My history:

Nothing topical, no antibiotics have ever kept me clear for long. 2 accutane courses cured me of cystic acne, my forehead and cheeks are always clear now. Was clear for bout 8 months after first course, been 6 months since second course and skin is oily again but not cystic. Its just the area around my mouth that still gets small pustles.

Now trying:

Dip twice daily
2 tblsp ACV twice daily
ACV toner nightly (50:50 w/water)

Currently the problem area isnt so great, 5-6 whiteheads just around my bottom lip area. I want to give this a full month before I go see my derm, my acne can only be classed as mild now but its still an annoyance. A 3rd accutane course doesnt appeal very much...

So i will give this regimen 5 weeks, no matter how badly I wanna cave I'll try stick it out.

Hmm, haven't been here in awhile. Last time I was here I was big on Atkins. It did clear my skin wonderfully and was great for a few months, but I began having other problems with the diet. I felt sluggish alot and had some...ahem...bathroom difficulties. Plus I really missed a range of fruit and sometimes all the fat made me nauseous. Then I got to the point where I couldn't stand it and was completely off the diet. Then I went through a period of eating basically everything and anything. However, I of course broke out badly eventually. So I'm trying something new to clear my acne, but that will make me healthier overall as well.

I started reading about Paleo at my library after a friend of mine was raving about it. Then when I came back here recently and saw so many people trying it with success, that cinched the deal for me. It's incredible that there's the whole...paleo movement on here

I've read most of the book and all of Cordain's website. I've been semi-paleo for a few days, meaning paleo with some dairy thrown in and coffee. I prefer not to have dairy though, as I noticed it stuffs me up sinus wise. Realistically, I'll probably keep a bit of cream for my coffee (also non paleo, but I know it doesn't break me out) and perhaps a slice of gourmet cheese a couple times a week. I'm still kind of paranoid about the calcium thing, even though logically I know it doesn't have to come from dairy.


I'm debating whether to supplement as Cordain says. I already take salmon oil and a generic multivitamin. But I think a lot of people here are taking zinc and C as well? I don't have the e-book, so I'm not sure of the amounts and the specifics.

Also hoping this will help in the long term with energy. I'm not ridiculously tired, but I'm not exactly brimming with vitality most of the time either. Plus I have mild joint pain, and I suspect grains/refined sugars worsen this.

If this gives me the results I want, I won't have trouble sticking to it longterm. My favourite foods are fruits, veggies, lean meats/seafood and nuts. Actually, I'm not nuts (har har!) about nuts.

A concern of mine is fruit breaking me out. I haven't been able to pinpoint whether it does or not, so this should be interesting. I'm praying it doesn't...I love fruit and have been depriving myself of it too long.



Anyway, I've been doing this for 2 days. I do have slightly more energy...I've been randomly motivated to clean things/be active. And I notice I have a splitting headache most of the time. Like, really bad. I had a glass of wine and I'm a really cheap drunk, so that could be it. I usually never get hungover though, so I'm thinking this is a dietary adjustment from all the grains and sugar I was having before. Same thing happened when I started Atkins, so it makes sense.

Also, my stomach is flatter for the first time in a looong time and I've lost a couple of pounds-I'm not very overweight but could stand to lose 10-15 lbs. Another awesome thing is no more gas.

My skin seems less inflamed already. I notice larger clear areas. I'm just washing with Dove soap and moisturizing with Deep Moisturize Dove moisturizer 2X daily. I don't use BP because I really want to test this diet. My acne is never too serious. Just a lot of annoying red little bumps and a few whiteheads all over my face.

