21 replies to this topic

[Korion]

MONDAY 14 MARCH 2011

Hi. I had mild acne for years. In my first year of university, it got better. The second year, it got worse. I figured it could only be my diet, as my diet changed when I went to the university, and it changed when in my second year. That's when I decided to dedicate all my time to research on my own life, and how it affected zits.

So I started analyzing my diet ...

I ate lots of different things in those three months. I always thought it was insulin who messed with my skin. So I tried the Paleo Diet. Good meat is expensive though, so I didn't eat a lot of meat at first. More fruit and vegetables. Later on, I wanted to increase my meat intake (my skin already got a bit better, but those last zits kept bugging me). It's only in the last week that I discovered something crucial : I never ate meat at the university, though I started to eat meat in my second year again, to get protein.

Meat was the bad guy ...

But how could meat be a bad guy? I ate organic beef or chicken! I tested it out during one week, this was my diet :
- Monday : meat, lentils, carrots, apples
- Tuesday : no meat, spinach, lentils, apples
- Wednesday : chicken meat, carrots, spinach apples
- Thursday : no meat, only vegetables, almonds and fruit
- Friday : no meat, only vegetables, almonds and fruit
I had new zits on tuesday-morning and thursday-morning. Meat HAD to be the culprit. I then looked up everything I could about meat. The only bad thing about meat that I could find was the added hormones, but that was impossible as I ate organic meat, and the acidity (never took ph seriously, thought it was a stupid little joke).

Acidity my cause of acne?

That's when I read more closely about pH. And funny thing was, by reading about pH, I read about all the things that helped make a body more alkaline (as that's what we need, most of us are too acidic) : lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, herbs, vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, ...), ...
Does that ring a bell? All alkaline-forming foods are used as anti-acne facials! All of them!
And water! Water makes a body more alkaline!!! It had to be pH!

What to do now?

I've decided to eat no more meat, only vegetables, apples, etc..
I also drink a lot of lemon juice and apple cider vinegar (I've been drinking that last one for months, didn't do a lot, but I increased the amounts)

I'm now still in the process of curing. I got 1 new zit yesterday, but I was at home and my parents always make meat at noon during weekends, plus there were visitors and I ate rice cake and white bread, both acidic. I had 1 pimple, we're now monday-morning and that pimple is gone. You wanna know why? I stuffed myself with apples and tomatoes this morning, and put lemon juice on the pimple.

Simple, huh? And you know what the great part is? Potato chips are alkaline, and I love those

This is my log, and I think I'm on the right track already.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADDITIONAL PROOF OF WHY ACIDITY IS MY PROBLEM :

My first year of university, I felt great. I never understood why. I'm now sure it was my skin. Here are some more things I ate in my first year, but not in my second year (I got almost no acne in my first year, got mild acne in my second, mostly red skin though) :
- Golden Grahams (I found out later that that's one of the only alkaline breakfast cereals)
- Pizza hut, but I removed the cheese as they really put lots of cheese on it. I ate it occasionaly, but in my second year, I stopped eating it and ate Dr Oetker frozen pizzas and I ate the cheese
- No bread (I ate lots of white bread in my second year)
- No meat
- No dairy (never ate dairy in my life, I was lactose intolerant when I was small, that's probably why I only have mild acne. I also stopped eating yoghurts when I got in my first year of university)
- Grapes on sunday evening, as my father always bought those and I stuffed myself with it. Please note that I always eat meat on sunday, so those grapes probably worked against it.
- French fries, with 1 little piece of meat. Potatoes are alkaline. Never ate french fries in my second year, only from mcdonalds, but I always ate chicken mcnuggets at mcdonalds.
- Lots of beer : beer is slightly alkaline. Never drank beer in my second year as I though it was the culprit for me feeling bad. I'm now going back to an alcoholic life .

Sidenote : you probably noticed there's a lot of fastfood in my diet. I'm at the university, what did you expect. Still, I've been living 3 months on mostly apples and vegetables now, and my skin is more clear than ever. Even more than last year.


