10 replies to this topic

[swordinhand]

A little background:
I've had acne for around 15 years (since I was 12). I've tried many things over the years to cure it, topical and dieting, natural and unnatural. For the past year, I decided to go 100% natural. I cut out using Dan's regimen topically and my diet is essentially a Paleo / Candida variety. I can't go into every detail over my journey, but basically I still breakout, and my breakouts tend to be cystic and take a while to go away (1-2 weeks). It's extremely frustrating and psychologically debilitating. I'm trying to figure out what is still causing my acne, or is this just the natural process of ridding my body of the toxins that have accumulated over the year? Here's a look at my diet (which is pretty much the same everyday)

Note: All food is either organic / pastured / farmer's market / grass fed / wild / etc. and I cook 100% of my meals.

Breakfast:
3 eggs (farmer's market, very good source, no corn or soy, pastured)
cooked in butter and coconut oil (2 Tbsp)
EVOO on top (not heated)

Lunch and dinner stir fry:
Ground grass fed local beef (1/2 lb)
Broccoli (steamed or sauted)
Onions (Sauted)
Garlic (sometimes)
Butter (2.5 Tbsp)
Coconut oil
Olive oil on top (not heated)

Sometimes I have wild fish or steak or chicken, but mostly ground beef

For supplements:
Vitamin C crystals
Vitamin E (clear base)
Magnesium
Calcium
Fermented Cod Liver Oil / Butter Oil
Nutritional Yeast (B supplement)

For topical:
Wash face morning and night with Dr. Bronner's tea tree oil soap
Lemon

Here are some facts:
- I'm fairly underweight (118 and 5'9") have been most of my life and struggle with putting weight on (one of the reasons my diet is so high fat / protein)
- I've had problems with irritable bowel and diarrhea / constipation (although it seems to be a bit better these days)
- Raw vegetables give me diarrhea
- I don't masturbate (cut it out and saw noticeable improvement in breakouts)
- I lowered salt and saw noticeable improvement in acne
- I had terrible acne when I tried incorporating grains / gluten back into my diet
- Acne improved when I cut out all sugars (fruit, honey, sugar, etc.)
- My face is 80-90% there but I still get breakouts too often and so the last bit is still perplexing to me.
- My face gets more oily as the day progresses and it also feels very dry and itchy too.
- When I choose to do something, I don't cheat and stay and adhere to something quite strictly (like this diet)

Ok sorry for the long post, I just really want to figure this thing out and I feel like I'm really close, but there's something not quite right. Love some insight. Thank you!

[tim12]

Have you considered avoiding FODMAPS, and avoiding common allergenic foods such as eggs and dairy (which are a staple in your diet?) for at least a full 30 days, and GAPS? It sounds like you have a lot of digestion issues. Indeed, raw vegetables are much harder on the digestive system, you definitely want to cook all your foods. How do starchy foods usually go for you? Do you have body acne?

Edited by tim12, Yesterday, 09:38 AM.

[arqa22]

im tired of writing the same thing in every new topic.


just read this: http://www.acne.org/...d-my-cyst-acne/

[tim12]

arqa22, on 23 May 2012 - 10:03 AM, said:

im tired of writing the same thing in every new topic.


just read this: http://www.acne.org/...d-my-cyst-acne/

No one is making you post or contribute, so if you're tired, feel free to stop. Food and masturbation are not the only factors potentially involved in acne, nor are they absolute triggers for everyone, btw.

Edited by tim12, Yesterday, 10:12 AM.

[swordinhand]

@tim12
I think I'm going to try no eggs. I highly doubt it's butter. Butter has very little protein and it's the dairy protein that causes acne. Also, I added butter to my diet recently and did t notice any negative results. In fact I think my face might have gotten better

As for body acne, it's very mild and has almost gone away.

[borie88]

Why not replace the butter with ghee just to make sure? I'm allergic to eggs. Try ruling out other allergies. Do you get enough calories per day? That could also cause acne. Any digestive problems (too slow or fast)?

[tim12]

borie88, on 23 May 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

Why not replace the butter with ghee just to make sure? I'm allergic to eggs. Try ruling out other allergies. Do you get enough calories per day? That could also cause acne. Any digestive problems (too slow or fast)?

swordinhand, on 23 May 2012 - 11:01 AM, said:

@tim12
I think I'm going to try no eggs. I highly doubt it's butter. Butter has very little protein and it's the dairy protein that causes acne. Also, I added butter to my diet recently and did t notice any negative results. In fact I think my face might have gotten better

As for body acne, it's very mild and has almost gone away.

I've gotta agree with borie if you're trying to go all out and be sure, I know that my last bit of acne went away when I went completely without dairy, even ghee, for the past month or so. I'm giving it more time and doing the whole "good for GI" sort of thing before I start back with ghee. If you've ever made ghee yourself, you'll see that you can get a considerable amount of cheese, more than enough to upset a sensitive system. The whole point of the elimination diet + methodically adding things back in is so you can have a greater idea of what your intolerances are, and it's hard to say it was X or Y that made things better or worse when we're constantly working with so many variables.

Also, chicken is a trigger for me as well, even the pastured kind, maybe because of the grains they eat naturally. I'd really look into the whole gut health thing, since there's some digestion issues going on. I've been avoiding FODMAPS for good measure as well (I'm basically doing the safe fruits and veggies + meats + seafood + bone broth for food), and it's been going pretty well.

In addition to diet, how is your sleep, exercise, stress, happiness, and things of that sort? Have you considered cutting out the soap?

Edited by tim12, Yesterday, 11:46 AM.

[arqa22]

what else could cause acne

tim12, on 23 May 2012 - 10:12 AM, said:

arqa22, on 23 May 2012 - 10:03 AM, said:

im tired of writing the same thing in every new topic.


just read this: http://www.acne.org/...d-my-cyst-acne/

No one is making you post or contribute, so if you're tired, feel free to stop. Food and masturbation are not the only factors potentially involved in acne, nor are they absolute triggers for everyone, btw.

what else causes acne except diet and hormones?

[alternativista]

tim12, on 23 May 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

Have you considered avoiding FODMAPS, and avoiding common allergenic foods such as eggs and dairy (which are a staple in your diet?) for at least a full 30 days, and GAPS? It sounds like you have a lot of digestion issues. Indeed, raw vegetables are much harder on the digestive system, you definitely want to cook all your foods. How do starchy foods usually go for you? Do you have body acne?

Yes. If you have digestion issues, you need to address them. Period.

[swordinhand]

Thanks everyone for all of the great insight. Not sure I follow with the ghee. Isn't ghee basically 100% saturated fat, because you eliminate proteins? Which would be ok for acne, right? Butter has fat soluble vitamin A which is supposed to be really good for acne and health I general, no? I could always just do coconut oil and evoo exclusively and then start to incorporate ghee and see what happens. What sounds good?

I'm going to definitely avoid eggs for the next few weeks and see what happens. Everything else on the don't eat list I've been off of for months.

[borie88]

evoo can be bad for people with leaky gut