20 replies to this topic

[John Smith]

how do i tell if food is causing my acne, while on minocycline(antibiotic)?

are food tests a good way to go? like food allergy, food intolerance... are they accurate?

[hobo2alpha]

For me, my face face is about 80 % clear due to my diet.

[mischief2]

Some allergy tests might be a good idea. I know that I am lactose intolerant and also have a problem with gluten and since staying away (I cut out dairy entirely except chocolate occasionally which is ok for me in small amounts - it's a big glass of milk that will cause me to have stomach pains and feel terrible) from both not only do I feel better but feel it has helped my skin. I don't think it applies to everyone but I really think it's a good idea to find out what you're allergic to and experiment with it a bit. I think your body tells you what it wants and does not want too. If your stomach cramps up after drinking milk or you feel bloated after eating bread you may have an allergy.

One good thing I learned from Leo Keisen's natural acne cure ebook was an simple food allergy test you could do for yourself:

The pulse test

When you are completely relaxed take your pulse at the wrist.  After taking your pulse consume the food that you're are testing for an allergic reaction.  Stay relaxed.  Do not get up and walk around or do anything that would increase your pulse rate.  Wait fifteen to twenty minutes and take your pulse again.  If your pulse rate increases by more than eight to ten beats per minute you are most likely allergic to this food.

[skittles]

I know so many people will sit there and tell you that the way you eat has nothing to do with acne...well it may not be the cause but it definitely doesnt help your skin any if ur eating nothing but junk. think about it, if you put junk into your system ur gonna get junk out of ur system. i notice a huge difference in my complexion when im eating right or not eating right. i break out and my skin goes crazy...the best way to go is to eat clean..

this is what i eat:

egg whites
ex. virgin olive oil
low glycemic fruits and veggies
chicken breast
turkey breast
lots of salmon..the fresh kind, not the farm fed kind...its really spendy so you can always buy bumblebee skinless and boneless pink salmon in the cans..its not farmfed so its good:)
raw unsalted almonds
oatmeal...not instant..the real stuff
splenda to sweeten only if absolutely needed
unsweetened soy milk

totally stay away from sugar, salt, refined carbs, white stuff...yeah yeah and drink TONS OF WATER!!! chamomile tea is good too:) no dairy either

[evigrex]

a FEW individuals can get their acne aggravated by certain foods. Mainly foods that contain caffine and other cns stimulating compounds -
caffeine acts as a noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, which also increases
sebaucus gland activity. The different is usually minimal inn most individuals,
however.

Allergies can also cause this, but that seems pretty rare as well

[BenKweller]

Acne is not caused by a food. So don't stress before eating that hamburger.

[John Smith]

Acne is not caused by a food. So don't stress before eating that hamburger.

that is not true for everyone...

[evigrex]

Very rare. Most of the time I would say its coincidence...for example someone
eating a pizza and waking up the next day with 3-4 whiteheads. Its impossbile
to isolate pizza as the reason, since it takes much longer than 1 night
for a whitehead to manifest itself - the follicle has to be plugged for a few
days before you see the effects.

[hobo2alpha]

Skittles,

here is something you should take a look at look at, it is about consuming raw egg yolk.

Not the Egg-white and Not the ‘Bag’

Don't consume raw egg white. Egg white is comparable to the womb, ovaries and oviduct, containing the same substances as are produced in the human oviduct (which is enhanced by progesterone (avidine), respectively estrogen (ovomucoid));
-         Avidine in raw egg-white de-activates vitamin B8 (biotine).
-         Ovomucoid in raw egg-white inhibits trypsin, an enzyme that decomposes absorbed nutrients.

Also do not consume the 'bag' containing the yolk and the string attached to it; hold the whole yolk in your fingers, make a small cut, and drain the yolk.

-http://www.13.waisays.com/egg-yolk.htm

[hobo2alpha]

In order to know what foods cause acne, you need to follow a diet with foods that don't cause acne! Hint Hint, read this site, waisays.com.

