27 replies to this topic

[carlybee]

background:

i am in my 20s and have had mild/moderate acne for the past 11 years. i've tried pretty much everything other than accutane, and in the past two years have mostly been doing my own holistic stuff since i just got sick of the rollercoaster of harsh treatments from doctors that would only slightly improve my skin for short periods of time.

for the past 6 months i have been eating a mostly vegan, whole foods, high raw diet and while my skin at first responded very well to this, it has recently been deteriorating. i suspect that it is a candida problem because many of my calories have been coming from fresh fruit and many of the other candida overgrowth symptoms match with mine. i am also starting a fish oil supplement because i realized i was getting nearly zero omega-3 fatty acids. i plan to incorporate occasional fish and some eggs into my diet, but i will not be eating any other animal products (meat or dairy).

today is day one of my anti candida diet. i am going to log it here to share my results and let all of you know how it goes and maybe you can learn from it.

my skin:

right now i have a few spots on my cheeks and two below my mouth (hormonal). two or three small barely noticeable ones on my forehead. my skin tone in general is pretty uneven from recent breakouts but i don't have much scarring after all these years of picking me skin, which i don't do anymore (thank god)! i only wash with water morning and night and this has been working very well for me in terms of the quality of my skin. after a few months of this the oils evened themselves out and i can tell my face heals faster with this regimen, i will never go back to cleansing and moisturizing. i really don't need moisturizer ever, except occasionally on the outsides of my nostrils when i have a cold. at night i've been spot treating with a tea tree/vitamin E cream though i can't tell whether this does much or not. at least it makes me feel like i'm doing something though.

i suspect the root of my acne is hormonal, and am hoping that this anti candida diet paired with balancing my omega-3s and omega-6s will help. i am skeptical because i've tried so many things without results, but i am a very disciplined person and am willing to see how this goes.

Edited by carlybee, 03 April 2011 - 11:44 AM.

[carlybee]

day 1:

breakfast:

i usually eat apples and pineapple for breakfast so i had to get creative and invented something weird and surprisingly delicious this morning. 1/2 a can of pumpkin, 1/2 an avocado and 1 tbsp of coconut butter, stirred together with cinnamon. shockingly delicious. pumpkin pudding you could call it?

lunch:

was on the go, just had a serving of mary's gone crackers, which are crackers made with brown rice, quinoa, etc. a few hours later i drank water with apple cider vinegar in it.

dinner:

2 egg (free range, organic) omelette with a lot of rainbow chard, garlic and ginger, cooked in coconut oil. i put this on top of a salad of spinach, avocado and organic sauerkraut. dressing was a little olive oil and a little ume plum vinegar. a few mary's gone crackers on top of this also (i probably ate too many of these day, but they are freaking delicious!).

this has been my first day without fruit in YEARS. i felt depressed this morning about my skin but tonight i'm feeling more hopeful, perhaps because of what i've eaten. i also haven't looked in the mirror this afternoon and night which is always good.

about to wash with my normal luke warm water before bed. by the way i wear makeup during the day, but water really does take it off if i gently rub with my fingers. i bet if i didn't wear makeup my skin would heal faster but i literally have zero confidence without makeup. i try to wear as little as possible though.

[carlybee]

day 2:

breakfast:

same as yesterday, my weirdly concocted pumpkin pudding thing. i have to admit it's a little gross but if you're hungry it tastes alright. all i could think this morning was how amazing it would have been with some sweetness from almond butter or something, but i'm afraid nuts are a trigger for me so i'm avoiding them during this time.

lunch:

a serving of mary's gone crackers.

dinner:

sauteed broccoli and rainbow chard with garlic, ginger and coconut oil, put this on top of a spinach and romaine salad with avocado, sauerkraut and red quinoa. i know that quinoa isn't ideal but since i'm a vegetarian that dislikes eggs (i'm trying to eat them once a week though) i need to be getting protein from somewhere and quinoa isn't too bad for us candida sensitive people. salad dressing was olive oil and ume plum vinegar.

dessert:

1 tbsp coconut butter. i love this stuff and need to order more because it's becoming a staple for me!

skin update:

no new spots in the past 48 hours since implementing the diet and overnight last night pretty much every spot that was on my face came up with white on the surface which is awesome (well, doesn't look cute but at least that means they're getting out). my healing ones faded a bit but are still quite red.

my body feels awesome. aside from being a little lethargic today since i didn't sleep well last night, my stomach feels very calm. i'm going to head to sleep early and hope for the best tomorrow. i have to go to work tomorrow and am a little nervous about what to eat and what my energy will be like since i usually subsist on fruit at work. we'll see how it goes!

