84 replies to this topic

[Healthoid]

First, for those of you who don't want much background and want to skip to the cure, read this article I just wrote: The Real Acne Cure.

I have been doing a lot of research and experimentation lately that has led me to make some radical changes in my ideas of what truly causes acne.

There are two main things that got me thinking...maybe gluten and dairy aren't truly what is causing acne...

1) I noticed many people here who can tolerate gluten and dairy in "small amounts" and some who can tolerate it even in large amounts. Others could tolerate low-carb dairy. Also people reported that they break out from all sorts of fruits, fructose, sugar and especially oranges (which was a major clue that I will get to later).

2) An experiment I did with sleep. I worked on my sleep schedule so it was essentially perfect. I was getting about 8.5 hours of sleep a night every night for a while, waking up at sunrise, sleeping in complete darkness and going to bed and waking up at the same time everyday.

And something very interesting happened. My metabolism slowed down dramatically. Carbs stopped making me feel bad. I started eating horrible foods like pizza, hot dogs, etc. and nothing happened (well other than few digestion problems and headaches, but what can you expect ). Most importantly, I did not break out from these foods which previously would break me out always!

So how are these things connected? What's going on?

Well, the key lies in metabolic balance.

I truly believe that the root cause of acne is a metabolism that is out of balance.

The number one thing you can do to keep your metabolism in check is to eat right for your metabolic type. This is what I have been doing for quite some time now. I am a protein type, so I eat tons of meat and fat and very low carb. This is what is keeping my skin clear, not just avoiding gluten and dairy.

While I do believe gluten and dairy may cause conditions that lead to acne, I don't think it matters if you are in metabolic balance. Your body can deal with the problems gluten and dairy cause as long as it is in balance.

So the number one thing everyone can do who is not clear yet is eat right for your metabolic type. My article explains a bit how to do that.

Poor sleep can also throw your metabolism out of balance by increasing a hormone called ghrelin that causes your stomach to empty faster. This can cause major blood sugar problems because foods are being absorbed far too quickly. When you are in a state like this, even small amounts of carbohydrates can cause many problems which include acne.

While it is not absolutely necessary to have perfect sleep if you are eating right for your metabolic type already, perfect sleep is a way to change your metabolic type so you will essentially be able to eat anything you want! For some though, perfect sleep may be even more restricting than a diet, so it is a choice you can make on your own.

For me personally, I have noticed that even one night of bad sleep will throw me off balance, and I'll have to eat a lot more meat and fat the next day.

Anyway, enough rambling, here's the article again: The Real Acne Cure

I hope you enjoy it.

- Jesse

P.S. So why do oranges cause acne for many people? Because they are very strong carb type foods! If you are a protein type and sometimes even a mixed type, oranges are a recipe for disaster as far as your skin and your entire body is concerned.

[Biscuits]

Excellent, thanks for the information. Diet is one thing I have under control. I just need to work on my sleep, I'm sure it will help. My sleeping habbits are pretty awful, so I need to work on them.

[DeAntonio]

what time did you sleep during this test ?

[lightspeed]

nice research. I like reading your stuff. Is there any way you could come up with a way to test your metabolic type for free?

[Biscuits]

Yeah I was wondering too? :S

[EddieE]

Thx for posting that ^^ i knew it was ok to eat pizza etc ^^ sometime

[Tasha90]

Hi, thanks for the information. I'm just wondering, for how long did you experiment with your sleep? I remember a while ago I had read somewhere that you were using a dawn simulator, so do you still use it? Also, when you talk about metabolism, does this also relate to cellular metabolism? I've read that if one's cellular metabolism is too fast (and subsequently sloppy), food is not broken down properly, the right nutrients are not attained, and a whole host of problems arise. For instance, if one has a fast metabolism, and is able to maintain the same weight regardless of what/how much one eats, does that reflect a fast/sloppy cellular metabolism?