For some people, a hamburger will definitely cause acne!

For others it won't!

What is your reasons for food not causing acne Mr. Ben Kweller????!?!

[SweetJade1980]

LOL, Hobo, don't even go there =)

Anyone who disagrees, its usually based on their own observations and usually it's pointless to discuss it. We know what works for us based on our own observations. Of course, both sides have studies, I think my side (pro-diet) has more, claiming that the other is absolutely false!

Oh well, as long as we all find a safe & healthy way, right?


Take care

[BenKweller]

How am I so sure? Because there's just no known connection. You guys love obsessing over acne and hoping it's something that you can control when sometimes it isn't. But, based on damn-near every credible study, there is no connection.

[SweetJade1980]

John Smith,
OK, I'm going to be very honest with you and tell you that those tests are not 100% conclusive, although not many things are. However, when it comes to determining if a food is problematic for you can do the following:

Allergy Test - will detect foods, chemicals, etc that instill an instant (millisec - 24 hour) reaction in you upon breathing, ingesting, or touching an offender. This usually involves inflammation, mucous, and rashes, among other signs.
http://www.foodintol.com/allergyorintolerance.asp
http://allallergy.net/articles/index.cfm/c...ingra/1/page/p6

Intolerance Test will detect foods, chemicals, etc that will instill a delayed reaction. Delayed meaning anywhere from several hours - several weeks after ingestion, you may be able to handle touching foods or using them in skin care, but not eating them. Infact, delayed can even mean several years (after repeated consumption OR exposure). This is blamed upon a few things, but what makes this different is that it's caused by your body's inability to properly digest a particular food, etc because it's missing (enough of) the neccessary enzyme.

Select foods such as Beans/Legumes and lactose are foods we naturally don't produce enough enzymes to properly digest. Over time, this will get worse, particularly for certain ethnicities. As a result, bacteria will help us digest them, but the below affects may still result. Ever notice how companies produce OTC pills for us to take to help us digest them? Oh and just like with allergens, if these enters your blood stream (another side theory), your body builds antibodies against it and will attack it upon seeing it. This can also cause inflammation, bloating, pains, mucous, rashes, etc. Acne sufferers are "supposed" to be defficient in many things, including, or because of, defficient enzymes.
http://www.homeinonhealth.com/cs_faqs.php4 (one of several companies)

Chemical Sensitivity Test- actually will be discovered with an interolorence test or elimination diet. It's found to attribute more so to neuroligical problems such as migraines or ADHD. One example would be that of Chloracne caused by Dioxin exposure. I personally get headaches everytime I consume aspartame (it's good thing I can taste how horrible it is) and occasionally when I consume MSG. Say, did you know that MSG has inspired a 6th taste known as Umami...still don't know if I know I'm tasting it though, LOL.
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/multiplechemicalsensitivities/
http://www.mcsurvivors.com/
Muscle Strength Test - Usually something that a Kinesiologist or a Naturopath will perform. I believe someone posted the procedure above.


Blood Typing - There are glycoproteins known as lectins. All foods contains a number of glycoproteins, but only certain ones will produce an allergic reaction or an intolerant autoimmune reaction in susceptible individuals. The key here is that your Blood Type will indicate what types of foods your body will be Intolerant to. Basically several doctors/scientists discovered that certain proteins, select lectins, mixed with certain blood types, cause blood to agglutinate (clump together) which promotes an intolerant reaction. For example Type B and Type O bloods, the most prevelant, are supposed to be intolerant to gluten and select lectins because it increases their chances for Insulin Resistance or worse, Type II Diabetes (isn't this on the rise???). My father is a Type B (Type II runs in his family), I'm a Type O but have IR/PCOS symptoms. I responded VERY well to avoidance of Gluten despite tests (explaination later). The "Evil" Lectin Diet, The Paleodiet, and the Eat Right 4 Your Type diet are inspired by the lectin theory.
http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html