My awesome battle plan is now what I call Paleo with a smidgen of dairy+caffeine. I will be posting menus soon. I welcome any suggestions/criticisms/random thoughts that people have!

hello everyone! so i've decided to start my own diet log/journal to help me keep myself on track.
a little about me:
i'm 20 years old female. i had the biggest breakout of my life last year September and since then have always had at least one active zit on my face. i believe i've had mild/ moderate (mostly mild) acne since i was about 17 though it never bothered me then. i never really worried about my face then.
at first, i had no idea why i was suddenly getting more pimples. i tried BP and found out i was allergic to it. i started visiting the diet/holistic forum and thought that maybe my acne is the result of my poor diet. i'm pretty sure that i have a binge eating disorder. i fit all the criteria for it. i binge-eat on junk food at least once a week. it's been like this ever since i was about 16. plus, no one else in my family has acne. also, between April - August last year, my face was very clear. i started wondering why and realized maybe that was because i was traveling and didn't have chance to have my usual binge episodes. i started working at a fast food restaurant in August...free pop and burgers 3 times a week. september = breakout.
few weeks ago, i was able to pull through and go a week without having my usual junk food. result = no new pimple whatsoever. the little bumps i had almost all disappeared. my forehead felt smoother.
i'm now 90% convinced that diet plays a big role in my acne.
i'm going to use this to post everyday (or try to anyway) what i've eaten for the day and if i've given into binging or not. i hope it'd help.
i'm going to start seeing a support group for eating disorders this week and i hope that'd be able to help me a bit. it's really depressing feeling like i have no control over what i put in my mouth. it's very hard to explain, but i think it can be seen as an addiction.
i've binged alot for last few days and i have 2 new zits.

hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day.
thanks for reading!! i hope i didn't bore you ahaha.

ive been trying to contorl my mild/moderate acne for about 4 years now. have been on 3 types of antibiotics, countless topicals and as yet i havent really got too far. i have had times where ive had completly clear skin and others where ive had many large cysts and nodules so kind of unpredictable. i have been using doxy and duac for a few months now and although it has helped a particularly bad breakout due to stress im still breaking out. have now decided to try and treat it using all that lovely natural stuff and thought id keep a log incase anyone was thinking of doing the same. so here it goes...

basically i'll be using neutrogenas deep pore gel and exfoliating now and then with a soft toothbrush (someone said about the toothbrush thing on here but i cant rememebr the exact name sorry). in the morning i'll just follow that with jojjoba oil and duac. in the evening i'll add ACV as a toner for ten mins after cleasing. have eucerin dry skin face lotion with 5% urea on hand if i get real dry skin and also good old sudocrem in case - works fab overnight!

will also be taking ACV orally, a couple of teaspoons full with water a couple of times a day...does small pretty rotten though! im taking threelac satchets once a day, its to combat yeast infections and all that after being on antibiotics for so long. oh yeah and also one of them pro biotic drink things.
vitamin wise i didnt want to just go for a multi vitmain coz i did once before and broke out, maybe coz of the iodine im not sure. so now im taking a b-complex, beta carotene, cod liver oil and primrose oil, and a vit c&d, all once a day. will try and eat a reasonable diet too and drink heaps of water no caffeine or fizzy drinks. oh and im gona get some zinc thats good too right?

finally, i know its a bit of a divided issue but i have found for me a sunbed now and then has been pretty good for my skin. im in england so its not like im getting much sun exposure especially during the winter and i feel a bit now and then isnt so bad. lifts my mood heaps too so will maybe have 1 just now and then but wont overdo it.

thats about it for now. skin at the moment - have lots of pinkish marks were red but sudocrem has been working retty good overnight. have a kind of wound thing on my chin but thats my own fault MUST NOT PICK

I thought I would throw another log out there into the pool, but first I want to get into some background of myself ...

Background

I've had acne for over five years now. For the first two years I did nothing, it continued to get worse and worse. Then I finally realized I had a problem. I remember my first product - Stridex Day and Night thing. Well, that failed. Then I moved into the stronger stuff, Oxy stuff etc. failed. I did this for about 3 months trying various OTC products. Then I was getting very worried and kept going "WTF?! I'm spending so much money, why am I not seeing any results?!". Well, my frustration eased off the first time I saw the Proactiv infomercial. That was a lot of money that I did not have. I would obsessively watch these infomercials until one day I said I was going to try it. So forward about 3 months . . .my acne was the best it had ever been, but I was far from clear. And paying that ridiculous amount each month was unbearable. So then I made the first trip to the dermatologist. Since all that, I have tried almost everything. I started out on antibiotics, weak stuff worked my way up to Retin A and RAM, and failed. He keeps getting worried, as I am running out of stuff to do for my acne. So I was finally prescribed Solodyn along with an 8% BP liquid wash.

