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How I Healed My Acne Naturally (Without Harsh Products or Pills)
89 Plays1 month ago
If you’ve ever felt like you’ve tried everything to clear your skin—with little to no results—this episode is for you. I’m sharing my personal story of struggling with cystic acne from my teenage years through early adulthood, and how I accidentally healed my skin when I stopped trying to fix it directly and started focusing on my overall health instead.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- Why conventional treatments never gave me lasting relief
- The surprising role your metabolism plays in your skin health
- What happened when I started eating enough food—and the right kinds
- How liver health, sunlight, and even raw carrots supported my healing
- My current minimalist skincare routine (think: beef tallow, not benzoyl peroxide)
If you’re on a healing journey and feel like your skin just won’t cooperate, this is a reminder that skin is a reflection—not a root cause. Let’s talk about the foundations that changed everything.
Links mentioned in the episode:
Simply Summer Meal Plan & Recipe Book
Primally Pure (Code cassidy10)
Ela Skin Tallow (Code CASSIDY10)
Urban Farm Collection (Code cassidyw)
Ready to learn more? I’ve got a ton of free resources for you!
🎉 FOLLOW me on IG @cassidy.woelfel 🎉
SIGN UP for my webinar on assessing your thyroid and metabolism at home for free
Check out my course Metabolism by Intelligent Design
SUBSCRIBE to this podcast ❤️
And don’t forget to shout me out online 😍
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Eat Like a Mother'
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome to the eat like a mother podcast where we take complicated topics surrounding hormones and metabolism and make them simple and applicable to your daily life as a woman. I'm your host castie. Well fell.
00:00:25
Speaker
My hope is that you walk away feeling empowered to start taking radical responsibility for your health and lean into this body. God created for you. Are you ready to eat like a mother? This podcast is meant for educational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.
00:00:43
Speaker
Please consult your physician before making any dietary or lifestyle changes. Hey, hey, and welcome back to this week's episode of the podcast.
Cassidy's Healing Journey and Insights
00:00:50
Speaker
Today, i want to talk about something that was actually really exciting for me early on in my healing journey, and that was clearing my skin from cystic acne.
00:01:02
Speaker
I had struggled with crazy, ridiculous... honestly heartbreaking breakouts for years from the ages like 15 to maybe 23, 24. During this time, during this period between ages 15 to 24, did a lot of different things, okay? I tried everything. I think at 15, I started Prescription Acne Wash, which worked, and I've been very open about that online. The Prescription Acne Wash was actually incredible, and my skin was so clear and so smooth.
00:01:37
Speaker
However, there's a caveat to this. Whenever I would use it, I had to use it and it was a three step, you know, process like the scrub, the toner and the lotion.
00:01:51
Speaker
And I had to use it morning and night every single day or else I would break out horrendously. Like I could not skip a single wash or else my face would start breaking out again.
00:02:03
Speaker
The other part of that prescription acne wash was the fact that my skin was just so freaking sensitive. I could not go outside without burning. Being in direct sunlight was a no-go for me, which we all know direct sunlight is so important to our metabolic health, but i legitimately just couldn't do it because I would burn and peel and have so much damage.
00:02:27
Speaker
So on and off from ages like 15 to 23, I was using this prescription acne wash and every now and then i would stop because I'd be like, oh, well, my skin's fine. I can stop it. Bad idea every single time.
00:02:40
Speaker
Or sometimes i would think well, this is really expensive because it cost a lot of money. And so I would just, I would stop and try something else. And of course my skin would break out all over again. There was really no reprieve in my skin until I got a few things straight. And I'm going to be completely honest with you.
00:03:01
Speaker
i did not set out on my healing journey to clear my skin. That was not my main goal. It was a happy accident. And so today I want to tell you a little bit about what I would focus on if I were you and if I was someone who wanted to intentionally clear my acne, what I would be doing if that was where I was now.
00:03:22
Speaker
So I've i've told the story a lot before, but what actually propelled me onto my healing journey was when I miscarried our first baby And that miscarriage is really what launched me into learning everything about female physiology, yeah which eventually led me to learning about metabolism. I had a very basic understanding of anatomy and physiology, my degrees in exercise science, and so I had to do a lot of that to graduate.
00:03:51
Speaker
However... Even with the thousands and thousands of dollars I spent on my higher education, i still walked out of my degree without truly deeply understanding the female body and how all of the systems worked together.