[scarlett_087]

Well I guess I'm in trouble. I work nights, so having a good sleeping pattern is almost impossible for me. I've been working nights for about 5 years. I usually don't get to go to sleep until 5-6am...however I try to get at least 6-7 hours of it. Does it matter when you actually go to bed, or does it just matter how much sleep you get in general?

[EddieE]

Well I guess I'm in trouble. I work nights, so having a good sleeping pattern is almost impossible for me. I've been working nights for about 5 years. I usually don't get to go to sleep until 5-6am...however I try to get at least 6-7 hours of it. Does it matter when you actually go to bed, or does it just matter how much sleep you get in general?

Doesn't matter if day or night... is not like The lights will do something to ur skin

just close eyes and sleep ^^

I saw in proactiv solution guide that sleeping 7-8 hours is good it helps..
sleeping longer is bad

and i do sleep long i will try to sleep 7-8 hours only.

[warwize]

If you follow all of the optimal sleep guidelines and try to get lots of sleep (I recommend 9 hours for most people), you will find that your acne miraculously clears up and you won’t even have to worry about what you eat."

is this based on your own experience or some other data?


cause it sounds too simple...

[cavillor]

Anecdotally, my skin tends to look much healthier after a long sleep. Healing, I would think, occurs much more readily while sleeping. Plus it's a long period of time over which I'm not checking a mirror, so incremental changes have a chance to add up.

[energizer]

One of the things that makes sleep healing is it promotes proper breathing. When you sleep you naturally start beathing deep and slow. It helps if you breathe like that constantly. Set aside 5 minutes in the morning and evening to practice breathing deep and slow in the same way you would when asleep, so that it become automatic when awake.

[fil]

Any tips on how to fall asleep quickly?

[Biscuits]

Its usually best to turn the tv off or your computer off 30 minutes before you go to bed, as the stimulation has a lasting effect on your brain. So that might help possibly. I also read that if you wear socks to bed it helps you fall asleep faster, I can't remember where I read that so I don't have the information behind the idea.

[Zanpakutou]

And something very interesting happened. My metabolism slowed down dramatically. Carbs stopped making me feel bad. I started eating horrible foods like pizza, hot dogs, etc. and nothing happened (well other than few digestion problems and headaches, but what can you expect ). Most importantly, I did not break out from these foods which previously would break me out always!

Wow, I know that's a major feat for you because I remember reading about how sensitive you were to these things.

Good stuff man.

[AndoZ]

Hey Healthoid!

Another great article! Very interesting, i am currently still fine tunning my diet(protein type.) The info about the food groups you have listed for different metabolic types was highly useful for me! I noticed some people claim to have intolerances to Fructose(unrelated to article.), do you think it to be a factor, or (as you suggested about oranges)just a metabolic issue? I Like to snack in between meals(Morning tea, afternoon tea etc.) Do you have any good suggestions? I'm currently having pecans or walnuts with sultanas with a low carb fruit..

[alternativista]

P.S. So why do oranges cause acne for many people? Because they are very strong carb type foods! If you are a protein type and sometimes even a mixed type, oranges are a recipe for disaster as far as your skin and your entire body is concerned.

I agree about the sleep. Although I slept well for most of my acne years, I had a problem for a a year or so (work hour related) that took me a while to get over, but I started making sure I got plenty of sleep about the same time that I changed my diet and my skin cleared. Sleep is also one of the best things to help with stress.

But I think people who notice a specific breakout from eating an orange have an allergy. I am allergic per tests and cysts appear by the next day. Simple carbs on the other hand, cause oily skin, blackheads, minor inflamed acne, etc, but only when they are a major part of my diet.

[LiliVG]

P.S. So why do oranges cause acne for many people? Because they are very strong carb type foods! If you are a protein type and sometimes even a mixed type, oranges are a recipe for disaster as far as your skin and your entire body is concerned.