Current Status of Acne

Currently the status of my acne is the best in awhile. *knock on wood* It's still far from perfect, but it's getting a bit close! I am getting quite a few active zits each week, which is driving me insane and definitely not helping me with my red marks. I am really hoping my Paleo diet will help with this, as others have described.

Current Regimen

Night:

Use a baking soda scrub on face, being very gentle. Wash off.
Mix water and ACV (1:5) and cotton ball onto face. Leave for ten minutes.
Wash off.
Add 10% Benz-oil to face, putting a bit extra on any active zits.
Solodyn

Morning:

Moistorize if needed in certain spots. I use moisturize around my left eye each morning, as something spooky is always wrong with it...dries out very easily.

My plan is to keep doing all of this until I start to see some amazing results on just the Paleo diet itself. I'm just going to remove Solodyn from my regimen.

Planned Food

Sunday

Breakfast:
2x Fish Oil
1x Vitamin D
3x Omega-3 Enchanced Eggs
4x Pork Sasuage
4x Turkey Bacon
1 Apple

Lunch:
2x Fish Oil
Another Smoothie

Snack:
Watermeleon

Dinner:
2x Fish Oil
1x Zinc Gluconate
Stir Fried Beef with Vegetables
1 Orange
1 Banana

Snack:
2x Fish Oil
Bowl of green grapes


Monday

Breakfast
2x Fish Oil
1x Vitamin D
3x Omega-3 Enchanced Eggs
4x Pork Sasuage
4x Turkey Bacon
1 Apple

Lunch
2x Fish Oil
Left over stir-fry. If none is available, a salad.

Dinner
2x Fish Oil
1x Zinc Gluconate
Sloppy Joes
1 Orange
1 Banana

Snack
2x Fish Oil
Watermelon

Tuesday

Breakfast
2x Fish Oil
1x Vitamin D
3x Omega-3 Enchanced Eggs
4x Pork Sasuage
4x Turkey Bacon
1 Apple

Lunch
2x Fish Oil
Left over sloppy joes. If none is available, a salad.

Dinner
2x Fish Oil
1x Zinc Gluconate
Just Plain Chili
1 Apple

Snack
2x Fish Oil
1 Orange
Some broccoli

Wednesday

Breakfast
2x Fish Oil
1x Vitamin D
3x Omega-3 Enchanced Eggs
4x Pork Sasuage
4x Turkey Bacon
1 Apple

Lunch
2x Fish Oil
Left over chili. If none is available, a salad.

Dinner
2x Fish Oil
1x Zinc Gluconate
Crock Pot Pot Roast
Cucmumber
Broccoli

Snack
2x Fish Oil
Some grapes

Thursday

Breakfast
2x Fish Oil
1x Vitamin D
3x Omega-3 Enchanced Eggs
4x Pork Sasuage
4x Turkey Bacon
1 Apple

Lunch
2x Fish Oil
Left over pot roast. If none is available, a salad.

Dinner
2x Fish Oil
1x Zinc Gluconate
Italian Chicken
1 Orange
1 Apple
1 Banana

Snack
2x Fish Oil
Grapes

Friday

Breakfast
2x Fish Oil
1x Vitamin D
3x Omega-3 Enchanced Eggs
4x Pork Sasuage
4x Turkey Bacon
1 Apple

Lunch
2x Fish Oil
Left over chicken. If none is available, a salad.

Dinner
2x Fish Oil
1x Zinc Gluconate
Pork chops
1 Banana
Nuts

Snack
2x Fish Oil
Watermelon

Saturday

Breakfast
2x Fish Oil
1x Vitamin D
Blueberry & Walnut Pancakes

Lunch
2x Fish Oil
Large fresh salad, with honey mustard dressing.