SOME MATHS, AND WHY THE PALEO DIET FAILS

To know whether a food is alkaline, I use the PRAL number. Positive PRAL = acid, Negative PRAL = alkaline.
Here's an example : an apple (130g) is around -2.5. 100g meat is something like 15.
You'd have to eat 6 apples to work against 100g meat. That's 800g apples for 100g meat.

Now, take the paleo diet. Most paleo diet followers eat something like 300g meat every day. Their total PRAL is something like 45.
100g broccoli is around -5, but it really depends on how you cook it. Say, they eat one whole broccoli. That's 500g broccoli, that's -25. Their total PRAL is 20. They are acidic for the day. Of course, they still eat fruits etc., but I'm sure their diet is often acidic. So, girls, who probably rather eat vegetables than meat, could cure their acne with the paleo diet. But guys would probably fail. That's what happened to Dan. He ate tons of meat, not a lot of vegetables and fruit (not enough to make himself alkaline).

I think this PRAL gives a good idea, but it can fail. Take whey (by optimum nutrition), for example (wrote about that later on). Whey is full of protein, of course, so it has to be acidic. Or at least have some bad effects. Really bad.

EDIT : THE WHEY I USED IS ACIDIC (I measured the PRAL myself this time, and while whey isn't always acidic, the optimum nutrition whey is). I think natural whey has 10x more minerals, so that one should be okay. ON Casein is fine too, I think, but I think I'll give them a call or send them an e-mail to be sure. I ate tons of casein and some whey in my second month of diet testing, and didn't have that many problems, though I had pimples from time to time, especially when I ate meat. Btw, I got SO much evidence of my theory now that it's almost ridiculous. I found out that stress is acidic too (found out the hard way yesterday). If you feel bad, and you're going to sleep, put some honey on your skin (everywhere!), sleep on your back so the honey stays there, don't worry about the mess, make sure there's honey everywhere, and then sleep. This will stop pimples from forming, as honey is slightly alkaline and will thus have a constant good effect on your skin over night. Yesterday I was really really stressed, put honey on my skin, went to sleep, but slept on my right side. I got 2 new zits on my right side now (I was very stressed because I ate 99% Lindt chocolate, it first improved my skin and mood a lot, but later I felt horrible, was extremely stressed, couldn't sleep, my skin started to show bad signs, next morning felt still horrible, now I detoxed by exercising and by drinking water and by eating fruit, and everything is alright again, still recovering though).

I realize I'm not a scientist (though I study science), and that there's a lot of BS here. But the overall thought is there, and it clearly helped me. So why don't you try it out, and tell me about it?

Edited by Korion, 02 April 2011 - 10:02 AM.

[Ella12]

Hi! Welcome to Acne.org! Just saw your post in the "Introduce Yourself" forum.

I do think that different people will have different treatment methods that work best for them, but I myself am a firm believer that dietary changes can help A LOT of acne sufferers, not to mention promote total bodily health!! The whole-foods, vegetarian approach is a GREAT way to detox your system and give your body the vital nutrients it needs. I actually started doing it for ethical reasons, but the health benefits became a huge motivating factor for me, as well.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts! Hope to see ya around the site!

[Korion]

Thanks . I'm still wondering if pH is my only problem, or there are more problems. I'll be around here to write about my progress.

TUESDAY 15 MARCH 2011 (MORNING)

Zit count : 4

Today I got 2 zits, but I ate a lot of whey and not a lot of vegetables yesterday. Would whey (by optimum nutrition) be acidic? I'm gonna test it out by eating the same things as yesterday, only without the whey. I think whey is acidic, even though lots of people say it isn't. I mean, all protein sources are kinda acidic (meat, fish, milk, cheese, ...), so why wouldn't whey be? And when people talk about whey, I often don't know what they're talking about, as the nutrition facts on the internet for acid or sweet whey are very different from what's on my brand's label (there is waaaaaay more protein in my whey, like 8 times more).
I was able to spot the zits before going to sleep and apple cider vinegar prevented them from growing, so they're kinda small, but still, I'd rather have none.