Edited by carlybee, 13 March 2011 - 08:34 PM.

[carlybee]

day 3:

breakfast:

coconut milk, chia seeds, cinnamon (not delicious, needed sweetener!)

lunch:

salad of romaine, avocado, cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup red quinoa, olive oil, apple cider vinegar.

dinner:

sauteed brussels sprouts and scrambled 2 eggs in coconut oil, put over a salad of spinach, avocado, organic sauerkraut, mary's gone crackers + nutritional yeast on top (i know it's called yeast but after doing some research i think this is okay on a candida free diet!)

skin update:

old spots still healing and fading but no new spots in the past 24 hrs! woke up this morning feeling better about my skin than i have in weeks. trying not to get my hopes up too much because i've heard it gets worse before better (die-off?) but so far so good.

body feels good except lower energy than usual. i like to run after work and i really had to force myself today and could only go at a snail's pace. i miss fruit, and sweetness in general, but i can tell that my body prefers life without it, so that's reassuring.

trouble sleeping the past two nights, not sure what's up with that.

still washing just with water which i highly highly recommend, and i put a vitamin e/tea tree moisturizer on spots at night, this is what i use:

[carlybee]

day 4:

breakfast, lunch and dinner exactly the same as yesterday except dinner was minus the eggs and brussels sprouts and plus broccoli and rainbow chard. nutritional yeast flakes are making my dinner AMAZING, i'm so happy they're okay to eat on this diet i think they are what will save me.

skin update:

everything is healing/fading faster than usual for sure. one very small new spot on my chin which is making me nervous but i'm remaining optimistic.

energy is much higher today, in fact i honestly had one of the best yoga practices of my life today. i know it's early but i already feel like sugar free living is the way to go. i haven't eaten refined sugar in about a year, by the way, but even my everyday fruit was obviously wreaking havoc on my body. i still have a major sweet tooth so it's hard, but my body feels so good that the sugar temptation is going down. my favorite quote is, "nothing tastes as good as feeling good feels" and that is SO TRUE.

[carlybee]

day 5:

meals were almost the same as yesterday, except no coconut milk pudding in the AM. i overslept so i just ate coconut butter out of the jar and it was AMAZING.

skin update:

this experiment is going slowly. i think updating everyday is making me feel discouraged because my skin is no better than yesterday BUT it's also no worse. i think i must be atypically tired because, like i mentioned, i overslept today by an hour which i never ever do.

i worry that i'm eating too much quinoa.

i'm not going to the bathroom enough (#2) and it concerns me. my body was definitely used to all the fruit i had been giving it so now things aren't moving so well. this usually means bad news for my skin but so far the crisis isn't evident on my face.

i'm in this for the long haul so we'll see what happens...

[carlybee]

days 5 & 6

food has been similar with slight variations (a.k.a. eating coconut butter directly from the jar because i've gotten so hungry at night, oops).

skin isn't doing so well. i wouldn't say it's a breakout but i have two new cystic spots, one on each cheek. charming. i'm going out of town this weekend and am tempted to just say "fuck it" to this diet since i'm not seeing results anyway. however, i won't. i'll keep with it.

i'm worried that my makeup is causing issues because i keep reading about bismuth oxychloride online, which is in the bare minerals i use. i keep trying to stop using this makeup actually and buy cheap drugstore foundation but it always looks disgusting and i go crawling back to the bare minerals. i'm going to go makeup-less this weekend since i don't have work and see if that helps.

i'll be back in three days, hopefully with good news.

[wheezle]

i think updating everyday is making me feel discouraged because my skin is no better than yesterday BUT it's also no worse.

I find that this is one of the difficult things about keeping a log, but when it's a diet-related cure you're looking for, it's pretty helpful.

Have you considered using supplements? I won't recommend any of the megadosing you see around here on the org, but some find zinc, D, B-Complexes, and a number of other things (in reasonable amounts) rather helpful. Just something to consider.

All the best.

