70 replies to this topic

[Minnym0use]

I am the mother of a 17 hear old teen, who's acne was very bad. He tried antibiotics - up to 1000 a day, (a year) tazorac, differin, BP, $2000 worth of pdt levulan non ablative laser and NOTHING has worked until we stopped listening to doctors and did research on our own. You HAVE to cut out allllll refined carbohydrates and my son also cut out all dairy. He has stopped all refined carbs such as all breads, chips, sugars, rice, etc... and all dairy. He only eats LOTS of veggies - especially green ones such as broccoli, spinach, bok choy, sprouts, and fruit, especially apples, citrus, plums, peaches and an occasional banana. He does eat 1 grain - quinoa which is very low in natural sugars. Lots of beans, sweet potatoes and drinks lots of water. We cook with NO OIL and only eat lean proteins such as fish cooked on George Foreman grill with no oil, chicken breasts, turkey breasts, shrimp and oysters. You have to give this a try. It is very simple. Anything processed and part of our modern culture is OUT. I have been emailing back and forth with Dr. Mann from Australia who has been conducting tests at RMIT on diet and teen boys. This isn't just something I cooked up. Enter "wheat and acne" online and you will find a lot. There's even an article by MSNBC. I hope this helps. There's no secret to this - you don't have to eat raw eggs, you don't have to time your food eating patterns, you don't have to even eat organic (although it is nice when you can find it). It is common sense eating. You don't even have to apply creams. Just stop it all and clean up your act. In fact, those creams can just provoke acne. Your friends will think you are so cool that you are taking control of this situation. You will find empowerment and I am sure you could use all that money you are spending on creams, doctor visits and treatments for something special. Hey, what have you got to loose but your acne and what have you got to gain, well, you will be healthier all the way around. Go for it and trust me, I promise you this is the answer. Oh, you may ask, well, why does my friend eat all the junk he wants and never breaks out? I thought the same thing and just knew diet wasn't the answer. The reason is that we are different from one another. Just accept that and try it and see. I will share menus and shopping lists if any one would like them. I am tired of reading where alllll of these teens are suffering just like my son did. I want you to break free.

[SteveLewis]

I am the mother of a 17 hear old teen, who's acne was very bad. He tried antibiotics - up to 1000 a day, (a year) tazorac, differin, BP, $2000 worth of pdt levulan non ablative laser and NOTHING has worked until we stopped listening to doctors and did research on our own. You HAVE to cut out allllll refined carbohydrates and my son also cut out all dairy. He has stopped all refined carbs such as all breads, chips, sugars, rice, etc... and all dairy. He only eats LOTS of veggies - especially green ones such as broccoli, spinach, bok choy, sprouts, and fruit, especially apples, citrus, plums, peaches and an occasional banana. He does eat 1 grain - quinoa which is very low in natural sugars.  Lots of beans, sweet potatoes and drinks lots of water. We cook with NO OIL and only eat lean proteins such as fish cooked on George Foreman grill with no oil, chicken breasts, turkey breasts, shrimp and oysters. You have to give this a try. It is very simple. Anything processed and part of our modern culture is OUT. I have been emailing back and forth with Dr. Mann from Australia who has been conducting tests at RMIT on diet and teen boys. This isn't just something I cooked up. Enter "wheat and acne" online and you will find a lot. There's even an article by MSNBC.  I hope this helps.  There's no secret to this - you don't have to eat raw eggs, you don't have to time your food eating patterns, you don't have to even eat organic (although it is nice when you can find it).  It is common sense eating.  You don't even have to apply creams.  Just stop it all and clean up your act.  In fact, those creams can just provoke acne.  Your friends will think you are so cool that you are taking control of this situation.  You will find empowerment and I am sure you could use all that money you are spending on creams, doctor visits and treatments for something special.  Hey, what have you got to loose but your acne and what have you got to gain, well, you will be healthier all the way around.  Go for it and trust me, I promise you this is the answer.  Oh, you may ask, well, why does my friend eat all the junk he wants and never breaks out?  I thought the same thing and just knew diet wasn't the answer.  The reason is that we are different from one another.  Just accept that and try it and see.  I will share menus and shopping lists if any one would like them.  I am tired of reading where alllll of these teens are suffering just like my son did.  I want you to break free.

