Meet acne nutritionist Maria Marlowe, who advocates good nutrition as a means of clearing the skin. She also talks at length about the fuss over Ozempic and why it is not the sureshot route to weight loss.
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00:00 Hello and welcome to the KD Life podcast, your window to life in the UAE.
00:04 My name is Anamika Chatterjee and I am your host.
00:08 Good skin is possibly the most beautiful ornament that a woman can flaunt.
00:14 And yet it is all related to what you eat.
00:17 Today we have someone who calls herself an acne nutritionist.
00:23 Maria Marlow is going to tell us how what you eat will directly impact your skin.
00:29 This is the KT Life podcast by Collage Times.
00:40 Welcome to the KT Life podcast, Maria.
00:42 Thank you so much for having me.
00:45 Your Instagram description reads acne nutritionist.
00:49 What does that even mean?
00:50 Well, I'm a certified nutritionist and I've become known as the acne nutritionist because
00:57 I specialize in helping people to clear their acne through diet and lifestyle changes.
01:02 So over the years, I've had a ton of clients and they've kind of been my foot soldiers,
01:07 right?
01:08 Because they've had incredible results.
01:10 So I have incredible testimonials and before and after.
01:12 So they've kind of really helped me spread the word.
01:16 So you are essentially saying that what we eat has a direct impact on our skin and you
01:22 can actually heal acne through what you eat?
01:25 A hundred and ten percent.
01:27 So that's actually how I got into this is because I had really bad acne.
01:31 I had acne for nearly five years.
01:33 When was that?
01:35 So from the ages of like 16 to like 20, 21.
01:41 And I tried everything from the topical drugstore stuff to the infomercial stuff to going to
01:47 a dermatologist, going to several dermatologists, trying different medications, antibiotics,
01:52 spironolactone, et cetera, and none of it worked.
01:56 And it wasn't until I was introduced to this concept of food as medicine and I drastically
02:02 overhauled my diet and I worked on healing my gut because I had a lot of gut issues too
02:06 from all the antibiotics.
02:08 My skin finally cleared up in about three months.
02:11 And I was so shocked at my own experience that I decided to go back to school, study
02:20 nutrition, study cooking, and really spread this message of food as medicine and help
02:24 other people learn how to heal their skin naturally.
02:27 Now acne, there are various theories about why you get acne.
02:34 Many people say it's a bacterial infection, but that whole notion has undergone a revision,
02:40 right?
02:41 Yes, that's correct.
02:42 And it's inflammation that causes acne.
02:44 A hundred percent.
02:45 So even if you look up what acne is right now, if you look at the definition, it's classified
02:50 as a chronic inflammatory disease.
02:52 It's not classified as a bacterial infection.
02:55 And that bacteria causing acne hypothesis really started in the 1950s.
03:01 And for some reason it has not died, even though since the 1980s, study after study
03:06 has implicated inflammation as the real root cause and trigger of acne.
03:12 And that's why diet is so powerful at clearing our skin because inflammation really starts
03:19 in the gut and it starts with our diet.
03:22 There's a lot of talk about Ozempic.
03:24 You know, it's a weight loss drug and a lot of people seem to be attracted to taking it,
03:31 even when the authorities are warning people against it.
03:34 Where do you stand?
03:35 I'm not a fan.
03:37 I'm not a fan.
03:38 There are too many risks, too many side effects, and losing weight comes down to diet and lifestyle.
03:46 So we're always going to get the best results when we follow nature and do what we're meant
03:54 to do naturally.
03:55 I think any time that we're trying to manipulate things, there's always side effects and you
04:00 fix one thing and then a new problem crops up.
04:03 So even with acne medications, that's been my experience.
04:06 You try to fix one thing, but then a new problem crops up.
04:10 So I think the safest and healthiest things to do is really to try and do it naturally,
04:16 lose weight naturally, get to the root cause.
04:19 Figure out why you're not losing weight.
04:23 Is it diet related?
04:24 Is it stress related?
04:25 Is it movement related?
04:27 There's so many different factors.
