Ever heard of face mapping? It’s based on the idea that your skin is a reflection of your health. So any blemish on your face could be a sign of an imbalance in your body, whether it be due to issues in your nutrition, hormones, genetics or environment. It stems from Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda (the traditional Indian holistic healing system).
Your skin is the largest organ and essentially the gateway to your insides. It communicates with all the internal organs and then publishes what’s going on inside on your face. Kind of like a camera showing the film reel at the cinema.
The face is a mirror to your health.
Various areas or “zones” correlate to specific organs and reveal that condition through a blemish like a spot, rash and cyst.
Forehead = bladder, small intestine + liver
Possible reason: fried foods, excessive fat consumption, too much booze
How to combat: chew thoroughly, eat probiotic foods, drink plenty of water and herbal teas, minimize rich foods + cut down on the booze
For me, I had to cut out dairy as I was getting cystic acne on my forehead when I ate it. The really annoying thing (and the reason it took me so long to figure out) was that it didn’t show up until about a week after I ate the dairy! So I paid the price for a pizza long after I ate it 🙁
Between the eyebrows | “Third eye” = stomach + liver
Possible reason: Poor digestion, toxic build up from alcohol, caffeine, sugar
The liver is working too hard to remove toxins
How to combat: Try an elimination diet to rule out any intolerances or allergies, reduce alcohol, caffeine and sugar, eat probiotic foods (kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha drink).
Another area that gives me grief from time to time – especially after a weekend festival or over the Christmas festivities of drinking and indulging :-/
Temples + brow line = kidneys
Possible reason: dehydration and/ or overworked kidneys
Low back pain correlates a lot with blemishes here
How to combat: Drink plenty of water, make the salt switch from table salt to himalayan pink salt or sea salt, cranberry juice (pure, not the one loaded with sugar), kale, spinach + algae (spirulina or chlorella), cucumber + melons are kidney friendly fruits
Nose = heart
Possible reason: Indoor + outdoor air pollution, bad circulation + high blood pressure
How to combat: Exercise regularly, cayenne pepper is great for circulation (add some to your morning warm water + lemon), replace unhealthy saturated fats with healthy fats such as avocado, nuts, fish, flax + chia seeds
Middle cheeks: lungs + stomach
Possible reason: Allergens like dairy + wheat
This area is commonly associated with rosacea, breakouts + hyper pigmentation
How to combat: Alkalize your body – eat plenty of green veggies, reduce alcohol, caffeine + sugar
Lower cheeks + nose: liver + stomach
Possible reason: Intolerances + toxic build up
How to combat: clean up your diet, do a gentle detox, drink cleansing veggie juices
Mouth = stomach
Possible reason: Too much sweet foods, caffeine + alcohol
How to combat: Try a gentle cleanse detox, add in more green veggies + fibre
Chin + jawline = ovaries + colon
Possible reason: hormonal imbalances + stress
We all know the monthly period spot all too well. There’s also a whole host of other factors that can affect our hormones including stress, fruit + veg that’s been sprayed with pesticides + herbicides, environmental factors such as pollution, the chemicals we put on our skin from non-organic beauty products.
How to combat: Choose organic where possible – with your food, skin care and household cleaning products, maca powder is good for balancing hormones – but be cautious how much you take as too much can make you a bit revved up, agnus castus is also good for hormonal fluctuations and can really help with PMS, take magnesium (you most probably need it as most people are deficient in it)