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You may have heard the old saying "you are what you eat," but nobody ever takes that to heart. Yet it’s true -- diet plays an important role in the overall health of your largest organ – your skin. But you don’t necessarily have to eat good food to receive its healing benefits. If you’ve tried expensive, over-the-counter medicines that didn’t work, go no further than your kitchen for these homegrown skin remedies.

Sunburn and Insect Bites
If your summer plans include the beach or camping, be sure to take along a bottle of apple-cider vinegar. The acid in the vinegar has a healing quality that can relieve minor skin irritations. Use it to take the sting out of sunburned skin and encourage healing. It will also relieve itching and swelling on insect bites. If you plan on going hiking, try making this simple concoction for poison ivy and pack it in your backpack: Mix equal amounts of vinegar, buttermilk and salt and apply with a cotton ball to help dry and speed healing.

Fight Eczema
Doctors will tell you most people with eczema are deficient in stomach acid and natural digestive enzymes the body produces. Fix the enzyme deficiency, and you solve your eczema problem. One simple way to do this is to take digestive enzyme pills in capsule form. Follow the directions on the bottle in terms of quantity and frequency. You can buy digestive enzymes at most health food and nutrition stores.

Echinacea can also be helpful if taken topically or internally. A word of caution before you take Echinacea: Herbal practitioners recommend you take it for seven days only, then stop for a few days and repeat. To be safe, you should always check with your doctor first. Long-term use can cause blood thinning.

Acne, Blackheads
This remedy may sound strange, but it’s known to work. Before going to bed, break open a capsule of vitamin E and rub it on your face. Then the next night, do the same thing with a vitamin A capsule and wash it off in the morning, so that your face is no longer oily. Be sure to use an old pillowcase you can mess up. It may sound like the last thing you’d want to put on your face, but doing so apparently lessens the requirement for your skin to make its own additional oil.

Also try using a mild exfoliation made of almond meal, honey, yogurt and a few drops of lavender and tea tree essential oil. The enzymes in each ingredient will gently cleanse the skin and help to soften and loosen blocked pores.

Chapped Skin
Think chapped skin happens only in the dead of winter? You can get it from extended exposure to any of the elements, including the sun. Try eating carrots, tomatoes and green, leafy vegetables to get vitamin A, which is important for skin growth and repair. You can also try this remedy:

Add 1 Tbsp. each of watercress, carrot and spinach juice to one glass of tomato juice, 2 Tbsp. wheat germ oil and 1 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast. Drink this vitamin tonic in the morning.

Cold Sores
Nothing can sideline your social life faster than a nasty cold sore. If nothing you’ve tried works, try this natural remedy. Apply tea tree oil directly to the area as soon as you feel that "tingling" sensation. Or try mixing a blend of bergamot (as an antiseptic), eucalyptus (as an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory agent) and tea tree (for antiviral and antibacterial purposes) oil into a teaspoon of pure alcohol and dab onto affected area. If the cold sore blisters, then apply lavender oil directly.

Enlarged Pores
Having enlarged pores can be almost as annoying as having acne-prone skin. Blame it on the natural aging process and/or oily skin that has been over-dried, forcing dead skin cells to harden and stretch in the pores. To shrink pores, try blending camphor, sage and thyme in a base of jojoba oil. Use this as a compress or mix in with your favorite moisturizer and apply it to the enlarged pores. Jojoba is easily absorbed into the skin and balances oil levels.