04:28 So I think working with someone, a nutritionist, for example, who can really help you get to
04:32 the root and even get over the mental blocks.
04:35 A lot of times weight loss, the problem is not that people don't know what to do.
04:40 People know what a healthy diet looks like generally, or they know they should exercise,
04:45 but it's getting over that mental hurdle of actually doing it and sticking to it.
04:49 Right, right.
04:50 There are many hormonal factors also that contribute to acne after a certain age.
04:55 In fact, it's not at a certain age actually, even young people who are undergoing hormonal
05:00 changes experience acne, right?
05:03 So can food intervene in that aspect as well?
05:08 100%.
05:09 So whenever people complain about the hormones, I say it's not your hormones, it's the habits.
05:14 So hormones are messengers and they're responding to our inputs and our environment.
05:22 So for example, when we're stressed, our body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol.
05:28 Or when we eat sugar, our body produces more insulin and IGF-1.
05:35 So hormones are really reacting to whatever is going on.
05:39 And in the case of acne, typically women who have high androgens tend to develop acne,
05:48 specifically that cystic type acne.
05:50 And I think the conventional message is, "Oh, there's something wrong with you.
05:55 Your hormone's imbalanced.
05:56 You have too much of this hormone and something's wrong with you."
05:59 But it's not you and the hormones are not actually the problem.
06:03 Whatever you're doing that's throwing your hormones out of balance, that's the problem.
06:06 So for example, with excess androgens, we know that eating a high glycemic load diet,
06:12 which means a lot of sugar and refined carbohydrates, that also increases the androgens in women.
06:19 So our diet can be shifting our hormones off balance.
06:25 And just another example to kind of put things into perspective, yes, we all go through puberty.
06:31 Yes, women have a menstrual cycle.
06:33 So there are natural fluctuations in our hormones throughout our lifetime.
06:37 But not every teenager gets acne and not every woman on her cycle gets acne.
06:43 So it's not those natural fluctuations that are creating the acne.
06:47 It's the inflammation and our diet and our stress that are throwing things off balance
06:53 where they just become more apparent during certain periods in our life.
06:57 What about male acne, which is also being spoken about?
07:00 Same.
07:01 So it could be the hormonal imbalance and primarily the inflammation.
07:04 Really there are six main factors that contribute to acne.
07:08 So nutrient deficiencies is a big one.
07:12 Hormonal imbalance, which can come from our diet.
07:15 A pro-inflammatory diet, so there are certain foods that increase inflammation in the body.
07:21 Stress is a really, really big one.
07:24 And gut dysbiosis.
07:26 So disruptions in the gut, too much opportunistic bacteria, not enough good bacteria.
07:33 This can actually create inflammation, which leads to breakouts.
07:36 So even though there are several factors that I've just mentioned, ultimately they all really
07:42 come back to what we're eating and our lifestyle.
07:46 How stressed we are.
07:47 Are we sleeping enough?
07:48 Are we moving enough?
07:49 Are we getting sun?
07:53 It all comes back to diet and lifestyle.
07:56 You said that certain foods increase inflammation in the body.
08:00 What are these foods?
08:01 Well, two of the most well-known and researched dairy is considered a common acne trigger.
08:10 For a lot of people, not necessarily everybody, but for a lot of people, acne can increase
08:15 inflammation and increase the risk of acne.
08:19 Additionally, too much sugar.
08:21 Too much sugar and refined carbohydrates that can create inflammation.
08:24 So soda, for example, cookies, baked goods, pastries, these sorts of things can create
08:29 inflammation in the body.
08:30 And then even certain vegetable oils.
08:33 Vegetable oils that are really high in omega-6, so corn oil or soy oil, these can also promote
08:39 inflammation in the body.
08:42 Again, you also conducted grocery tours, which is, I think, a very interesting concept because
08:51 half of the planning happens at the grocery, right, of what you're going to eat.
08:55 What were those tours about and how did you go about educating people on which foods are
09:00 inflammatory and how can they do justice to their eating habits?
09:06 Sure.