00:04:08
Speaker
So once I'd miscarried, after thinking that I was so healthy, right? Like I was doing everything that I was told to do in school. I was drinking a gallon of water a day and I was doing plenty of cardiovascular exercise.
00:04:24
Speaker
My resting pulse was 46 beats per minute. I literally thought I was the pinnacle of cardiovascular health. My lab partner and I in college used to have this running competition of who had the best resting heart rate, who was the most cardiovascularly fit.
00:04:42
Speaker
So I thought that I was the queen bee. I was eating fruits and vegetables. I was eating nuts and seeds and all of the things, lean meats, everything that the world and my higher education told me was healthy.
00:04:58
Speaker
And when we miscarried, That all came to a screeching halt and I had to start asking questions about if what I was doing was actually good for me and good for my physiology.
00:05:12
Speaker
And so when I set on on that journey to begin healing my hormones and begin healing my fertility and regulating my cycle and all of those things, the happy accident that came from that was completely clearing my skin.
00:05:26
Speaker
So here's what I would be doing if I was someone that was trying to completely clear my chronic or cystic acne Again, intentionally, because like I said, when I sat down on this journey, this was not my end goal, but it was a happy accident. And as you'll find, if you are on a metabolic healing journey, a lot of things become happy accidents when you seek to heal the root, which is your metabolism, your metabolic function, the way your cells utilize
Metabolic Function and Acne Advice
00:05:54
Speaker
energy.
00:05:54
Speaker
because from that, all other systems, all systems of the body can thrive if you get the production, creation, and movement of energy right in the body.
00:06:05
Speaker
So right now, I want you to imagine that you are sitting across from me at a coffee table and you're struggling with your acne If this is you, just picture us, okay? It's probably not Starbucks because Starbucks is disgusting. So imagine like a cute coffee shop with lots of good vibes and some fun music.
00:06:24
Speaker
I'm all into iced coffee right now. Well, not all into. I've had one iced coffee in the last like 10 years, right? But I'm all craving it right now, okay? So imagine I have an iced coffee and you're probably sipping water or something with oat milk because you're told that dairy is going to hurt your skin, whatever it is.
00:06:42
Speaker
Just imagine this picture and we're just chatting. Okay, so I'm going to tell you what I would tell my friend sitting across from me a coffee shop who is struggling with her acne.
00:06:53
Speaker
What I would recommend you do and how you should go about healing your acne. And you've probably heard this before, but that begins from the inside out So before we ever talk about what goes on your body, we have to talk about what's going in your body as well.
00:07:11
Speaker
And I don't think that it is a coincidence that not long after i healed my dairy allergy, my anaphylactic allergy to dairy, my skin started clearing up. I think those two things are very connected because our skin is a direct reflection of what's going on inside of our gut.
00:07:31
Speaker
So let's talk about what needs to go in your body in order for you to have great, healthy, thriving skin. So if you've been listening to me for any amount of time, if you are core student of mine or follow me on Instagram Instagram,
00:07:44
Speaker
maybe you're just used to listening to me here, you've probably heard me say before, a body that is not properly resourced will not function optimally.
00:07:56
Speaker
And that includes having healthy, beautiful, clear skin. When your body is stressed, when your body is not properly resourced through your food, through your movement, through your environment, your body will not be concerned with clear skin, period.
00:08:14
Speaker
Because when our body is under stress, all secondary life functions will slow down. This is your body's way of protecting you. This is a mechanism that God designed. But when we are not getting those adequate resources, your skin just will not be clear, period.
00:08:31
Speaker
So let's talk about what those resources are. Number one, the first thing that I would tell you, again, we're back in this coffee shop, that I would tell you is you need to be eating more food. This is a non-negotiable.
00:08:42
Speaker
If you're a woman, you have to be eating minimum 2000 calories a day. And there's a couple of ways to get there, especially if you have been under eating for a long time. If you've been told what so many of us, what I was told having spent $70,000 on a degree.
00:09:01
Speaker
And I was told that the only way to lose weight and stay fit is to maintain a caloric deficit. Okay, so if you were fed that bullcrap like everyone else in the world, like me who paid to be fed that bullcrap, if you are one of those people, which you probably are, you have to slowly begin increasing your caloric intake to actually feed yourself like a full grown woman. This is why my podcast is called Eat Like a Mother for crying out loud.
00:09:29
Speaker
If you want to have vitality, beauty, energy, all of these things, you have to be eating enough food. Full send. Okay. Like I said, there's a couple of ways to get there.
