2786 replies to this topic

[ThatPrimalGuy]

So, day 17 on green smoothies here - and I'm not sure I'm any better than when I started. My cheeks have stayed mostly clear throughout, and no more of those painful little bumps that came up when I started, but my forehead is going crazy. It's been a sensitive zone ever since I got bumps there on antibiotics but now it seems whiteheads are just springing up on my forehead, which is quite annoying since I've got the rest of my face pretty much cured! It seems every time I knock out one problem another springs up

Looking through my written and photo logs for the past 17 days, I noticed that I was getting better for the first week, to the point where there were no whiteheads large enough to be obvious on days 6/7. Day 7 is when I switched from pears to green apples in my smoothies, and since then my forehead hasn't stopped breaking out. Now, I also had exams during this period, so it could just be stress/lack of sleep, but it does seem suspicious, espescially since this is my first time eating apples in a long time. I've never really heard of apples breaking someone out, is that possible?

Sorry to vent on here I get frustrated when I can't work out cause and effect

[faeriedust]

I have drinking green smoothies for few months now everyday and I dont think it has helped with my acne. But since it's healthy, I'll just continue drinking it anymore.

My green smoothie consists of
1 apple
2 bananas
a bunch of leafy vegetables (spinach etc)

I use a different vegetable everyday.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

Pangarl,
I'm sorry your forehead has been breaking out! It may be due to additional stress, as you suggested, but I agree that you might also be allergic to apples! Have you tried discontinuing them for a while to see how you do?


faeriedust, (love your name! hehe)
I'd like to suggest that you only do 1-2 servings of fruit and at least 2 large handfuls of a cruciferous leafy green. You say you switch up your veggies in your smoothie - are they always a leafy green? Too much fruit can cause skin issues for those prone to acne, and since you're doing about 3 fruit servings to one handful of greens, that could be causing issues. Try to work your way up to what I'm suggesting here. It might taste more "green," but it should still be tasty enough and might possibly yield the results you're hoping for.

Edited by *`*~ABG Fairy~*`*, 21 November 2009 - 12:04 PM.

[ThatPrimalGuy]

Hey abg, thanks for all the replies hah, yes I will try discontinueing fruit in general for a while but I'm going to give it another week to make sure it doesn't get better now that i'm past exams. Doesn't really matter if I keep breaking out this week since I'm getting my wisdom teeth out in a few days and I'll look like I got beat up anyway

I'm trying to stick to my scientific rigor and only change one thing at a time, since I know something I've changed in the last 5 weeks reversed my progress, I'm going to change back one by one and see what happens. I've actually found taking photos every day to be a huge help it's good to have a solid knowledge of how things are progressing not just vague memories of how I looked at certain times.

I'll keep drinking the green smoothies, even if I have to switch to straigt vegetables, I really like them, though my family/gf make fun of me for it

[EddieE]

Hey abg, thanks for all the replies hah, yes I will try discontinueing fruit in general for a while but I'm going to give it another week to make sure it doesn't get better now that i'm past exams. Doesn't really matter if I keep breaking out this week since I'm getting my wisdom teeth out in a few days and I'll look like I got beat up anyway

I'm trying to stick to my scientific rigor and only change one thing at a time, since I know something I've changed in the last 5 weeks reversed my progress, I'm going to change back one by one and see what happens. I've actually found taking photos every day to be a huge help it's good to have a solid knowledge of how things are progressing not just vague memories of how I looked at certain times.

I'll keep drinking the green smoothies, even if I have to switch to straigt vegetables, I really like them, though my family/gf make fun of me for it

Oh really? they make fun of you? They have no idea about this health stuff.
Once they see your skin glowing they might start drinking it, too.

Mom: Pangarl, make me some!!!!!!!!
Pangarl: Ha ha.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

Pangarl,
I think your elimination/documentation approach is a very smart one!! You're right... memories do become a little vague after a while, and it's hard to keep track of what was helping and what wasn't! I'm sure you'll get it figured out soon, and I'm sure your family will one day realize that value of what you're doing - it might take a while, and they may never jump on board, but just keep doing what you're doing, as you're an awesome example!