I'm pretty sure whey is the culprit, though it could be the big amount of cereals I ate. But I don't think so. I ate tons of cereals saturday and got no zits back then.

Also didn't drink a lot of water yesterday. Less than 2 liters. Let's see what happens today, I'm having spinach for breakfast, and I'm gonna eat 650g spinach today (I ate only 200g yesterday with 3 raw carrots, usually I eat around 600g of vegetables + tomatoes).


I think I'll have to stop thinking about gym and muscles for some weeks, and focus on the 4 small zits I have left. It's time that this thing ends, I'm losing a lot of time and can't enjoy life this way. Summer is close, I want to have fun.

Edited by Korion, 15 March 2011 - 12:59 PM.

[Korion]

TUESDAY 15 MARCH 2011

Zit count : 3 1/2 (one small one)

Quick update : no new zits yet, I've been eating lots of apples and vegetables.
Now, I realize some people are gonna say : "you don't get zits because you eat less calories". Let me tell you this : I ate 10 apples, 3 kiwis, 6 tomatoes, a bell pepper, 100g cereals (Golden Grahams), 800g cooked carrots and 450g spinach. That enough calories for you? Bad news : I got a huge stomach because of all the fiber, hahaha. I'm afraid people are gonna ask if I'm pregnant.

I also found out something interesting : emotions change your pH level. That means I finally found out why I looked at my worst when I spent hours in front of a laptop not knowing what to do.

And I read an article about protein and acidity : apparently, our bodies aren't designed to get more than 45g of protein every day. This means that I clearly exaggerated yesterday with the 75g whey.
The same article said that, if you eat tons of protein, your body uses alkaline minerals to process that protein. Such as calcium. So, while a lot of people say you gotta drink milk to get strong bones : there is too much protein in milk to really get the benefits out of the calcium content. I'm glad I never ate dairy in my life, it would have been useless anyways.

So, you acne readers out there : maybe try calcium as a supplement? Or just add baking soda to your water!

Edited by Korion, 15 March 2011 - 12:59 PM.

[Korion]

WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH 2011 - MORNING

Zit Count : 1 1/2 (There are traces of other zits that started to grow monday evening, but they are so small now that I don't really count them)

I watched 4 Seinfeld episodes yesterday evening and today, to make me even happier than I already am. Like I said, I only ate alkaline food yesterday (I did eat cooked spinach, but I threw all my frozen spinach away). I ate something like 1.5kg vegetables and 10 apples and 4 kiwis. Today, I started the day with 2 apples and 2 kiwis (I also eat cereals from time to time to fill me up with calories, so I don't lose too much weight, I don't wanna turn manorexic. For those wondering what kind of cereals : I eat golden grahams, as I'm pretty sure those are alkaline.).

As you can see, the zit count is getting lower. I think I'm gonna simulate sea water today and take a sea salted face bath to speed everything up. For those wondering, sea salted water is alkaline. That's why your face clears up at the beach. I'm probably gonna spend like an hour with my face (mainly my chin) in salt water.

I didn't do any exercise yesterday, didn't have a lot of time (though I always use a bike to go to school or to the mall, so I kinda do exercise everyday). Today (actually, right now), I'm gonna do a 40 minute bike ride (maybe twice), I have to go to the mall to get vegetables, and I'm gonna do a workout, but this time without a protein shake. I'll make another post this evening.
I believe doing exercise (and taking cold showers, as I do that too) speeds up the healing process, as blood flow increases. I often noticed that, after doing a very sweaty workout, my zits are always smaller.


EDIT : I just read something very very important, and realized something. I had Gout 3 months ago. I remember having a huge, swelled foot. I found it funny and didn't pay any attention to it. That means I was extremely acid back (Gout is a disease cause by acidity of the blood) then (it was also the time my skin was at it's worst).
Conclusion : maybe this whole pH thing is just a personal thing, but I know it is the cause of my acne, and probably the cause of acne for a lot of people.
Tomorrow I'm gonna eat potato chips, as those are fine if you just want alkaline blood.