I agree about the sleep. Although I slept well for most of my acne years, I had a problem for a a year or so (work hour related) that took me a while to get over, but I started making sure I got plenty of sleep about the same time that I changed my diet and my skin cleared. Sleep is also one of the best things to help with stress.

But I think people who notice a specific breakout from eating an orange have an allergy. I am allergic per tests and cysts appear by the next day. Simple carbs on the other hand, cause oily skin, blackheads, minor inflamed acne, etc, but only when they are a major part of my diet.

I agree, I think acne from oranges is allergy related. Citrus is in the top 8 most common allergenic foods.

I read about a study (link)a few weeks ago how how disrupted sleep can give people diabetic tendencies, even in healthy people who prior to the test had a completely normal sugar metabolism. But I have think we need to take a look at what we consider "normal" sugar metabolism. Could it be that the reason we would need such deep repairative sleep is because our diet damages our body every day?

In most non-western cultures, fragmented sleep is the norm rather than the exception (link). Here's a quote from that article, called "Sleeping like a Hunter-Gatherer":

Worthman flipped open a book and showed me photographs of big families piled into large, sprawling huts, little kids peeking up from the arms of Mom, older generations wrapped leisurely around the fireplace. “Forager groups are a good place to start, because for much of human history we’ve been occupied with their mode of existence,” she said. “There are the !Kung of ­Botswana and the Efe of Zaire. For both of these groups, sleep is a very fluid state. They sleep when they feel like it—during the day, in the evening, in the dead of night.”

This, said Worthman, is true of other groups too—the Aché of Paraguay, for example. Late-night sleep, when it happens, is practically a social activity. In addition to procreation, the night is a time of “ritual, sociality, and information exchange.” People crash together in big multigenerational heaps—women with infants, wheezing seniors, domestic animals, chatting hunter buddies stoking the fire—everyone embedded in one big, dynamic, “sensorily rich environment.” This kind of environment is important, said Worthman, because “it provides you with subliminal cues about what is going on, that you are not alone, that you are safe in the social world.”

The more Worthman learned about the communal and interactive nature of non-Western sleep, the more she came to see Western sleep as the strange exception. She laughed again. “It’s funny, because as an anthropologist I’m used to getting weirded out a bit—I mean, you wouldn’t believe the things people do. So after collecting all this material I look at my own bed and go, ‘This is really weird.’”

Western sleep, said Worthman, is arid and controlled, with a heavy emphasis on individualism and the “decontextualized person.” Contact is kept to a minimum. The apparent conflict with marriage co-sleeping norms, she notes elsewhere, “has been partially mitigated for Americans by the evolution of bed size from twin, to double, to queen, to king.” She lifted her thin arms and drew a big box in the air. “I mean, think about it—this thing, this bed, is really a gigantic sleep machine. You’ve got a steel frame that comes up from the floor, a bottom mattress that looks totally machinelike, then all these heavily padded surfaces—blankets and pillows and sheets.”

It’s true. Most of us sleep alone in the dark, floating three feet off the ground but also buried under five layers of bedding. I had the sudden image of an armada of solitary humanoids in their big puffy spaceships drifting slowly through the silent and airless immensity of space. “Whoa,” I said.

Worthman nodded. “I know, I know, so weird.”

By contrast, village life is one big, messy block party, crackling with sex, intrigue, and poultry. In these cultures, interrupted or polyphasic sleep is the norm, which jibes with findings about still other cultures, like the Temiars of Indonesia and the Ibans of Sarawak, 25 percent of whom are apparently active at any one point in the night.

[alternativista]

P.S. So why do oranges cause acne for many people? Because they are very strong carb type foods! If you are a protein type and sometimes even a mixed type, oranges are a recipe for disaster as far as your skin and your entire body is concerned.

I agree about the sleep. Although I slept well for most of my acne years, I had a problem for a a year or so (work hour related) that took me a while to get over, but I started making sure I got plenty of sleep about the same time that I changed my diet and my skin cleared. Sleep is also one of the best things to help with stress.