Thanks and yea, this is pretty much the diet that the majority of us are following. However, personally, avoiding all these foods was a huge drag for me so I decided to do a liver flush. Now I've been adding foods that used to break me out with no terrible break outs and I've only done two flushes so far. I still have one zit and a lot of redness and red marks from prior acne but these are healing faster than ever. I can't wait until my third flush .

Glad that avoiding all that worked for your son. It mainly(still had some breakouts) worked for me too but I was just too tired of avoiding every single little thing that might be related to acne.

[Minnym0use]

Thanks and yea, this is pretty much the diet that the majority of us are following. However, personally, avoiding all these foods was a huge drag for me so I decided to do a liver flush. Now I've been adding foods that used to break me out with no terrible break outs and I've only done two flushes so far. I still have one zit and a lot of redness and red marks from prior acne but these are healing faster than ever. I can't wait until my third flush .

Glad that avoiding all that worked for your son. It mainly(still had some breakouts) worked for me too but I was just too tired of avoiding every single little thing that might be related to acne.

Sorry, guess I should have read more before posting. You guys have it together. It makes me very happy to see such smart empowered people.

[SteveLewis]

Sorry, guess I should have read more before posting.  You guys have it together.  It makes me very happy to see such smart empowered people.

It's no problem. I'm sure there are newer members of the board who will find your post very helpful as it combined a lot of the healthy diet behaviors into one.

[blackbirdbeatle]

Diet only works for some people, it didn't for me I suspect because I wasn't insulin resistant which is probably why this diet worked for your son. I don't see how this diet is common sense as thigns like bread(from sources other than Quinoa) and cheese have been around for thousands and thousands of years. All bread, pasta, etc... has no sugar naturally, it's just that some producers add it in. Again, I think it goes down to your body accepting insulin, which some don't.

[Pika]

Diet works for everyone if they do it right, if you drink 2 more cups of water that is no diet.

[MysteryGirl]

"Diets" don't work for everbody and the one you described doesn't even sound very healthy. I don't wanna give up dairy. Calcium is needed for strong bones and teeth.

[zigzag]

"Diets" don't work for everbody and the one you described doesn't even sound very healthy. I don't wanna give up dairy. Calcium is needed for strong bones and teeth.

Dairy does not give you calcium, rather depletes it. Because of the high protein content, when you drink milk, for example, you end up urniating more Calcium out than taking in. So avoiding dairy will in fact give you MORE Calcium.

[alina]

hi minnymouse could u post a list of ur foods that are good to eat ??also, what kind of acne did ur son have was it cystic??thanks so much!!

[blackbirdbeatle]

Sigh, when you drink milk, it gives you a surplus of calcium. Any that is depleted will be more than regained from the calcium in the milk or dairy. Dairy calcium is also readily absorbed and the lactose helps as well(Sorry for the ones with intolerances)

While veggies like kale, bok choy, chinese cabbage, and to a lesser extent broccoli, etc... are also readily absorbed, they don't contain nearly as much calcium. The average person won't want to eat the amount of brocoli needed to satisfy the daily needs of calcium. Many greens also contain oxalates, which restrict calcium absorption(Spinach is a prime example). Calcium is only lost through excess protein. If you weight lift or are active, thus causing muscles to build up, excess protein shouldn't be a problem.

Of course you veggies for their nutrients adn fiber, you just don't make a strong enough case against milk when just about every other food is inferior in terms of calcium abosrbed. Then again American milk has BGH and antibiotics, somethign many other countries don't.

From the few calcium studies I've read(And there have been few) that haven't been influenced by either the dairy farmers or the anti-milk people(milksucks website is notorious for shady studies), I've concluded that unless you are truly getting tons of the above veggies a day(Which is hard to do), dairy is probably the best option.