[carlybee]

day 9:

went camping for the past few days but was miraculously able to stick to the diet. i don't think i've been eating enough though. today i woke up, went to the grocery store and felt like i was going to faint. i don't have very much energy and it sucks. but i'm still keeping up with some moderate physical activity.

food:
pumpkin/avocado/coconut butter in the AM
salads.. i've brought a little sweet potato back a bit into my diet and am scared that it's screwing me up, but god i love them.
some salmon
avocado
mary's gone crackers

skin update:
TERRIBLE. worse than before i started this. i'm feeling super discouraged but am hopeful that this is "die-off" or whatever. three more cystic-type spots on my cheek and smaller spots on my chin. i accidentally got some sun this weekend to my forehead and nose/cheeks are a bit burnt, which actually makes my forehead look awesome. it's clearer than it's been in months, so there's one plus i guess. i'm having a hard time keeping faith right now but i can't turn back now, need to see this through...

[carlybee]

i think updating everyday is making me feel discouraged because my skin is no better than yesterday BUT it's also no worse.

I find that this is one of the difficult things about keeping a log, but when it's a diet-related cure you're looking for, it's pretty helpful.

Have you considered using supplements? I won't recommend any of the megadosing you see around here on the org, but some find zinc, D, B-Complexes, and a number of other things (in reasonable amounts) rather helpful. Just something to consider.

All the best.

i do take a vitamin D supplement because last year my doctor told me i was deficient, so i've been taking it ever since. i also take fish oil each day, and usually B12 since i don't eat very many animal products. maybe i'll add zinc in! i'm trying not to do too much at once because then it makes it really hard to figure out what is causing what, and i think i hate feeling like a human guinea pig doing a million different experiments, you know?

which supplement have you found to be most helpful? thanks for your reply

[wheezle]

i do take a vitamin D supplement because last year my doctor told me i was deficient, so i've been taking it ever since. i also take fish oil each day, and usually B12 since i don't eat very many animal products. maybe i'll add zinc in! i'm trying not to do too much at once because then it makes it really hard to figure out what is causing what, and i think i hate feeling like a human guinea pig doing a million different experiments, you know?

which supplement have you found to be most helpful? thanks for your reply

I really think that zinc has been the most helpful for me. Even when I was still eating a lot of problem foods, I noticed improvement from 50-100mg of zinc picolinate/gluconate (I never tried less). Second to zinc in utility has been the B-50 complex. I take the B with meals, usually twice a day.

But yeah, I really think trying 30-50mg of zinc per day is a good idea. By no means has it been a miracle cure for me, but it's helped. And if you're not eating much meat, it's definitely worth a thought.

Keep trudging on!

[carlybee]

2 weeks!!!!

i made it two weeks and i have to celebrate this fact. i finally have my energy back almost 100% (still somewhat lethargic, and am requiring more sleep than usual for sure) and thankfully my digestion as well has recovered a bit. i started taking a probiotic pill with every meal which might be to thank for this relief. see, i was taking probiotics regularly prior to this experiment, but since i had read that probiotics + candida might be bad at first, i decided to take a break. my body did not like this at all so i'm back on them and feeling good about that decision.

what i eat:

first thing in the AM i drink tea with lime and apple cider vinegar. i love this.

for breakfast i am now making green smoothies with romaine or spinach, chia seeds, water, ice, carob powder and a little stevia. i won't venture to call these delicious but they are surprisingly filling for me in the AM.

lunch has been romaine/spinach salads with leftover sauteed veg from the night before, lemon or apple cider vinegar and avocado.

dinner is a bigger salad with vegetables sauteed in coconut oil, mary's gone crackers, sometimes sauerkraut, more avocado, a little olive oil, etc. i stopped putting nutritional yeast on my salads because it's so delicious that i felt like it must be doing something bad to my skin. that's kind of crazy, right? but anyway, most online sources say nutritional yeast is ok but i just wanted to try life w/o it and i am feeling better. i might add it in at some point because i need B12!

for dessert i'll have some coconut butter, sometimes with carob powder.

i've been completely satisfied this week with my food, not hungry at all like the first week. the only hard thing is going out to eat. i was at a mexican restaurant yesterday and didn't order anything because it just felt too stressful. vegan and anti-candida (and nut free) is HARD! oh, i've stopped eating eggs. i tried them last week for the first time in a year and didn't like the taste at all, so that's done with.

skin update:

for most of the two weeks my skin was the same - worse one day, a little better the next - but the past 2 days have been really positive for me. i actually didn't wear makeup last night, which i never do. this isn't to say i'm perfectly clear, i'm not, but without any active pimples and just fading spots i felt ok w/o makeup. i feel like not wearing makeup is crucial for my recovery, but when i go to work i NEED it!!