Snack
Left over salad.

Dinner
2x Fish Oil
1x Zinc Gluconate
Lettuce and Bacon
1 Orange
1 Apple
1 Banana

Snack
2x Fish Oil
Grapes

What I am really worried about is the amount of fish oil that I will be consuming. I read only that it can even cause excessive bleeding. But Cordain suggested 2-4 grams, and anything after 3 is supposed to cause the excessive bleeding. So my plan is to try and stay around 2 in supplements and then the omega-3 enhanced eggs shouldn't be that bad. I'm also going to stop taking my Solodyn tomorrow night, which will leave 48 hours for it to leave my system. I plan on starting Saturday, and grocery shopping tomorrow or Friday...I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

I decided to look into the diet and acne connection and have a go at the Paleo diet. Dr. Cordain, the University of Colorado professor and pioneering researcher in this area was cool enough to give us 10 copies of his book so we could try it out. The diet involves ONLY fruits, veggies, lean meats, fish, and seafood. Here is my first day of the diet:

breakfast: 3 omega-3 enhanced eggs with no salt and a mango

lunch: big piece of salmon and a big salad with no dressing

dinner #1: slow cooked pork tenderloin and spaghetti squash with steamed kale

dinner #2: grass-fed beef patty with lots of veggies

snacks: 3 pieces of fruit throughout the day which has caused some (cough) issues today. Gonna cut down.

supps: I'm taking 4-6 fish oil pills a day from now on, 50mg of zinc gluconate/picolinate, and vitamin D if I don't get sun.

(My skin is completely clear because I'm on the regimen. So I won't post pics since there will be no change. I am not going off the regimen for another couple of weeks when the diet will hopefully kick in.)



My baseline diet, before starting to eat this way looked something like this:

breakfast: oatmeal with sour cream and splenda, 3 regular eggs with salt and pepper.

lunch: sandwich with small side salad

dinner #1: pasta with chicken and kale, olive oil and parmesan

dinner #2: (I don't know how people only eat one dinner. lol) Stoffer's entree, or leftovers.

snacks: a smoothie after a workout at the gym sometimes. lots of cashews at other times, lightly salted. fruit here and there.

Hey guys, I'm new here and just wanted to ask some questions. It would be really helpful...

I start accutane tomorrow and am wondering, although I have been reading around a lot and know about some stuff, what type of food should I eat while on this medication? What type of things should I not eat while I'm on it as well? I also really want to start a healthy diet in general to shed a few pounds, as well as shape and tone my body. As far as vitamins go, I'm all for them. I just really don't know which ones I will need to take...

Another thing, I do not eat red meat nor do I eat an excessive amount of dairy products. I haven't for almost 5 years now. The most I will eat that is dairy, is yogurt.

Thank you so much~

I have been suffering with acne since I was 12 years old. I have tried everything, accutane 2 times and antibotics for 10 years. I have tried all the topicals, bp, rentin-a, differen, diacneal, you name it I have tried it. My acne is cystic . My skin is combo, the t-zone is oily my checks are normal. My acne gets worse during stress and during and befor my period. I have just received my acne kit from Himalaya Herbals.

I tried the wash, toner, and acne-pimple cream last nite. It's too early to tell anything but I have notice my skin is less red.

