There has only been one time in my life when my oily face naturally “cured” itself.
It was when I was in the military, going through basic training for 12 weeks. Not so surprisingly, my acne also completely cleared up at the same time. It was one of the first times in my life that I could look in the mirror and see ME – and NOT just a shiny face.
I was 23 years old at the time… and still suffering from an oily face. This was YEARS after puberty ended and the hormones had settled down. I wasn’t necessarily out of shape. I weighed about 180 at the time, and was very healthy since I worked out at the gym every day. My endurance wasn’t much to brag about, but I could throw weight around like nobody’s business.
Basic training “boot camp” was absolute hell, of course… as it is supposed to be. Military Basic Training is designed to break you down and then build you back up. It was training every day for the most part: push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, running, climbing, marching, going up stairs, going down stairs, more push-ups, more sit-ups, etc. You get the idea.
When we went to chow (aka to eat a meal) we ate some pretty unhealthy stuff at times. I remember looking down at my plate at two pieces of bread covered in brown gravy and wondering what the protein/fat ratio was in that single portion. But, we also ate some pretty healthy stuff that most people don’t eat on a regular basis: vegetables, fruits, whole grains.
But, what I remember most about basic training was how much WATER went through me in those days. Essentially, we were not allowed to drink anything else during basic training. No soda. No Gatorade. No lemonade . I think we had the option for milk in our cereal at breakfast, but that’s about it. We had canteens that were filled with water whenever possible. We all drank a lot of water.
The change in my skin was gradual. In fact I probably didn’t notice a change for about a month. But then, one day, I looked in the mirror around mid-day on a Sunday (they took it easier on us on Sundays) and noticed that my skin was smooth, clear, and healthy-looking. It wasn’t shiny or greasy looking at all. You could barely see my pores! I was ecstatic.
Over the next couple of months, I took my new skin for granted. I didn’t really think about it too much. To me, things were just the way they should be. My skin was like everyone else’s now. I had nothing to be ashamed of anymore.
But, then something happened: I got out of basic training. I quit drinking so much water. I drank some soda on occasion (not much… maybe 3 sodas per week). I drank Gatorade or some other sports drink after a hard run, or a tough workout.
Long story short, my greasy, shiny face came back!!!!
At first, I didn’t put any of this together. I did not have a clue why my skin was normal one month, and oily the next.
After a while, I started doing some research on WHY this occurs.
Here is what I found:
You see, the liver and the kidneys process waste out of the body… but, they can only do so much so fast. Not drinking enough water will cause your kidneys to struggle, and become less efficient.
So, when you overload your body with fatty foods and sodas and sugar, those still have to be processed and filtered.
But, if the kidneys are not functioning at their full capacity, why don’t we all need to dialysis to stay alive? Because we have backup processes: the liver.
If the kidneys are busy, or not keeping up with the pace, the liver picks up slack for the kidneys. But, the liver has a job to do too: metabolize consumed fat for energy.
If the liver is busy, what is the body going to do with the fat that it cannot process? Well, it can store some, but it cannot store all of it at once. It can only store a little bit of it over a period of time. It has to get rid of most of the excess somehow.
Waste products are eliminated through both urine and bowel movements… but there is one other method the body uses to eliminate waste.
And that is through THE SKIN.
The skin is an often forgotten avenue to eliminate waste. Your body doesn’t just sweat to cool off the body. There are toxins being flushed out of those sweat glands too! And a pore is just another way of eliminating something that the body is trying to get rid of.
In this case, my body was trying to eliminate excess fat out through my pores! A lack of clean, pure water was causing the entire system to break down. The symptom was the oily, greasy face… but, the cause was a lack of water and, in turn, a lower capacity to process the fats in my diet.
That is why WATER is essential to eliminating an oily face, and achieving clear, healthy skin in general.
Believe me, it’s so worth it.
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