i had a weird realization last night. let me try to explain this. i have been using bare escentuals makeup for years and years (like 7 or more!). this entire time i have had acne. sometimes it has been really awful, but at the other times it's been alright. i've never not used the BE because i always felt like i needed needed needed it to look like a normal person. if my skin had been steadily bad this whole time i would have blamed the makeup, but because the acne would come and go in waves i thought it was hormonal. as of a month ago i stopped using this makeup because i read about bismuth oxychloride that's in it that is super irritating. i didn't see immediate change from stopping, but i've heard it takes time. okay but here was my realization. for the beginning of this school year (august - november) my skin was actually really good. i had no idea why, but it was amazing. then november until now it's been super downhill. i was rifling through my makeup drawer today and noticed that i have two types of BE. they are the same color but one is original (has bismuth) and one is matte (doesn't have it). i never kept track of which one i was using because the container looked the same, but i think i had been using the matte one for those clear months.

and considering i've never paid attention to the package when i buy makeup, i've probably gone back and forth buying matte and original for years and those clear times have possibly been the matte times.

i'm nervous to try the matte again (there's still some in there, i'm so disorganized with my makeup as you can tell because i really despise it!) since my skin is showing some improvement right now. however, i wish i knew if the improvement was thanks to the diet or makeup change or both. so confusing! i thought this would be important to share though, since it's definitely part of the acne puzzle.

i'm not going to wear any makeup this weekend, and it's going to feel amazing.

[carlybee]

3 weeks!!!!

this way of eating has only gotten easier with time. granted, i feel like i've definitely been over-relying on some questionable foods (like my mary's gone crackers which have brown rice and quinoa, as well as ume plum vinegar and carob powder which i read are ok for candida but they taste so sweet that i feel like they're sinful). i've said it before, but it's hard to be vegan and anti-candida! i eat almost the same thing every day. the bulk of my diet is definitely still raw and cooked veggies, especially broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, romaine and AVOCADOS. i eat one whole large avocado a day. i cook exclusively in coconut oil and use olive oil sparingly as salad dressing, along with ume plum vinegar or squeezed lime. i've been drinking water with lime and apple cider vinegar every AM. for dessert i have carob powder mixed in with either pumpkin or avocado and a small spoonful of coconut butter. THIS IS DELICIOUS. indescribable. sometimes i add a little stevia and then it's truly ridiculous.

adding in probiotics has been helpful - my digestion has been much much better since taking these with no negative impact on my skin. i take one with every meal. i'm also still taking 3 fish oil pills a day.

i've been doing one hour of yoga or running 3 miles every day, and drinking a lot of water. trying not to drink water with food though-- keeping it to in between meals since i've noticed i feel bloated if i drink a lot of water while i'm eating.

8 hours of sleep a night.

skin update:

it looks 90% better than before i started this experiment. it was a bit of a rollercoaster weeks one and two, but between weeks two and three was when the steady improvement started. i started doing something which doesn't come highly recommended on acne.org, but i tried it on a whim and am kind of obsessed with this: exfoliating with sea salt, either every day or every other day. i still only wash with cool water, but now i've started GENTLY rubbing my face with sea salt and have seen immediate benefits. i know i keep reading that it's too harsh for the face, but it's been amazing so far. i thought it would be super drying but it isn't at all for me. i have extremely sensitive skin also. i use no soap and no moisturizer. just water and sea salt. at night i spot treat with an organic tea tree oil/vitamin E lotion.

oh, also i threw away all of my makeup except for bare minerals MATTE. i think the bare minerals ORIGINAL was having a terrible impact on my skin, because since i've made this switch my skin looks much better.

i've kind of screwed up by making so many changes at once (my makeup, the sea salt, my diet) but i do think that all of these things have contributed and that it's not just one that's making ALL the difference.

i'm feeling really optimistic right now - i even think i'm going to post photos later today! hope i don't jinx myself and wake up tomorrow with 8 million more spots.

[carlybee]

here are 2 before pictures and 2 after pictures, taken of each side of my face.

first pics taken on first day (march 12th) and the afters were taken yesterday, april 2nd.

Attached Files

•  before1.jpg   333.86K   121 downloads
•  after1.jpg   544.15K   107 downloads
•  before2.jpg   427.42K   97 downloads
•  after2.jpg   601.95K   87 downloads

[iamthat]

good work! have you been eating eggs on your diet?

[carlybee]

good work! have you been eating eggs on your diet?

i've been trying to! so far, once a week i'll have 1-3 eggs. i might start to add more but i wanted to start slowly since i haven't eaten them in over a year. no bad reaction yet though.