Edited by Korion, 16 March 2011 - 07:06 AM.

[Korion]

WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH 2011 - EVENING

Just a quick update : no new pimples, ate some cereals (golden grahams), a dried fig , lots of vegetables (carrots and cucumber) and apples and kiwis. Still 1 1/2 zits, as there's those two guys that just don't wanna leave my face. I'll show them.

Tomorrow I'm gonna eat broccoli, carrots, a cucumber and bell peppers, and I'm gonna use an Aztec Secrets Indian Healing Clay mask. That is 100% Bentonite Calcium Clay, and if you didn't know already, Calcium is used by the body to make itself more alkaline (milk has not enough calcium to fight his own protein content, if you were wondering why milk is acid).

I'm also gonna put honey on my remaining spots during the night.

I find it really strange I don't have to go to the toilet that much, I eat tons of fruits and vegetables. Maybe I'm getting used to it?

[Korion]

THURSDAY 17 MARCH 2011 - MORNING

Zit Count : 1 1/3 (there's this one zit that I so wanna pop because he's almost almost dead, but I know it's better to wait)

My skin feels nice, probably because of the lemon juice and honey I put on it last evening. Soon I'll be zit-free, I know it. I only have one real zit and some mini-zits left (they were there yesterday already, but now they're smaller).

I'm gonna do an Aztec Secrets Healing Clay Mask, as I said in the above post, as Calcium will help my skin tremendously. This mask is probably the best thing you could use against acne (as an external method, of course). It's not even expensive, though I had to pay lots of shipping costs as I'm from Europe.

Every part of my skin that had a bit of problems during the past months (mostly around my mouth) are dry, but not that bad dryness, that dryness that tells you you're doing well, like there's no way a pimple can grow there.

It's almost weekend, and I have to eat meat during weekends. Now, it's only 100-200g meat on saturday and on sunday, so I have plenty of meals to make myself more alkaline. Last week it was harder because of visitors, I ate pie and white bread, but this time I'm just gonna eat 1kg carrots every day with a cucumber. And of course put tons of lemon juice on the meat.

Next week I'll see if potato chips are okay to eat. I'm afraid I don't have the guts to try it out though, I'll probably eat one bag and stuff myself with vegetables. I'm sick of zits. Plus, I wanna deal with the small hyperpigmentation issues first.
The good news about potato chips is that I ate them last year too, and as stated in my first post here, I had a good skin then (far from perfect, but I think that's because I ate pizza, though I removed the cheese, but I also ate salted nuts and spaghetti. all those foods are not very acidic though, that's probably why I didn't have a lot of skin problems).

[Korion]

FRIDAY 18 MARCH 2011 - MORNING

Zit Count : 1 1/3 (No real changes)


Okay, bad news for me. It had been a while since I looked in the mirror (I never have a lot of zits, but I do have a very spotted face when I have acne), so I counted the zits with my hands.
Now, I looked in the webcam yesterday, and damn I was red everywhere. Now, it could have been because I put Apple Cider Vinegar straight on my skin, because this morning I looked again (this time in the mirror) and I wasn't very red. I don't know if this is still acne (they don't look like regular zits, they're just ... spots) or hyperpigmentation, but I can tell it's gonna take a month till I'm fully clear. At least. Yesterday I was freaking out, almost gave up on everything, glad I took a short look in the mirror, as it's not that bad.

You know what's horrible about acne? You look in reflections on windows or microwave doors, and everything seems fine, you're glad. Then, when you look into a normal mirror, you almost cry, it's so ugly. And what's even worse : I had this 4 months ago, and didn't even realize it was my skin.

Now, to treat those red spots, I now put honey everywhere.

Btw, my forehead is completely clear, there's just one dead zit still in the process of being cured.

I'm also gonna stop washing my face in the shower here, as it's probably bad water, and I want to speed this up as much as possible.