00:09:40
Speaker
If you need help with that, you can check out my full metabolism course in the show notes, or i just released, as you're listening to this podcast, I just released a brand new podcast. meal plan and recipe book. And I give you some principles in there to help you begin increasing your caloric intake so that you don't gain excessive weight. You know, there's a lot of nuance that comes with increasing your caloric intake in a way that is metabolically appropriate.
00:10:05
Speaker
So I go into that in both my course and my new meal plan and recipe book. You can check those out in the show notes. But However you go about it, you have to start increasing your caloric intake with real food.
00:10:18
Speaker
The second part of that is we want to be focusing on foods that are easily digestible. So we need to think of foods that the body can break down and utilize for energy that are nourishing, that are full of vitamins and minerals, that will heal the lining of your gut, and that can be utilized for quick energy.
00:10:39
Speaker
For most people, this is going to be animal products, and we'll talk about why a little while, but it's going to be animal products, well-raised animal products. so meat, butter, dairy, cheese, things like this, broths, stocks, all of these are filled with bioavailable vitamins and minerals that are so deeply nourishing to your gut that this needs to be the foundation of your diet. This needs to be the foundation of your food.
00:11:08
Speaker
Apart from that, I want you to think getting your carb sources from things like fresh seasonal fruit. Most people who are struggling with digestion are going to need simple carb sources to be easily digested and utilized for energy. So if you're someone who maybe you struggle with insulin resistance, or maybe you're struggling to lose weight, or maybe you have hypothyroidism, or even other things more severe like Hashimoto's or Graves' disease or things like that, and also you are showing
00:11:39
Speaker
acne or skin issues, then focusing your carb intake on simple carbohydrates like fruit is going to be really beneficial because what's happening is when your body is so undernourished and when your digestion is slowed and we're seeing that, we know that it's slow because we see it on your face. Okay. You're listening to this right now because you're struggling with acne.
00:11:59
Speaker
We see it on your face. We see the acne. We see the breakouts. This is because your gut motility or mobility is slower. Okay. So we need things that your body can easily digest and utilize for energy to nourish your thyroid, to nourish your metabolism so that your body can get back to doing the things that it wants to do in order to thrive, like giving you glowy, healthy, protective skin.
00:12:22
Speaker
So those are the first two things, eating enough food and then eating food that is easily digestible and focused on nourishing and healing the intestinal lining.
00:12:34
Speaker
Now this wasn't the case for me when I started my journey because I still had an anaphylactic allergy to dairy and was not able to eat any dairy whatsoever.
00:12:46
Speaker
But if you are someone who does not struggle with dairy, who can tolerate raw dairy, raw dairy specifically, okay, that is what I'm going to be speaking to right now. Not conventional dairy, but raw dairy because there is a major difference.
00:13:01
Speaker
And honestly, I'm not even sure if I could have tolerated raw dairy at that time. I honestly never tried when I was in the middle of an allergy because let's be honest, I was afraid.
00:13:11
Speaker
But if you are someone who can tolerate raw dairy, this is something that's going to be majorly important for your diet at this time because raw dairy is so nourishing to the lining of your gut and it's loaded with skin building materials like retinol and cholesterol. So retinol and cholesterol are going to be some of the foundational building blocks for healthy, glowy, acne-free skin.
00:13:37
Speaker
And those are ah abundantly available in raw dairy products, specifically grass-fed raw dairy products, because cows have a wonderful, magical, incredible ability to turn the beta carotene from grass into retinol, which is the bioavailable form of vitamin a that is so incredibly nourishing to your skin.
00:14:01
Speaker
The reason why we say it's bioavailable is because your body, your liver, is not having to go through extra steps to turn the beta carotene into retinol that your skin can actually utilize. It is already in a form that your body can use and now your liver isn't stressed out which you probably know a stressed liver is going to be majorly, majorly impactful to your skin.
00:14:23
Speaker
So consuming something like raw dairy with nutrients that your body can already utilize that doesn't have to go through extra steps to do it is going to be super important. Now speaking of liver, there are a few things that you can do to best support your liver during this time.
00:14:39
Speaker
They're just little tips and tricks that you can try out, but I want to be very clear before I give you these tips, and that is number one, if you're not eating enough, then don't do these tricks, okay?
00:14:50
Speaker
Do not focus on the tips and tricks unless you have a foundation of eating enough food. and eating enough properly digestible food. This is something that people always get backwards. We're constantly looking for the quick fixes, the little tips, little hacks, all of those things.