09:07 So I started probably like 15 years ago in New York City.
09:12 And in New York, people do not cook.
09:14 People eat out.
09:15 Processed food.
09:16 There's a lot of takeout.
09:17 Lots of coke.
09:18 Yeah, lots of soda, lots of McDonald's, lots of quick, fast things.
09:21 And so I'm telling them, I'm advising, "Okay, eat more vegetables.
09:26 Eat less processed foods."
09:28 And they're looking at me like I have three heads because they actually don't know, like,
09:31 "Okay, when I go to the grocery store, what do I do?"
09:34 And when they would get to the produce aisle, they have no idea.
09:37 How do I choose an avocado?
09:39 When I get home, is every avocado black and this doesn't taste good?
09:43 So I said, "Okay, let me take you through a tour through the grocery store and explain
09:48 how to choose the healthiest and the tastiest foods in every aisle of the grocery store."
09:53 So we'll start in the produce section.
09:55 I'll introduce them because in New York, a lot of people don't know what a certain, like,
10:00 parsley versus coriander and what is a scallion.
10:04 So I'll introduce them to all the fruits and vegetables and how do you choose the ripe
10:08 one?
10:09 You know, how does this one...
10:11 Don't choose this because it looks, you know, the leaves are wilting.
10:14 Like, how do you choose the best one and the most nutritious and the tastiest?
10:18 Then we would go into the butcher section or the seafood section and look at all the
10:23 buzzwords, organic, wild-caught, grass-fed, pasturase.
10:27 What do all these words mean and which words are worth spending a little extra money on
10:32 and which ones are just greenwashing?
10:34 So they're just marketers trying to make you think that this food is healthier than it
10:38 actually is.
10:39 And then, of course, we go to the packaged food aisle and everybody has their favorite
10:44 snack foods and junk foods, whether it's chips or cookies or whatever.
10:48 So I'd say, "Okay, your favorite food is chips?
10:51 Well, here, try this instead.
10:53 This brand of chips is made with avocado oil or olive oil, which is healthier than corn
10:58 oil and it's baked instead of fried.
11:00 So this still tastes like a potato chip.
11:02 It looks and tastes and smells like a potato chip, but it's going to be healthier for you."
11:07 Again, speaking of organic, the first thing that rings a bell in most people's minds is
11:15 the cost because organic does come at a price.
11:19 So how can we make smart eating choices that may or may not be organic, but that are also
11:27 easy on the pocket?
11:28 Yeah, that's a great question and a top consideration because we need to make sure if we're eating
11:33 healthy that it's sustainable.
11:35 So the first thing I'll say is that don't avoid frozen organic foods because frozen
11:41 berries and broccoli and carrots and all your frozen produce, it's typically 30% cheaper
11:47 than fresh, yet it's just as nutritious, if not more so, than the fresh stuff because
11:54 it's picked and it's flash frozen at its peak ripeness, so when it's at its peak nutrition.
11:59 A lot of times the fruits and vegetables that we're getting anywhere in the world, but especially
12:03 in Dubai, have been flown in from all over the world.
12:06 It's taken them two, three weeks, maybe months, and so over time the nutrients start to degrade.
12:12 So frozen is great.
12:14 Also when you're choosing, "Okay, I only have X amount of budget, some foods I'll buy organic,
12:20 some foods I won't," well, choose the foods that have a thin skin or that you eat directly
12:26 to buy organic.
12:27 For example, berries or apples or dark leafy greens because most of the pesticides and
12:32 chemicals are going to be on the skin, but if you're buying cantaloupe and watermelon,
12:37 which has this thick rind and you're not eating it, those are totally fine to buy conventional
12:41 because you're limiting your exposure.
12:45 Again, intermittent fasting has become quite a thing now.
12:50 Does it have impact on the skin and acne as well?
12:53 Oh, for sure.
12:56 Intermittent fasting is beneficial for insulin sensitivity, improves insulin sensitivity,
13:02 and it also helps to reduce inflammation.
13:05 And this also helps to reduce acne, so it could certainly help.