Sidenote : I forgot to tell, but I have problems with my nose : it feels so swollen, I think it's something with my sinuses. It usually gets worse when I get on the computer. Maybe it's just gonna go away by itself, we'll see.

Oh, and here is a summary of my diet for those who want to try it out :
- Lots of apples (preferable without pesticides, but the last time I checked they were out of stock)
- Green grapes (I don't know about red ones, but they should be fine)
- Dried figs (no pesticides or any chemicals, I have a great supermarket here)
- Kiwis (also, no pesticides)
NOTE * As you see, there are no pesticides on what I eat, but that shouldn't really matter a lot, so don't be afraid to eat normal fruit, I just want to be sure so I avoid chemicals
- Vittel water (is alkaline water, that's really awesome for me, notice how I drink water by an other brand on monday, and I've had breakouts every monday for the last two weeks)
- Carrots (like tons of them, I thought of finding new kinds of vegetables, as I don't wanna turn orange)
- Dried basil on everything I cook, and sometimes in water
- 2x Lemon juice every day, whenever I feel like it. You might feel tired the first time you drink it, but you'll feel normal when you are alkaline and drink lemon juice (I really felt dizzy the first time I drank lemon juice on an empty stomach)
- Apple cider vinegar 3-5 times a day in my water (2-3 teaspoons), I recently bought 7 liters of it.
- Cucumbers (1 a day, if I have them in the fridge)
- Golden Grahams (I'm gonna stop that now, as I wanna go faster with the clearing process and golden grahams are not as good as vegetables)

I wash most of what I eat with tap water, but sometimes I use vittel water to clean it too. I cook in vittel water.
I wash my hands with lemon juice from time to time. As it's been a cold winter and my hands are full of wounds (I did a lot of bike rides to increase blood flow, and didn't have anything to protect my hands from the cold wind) it stings like hell but it's all good, it's for my acne.

My natural external treatments :
- Honey during the night (everywhere there are issues, I do it every night, as that's 8-10 hours of pure treatment)
- Aztec Secrets Indian Healing Clay masks (max 1x every day)
- Sea salt face baths (using Vittel water)
- Lemon Juice from time to time, but I stopped that for a while as it stings a lot on the bad skin
- Apple cider vinegar too, but I stopped that completely for the same reasons. I drink it though.

Edited by Korion, 18 March 2011 - 05:05 AM.

[Korion]

THURSDAY MARCH 31 2011 - MORNING

Zit count : 4

I know, I got some zits. I ate golden grahams again monday, and broke out. Then I read the mineral content on the package, and apparently the Nestle Golden Grahams have far less calcium, have way more protein (twice as much) and are thus acidic. Eating only golden grahams on a day was thus quite a mistake . I learned though.

I ate 2 bags of potato chips yesterday to test out my theory, and it was proved again : my skin IMPROVED over night (might have been the honey that I put on the zits though, but still, the potato chips did nothing bad).
I'm now gonna eat completely alkaline for 9 days. I'll post again with the zit count then. I might have 4 zits, my face isn't red at all, the acne doesn't bother me. That's probably because of the alkaline diet I had after monday.

I noticed that when I eat big bunches of alkaline foods, I'm very very very very happy. It's really strange, I have the urge to dance, to laugh, to do anything I want.

I also learned how to analyze foods now : you can calculate the PRAL of any food this way :
PRAL =
0.49 * protein (g) +
0.037 * phosphorus (mg) -
0.021 * potassium (mg) -
0.026 * magnesium (mg) -
0.013 * calcium (mg)

From now on, I call the companies from food I eat to get mineral contents, and measure everything myself. And all the vegetables I eat are fine (carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, ...).
I noticed mushrooms aren't always alkaline though, glad I hate those things .

[vapor1]

Having an alkaline diet is definitely good. I recommend taking cayenne pepper pills -- they're highly alkaline and are anti-inflammatory. Since I've been taking them, I have noticed a lot of improvement. Also, you can eat a bit of acidic meat as long as you balance it with alkaline foods. In addition to having an alkaline pH, it's also important to not have a high glycemic diet.