Elimination Diet - the most accurate & empirical way of determining things., but it is the hardest way too. There's actually a few versions of this, but the true one knocks you down to to a diet of the least allergenic foods , including avoidance of suspect chemicals or dyes, for a period of 1 - 3 months. After your system has been relaxed for a while, every week you are allowed to induce 1 new food item. Usually you are to eat this food several times a day for several days to make sure you are getting enough in your system to cause a reaction, IF there is rxn to be caused. If no reaction follows, you are free to continue with this food. If a rxn occurs you have the option of eating sparingly or avoiding completey depending on the severity.


These tests usually involve the use of your skin, blood, saliva, blood, urine or fecal matter. Depending on the type of test, some argue against skin tests as this may induce a skin allergy if you were only slightly susceptible beforehand, at least thats what those with Celiac's disease say, but anyway the level of accuracy will vary. These tests have helped people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Diabetes, Celiacs, Crohns, ADHD, and a variety of problems, but I'm not saying it is a cure all.

Take me for example, I used to be allergic (made me itch) to Burmuda Grass, a distant relative of Wheat, is that why eliminating gluten was soo effective? Who knows, but according to LEAP, an Intolerant Testing group, they said I was a poor candidate for intolerance testing. My doctor ran the Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance Test on me, BEFORE I changed my diet 2 years ago, and the results were negative. While I did produce some antibodies, it was 50% less than what was needed to call me a celiac. I later checked around for results on the web and found a lab that showed results of others, and most Healthy people showed a few gluten antibodies. Does that mean anything, I don't know. What I do know is that one generally shouldn't have antibodies to foods you eat on a daily basis. Food generally isn't the enemy, unless something went wrong. I also know that despite those results, eliminating Gluten had THE biggest impact of all, when it came to altering my diet.

So If I'm not allergic nor intolerant, it must be the Food-Hormone connection, and I know that having Hyperinsulinemia will produce those that have Hyperandrogenism. My doctor never told me whether I wasn or not, but I responded favorably to insulin sensitizers, and even more so when I finally changed my diet, the "right" way (failed several times prior due to lack of knowledge). Remember, Insulin favors higher growth hormone (IGF-1, etc) and Androgen levels, it doesn't take long to flood your cells with glucose, before it will become Insulin Resistant. In fact, all those that are going through Puberty or are Pregnant go through "a temporary state of insulin resistance" as this is how are bodies grow. Someone mentioned that you should eat eggs because it will produce a biotin defficiency and will also deactivate trypsin, well too much of ANY good thing, may have a negative impact on you. In fact, depending on how you perpare the food (raw, unripe, cooked, over cooked), there are so many foods for you that also act as enzyme inhibitors, nutrient binders, etc so the question really is what foods are you getting too much of or what foods are you genetically overly sensitive to?


See, it's not just about our genetics, as we can prove certain aspects of genetics wrong if we have the know how, but it's also about our environment. Food, Toxins, Stress, Medications, Supplements, and other external forces that affect us internally, are considered our environment. It's the differences in our gene-environment interactions that help us see the way things will affect us. So yeah, someone eats the same way we do and never gets acne, but do they have cancer, obesity, diabetes, ADHD, IBS, etc???? There's no set blue print that says that if you eat this "bad" food, you will 100% end up with this specific bad thing! Heck some people have only 1 symptom while others have dozens, anyone care to trade? Our genes may determine the way that we will react upon ingestion of a select food, but it is only because we "allowed" the interaction to occur. If you do not ingest that select food, the result of that interaction may never occur.

I suppose the best example of this is the fact that we have rising Heart Disease, Obesity and Type II Diabetes, since the 1980s. It is blamed on the fact that at that point, the average american ate Fast Food 9x a month. It is blamed on the broader introduction of the USDA Food Pyramid. It is blamed on the rise of Hydrogentated & Trans Fats added to our processed foods for preservation. It is blamed on the addition of High Fructose Corn Syrup, because...it's sweeter. It is blamed on how lazy we've all become. Yeah, sure they are all probably correct. However, if you analyze the food pyramid, it is setup to enforce more carbohydrate, paricularly refined, consumption than the average human needs.