It's my 3rd week of a two month cleanse on Dr.Natura Colonix and Toxin Out Cleanse Program today, things are going great in this respect, if you have questions feel free to message me I've also been taking Silicea (Silica) 30x, 3 times per day and Bioplasma; 4 pellets 3 times per day. It's now officially 2 days after my period and I haven't broke out once in the last two days. So I'm actually clearing up for now. I have hormonal acne. I break out on and below my jawline, and sadly it's moved to my neck for the first time. I also began getting cysts (hard, deep ones) this fall. I have always broke out on my back, especially on my sholders, mostly large and some blackheads. I've had acne since I was ten. It began on my forhead then, moved to my temples and cheeks in middle school & highschool through 21. 21-25, almost 26- in March it migrated once again to my jawline only for the most part. I do have a somewhat smooth face area now. I averaged 3-5 nasty ones at a time below the jawline for the most part... luckly I'm short, so they are hidden from the masses. I will finally be trying Spironolactone 100mg per day soon. I'm trying to wait until after the cleanse, due to the potassium that might be present in the herbs (I'm unsure). I was planning on doing several liver flushes after this cleanse. If you have any imput reguarding these and hormonal acne, let me know. Let me know if you tried the liver flushes before the Spiro with no luck. I wanted to start this subforum so that we could talk about what we're going though. I hope we become friends. Ciao!

Well, I decided to start a log to track my progress on the Paleo Diet... I started on Tuesday (the 5th Dec), and I've noticed pretty good results so far. But first things first, I need to give a little bit of my acne history so you all know where I'm coming from:
I've suffered from acne since I was about 13 or 14, and I am now 29. It has always been persistent, ranging from mild to moderate, and at times severe. I had been to dermatologists in the beginning, and they were absolutely NO help - they had no idea what they were doing. So I gave up on them and used over the counter products (Clearasil, Proactive, Murad, etc). Proactive worked for a while, then stopped. So I tried Murad, made my skin worse. Went back to Proactive (at this point I had been using BP for about 5 years. Then my skin started getting worse, I couldn't control the breakouts, and decided to try the CSR. I started that in March or April of this year, and until about October, it worked amazingly. I don't think I got a single pimple between June and September. Then my skin started to itch uncontrollably, and became irritated. I was always red and itching, and I could find no relief. I even started breaking out again, which was extremely frustrating. That's when I decided I needed to try something else. Luckily, Dan had been on the Paleo Diet for about 2 months and had reported good results, so I thought I'd give it a try.

To make a long story short - I understand what all of you are going through. I know what it feels like to wake up with a face full of spots, and not know what to do about it. Over the past 15 years my skin has suffered a lot. I have scarring (not severe, but it is definitely there and noticeable) and loads of red marks covering pretty much my entire face aside from my forehead.

Since starting the Paleo Diet, I have stopped using BP. It was a scary thing to do. I was afraid that I would break out like crazy. But I knew I had to - it was making my face worse than I could bear.

But good news so far - since starting the Diet on Tuesday and stopping the BP, I have had no new spots, and my skin feels amazingly calm. It is such a relief that the itching is gone and it feels so good to apply only moisturiser and nothing else. The diet is hard to follow at first, but it gets easier every day.

I have only cheated a tiny tiny bit (4 bites of rice and lentil soup). I was going to wait until after Christmas, so I could partake in all the wonderful foods of the holiday season... mmm... cookies... BUT - I realised that my skin needed something drastic NOW, not in a month. Even if I cheat a little later in the month, at least i have given my skin a head start.

I eat what most people following the diet do - scrambled egg for breakfast with a piece of fruit... salad with chicken, lemon, and olive oil for lunch, fruit and veg for snacks throughout the day, loads of water, and a Paleo dinner. I have made beef stir fry and chili with no beans and loads of veggies.

It makes it easier for me because my husband is eating the Paleo dinners I make - he does not insist on having the potatoes, rice, or pasta that I can't have, even though he has perfect skin.

I don't have any pics to post right now, but I will try to soon.

After readings Dan's success with the Paleo diet I couldn't resist trying it out.

I'm 26 and I've had acne since my early teens, right now my acne is mild and I'm sometimes totally clear but it's very persistent and bugs the hell out of me.

I'm a long term user of Dans BP regimen and I've had good success with it BUT it's never kept me 100% clear AND I like the idea of fixing the problem rather than just addressing the symtoms of the problem. The diet really appealed to me and I had this gut feeling that the diet was going to be a success.

So on December 2nd I started the diet, so I guess it's been 8 days now.