As for the whey breaking you out, most people on this board have sensitivities to milk (or lactose), so that could be it. Whey, in fact, can have the highest lactose content of any milk product, depending on what type of whey it is. So, try staying off dairy if possible.

[Nightsdisguise]

Hey,

Some red flags I see that you might not be aware of and this is coming from my experience with changing how I eat... I would say meat is not the culprit at all. Meat infact is very good for the human body. It goes all the way back to our early ancestors. Meat/animal fat was what us humans survived on for many and many years. It was a very high percent of calories for us because of how it made us feel satiated for longer periods of time. You can look at different tribes over the world and some survive souly on meat/fat while there are others who get most calories from carbohydrates... This being said it is difficult to say this diet (high fat, low carb) works better over that diet (high carb, lower fat). Well to make some kind of point about the above statements I believe the highly processed foods are what might cause problems not only with skin, but other diseases, medical issues as well. When all you are eating are fruits and vegetables you are missing protein, fat in your diet. I've done enough reading about the topic of healing the body to know that many sources out there recommend eating habits to consist of whole foods (meat, vegetables, oils, butters, etc.) to heal the body. It's like real food is the medicine our bodies always needed and strive for.

To be more specific about what you are eating. This is my suggestion and opinion. I want to admit that I'm not a doctor, medical associate, nutritionist, or neither do I possess any kind of degree in health/medicine related fields. I don't want you to take my advice without thinking and doing your own research for yourself. Like I said this is a friendly suggestion:

1)Cut out the bread, pasta, rice, ramen noodles (if you eat them), cereals, grains.
2)Cut out the fruit... Many people don't realize, but fruit in high quantities is toxic to the body. My reliable source for this statement can be found by google searching "The Healthy Skeptic". Read his 9 steps to better health. The reason I stay away from the fruit is because of the fructose. I see throughtout your posts you tend to eat lots of fruit.
3)Start eating meat again. I would recommend limiting my chicken and turkey consumption. The reason being those meats are high in omega 6, especially if you are eating chicken skin. The result of a diet high in Omega 6's is inflammation. Eat the beef, bison-buffalo, lamb, elk, etc...
4)Eat your seafood. High in omega 3's which reduce the body's overall inflammation.
5)Eat fat like butter, unrefined coconut oil (nutiva brand is good $20 bucks for 54 ounces), extra virgin olive oil, did I say butter...
6)Stay away from man-made oils-vegetable oil, safflower, canola, etc...
7) Eat those veggies
8)Don't obsess about alkaline and acidity (PH levels) google Healing Naturally by Bee (great site for healing the body)
9)Look into ways to relieve stress... Sea salt baths, dry skin brushing, breathing exercises, etc...

Some of my favorite blogs to check out and most of my ideas come from them. They are:
Panu; The Healthy Skeptic, Mark's Daily Apple, Michael Eades, Healing Naturally by Bee, Primal Toad

Have fun and the more knowledge you have about something the better off you are.
I hope I didn't offend you in any way. Hope you find a cure.

-JEFF

[Korion]

I agree, meat isn't bad at all, but you should ALWAYS compensate it with the right vegetables (spinach, broccoli, carrots), preferably raw (unless you don't like raw vegetables, like me).
And if you like raw meat, go for it, it's less acidic. Keep in mind cavemen didn't cook meat, and I doubt that they had 300g meat every day. 100g every day seems okay, combined with tons of fruit and vegetables, and maybe quinoa or other stuff.

Thanks a lot for those tips, that's great, though I respectfully disagree with some things :
- Sea salt baths are way too slow, and are more suitable for body acne (which I don't have). Going to the beach and swim is a great idea though.
- ...

Actually, that's the only thing I disagree with . Sorry, I'm in quite a bad mood (not that bad, I'm recovering from stress) because of Lindt 99% Chocolate from yesterday night (had to detox myself extremely fast because it made me stress more than when I gotta do a public speech, caffeine is clearly not for me, got 2 zits because of that, but I learned). Tomorrow I'm gonna do some highly alkaline stuff . Like eating garden cress or water cress. Maybe some potatoes, but I think I'm gonna eat quinoa instead, as it's better for the overall health.