13:10 Intermittent fasting is not for everyone.
13:12 For some people it works great or they enjoy it.
13:15 Not everybody enjoys it or wants to do it, so there's other ways to improve your insulin
13:20 and to reduce your inflammation, but it can definitely help to improve the skin.
13:25 Now, a lot of us are unable to maintain a 9-5 lifestyle.
13:30 At least I can't.
13:33 And we are also not very regular with sleep because a lot of us are in jobs that just
13:39 don't allow you to have that luxury of coming at a certain time and leaving at a certain
13:45 time.
13:46 So for such people, what sort of eating habits and workouts do you recommend?
13:51 Yeah, well, a few things.
13:53 So if you know that you don't have time to cook and you're often ordering takeout, what
13:58 I would recommend at the beginning of the week, take just 20 minutes and kind of look
14:03 at your week for the rest of the week and see, okay, you know what?
14:07 I'm going to be ordering takeout these days.
14:10 Instead, why don't I find one of these meal delivery services that can pre-prep the food.
14:16 They'll deliver me the food.
14:17 All I have to do is open it and heat it, but it's going to be much more nutritionally balanced
14:22 than ordering something random off Deliveroo when you're starving and all you want is something
14:28 very indulgent.
14:30 So there's plenty of companies that will help you find or will make meals for you that are
14:35 nutritionally balanced, that the macros are counted if you're counting macros, and they'll
14:40 comply to whatever dietary needs or preferences that you have.
14:45 So that's number one.
14:46 Secondly, I would say if your day gets really hectic, at least try to start with a healthy
14:52 breakfast and breakfast, you can make a healthy breakfast very quickly.
14:56 So the easiest thing you can probably make is a smoothie, a fruit and protein smoothie.
15:01 Have some frozen fruit in your freezer, some blueberries and strawberries, blackberries,
15:05 have a high quality protein powder, a collagen powder, throw that all into the blender and
15:11 you've got 30 grams of protein in there, very easy and the blender is very easy to clean.
15:17 Just pour it into a cup and put the hot water on, let it run, it cleans very quickly so
15:21 it's not even going to take up time there.
15:23 So something like that.
15:24 You could hard boil eggs, for example.
15:27 It's really important in the morning to get protein in because that's going to help keep
15:31 your blood sugar more stable throughout the day and make you less likely to snack.
15:38 It's going to make you less hangry, you know, when you get so hungry you become angry.
15:42 It's just going to set you off for a really good day.
15:46 And the last thing I would say is if you have a crazy hectic schedule, you're probably relying
15:50 on coffee.
15:51 I know a lot of people do.
15:53 So there are...
15:54 Or sodas.
15:55 Sodas, yeah.
15:56 My poison is soda.
15:57 Yeah, sodas.
15:58 So sodas are liquid sugar and interestingly, when we drink our sugar versus eating the
16:05 same amount of sugar, the sugar that we drink actually impacts us more negatively than eating
16:11 the sugar.
16:12 Yeah, and especially if you're eating it on an empty stomach.
16:16 So one rule with sweets, any type of sweet, if you want something sweet, always pair it
16:22 with a protein and a fat and that's going to help keep your blood sugar more stable.
16:27 So there's a rule in the nutrition world called no naked carbs.
16:31 Don't eat your sweets alone.
16:33 Always pair them with a protein and fat.
16:35 So if you are going to have a soda, which they're definitely healthier choices that
16:39 I would recommend, have it with a meal.
16:41 Don't have it as a 3 p.m. snack on its own.
16:46 Any anti-aging nutrition tips?
16:49 Yes, yes.
16:50 And interestingly, the foods that are great for anti-aging are also great for keeping
16:55 our skin clear.
16:56 They're also great for our digestion, for our brain health, for our mood, for all of
17:00 these things.
17:01 So some of the best foods for, if we're talking skin health in particular, collagen.
17:06 So collagen is a protein.
17:08 It declines.
17:09 Well, first of all, it keeps our skin nice and plump and smooth and crease-free.