00:15:06
Speaker
And I'm going to tell you right now, no liver hack is going to work how you want it to if you are not eating enough food, specifically carbohydrates.
00:15:16
Speaker
When you are not getting enough food, your liver cannot function optimally. period. So if you want a liver that is high functioning, you have to feed yourself enough food.
00:15:29
Speaker
So do that first, go back to the beginning of this episode, make sure you're getting enough food and enough food that is easily digestible. And then some really simple things that you can add in to help also improve liver function is One, something known as a raw carrot salad. This is something that was discovered or I guess a better term is trademarked.
00:15:52
Speaker
I don't even know if it was legally trademarked. It might have been, but it was developed by a researcher named Dr. Ray Peet who did massive massively amazing things in the field of bioenergetics and metabolic research. His work is absolutely incredible. But what he found is that the fibers in raw carrots actually have a unique ability to scrub the intestinal lining and bind to excess endotoxins, things like estrogen and other toxic endotoxins that are within the gut and help bind them and excrete them out of the body. And this is something that's really important.
00:16:30
Speaker
Once you start improving the way that you eat, your body will start releasing excess estrogen into your bloodstream, into your system, And as you are doing that, you need something to bind it up and move it out of your body.
00:16:43
Speaker
This is primarily your liver's job is to help detox and excrete excess estrogen. But when you are undernourished for so long, when your liver is not getting enough resources to function optimally, it's not going to be moving excess estrogen, excess endotoxins out of your body at the rate in which it normally should.
00:17:02
Speaker
So, introducing something like a raw carrot salad today is actually something really simple that you can do every day as a simple habit to help lower the toxic load on your liver, remove excess estrogen out of your body, and help to improve your liver function and thus improve your skin by way of improving your liver function.
00:17:22
Speaker
So, if you're not someone who is currently doing or utilizing your raw carrot salad today, this is one habit that I really, really, really recommend. recommend to my clients because it's something that's so simple and most people will say, oh, it won't make that big of a difference, but it actually really will. And it's very easy. It's literally one shredded carrot, a little bit of coconut oil, a little bit of apple cider vinegar, and some sea salt.
00:17:47
Speaker
Those things combined together are for max intestinal scrubbing abilities. We'll just keep it simple like that, okay? So think scrubbing your intestines, nourishing your intestinal lining,
00:17:59
Speaker
and moving excess crap out of your body so that your liver can function properly, your thyroid can function properly, and as a result of this, your skin will be clear.
00:18:10
Speaker
Now we've talked about what goes in your body. Let's talk about what goes on your body. What goes on your body is so important. I'm going to make this very easy for you and tell you that anything synthetic should not go on your skin.
00:18:26
Speaker
And I'm sure there are going to be ah caveats and nuance to this. Honestly, I don't really care about the caveats and nuances right now today. For all intents and purposes, anything synthetic should not go on your skin. Meaning, if it's got tons of ingredients in the product that you can't read, you can't pronounce, you look it up on Google and it's got all of these different hazard warnings,
00:18:54
Speaker
it's probably not gonna work well for your skin in the long run, okay? So keep your skincare super duper simple. I have a handful of skincare products that I have found and loved from small businesses over the years.
00:19:09
Speaker
I'll link some of them in the show notes. But my friend Isabella runs a tallow company out of Florida and her tallow is locally sourced. I used to buy my meat from the farm that they source their soot from, which is the fat of the cow that you use to make tallow.
00:19:25
Speaker
It is so luxurious. I have been using their beef tallow for years. Beef tallow is loaded with those rich vitamins and minerals that we talked about earlier, like retinol and cholesterol that your body can already utilize your skin can already utilize so I love all of her products her everything serum and her everything butter the beef tallow i have used religiously for years now and like I said I'll link it in the show notes but if there's one thing that I could use for the rest of my life it would be that I'll also link in the show notes
00:19:58
Speaker
Some products from other companies that I love. There's bigger companies like Primally Pure that has some skin products that I love. I don't use as regularly, but I keep them on hand like their masks and things like that. I use those for every once in a while skincare treatments.
00:20:13
Speaker
And then there's also products from smaller companies like Urban Farm Collection, which is run by my friend Liz out in Texas. And y'all know we've been all over the place. We used to live in Texas. Then we lived in Florida. Now we live in Tennessee.
00:20:26
Speaker
So my friend Liz out in Texas runs this business and the skin products she makes are freaking incredible. Her antioxidant balm and her vitamin C balm have been really helpful and improving some of the sun damage and oxidative stress on my skin.
