Reishi For Acne: An Amazing Supplement for Liver Support

I am telling everyone about Reishi now. EVERYONE. Because it’s not just good for acne. It is an amazing, powerful adaptogen and liver tonic that helps with focus and stress. It has helped me chill out so much and cleared up my skin to boot! Super stoked!

Reishi for acne: one of my TOP 3 acne supplements

Reishi is my acne supplement #2. (The others are Vitex and Estroblock). I have actually tried bajillions of supplements in my quest to became a holistic acne healing expert and with most of them, despite taking them faithfully as predicted for at least 3 months – no noticeable effects.

However, a little supplement known as Estroblock really, noticeably helped my cystic acne diminish. Still not all the way gone, but way, way better. Noticeably better. And so I’m taking the Estroblock, and while the occurance of cysts is way down (still getting 1-2 around my period. Fun fact – did you know that you can tell which side you are ovulating on based on which side of your face you break out on? Another fun fact, did you know that one ovary might give you worse breakouts and PMS than the other? Truth!) I’m still getting these tiny blackheads on my cheeks, forehead (to a lesser extent) and chin (also not as bad as my cheeks and temples.) The acne is really not that noticeable, not inflamed, not bad, but yeah – teeny blackheads.

Reishi improves Estroblock function

Not cool. Oil cleansing and exfoliating help a little bit, but as I tell ALL my clients, skincare is only part of the puzzle – diet and lifestyle are key! So I do a little digging and it turns out this sort of acne presentation is indicative of a liver issue. This is corroborated by the fact that I also get cystic acne at times very specifically in the center of my T-zone/heads of my eyebrows which face mapping also indicates is a liver issue.

More digging, and I learn a little bit about how Estroblock works – before I’d only cared that it WAS working! Turns out Estroblock helps your liver metabolize estrogen correctly – instead of turning it into bad metabolites, it will turn it into good metabolites. (To learn more about how estrogen affects acne, read my hormonal acne breakdown post.) But if the liver is compromised, Estroblock, with such a very specific role, will only be able to help so much, before somewhere else in the liver’s mechanisms will begin breaking down.

More specifically – the liver has 3 detox phases. But Estroblock ONLY supports phase 1, where the liver converts estrogen into three different intermediary metabolites – one of which is good, and two of which are bad. As previously mentioned, Estroblock helps your liver change those estrogens into the good metabolites that are far less likely to cause issue.

Well, in the second phase of liver detoxification, the estrogen metabolite is supposed to join with organic molecules which can then be excreted through the kidney or bowel. But if that doesn’t happen, then the metabolites (good and bad) formed in Phase I convert into highly reactive molecules that can be damaging to the body.

Phase 3 is the clearance of toxins (including metabolized estrogen) out through the bowel and kidneys and if that insn’t working, all the toxins and hormones get reabsorbed and recirculated in the body. Whoa.

So Estroblock is only as good as your liver! If your liver isn’t functioning properly, then Estroblock is only going to help so much.

A healthy liver is crucial for healing acne

I don’t even know how I found out about Reishi for acne and supporting the liver – I must have read it somewhere, but all I know is that as I ordered it, my body gave a resounding yes. I instinctively know I was going to love it. Reishi supports and strengthens the liver.

Now obviously, food should be your first and final medicine. If your liver is out of whack, you are probably taxing it with a LOT. Anytime you eat processed foods, foods with chemicals, anything the body is going to react to, it’s on the liver to get it out! So that means alcohol, caffeine, unhealthy fats (and if the liver is very diseased, very little fat for a while), sugar, inflammatory foods, fried foods are all huge no-nos. I checked my diet (guilty.)

But you know what I love about Reishi? It’s not a “corrective” like Estroblock. It’s more supportive. I feel better about taking it long term than I do Estroblock (speaking of ditching the Estroblock, 21 day HORMONE RESET Challenge coming soon! You in? If you struggle with hormonal acne, this is SO for you! Get on my mailing list to be sure you get the details!).

Reishi has been used in TCM for thousands of years and is the MOST studied herb on the planet!

In Chinese medicinal texts, it is not only recognized as being in the superior class of herbs, but also at the top of its (already superior) class. It has even been said that the discovery of Japan originated as a mission to find reishi mushroom – I have no idea where this comes from, but I like it! 🙂

Reishi is very antioxidant rich and contains compounds that basically help your liver out by neutralizing some of the toxins in your body the liver would otherwise have to deal with. That’s why Reishi works for acne. Cool!

