much self-blame around food as well, isn't there? Oh my goodness, I ate this dark chocolate last night. That must be why I have a breakout the next day. You cannot go down that route you know there are people who'll be eating you know sweets and fizzy sugary fizzy drinks all day and not have one pimple so you can't underestimate what genetics is doing

10:28i'm excited to quickly share with you all that you can pre-order my new book the unprocessed plate now and ella and i discuss this all the time that the world of food and nutrition is currently full of conversations surrounding ultra processed foods and this is for good reason and in my book, The Unprocessed Plate, I dive into what UPFs actually are, explore the latest evidence on how they impact our health, and most importantly, how we can reduce our reliance on them without overhauling our entire lives. And remember, there's a lot of nuance, guys. There's a privileged conversation, lots of things here.

10:58But I want to cut through the noise and offer actual practical solutions. There's incredible diagrams to make the science more accessible. And there's 60 amazing recipes, family friendly, everything from breakfast, weekday dinners, quick lunches, simple swaps and snacks and things you can have on the go that make such a difference. And trust me, whether you're a busy parent or you're just trying to reduce these in your diet on your everyday workload, this book is here to support and empower you to get back to basics with food without the pressure of this perfectionism. So if you want to feel more informed and inspired in the kitchen, then you can pre-order your copy of The Unprocessed Plate now.

11:35It's out June the 19th. And back to me and Ella. When it comes to supplements, again, that's something that we see people talking about a lot, collagen in particular, or beauty gummies, for example. What is your view? I know you said earlier, your kind of first port of call for everybody is thinking about that balanced diet. Do you believe in all these various different supplements? So I think there's some really important supplements. Vitamin D, I think, is essential. we don't get enough we need it for our skin barrier to work properly and general health of our skin so definitely your vitamin d some people will need it only through the winter months some people that i see in the clinic if you've got a skin condition and you're covered up you know you need it all year i think omega-3 if you're not able to get it through your diet i have some people who are allergic to the foods that contain omega-3 or they just don't find them very palatable so then I think an omega-3 supplement's really good I think women can run low on iron very easily because of our menstrual cycles pregnancy breastfeeding all of those things just kind of seep the iron out of our diet and sometimes it's difficult to top it up just through food alone and sometimes iron supplements are really good to think about as well especially for hair really important for hair can I ask and before we go on to collagen and the big ones that I know that everyone's desperate to hear but you're quite a rare health professional in the sense that you're a qualified registered nutritionist and you're a dermatologist.

13:01So you've got the combined approach, which I absolutely adore. And when you mentioned supplements, it's obviously important, isn't it, to say, don't just go out and suddenly take a high dose iron supplement, because that could be quite detrimental. So I work off the blood test. So if someone has come in with symptoms of low iron, like feeling really tired, they're losing their hair, their skin is dry, and their skin might be itchy, I'm always going to check the iron, and then I'm going to replace it, depending on what I'm seeing. So it is important to get those things tested. Yeah. And then can you give us, so Ella and I've been itching about it.

13:33I mean, look, we're 30s now. I think, I feel like when you hit your 30s, you're just bombarded with this kind of aging messaging. It's everywhere. It's at the school pickup, it's in every algorithm, collagen for aging. I know there's some research for joints. What about aging? So, I mean, if you, for prevention of aging, number one is sunscreen. I mean, that is going to trump everything else. So good diet, good skincare routine, and sunscreen. Everything else on top of that is a little bit of extra. You can do a little bit of collagen if you want to and try it and see if you see an improvement.

14:06Some people really do notice hair and nails growing more quickly if they're taking collagen supplements. But you have to remember to look at the source of that collagen and what is the original source of it. And you have to think about whether that's something that you're happy with. I think there are lots of other things that you could do on top of collagen. You know, if you're getting adequate protein, you know, that is what is making the collagen in your skin. And most of us actually don't need to supplement on top of that. Well, that will save everyone a lot of money, which is absolutely brilliant news.

14:38Before we go on to our final question, I actually wonder, we keep talking about aging and what's your kind of view on the term anti-aging or how do you describe it? Because again, I think everything about this show is we want people to leave feeling empowered and inspired and comfortable in themselves and as we're talking about today so much of what in the case of skin but in everything we talk about it's actually about these simple things it's sleep it's stress management it's a generally balanced diet it's a bit of exercise it's it's quite simple tools but it feels like we're trying to make it all so complicated and aging feels like one of those things when we're all trying to sort of benjamin button ourselves and there's a lot of press out there of what is a 30 year old even meant to look like now and it feels like we sort have lost a semblance of perspective on aging and we're trying to do the impossible.