We only need 150g - 200g of carbs a day, but with that food pyramid it's quite easy to see how one can eat up to 800g of carbohydrates or more a day! Remember, too much of a good thing, can have consequences, and when you alter that "good" thing by refining it, it becomes even more unhealthy. Unfortunately, our bodies have been getting sugar from practically EVERYTHING we eat, from hot dogs, ketchsup, chips, soups, breads, cakes, sodas, juices, candy, seasonings, etc, and hardly any fiber to help slow it's absorption. No wonder we have O.D. problems. No wonder the biggest diseases that we are fighting now are considered 'Diseases of Lifestyle", or in other words, preventable diseases...just like those caused by smoking and excess alcohol consumption.

Again, I'm not going to say it will be easy. If you chose to alter your diet, be smart about it. Make sure that you are eliminating the food from you diet 100%. Learn to read ingredient labels and learn to find the food derivitves (ex: starch, malt, flavorings, or protein---from where?) that may also be in a product. The more you are willing to "sacrifice" safely, do this with the aid of your family or better yet a doctor or nutritionist, the easier it will be for you. There's definately a long way and a short way. I'm doing it the long way (eliminating as I go along along) , but others found much better & faster results by just overhauling their diet all at once (not easy if you don't have the means or support).

Of course, depending on the severity of (all) your problems dietary changes alone may not be enough. Some found they needed the aid of supplements and if you want to get technical you can consider some supplements a part of your diet, as most are normally found in foods. However if you can do it mainly thorugh diet (as supps and meds get costly), then you are very lucky indeed. While there have always been studies connecting food & hormones or health, an increasing number of recent studies are noticing the benefits of certain healthy foods that most of us don't eat, along with the benefits when one decreases or avoids certain foods entirely. A lot of people want a "quick fix" but the one thing you know you have to do every day to live is eat. So if food can be your medicine, why not let it?

Best wishes

[hobo2alpha]

SweetJade,

The acne sample diet is an elimination diet!

Ben Kweller, have you read the www.freeacnebook.com.
have you been to the bulliten board where there are people who cleared their acne with diet approach?

The author has been successful with fifteen people!

However, it is a hard diet to follow, but well worth it if you hate having acne. I recommend it to people who F@@@ing hate their acne, because it will work! You have to have the will.

But beleive what you want to.

[SweetJade1980]

Hobo,
Yeah I know, but the Wai Diet is a VERY hard diet to maintain long term. Everyone that I've spoken to or read about on various message boards have said that it clears them, but they eventually fall of the diet. Some return to it when they want clear skin for a special occassion, but others should probably use it as an elimination diet and build from there by adding in one new food each week.

How long are you supposed to stay on it again?

[hobo2alpha]

It is a two week sample diet!

However, this is my third week and I'm almost so clear. It is quite amazing!

But it has also fixed my sleeplessness, I have so much energy, and never get those moodswings and slight depressions anymore. Which to me has been a godsend!

But yes, it is hard to do the 100 % sample diet, but pnce your acne clears you can introduce foods back into your diet and come to a certain compromise so you don't eat druit all your life.

[BenKweller]

Whoa dude, 15 people? How do I sign up??????????

[hobo2alpha]

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic due to previous posts!

But here it is: www.freeacnebook.com

here is the main site that discusses other various problems such as sleeplessness and cholesterol: www.waisays.com

there is no signing up, Kweller, it is totally free!

[BenKweller]

... Sarcasm.

[SweetJade1980]

LOL, I believe Wai has helped more than that. Heck, I've helped more than 15 people. Yet, no matter the amount, it is better to have helped some than none at all. =)