Reishi builds primal power and burns karma

I’m grabbing this next part straight from my Reishi supplier’s website, but it is so cool:

From Hyperion Herbs: 

In Traditional Chinese Medicine exist the three treasures, jing, chi, and shen. Jing is the essence or juices of life. Chi is the energy, breath, or life force. Shen is the spirit or the “heartmind.” Each tonic herb traditionally was classified to nurture at least one of these treasures, and reishi is able to tonify all three, creating its well-rounded and adaptogenic properties.

As a Jing tonic, Reishi is believed to have major life lengthening effects when consumed over a long period of time. It is believed to build primal power and to replenish energy spent handling stressful situations.

As a Chi tonic, Reishi is used to build energy, although it is calming when taken. Reishi is believed by Japanese and Chinese researchers to have a regulatory effect on the immune system, bringing up immune functions in cases of immunodeficiency and reducing the excesses associated with auto-immune conditions. Reishi is a superb tonic for people who suffer from chronic allergies.

As a Shen tonic, it is known to burn karma- to help to help us release psychic baggage or any kind of negativity that we may be carrying around with us. It helps us open our heart and connect to ourselves, to our higher selves, to our higher consciousness. It helps us relax our brain more from beta and more into alpha state, making a meditative state not only more attainable, but also more constant.

I REALLY feel calmer and more focused with Reishi and I noticed that literally since the first time I took it. I remember sitting down with a client and instead of feeling slightly nervous as I usually do (HUGE introvert right here!!) I was calm, focused and able to really HEAR and RESPOND to her.

Since then, situations that would really stress me out and send me into emotional oscillations, I am able to respond to with much less stress and energy. Reishi has definitely both stabilized and grounded me. Things don’t get to me like they used to. Plus, look at that red color – you can just tell this is a powerful root chakra healing food (ie grounding).

Honestly, even if the blackheads were still here, I’d still be loving on Reishi – it’s just SO good for supporting your body! BUT, Reishi for acne works – the blackheads went away.

Diet mods for liver health

Full disclosure – I did also modify my diet a tiny bit, but nothing too crazy. My main diet suspects for healing my liver were not getting enough water, drinking too much coffee, and eating too many processed, unhealthy foods with carbs, and sugar.

I’m no stranger to cutting out carbs, and it really doesn’t bother me. At first I did feel twinges of restriction and anxiety going out to restaurants and having only the salads to choose from, but then when I tasted how good those foods actually were and how nice my body felt after eating them, it was easy to get back into a healthier track.

Water, coffee and sugar were a little more difficult. I hate water. I have no idea why. I don’t like drinking it. I always have to flavor it with something or just have tea. And coffee – that stuff is my lifeblood – I chain drink cups all day! Well, this is where the Reishi fit in perfectly. It’s a bitter brown powder and the suggested way to take it is to dissolve it in hot water. So I started drinking half-caff Reishi tonics (recipe post coming soon!) which killed many birds with one stone – I was drinking half the coffee I normally would but still getting my fix, was getting more water and getting my Reishi in.

With sugar, I also didn’t go crazy, but just cut down. I normally do not eat a lot of sugar, but I do find myself eating a little more each day till I rein it in – a slippery slope. My main sources of sugar are goji berries (also fabulous for the liver!!), dried chili mangoes, and chocolate truffles. In some cases, grains can acutally be WORSE for our acne than sugar because our body actually produces MORE insulin and inflammation with them (especially the processed simple carbs) than with sugar, so I really focused on the carbs and just became conscious and mindful of my sugar intake.

Giveaway!

Exciting news: I will be doing a Hyperion Herbs Reishi Giveaway!! Simply place an order with moss June 17, 2015 – July 18, 2015 and you will be entered to win! Of course, sign up for email updates to be notified of fun little contests like these and ways to improve your beauty and bliss!

I hope I’ve convinced you of how awesome Reishi is and that you need to try it! Just make sure you get good quality, organic Reishi – no cheaping out with this (or for that matter) any supplement cause it will cost you more money and distress in the long run!

In beauty and bliss,

Celestyna xx