Also, ever since I started eating healthier I don't like the taste of potato chips, potatoes, chocolate or candy anymore. It just doesn't feel right, it makes me feel kinda bad, ...

Your advice really shows you have the right ideas, everything you say is right. I know you won't agree with me, but meat should be combined with tons of vegetables or it can cause zits. The more meat, the more zits.
But eating 300g meat with 1 kilo of raw vegetables (raw parsley is awesome, you only need 120g of that to compensate 100g meat, and you only need like 60g of it to compensate 100g raw meat, so now I understand why cavemen had no problems, you also only need 150g raw carrots = 2 carrots to compensate 100g raw meat).

Edited by Korion, 02 April 2011 - 10:17 AM.

[Korion]

Ok, got it now. My acne = allergy. When I eat meat, I reduce my calcium levels, and calcium is a natural anti-histamine. By eating meat I won't get acne, but by eating meat with things I'm allergic to I will break out like hell. Yesterday I only ate grapes, strawberries and nasty, unhealthy potato chips. Didn't give me any problems. And that isn't a healthy diet, right?

This is what I think now : the whole PRAL story means that if you eat foods that have a negative PRAL, you might very well hold your breakouts back because you get a lot of anti-histamines (calcium). But, as I said, it's not the healthy way. Take an allergy test to be sure, and try to eat paleo, it's makes you feel awesome, it makes you wake up fast. Vegetarian or fruit-only or vegan are fine too of course, but paleo is the only way to eat healthy and get enough B12.. Then, if you eat things that you're not allergic too, you will have no zits. I knew from experience that grapes and potatoes don't cause problems for me, and that the ingredients in potato chips aren't bad for me either. Tomatoes are fine too, brown rice too. As brown rice is only 111 kcal for every 100g when cooked, I need more (I'm getting way too thin). I'm gonna keep eating potato chips or french fries, then, when I'm at home where I can cook more (better kitchen), I'll make tons of brown rice or something and see what happens.

EDIT : I've stopped eating paleo as I don't like fish and I'm allergic to nuts. I'm trying to be raw vegan, but it's kinda hard if you have parents that think they know better.

Edited by Korion, 03 May 2011 - 02:08 AM.

[ben90]

Have you ever thought about low stomach acid levels? Or even perhaps a lack of digestive function overal (pancreatic enzymes etc).

Meat is tough for the body to break down unless digestion is at its best and it always makes me wonder why people automatically blame the meat! The more realistic reason is probably down to poor digestive function. Carbs are easier to break down, hence why a vegetarian diet usually is the cure for peoples acne (this is my opinion, not fact).

Do a little test - mix a level teaspoon (about 5g) of bi-carbonate of soda and drink it first thing on an empty stomach. If you burp alot within about 15 mins it means your stomach acid is fine, if not then you have low levels and need some digestive support.

[daynac]

Your diet sounds great. I have been vegan for 20 years and I have tried to find food allergies and foods that effect my skin with no luck. I think that it is horminal. I started to take large doses of vitamin d about a month ago and I have had great results--no cysts for a month. That is the longest I have gone without a cyst for 10 years with the exception of some time after dermabrasion treatments. I will stay clear for a few weeks after, but I cant afford to do it every month. My sister also has cysts and the vitamin d has helped her too!

[Korion]

@daynac : It is a nice diet, it's great to eat a lot of fruit and that kind of stuff.
On the other hand, I noticed I simply don't have acne. Apparently, those red dots on my face are only due to allergies, not due to an unhealthy lifestyle. I managed to find out that I'm allergic to lettuce and sunflower. Sunflower oil can be found in almost every food.

When I eat something I'm allergic to in combination with meat, I have worse reactions. I think that's because meat promotes calcium loss, which is a natural antihistamine. As I never ate dairy in my life, I need my calcium. I use mineral water with a high calcium content.