Eddie,
You crack me up! haha

[helliotion]

Do you think these Smoothies would be any good for a me, a 16 year old male with hormones all over the place. My face has gotten oily over the years due to hormones which i've determined to be the main cause of my acne, and im looking for a way to make them balanced again and help my acne in other ways too. I'd say i have moderate acne. Only a decent amount of Whiteheads and only a few pustules at a time, nothing any more serious than that. If you have any advice it would be much appreciated.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

helliotion,
Glad you stopped by! Your acne definitely sounds like the kind that should be rather easy to control. I definitely think the smoothies can help you!! I'd do the basic recipe while quickly working your way up to at least 2 large handfuls of greens a day, and always use cruciferous greens, like spinach, kale, collards, chards, etc., since they help to balance hormones.

You might also consider supplementing with DIM to speed up the results - it's a substance that's found naturally in cruciferous veggies.

Watch your dairy intake, and be cautious of foods high on the glycemic index. All this is discussed in more detail in the first post.

You might need to go through trial and error finding what helps and what doesn't. Make the green smoothies your first step, and you might consider using low-sugar fruits at first like green apples and pears. If you notice an improvement, you can then experiment with adding in other types of fruits, etc. If you don't notice an improvement, then look more carefully at your diet, cut back on dairy and high sugar foods, etc.

If there's anything more I can help with, please let me know. I hope you soon get great results!

[treefase93]

Awesome thread! I've always been kind of cautious around vegetables... but something about a green smoothie gets my stomach growling. I love the Green Protein smoothies they sell at Trader Joe's. Anything I can make that tastes like that? I know it contains algae but the stuff in my pond doesn't look very appetizing.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

haha, thanks Treeface93! I'm glad you're excited about green smoothies!!! Maybe down the road you'll even venture into trying some of the veggie-based green smoothies! I don't know about the drink at Trader Joes, but I'd recommend adding a powdered green to your smoothie (but not in place of the fresh greens... still need those!) like barley. There are lots of different powdered greens out there, and they definitely have a distinctive flavor. If you find something you like, please share it with us!

[helliotion]

Awesome thanks a lot. Im definitely going to drink these regularly. I've already limited my dairy consumption to only cheese on occasion no straight up milk, problem was that milk was the cornerstone of my diet so i had to work a bit harder to change it. That DIM sounds very good, i might have to give it a go, but isn't internal anti-androgens bad for males especially during puberty?

Edited by helliotion, 22 November 2009 - 10:24 PM.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

It's great that you've mostly eliminated dairy! That a big achievement, especially since it made up so much of your diet! Cheese is actually the most concentrated dairy there is, but I know it's hard to avoid - I don't completely avoid it myself! It's not something I buy at the grocery store though... it sneaks its way in when I eat out! haha I'm glad you're going to look into DIM. Hope you see results soon, and keep in touch!

[helliotion]

wow, so now i gotta avoid cheese especially!! ugh, i really dont like to limit my diet. but ill do anything to get clear. hopefully it will have some effect.

Edited by helliotion, 22 November 2009 - 10:50 PM.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

^ Maybe you should just start with the smoothies for now and see if they help. You may not need to give up cheese entirely. If you decide to though, you may find you don't miss it after a while! I have a lot of healthy foods/meals/snacks that I really enjoy, and because of that, I rarely crave the bad stuff. Let me know how you like the smoothies!

[ThatPrimalGuy]

Thought I'd share my progress, 5 weeks into green smoothies and I'm sad to say that my situation has gone downhill rather than uphill.

On the plus side, the general health benefits seem to include better color to my skin, somewhat more energy, and virtual immunity to infection (my girlfriend couldn't give me her cough if she tried, and I made it through wisdom teeth surgery with no problems). However, my skin is now significantly worse than when I started the green smoothies. Every day for the past week has been worse than the last, which is unusual for me. Above the lymph nodes on my neck on the left side, its gotten bad enough that it almost looks like a rash. My back is all spotty, and I even had little red dots along my chest. My forehead has gotten somewhat worse, and I'm now breaking out on my cheeks again, which had been pimple free zones for a while now.

