It’s been a few months since I first shared my story about my 5-year battle with hormonal acne. Not only that, but I recorded a bunch of videos and posted every single one of my steps for finally addressing the root cause of my acne and slowly but surely healing my skin over the course of a year.
It’s been a crazy 3 months since I uploaded all of my resources for women struggling with the same issues and I figured it was about time for an update!
Last I posted it, it was the end of July. I had a pretty stellar month as it related to health, my skin, etc., which is why I chose to upload everything at that time. I mentioned in all my posts at the time about how my progress was always two steps forward, one back. Just because I was having a good month in July, doesn’t mean I wasn’t still susceptible to that step back. As much as we all want quick fixes when it comes to underlying issues like hormonal imbalances, digestive issues, etc., it’s simply not possible.
I want to make sure I keep posting updates about my journey, because I know how challenging it can be day in, day out when progress seems so slow. We are all in the same boat and none of us are perfect. Every step back is just another opportunity to learn about your body.
So what happened after July?!
August happened. August is normally one of my favorite months. My birthday falls smack dab in the middle and I am a huge fan of summer in general. This August was not as enjoyable as years past. The reason for this is that I was preparing for a huge trip in September where I was going to be gone for nearly an entire month. My husband Chris and I spent a week in Maui and then three weeks in Paris, Salzburg and Amsterdam, pretty much back to back. It was undoubtedly the trip of the year… maybe even the decade, but it meant I had to cram the month before. I work for myself which means while I get the flexibility to make my own work schedule, it also means I don’t have any paid time off. For me, time off = no money. So what did I do? I worked my butt off in August so that I could enjoy my time away without having to worry all that much about work. I was successful in that I didn’t have all that much to do while I was away, but I also totally burned myself out.
I was working 7 days a week, sometimes 12 hour days. I fell back into a caffeine habit, I sacrificed working out so that I could work and I pushed myself really, really hard. The whole time I told myself if I was just aware of stress and overworking, that I would be fine. Of course, I’m not superwoman and the stress of August totally came back to bite me in the butt.
The lack of self-care, relaxation and me-time left my body feeling more like it felt at the beginning of the year when I was still battling hormonal acne pretty badly. Thankfully, the acne didn’t get too out of hand. I wasn’t getting more than one pimple at a time, but still, I was getting them fairly regularly. Not only that, but my gut health was suffering and I was feeling fatigued, getting headaches… nothing that made me feel good at all.
Thankfully, vacation helped a lot. Even though I was pretty lenient about my diet, just the lack of stress left me feeling SO much better. I also spent my entire vacation reading Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers which was phenomenally helpful in really getting me to understand how stress can systematically destroy so many different parts of our bodies regular functioning. The worst part, at least for me, is that I often don’t “feel” stressed. Having said that, I know what my triggers are and even though I may not “feel” it, my behaviors and activities are pretty evident as to whether or not I’m treating my body well.
After returning from vacation, I decided I needed to really make some important changes. First of all, I decided to work on my stress load. Secondly, I decided to recommit to the principles I talked about initially about how I healed my acne in the first place. Not only that, but for the first time in almost 2 years, I decided to get my hormones re-tested, just to make sure I was on the right track.
I decided to join the 3-month Healthy Hormones Program. I have been following Megan and Alex for a long time and although I’d had bad experiences with my naturopath in the past (which you can hear me talk about in this video), I knew they were people I could trust. Plus, having their constant support throughout 3 months was really important to me, not to mention the support of the group. I will be talking a lot more about my experience in the program soon, but if you’re someone struggling with hormonal issues, regardless of whether or not they affect your skin, I highly recommend taking a look at this program.
None of us are perfect, even me. This journey to health is never-ending. I have chosen to look at my steps backward as progress, just as much as the steps forward. We can always learn something new from our bodies and as frustrating as it can feel, it’s all part of the process.
Before I end this post, I also wanted to share a few exciting things I have planned in October that are skincare related!
First of all, if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this post that I shared a few days ago. For the month of October, I am offering some exciting freebies when you make a Beautycounter purchase using this link – anyaseats.com/beautycounter. If you want to read more about Beautycounter and why they are finally what got me to switch to non-toxic makeup and skincare, just read this post. You can get all the details from the promo in my Instagram post, but please let me know in the comments if you have any questions!
Not only that, but if you’re in the San Diego area this weekend, my friend Caroline of Colorful Eats are hosting an event at my house this Saturday the 15th at 10:30am. We will be giving everyone the opportunity to try some Beautycounter products, plus providing some tasty beverages and snacks! If you’ve been hesitant to try Beautycounter because you like to sample things first, this is the event for you. I’ve posted the event flyer below. If you want to attend, please shoot me an email at [email protected] We only have a few spots left and it will be first come first serve! We hope to see you there!
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