I also noticed that, when I eat garden cress, my nose really clears up within minutes, and I feel quite good. Today, I'm gonna do a garden cress fast to see if it really helps, and I'm going to the see to swim so my skin clears up. I do have a zit, but only one, the rest is weird kind of inflammation.

I look better in the morning than I look in the evening. I think this is because I've been eating stuff I'm allergic to for months, almost every day. I've taken a small allergy blood test to test for the common allergens (milk, mold, ...) but I'm gonna ask my doctor for skin testing. I'm glad I'm allergic to lettuce though, it's not very tasty anyways. And a sunflower allergy keeps me away from bread and chips and bread and other fatty foods, which is a good thing .

For all those acne sufferers out there : try out garden cress! it's amazing! It has a lot of protein to make you strong, it has quite a lot of calcium, and it's packed with vitamin a, c and k. It is also anti-inflammatory, and it has lots of other good things (lots of fiber, vitamin e, magnesium, ...). Besides, the PRAL of garden cress is -10!!! If you're not allergic to it (you shouldn't be, I've never heard of a garden cress allergy and nobody on the internet has it apparently), it IS gonna clear your acne. I'm going to the mall now to buy some buckets of garden cress (they don't have buckets of it, that's the bad news).

There is one bad thing about garden cress : it has a lot of sugars . That's not even a bad thing , it has a lot of fiber too. I'm so gonna have to go to the toilet all the time now . I hope this is the last time I have to track a damn allergy, if I happen to be allergic to garden cress I'm gonna have to slap someone on the face . Damn shame my doctor is on holidays!

About vitamin D : are you a person who avoids sunlight? I try to get my vitamin D from the sun, but I cover my head as it damages my skin. I would buy vitamin D and try it out, but as I mentioned I don't have cyst problems etc, though my skin looks as terrible as someone with tons of acne. The good news with my skin is that it heals very quickly as I don't have wounds, I just have weird allergy inflammation and itchiness.

@ben90 : you have a point, ben, but digestive acne often gives you zits on the forehead, not on the cheeks. Cheek acne is often because of respiratory problems. I've always had sinus problems in the past, because of allergies, but I never knew what it was. Sunflower play an important role, but I'm still tracking down other food allergies.
If you didn't know already : I've never had any forehead acne, it has always been close to the nose, the chin or the cheeks. I also never had more than 5 zits in my life, but I do have tons of red spots due to allergy. I hope those disappear fast! Cheers!

Edited by Korion, 03 May 2011 - 02:14 AM.

[overthis]

I'm a vegetarian and I have moderate to severe acne.

[spectacled_owl]

So, girls, who probably rather eat vegetables than meat, could cure their acne with the paleo diet.

Dude, I love my meat.

And I was female last time I checked. I also love vegetables too, and eat plenty of them.

I'm not gonna add much because I'm in early stages of my own diet and am still earning a lot. I will say that fresh herbs and spices are a great addition to any diet and have anti-inflammatory properties. They also make food incredibly delicious!

Ginger
Turmeric
Black Pepper
Cinnamon
Rosemary
Basil
Cardamon
Chives
Cilantro
Cloves
Garlic
Parsley

[GreenEyes33]

So, girls, who probably rather eat vegetables than meat, could cure their acne with the paleo diet.

Dude, I love my meat.

And I was female last time I checked. I also love vegetables too, and eat plenty of them.

I'm not gonna add much because I'm in early stages of my own diet and am still earning a lot. I will say that fresh herbs and spices are a great addition to any diet and have anti-inflammatory properties. They also make food incredibly delicious!

Ginger
Turmeric
Black Pepper
Cinnamon
Rosemary
Basil
Cardamon
Chives
Cilantro
Cloves
Garlic
Parsley

Spectacled owl: I just want to say that I am following your posts and food logs! I think we have the same philosophy on acne and healing the body so I'm excited to see how things go for you

[spectacled_owl]

Cool! Motivation to keep it updated.

Do you have a log as well? I've been meaning to put a link to mine in my sig for easy access.

/threadhijacksry