17:14 But over time, as we age and as we're exposed to the environment, to the sun, this starts
17:19 to degrade our collagen.
17:21 So when we eat collagen, that can help keep our skin a little bit more youthful looking
17:26 longer.
17:27 This is found in things like bone broth, in fish skin there's a lot of collagen, or of
17:31 course you could get a collagen supplement.
17:34 So you can put that in your smoothie.
17:36 Additionally, vitamin C-rich foods like bell peppers, fruit, pineapple, any of these foods
17:43 are also going to help support our body's natural production of collagen.
17:48 So what I like to do is I like to have a blueberry smoothie, frozen blueberries, banana, protein
17:54 powder, and collagen powder, and I add a few extra things in there.
17:58 And that's one of my favorite things to have.
18:02 And basically anything that's really bright and colorful, rich in antioxidants, and that's
18:07 anti-inflammatory, is going to help with anti-aging.
18:11 Because inflammation is what starts to break down the collagen and the elastin.
18:16 Bloating and water retention is a common concern for a lot of people.
18:20 So how do you address it with nutrition?
18:23 Yeah, bloating is incredibly common.
18:26 It's one of the most common complaints that I hear.
18:29 And when you're bloated, it's a sign, most likely, that you're eating something that
18:34 your body is having a hard time digesting.
18:36 You may not have the bacteria in your gut microbiome that are needed to break down that
18:41 food.
18:42 So whenever you have bloating or water retention, it's always a sign from your body.
18:47 It's not just happening just because, there's typically a reason.
18:50 So with bloating, you should consider probiotics.
18:54 A high-quality probiotic can help to reseed the gut with good bacteria.
18:58 You want to look for lactobacillus and bifidobacteria strains, like those found in Globiome.
19:04 Super helpful for supporting the gut lining and the microbial balance in your gut.
19:10 For water retention, you may be having too much salt, too much sodium.
19:16 So a way that you can flush some of that excess sodium out is eating more potassium-rich
19:22 foods, like bananas or avocados or potatoes, for example.
19:26 So whatever your body is telling you, there is typically a food remedy for it.
19:33 As we are wrapping up, three important nutrition tips you would like to give to our listeners.
19:40 Make sure you're eating enough fiber.
19:42 So make sure you're eating enough vegetables, and the easiest way to do this, add at least
19:47 two meals a day.
19:48 Try to make 50% of your plate vegetables.
19:51 That will help ensure that you're getting enough fiber and the nutrients that we need
19:55 for clear, healthy skin.
19:57 Take a high-quality probiotic.
19:59 As you mentioned, we're all stressed.
20:01 Stress disrupts the gut, and that disruption actually creates inflammation, which goes
20:07 not just in the gut, but body-wide and can show up on our skin.
20:10 So make sure you're taking a high-quality probiotic.
20:13 And lastly, make sure you're getting your omega-3s.
20:16 Omega-3s, this is a very common deficiency because it's not found in a lot of foods.
20:23 Basically, certain types of seafood, fatty fish like wild salmon, anchovies, sardines,
20:28 these are a good source of omega-3, as are seeds like chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds.
20:34 But most people don't eat these foods on a regular basis or in large amounts.
20:39 So it's a very common deficiency, and this is a critical nutrient not only for our skin,
20:44 but also our brain health.
20:46 And the research shows people who have acne tend to be lower in omega-3, and even depression
20:50 tend to be lower in omega-3.
20:52 So consuming omega-3-rich foods helps our skin and our brain and is a great anti-aging
20:58 addition to the diet.
21:01 Thank you so much, Maria, for coming to the KT Life podcast and sharing your valuable
21:05 tips with our listeners.
21:07 Thank you so much for having me.
21:09 In the age of round-the-clock activity, eat to heal is an idea whose time has certainly
21:14 come.
21:15 Share your thoughts on this episode of KT Life podcast.
21:19 And remember, we are available on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, and Google.
21:24 With camera person Shehab and multimedia producer Phil Green, this is Anamika Chatterjee signing
21:30 off.
21:33 Thank you.
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