Is dairy-free the way to clearer skin?

When it comes to our skin anything can affect it - externally and internally. I posted before about stress and its impact on skin's health. I experienced significant positive changes to my skin and the way it behaves since I know how to manage stress effectively and efficiently.🧘🏼‍♀️ I also swapped all dairy products to plant alternatives and it was another great choice for me and for my skin. I would like to share a bit more about how dairy can affect your skin - it certainly did mine.

I was told from the very young age that I should drink cow's milk everyday if I want to have strong bones and teeth.🦷 🦴 This is true - cow's milk is a great source of calcium. But apart from that is contains proteins: whey and casein. During digestion of these proteins a hormone, similar to insulin, is released and unfortunately this hormone can trigger breakouts. There's also lactose - natural sugar occurring in cow's milk. And I'm one of the 65% of people who are lactose-intolerant🥛 🤷🏼‍♀️

Cow's milk itself contains growth hormone (it is calves' food after all) which can mess with our hormonal system - it can increase insulin production and ultimately breakouts.

There are hundreds of scientific research on how cow's milk and acne are connected. You can read more about it here

It is thought that skim milk can affect the skin the most.

I suffer from skin dermatitis and diary aggravated it really badly - once I switched to dairy-free products my condition became easily manageable. The choice is huge now - you can buy almond cheese (it's delicious BTW😄) and lots of different kinds of plant milk: coconut, oat, hazelnut, soya, etc. They are usually fortified with calcium and vitamins too.

I'm not a dietician and I cannot advise on choice you make .If you have any doubt you should speak to qualified nutritionist or your doctor.

I observed my skin for a very long time, I read countless articles, books and research papers and I simply tried different approaches. What I learned (and I'm still learning everyday📚 ) is that our skin can react to anything: food, stressful situations, environment and many more other things. It also tells us when isn't happy - we need to look and listen. For me it worked wonders🥰 Holistic approach is what, in my opinion, the key to having beautiful skin and better health.