Prevent acne from taking over your skin. Eat whole, natural foods and avoid sugar, white flour products and processed foods. Even the best natural acne treatments won't work if you aren't nourishing your body properly.

What you eat is your first defense against blemishes. Foods that heal and nourish are thought to improve your skin, and certain herbs improve your body's ability to remove waste from the body.

Your skin helps rid your body of impurities. Often, your skin's reaction to the food you eat gives you a clue about its nutritional value -- or lack thereof.

Analyze your eating habits in relation to your skin to see if there is a connection for you. Do you have an acne flare-up after consuming food with artificial ingredients or processed chocolate? Eliminate these from your diet as you work to improve your skin, naturally.

Cleansing and Healing Face Mask

Milk improves the complexion, calendula and comfrey cleanse and heal, honey is antimicrobial and clay helps remove impurities.

• 1 TB plain yogurt
• 2 tsp dried ground comfrey
• 2 tsp dried calendula
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp cosmetic clay

Mix all ingredients together and allow to sit, covered, for 30 minutes. Spread over clean face and leave on for 10-20 minutes. Clean mask off gently with a wet cloth.

Some herbs, most notably burdock root and dandelion root, help boost liver and kidney function, assisting the body to cleanse itself of unwanted toxins and impurities. Utilize these herbs as a natural acne treatment.

Take burdock root at every meal (one capsule or 30 drops of tincture). Alternatively, make a tea using 1 teaspoon burdock per cup of boiling water. Allow to steep for 10 minutes and drink several times daily.

Dilute a teaspoon of dandelion tincture in eight ounces of water and sip throughout the day. Dandelion stimulates efficient waste removal in your body, allowing your internal organs to do the work and keep your skin clear. Utilize fresh dandelion by washing several leaves and adding them to a salad daily.

Use oatmeal to clean troubled skin. Try a natural unscented oatmeal bar soap. Or, make a natural oatmeal facial scrub using rolled outs, ground up in food processor or coffee grinder, and mixing with warm water into a paste. Use the gentle scrub to cleanse your face twice a day. Oatmeal cleans off dirt without removing the natural oils your skin needs, and is one of the best natural acne treatments.