15:26What's your view on that? So, I mean, I really have a holistic view on aging. I have a patient who inspires me every time I see her. She's in her eighties. She's still working. She does yoga every day. She's got loads of wrinkles, but she is just amazing. She is full of energy. She tells me what she eats, super healthy, loves her fruits, vegetables. She's always cooking and she jumps up stairs to her appointment. And I think, isn't that how we all want to age? We want to feel good. We want to be flexible. We want to feel positive. How our skin looks, yeah, it makes us feel good, but I don't think we should be fighting every line and wrinkle because sometimes when you go down the route of just trying to fix everything on the outside and you don't think about how you feel on the inside, there can be a real disconnect.

16:09You might look, in inverted commas, like a 25 year old, but you don't feel great. You don't like what you see in the mirror. You're tired. you need to look at the whole thing. Have you seen lots of people, have you have, you know, patients come to your clinic and your practice that have gone too far with that sort of thing, you know, and then you've had to give them advice to sort of, I don't know, dull it down a little bit in terms of all the measures that people take for anti-aging? I think people are doing it anyway, actually. I think the general trend is to go a little bit more natural. And look, you know, if you want to do a little bit of treatments here and there, why not?

16:45But make sure that you're doing everything else. There's no point doing all of those things if you're not, you know, using sunscreen and have got a, you know, balanced diet, you need to do the groundwork for your general health and wellbeing, as well as taking care of your skin from the outside. So, I mean, each to their own, if you want, if those things make you feel good, great, but think of it all together. Don't just think of, you know, if I fix this wrinkle, I'm going to be happy because chances are you might not be. But also as you're saying it's also normal to have a wrinkle there's nothing strange about us.

17:15Oh absolutely yes yeah yeah yeah good and we just need to drink lots of water eat a balanced diet and that will be the most powerful thing we can do every single day. And you feel good too yeah. And what about things that we see again a lot at the moment in the press and online LED lights face sculpting devices a lot of these at-home solutions. I quite like LED lights actually. I think red light's quite good. I have one myself and I think it's been effective for me. And I have patients in the clinic who really enjoy using them as well. I think it's quite an easy, relaxing thing to do at home. It doesn't work for everybody.

17:51You'd have to try it to know if it's going to help for your skin, but it's quite a nice, easy, non-invasive treatment to have. In terms of microcurrent devices, they do give a lifting effect, but it's not permanent, but they do give a little bit of a lift when you use it. What about having these massages that lift your face? Because I had one of these treatments and I could see a difference. I sent Ella my before and after picture. I could see a difference in my face. I've shared it online and had so many people say, oh my goodness. But realistically, should we be working out the muscles on our face every single morning?

18:25Is that a beneficial thing to do? Massage is amazing for skin health. Amazing. And it's, I think it originates in Japan, doesn't it? That amazing lifting facial massage technique. And it is fantastic because it boosts collagen. So it is a natural way to boost the collagen in your skin. So you can do it at home. You don't always have to go and have someone do it. It's so good to have someone do it because you'll see some great results and learn how to do it, but you can definitely do it yourself at home. so even just two minutes at home with a guachar or one of those different tools or even just your hands worth doing every morning if you can yeah it's worth doing I love it so it sounds like our take-homes are give yourself a couple of minutes massage in the morning if you can LED lights definitely could be interesting to explore but the big thing to focus on is a balanced diet with your GLOW acronym which sounds like a very simple thing for people to follow really focus on hydration on sleep on looking after yourself but also remembering that it's completely normal to get spots it's completely normal to get wrinkles and just embrace that like holistic view of the way that we age that it's fixing as you said which I just love fixing one wrinkle won't fix all our anxiety is about getting older yeah so obviously all of those things super important but if you're struggling if you've got a skin condition it's really getting you down go and see someone we have so many different ways to tackle it nowadays and a qualified person of you have to check thank you thank you thank you guys so much for listening to us on the extra scoop we are a community-based podcast we want this to be helpful for you so any requests we want to hear it absolutely let us know which experts that you went on the extra scoop and we will see you on monday can't wait

20:44The Limo Emu Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Savings vary underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts. It's okay not to be perfect with finances. Experian is your big financial friend and here to help. Did you know you can get matched with credit cards on the app? Some cards are labeled no ding decline, which means if you're not approved, they won't hurt your credit scores. Download the Experian app for free today. Applying for no ding decline cards won't hurt your credit scores if you aren't initially approved. Initial approval will result in a hard inquiry, which may impact your credit scores.

21:21A BesserHelp ad. Lewis Capaldi partnered with BesserHelp to get word out about how important therapy can be. I struggle most weeks to get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever. Even opening a laptop to talk to my therapist sometimes can be really difficult. But I do it because I realise how important it is for me to continue to feel good. because I felt the best I felt in a long time through therapy. Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com.