I stick to eating meat, veg, fruit, fish and eggs. It's simple and gives me everything I need, I don't tend to bother with any of the recipes, mainly because I'm fussy and none of them appeal to me.

I take 6 1,000mg fish oil capsules a day which gives me the 2grams of EPA and DHA that the diet recommends as well as Zinc and Vitamin C. I started off only taking 3 x 300mg fish oil tablets but that was too low.

I'm still doing the regimen and I'll continue to do it until I've been on the diet for 30 days and then I'll start to use less and less. I might even start using less now and see how I go.

Right now, 8 days in to the diet, my skin looks fabulous, totally clear.

I'll keep a record here of how my skin looks, any new breakouts, feel free to ask questions or post your thoughts.

can ayone tell me what this book looks like as i have seen several?
cheers

Hi. Real Maverick suggested we make a personal regimen logs subforum for all of the new diet logs. I agreed, so Joel made this new one for us and I asked him to move the recent diet logs in here.

Nov. 18

Ok this is my paleo diet log I been on it for about a month and a week, I'm not getting giant zits on like a bi-weekly basis anymore. I got like one decent size zit around my exact 1 month point and just got mad and ate a piece of chocolate ice cream cake and got like 2 huge zits not long after lol so i got back on it. I guess it takes time. its been a little over a week since so I guess the diet is kicking back in, no new zits i dont think im just battling about 5 redmarks on my right cheek which have been there for god knows how log, 2 months? i got a little mini zit on my chin this morning but its so small it should be gone by tomorrow after i soak bp on it tonight.

im currently still doing the regimen in my signature, trying very hard to get rid of the redmarks and just icing any premature zits asap. dan seems optimistic about the diet so i shall keep going foward with it although its not fun.

as far as my diet looks, i basically just eat whatever meat my mom makes for dinner for my breakfast since wake up late with a banana, for dinner i have 2 eggs with ham banana and OJ, and for dinner i have 2 cans of tuna with a banana and OJ and thats it every day. if the diet kicks in and completely clears me ill have the confidence to get a job and some more $ so i can broaden my diet to more then just tuna eggs and meat. right now im just eating whats at the house.

i guess ill just update this daily from this point on, ill say its probably day 40 of my diet.

Well I've started the diet, really won't take much getting used to as pretty well the only food group I had to eliminate from my previous ways of eating was grains.. and I even will be adding back some things that I had for one reason or another taken away before.

Here's how day 1 went... will upload a picture just as soon as my camera gets back from repairs!

AM-Scrambled egg/veggie deluxe. (green/red peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, green onions)
LUNCH-Massive salad w chicken, various peppers, broccoli, green onions, carrots, some other misc veggies, lemon juice and olive oil for dressing.
-Green smoothie
-Apple
-Orange
DINNER-Rest of salad that was made for lunch...

SUPPLEMENTS:
6 EPA-DHA
4 Multivitamins
8 Borage Oil
2 Lecithin
4 Vitamin E
1 Zinc
2 Vitamin C
all of course taken spread out with meals throughout the day..


My face is currently not looking so hot, looks very unhealthy in colour, 2-3 newbies starting on chin, massive blackhead attack all over.. numerous deep red spots on chin..

I am trying very veru hard to not freak out at all about my face just now and just really convince myself that this is all going to work, but in time.. perhaps in a couple weeks I will be freaking out...

I meant to start this paleo diet weeks ago but i got in a car accident so...in a way having a rod put in my femur worked out well! i have acne again! When i was in the hospital i didn't wash my face and i had my friends bring me nothing but junk food. i figured i eat healthy and stay in shape every day of the year im going to just go nuts and eat all the crap i haven't eaten since high school. I figured i deserved it. So before i start this diet, i WAS 100% clear following dans regimen. i have not had a pimple in about 3-4 months. all i had was fading redmarks. EVERYONE who knows me commented on my skin. mostly my parents when they saw me. so i guess i'm a good test subject for this since i have some acne again.