Today i took lemons and apples out of my smoothies, in order to finally test whether it's the fruit that's been making it get worse. Hopefully if it is some type of intolerance, the reduced inflammation should be apparently in a week or so. Wish me luck.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

Pangarl,
I'm happy to hear of the improvements to your health, but I'm really sorry to hear that your skin is worse! It's odd that it's progressively been getting worse. I definitely think something is triggering that. It could be that your body is detoxing, but I also wonder if it's a reaction, like you suggested, to the fruits.

Are all the fruits you've been using in the smoothies new for you? You might want to try just adding in one new fruit, for at least a week, at a time and see how you react. Could you tolerate for a while just blended greens with water? Maybe just baby spinach since it has a milder flavor? You could throw in some parsley to give it more of a fresh flavor and maybe some cucumber or celery. I would say some lemon juice, but sometimes citrus is a real trigger for people. The safest bet would just be spinach and water and then add in one new thing at a time. If you can tolerate the taste, it would be a good way to see how your skin reacts to just the greens. I highly doubt it's the greens that are causing an issue. I guess it's possible, but I would think that to be very rare! Also, in case it's a detox reaction, you might just try a small handful of greens for now and gradually work your way up. I really hope this issue is resolved for you soon!! I so want you to get good results with your skin! I think it will happen - it'll just take a little more time.

Besides the smoothies, anything else new in your diet?

[ThatPrimalGuy]

Hey abg ^^ thanks again for the help - here's the smoothies I was drinking for about 35 days:
Half a cucumber
2 celery stalks
Parsley
2 big handfuls of greens (english spinach, baby spinach, silverbeet, bok choi)
1 green apple
1 lemon
2 tsps pumpkin seeds
some mint leaves (added these only a few days ago for flavor)

eating that much lemon is something is wouldn't usually do, and apparently it contains a decent amount of fructose, so its a possibility. As for apples, I used to eat 2 or 3 a day in high school, my skin was terrible then, but who knows if that was a factor I do know that two years of eating tonnes of fruit and vege in college did nothing for my skin, and that i cleared up around the time i gave up and started eating pizza/chips etc again, so maybe eating less fruit helped me.

The only other thing thats really new in my diet is oat milk/oatmeal, but that was replacing soy milk/mini wheats, so i don't see how it would be that different.

Right now I'm drinking the smoothies listed above, minus the apple and lemon. So basically a hugely concentrated dose of greens. It's kind of like drinking cucumber water (cant taste the mint anymore for some reason) but I have a strong stomache

I don't believe the greens were hurting me in any way, they even lifted my mood I think, so if it was the fruit, it should be obvious pretty soon, since i'm eating 0 fruit at the moment.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

^ I hope you'll see improvements soon! I wouldn't think any of those veggies would be causing a problem, but you never know. The oatmeal could be a problem if you're eating a big serving. It's not instant oatmeal is it? Is it sugar free? What about the oat milk? I would check the ingredients label on the back - if it has a lot of ingredients listed, you could be reacting to something in it. I still think the quickest way to figure what's going on is to go back to the foods you were eating before these new skin problems started, but add in some blended spinach and see what happens. Either way though, I'm sure you'll soon get it figured out. Hopefully it was just due to the apples!

[ThatPrimalGuy]

The oatmeal isn't instant or sugary or anything, it's just plain 100% wholegrain oats on the ingredients list. The oat milk contains "Filtered water, organise wholegrain oats, organic sunflower oil, and sea salt"

Yeah, my next step if it's not fruit is to go back to my old cereal while still doing the smoothies. The only other thing I could think of is that I started taking vitamin E and calcium/magnesium tablets about the same time, though I don't see what effect that would have.

[*`*~ABG Fairy~*`*]

^ Those ingredients don't sound bad. Did you say once that you were keeping a log of all the new things you're trying? I hope so, because at least that way you should eventually be able to narrow the problem down. I would think those supplements would be fine, so long as they're good quality. Hopefully time will soon tell!