[carlybee]

week 4 update:

it's been exactly 4 weeks on this diet and i'm feeling extremely, extremely depressed.

things were AWESOME last weekend at the 3 week mark, but this week was a downward spiral and i have about 5 spots on my chin area and two on my cheeks. there are a few possible triggers that i think it might be:

eggs
carrots (hadn't eaten these in months and had a small amount yesterday in a salad)
too much fat? since i eat a lot of coconut oil, coconut butter and avocado
pumpkin - i've been eating this for breakfast but maybe i shouldn't.. sigh.

basically my skin doesn't look much better at all after a month of this diet so i'm feeling extremely discouraged. of course i want to see it through and see if improvement happens, but i have this deep down feeling that no matter what i eat, i will still have acne so i shouldn't even bother with all this restriction.

i don't want to leave my house. i want to cry.

[pokemonster]

hey, great log! u very disciplined indeed im on something similar atm (should be doing more of what u do tho but not so disciplined lol) like lots of coconut etc, i didnt saw anywhere here anything about garlic & onions however, but y so?

anywayz u know, how do u think did that depression ur having atm is caused by this diet? i also heard that depression is sign of parasytes dieing, fighting back or something like that n so i recently also had extreeeme depression, like lowest of low feeling, i did have reasons irl tho n shit going on n prone to depression stuff at all i spose, but i wonder tho, maybe its somekinda conected afterall & the candida or whatever is aggravating it as well, making it even worse somehow? what do u know about this??

i read somewhere dried coconut is even more effective than oil/milk, but i lost link to that info, so i cant say fo sho

good luck with your diet, hope it works for u!

[iamthat]

week 4 update:

it's been exactly 4 weeks on this diet and i'm feeling extremely, extremely depressed.

things were AWESOME last weekend at the 3 week mark, but this week was a downward spiral and i have about 5 spots on my chin area and two on my cheeks. there are a few possible triggers that i think it might be:

eggs
carrots (hadn't eaten these in months and had a small amount yesterday in a salad)
too much fat? since i eat a lot of coconut oil, coconut butter and avocado
pumpkin - i've been eating this for breakfast but maybe i shouldn't.. sigh.

basically my skin doesn't look much better at all after a month of this diet so i'm feeling extremely discouraged. of course i want to see it through and see if improvement happens, but i have this deep down feeling that no matter what i eat, i will still have acne so i shouldn't even bother with all this restriction.

i don't want to leave my house. i want to cry.

Don't feel discouraged! It took me over 6 months to get clearer skin and if you eat one of your triggers (eggs carrots etc for me) then it can break you out with in a day. The pumpkin isnt allowed on the strict candida diet so that could be holding you back. Maybe only eat it once a week for a treat. You are doing great! A month i a lot of progress.. Time wil fly by and you will have clear skin before you know it

I have been to the pool in the past 2 days and my skin is normal enough to where people dont look at me like im a monster.. Good luck ! You can do it..

Other triggers for me (maybe for you too ) are
carrots
eggs
coffee
raw garlic
a lot of red meat in one sitting
asperagus

[carlybee]

hey, great log! u very disciplined indeed im on something similar atm (should be doing more of what u do tho but not so disciplined lol) like lots of coconut etc, i didnt saw anywhere here anything about garlic & onions however, but y so?

anywayz u know, how do u think did that depression ur having atm is caused by this diet? i also heard that depression is sign of parasytes dieing, fighting back or something like that n so i recently also had extreeeme depression, like lowest of low feeling, i did have reasons irl tho n shit going on n prone to depression stuff at all i spose, but i wonder tho, maybe its somekinda conected afterall & the candida or whatever is aggravating it as well, making it even worse somehow? what do u know about this??

i read somewhere dried coconut is even more effective than oil/milk, but i lost link to that info, so i cant say fo sho

good luck with your diet, hope it works for u!

i've been cooking vegetables with garlic every night - haven't taken it straight though! i've eaten cooked onion a few times as well, but i'm not a big fan so i haven't included much of it. i think that depression and the diet are probably related somehow, though what it feels like to me is that my skin is the main cause of depression for me. i'll feel good in the morning when i wake up until i look in the mirror and then suddenly i feel worthless. it's super in texas where i live, like 95 degrees, so i'm also craving fruit so badly. when i feel depressed i turn to sugary foods (healthy ones, but still sugary ones) so not being able to do that is making it all the more difficult. i don't have anything bad happening in my life other than my skin. i should consider myself lucky but i can't even appreciate the things that i have i don't want to leave the house!