But I think people who notice a specific breakout from eating an orange have an allergy. I am allergic per tests and cysts appear by the next day. Simple carbs on the other hand, cause oily skin, blackheads, minor inflamed acne, etc, but only when they are a major part of my diet.

I agree, I think acne from oranges is allergy related. Citrus is in the top 8 most common allergenic foods.

I did read about a study (link)a few weeks ago how how disrupted sleep can give people diabetic tendencies, even in healthy people who prior to the test had a completely normal sugar metabolism, so I have no doubt that good uninterrupted sleep will help.

However, in many non-western cultures, fragmented sleep is the norm rather than the exception (link). So I'm not sure what conclusion to come to as far as the role of sleep in acne. Here's a quote from that article:

[indent=1]Worthman flipped open a book and showed me photographs of big families piled into large, sprawling huts, little kids peeking up from the arms of Mom, older generations wrapped leisurely around the fireplace. “Forager groups are a good place to start, because for much of human history we’ve been occupied with their mode of existence,� she said. “There are the !Kung of �Botswana and the Efe of Zaire. For both of these groups, sleep is a very fluid state. They sleep when they feel like it—during the day, in the evening, in the dead of night.�

It was once the norm in western cultures as well and not just hunter gatherers. They've found references in literature to first and second sleep. Before electricity, peasant types especially, would be too tired after a days work to do much in the evening and would sleep, then wake up later for various activities. They'd even visit neighbors.

[LiliVG]

P.S. So why do oranges cause acne for many people? Because they are very strong carb type foods! If you are a protein type and sometimes even a mixed type, oranges are a recipe for disaster as far as your skin and your entire body is concerned.

I agree about the sleep. Although I slept well for most of my acne years, I had a problem for a a year or so (work hour related) that took me a while to get over, but I started making sure I got plenty of sleep about the same time that I changed my diet and my skin cleared. Sleep is also one of the best things to help with stress.

But I think people who notice a specific breakout from eating an orange have an allergy. I am allergic per tests and cysts appear by the next day. Simple carbs on the other hand, cause oily skin, blackheads, minor inflamed acne, etc, but only when they are a major part of my diet.

I agree, I think acne from oranges is allergy related. Citrus is in the top 8 most common allergenic foods.

I did read about a study (link)a few weeks ago how how disrupted sleep can give people diabetic tendencies, even in healthy people who prior to the test had a completely normal sugar metabolism, so I have no doubt that good uninterrupted sleep will help.

However, in many non-western cultures, fragmented sleep is the norm rather than the exception (link). So I'm not sure what conclusion to come to as far as the role of sleep in acne. Here's a quote from that article:

[indent=1]Worthman flipped open a book and showed me photographs of big families piled into large, sprawling huts, little kids peeking up from the arms of Mom, older generations wrapped leisurely around the fireplace. “Forager groups are a good place to start, because for much of human history we’ve been occupied with their mode of existence,� she said. “There are the !Kung of �Botswana and the Efe of Zaire. For both of these groups, sleep is a very fluid state. They sleep when they feel like it—during the day, in the evening, in the dead of night.�

It was once the norm in western cultures as well and not just hunter gatherers. They've found references in literature to first and second sleep. Before electricity, peasant types especially, would be too tired after a days work to do much in the evening and would sleep, then wake up later for various activities. They'd even visit neighbors.

Exactly. And so now in the western lifestyle, where sleep is supposedly "better" than other cultures, we have 95% plus of the population experiencing acne at one time or another, whereas in non western cultures where sleep is being broken up and disrupted constantly, they don't have acne. But they don't have refined foods in their cultures, and we do. So, their diet basically lets them sleep however they want, broken up, fragmented social experience that it is, and still have little to no incidences of acne, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

So overall, I don't think sleep is the problem, I still think diet is. The only reason we would need such intense sleep is because our bodies are so damaged by what we're eating every day. Sleep is when we repair ourselves...and apparently, we need a lot of work.