00:20:45
Speaker
So I use those not every day, but probably every other day or a handful of times a week, mainly because I forget. I am very low maintenance when it comes to my actual skincare routine. I used to have like a 15 step skincare routine and did all these things.
00:21:02
Speaker
Now I pretty much just clean my face with water and do some beef tallow and that's it. And my skin has never been clearer, more strong, more supple, more poreless in my entire life.
00:21:15
Speaker
So There's a couple of things that I recommend that are just simple, clean ingredient skincare products that I will link in the show notes. If you're looking for clean skincare, those are great options. But wherever you get your stuff from, whatever you do, whatever you put on your skin, just make sure it's simple ingredients. That's really the moral of the story. What goes on your skin is just as important as what goes in your skin.
00:21:38
Speaker
And the next part of that sunshine.
Sun Exposure and Skin Health
00:21:41
Speaker
sunshine We have been told for so long that sunshine is damaging to the skin. And I want to tell you right now that sunshine is one of the most important tools that you can utilize for any health related issue.
00:21:57
Speaker
The sun is filled with nourishing energetic fields that literally pulse through our body and bring healing. This is God's natural biological design. We were designed to be in sync with the sun and the seasons because our body thrives with that. So I want you to know you need to be utilizing the sun. Now this doesn't just mean go and spend hours and hours and hours in the sun all day every day.
00:22:26
Speaker
That's a recipe for skin damage. We actually don't want skin damage, okay? I'm not advocating for going and spending 10 hours in direct sunlight and you live in southern Florida or southern Texas like places that I've lived, okay? We want to be smart and we want to practice safe sun skin care. And so one of the best things that you can do for that is getting morning sunshine on your eyes in the morning, preferably anytime before 10am. This is something that I get asked all the time if there's a specific time.
00:22:55
Speaker
Really, we want to get it on our naked eyeballs and no glasses or contacts for those people that are blind like I am. No glasses or contacts, primarily or preferably before 10 o'clock in the morning to utilize the morning sun rays. The spectrum of UV light is different in the mornings and in the evenings.
00:23:15
Speaker
So getting morning and evening sun on your naked eyeballs actually helps your body to prepare and release sebum that is protective against sun damage.
00:23:25
Speaker
It also tells your body to release more melanin that will protect your skin against sun damage that will nourish your skin and keep it clear. We're not going to go into all of the ins and outs of safe sun exposure today. We'll talk more about sunshine next week, but for all intents and purposes, when it comes to healing your acne, clearing your skin, getting morning and evening sunshine on your eyes and on your bare face,
00:23:50
Speaker
is extremely important so start with that that little small habit in the morning go get your face to the sun let your body sync up with all of the powerful things that come from sunshine and allow that to begin healing your skin and nourishing yourself on a cellular level the way god designed it so let's go back to the coffee shop We are back in our seats. If you got up and left, sit back down, get in your seat. I want you to take away from this message.
00:24:18
Speaker
When you are looking to clear your skin, number one, your skin will not be clear if you're not eating enough food. So you need to be eating more food. You need to be eating more properly, easily digestible foods.
00:24:29
Speaker
You need to be implementing something like a raw carrot salad to help remove estrogen from your body so that your skin and your hormones can balance and be in harmony with one another.
00:24:41
Speaker
Then you also need to be getting outside and getting sunshine on your naked eyeballs, on your skin to help your skin begin producing protective oils that nourish deeply your skin and utilizing clean, safe skin care with simple ingredients. Okay, those are the bullet points from today's episode.
00:25:02
Speaker
I could probably talk about this for hours and hours and hours just because I've learned so much over the years as my skin has healed, as I no longer struggle with cystic acne, as I have cleared all of my acne scars from picking. I was a picker and a popper.
00:25:18
Speaker
So I had all the scars, but I no longer have any. You would never know that I ever struggled with that. But start with those few simple things that we talked about today to get you started on your skin healing
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:25:31
Speaker
journey.
00:25:31
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening today. We'll see you next week when we talk more about safe sun exposure and all of the wonderful things that come from spending time in the sunshine.
00:25:45
Speaker
If you found this podcast helpful or encouraging, would you mind leaving us a rating or review? I love hearing from you. So be sure to shout us out on Instagram and tag me at Cassidy dot well bell.
00:25:56
Speaker
And we'll be sure to shout you right back out. Let's get this message to as many women as possible until next time, friend.