[capped_it]

The bone-thinning condition called osteoporosis can lead to small and not-so-small fractures. Although many people think of calcium in the diet as good protection for their bones, this is not at all the whole story. In fact, in a 12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women, those who drank milk three times a day actually broke more bones than women who rarely drank milk.1 Similarly, a 1994 study of elderly men and women in Sydney, Australia, showed that higher dairy product consumption was associated with increased fracture risk. Those with the highest dairy product consumption had approximately double the risk of hip fracture compared to those with the lowest consumption.2

References
1. Feskanich D, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA. Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a 12-year prospective study. Am J Publ Health 1997;87:992-7.
2. Cumming RG, Klineberg RJ. Case-control study of risk factors for hip fractures in the elderly. Am J Epidemiol 1994;139:493-503.

[SweetJade1980]

Here for Non-Dairy Calcium Sources (page 4) http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dg.../Appendix_B.pdf

[blackbirdbeatle]

I haven't broken any bones and I consume tons of dairy(By all means, from some of the snowboard crashes I've had, I should have had more than sprains). I'm not saying that dairy won't do somethign in the future but there is so much more factors involved that longitudinal studies that that are notoriously flawed because of this.

I also weight lift though and that is one of the best things you can do to increase bone density.

Too much fat also leeches calcium so that could be a contributing factor to the dairy link(Although most dairy now is geared towards no fat).

Look, if you don't want to eat dairy than that's fine, just don't go off telling everyone that it's unhealthy. For every bad dairy study to come out I could give you one on soy, yet I eat some soy as well(I love Japanese food). There are bad and good points for every food.

[imatoad]

yea, i tried this and it didnt work. glad it worked for your son, but dont walk around thinking its the cure all because its not.

[heyitssarah]

yea, i tried this and it didnt work. glad it worked for your son, but dont walk around thinking its the cure all because its not.

how rude!

[Minnym0use]

hi minnymouse could u post a list of ur foods that are good to eat ??also, what kind of acne did ur son have was it cystic??thanks so much!!

Yes, cystic acne. Mostly on cheeks. First I want to clear up about dairy. We did not evolve as a species to need the milk of another animal. Dairy has foreign proteins. That's why I breastfed my son instead of giving him cow's milk. Check out how much calcium is in green veggies.

Lean proteins cooked in non stick skillet: turkey BREAST - has to be white meat
Grilled fish
shrimp
oysters
All the veggies he wants: broccoli steamed, spinach, bok choy, cabbage, kale
Fruits that are glow on the gylcemic index: plums, cherries (fresh ones), peaches, citrus, nectarines
Quinoa is the only grain he is eating
NO WHEAT
NO FATS

Many out there add nuts to this and that would be fine in moderation

[Minnym0use]

yea, i tried this and it didnt work. glad it worked for your son, but dont walk around thinking its the cure all because its not.

Could you please tell me exactly and I mean exactly what you tried and for how long? Thanks. It is interesting to be learning. Please be totally honest if you strayed at all from diet.

[BlackBetty]

yea, i tried this and it didnt work. glad it worked for your son, but dont walk around thinking its the cure all because its not.

Yes, everyone is different, but in general modifying your diet will help your acne more then not. I have never met a person who can eat straight up junk, sugar\chips etc and does not have severe acne. You probably did not follow the diet perfectly man, maybe you ate a bag a chips or a chocolate bar thinking that it wouldn't hurt? I would think this diet would work on most people if not it would help a lot.

[alina]

aaaw man since yesterday i was doin real well and this morning my hubby made me pancakes for breakfast and i didnt wanna hurt his feelings, so I ate some, then told him about how im gonna try to eat healthy and he was like ok kool. So i guess ill start for real with this tomorrow!!Its really hard tho!

[BlackBetty]

aaaw man since yesterday i was doin real well and this morning my hubby made me pancakes for breakfast and i didnt wanna hurt his feelings, so I ate some, then told him about how im gonna try to eat healthy and he was like ok kool. So i guess ill start for real with this tomorrow!!Its really hard tho!

don't worry about it man. It is ok if you have it here and there but now don't eat that stuff for a while. The main idea is if you do have something unhealthy be sure to get right back on track and leave it behind you. Thinking about it or stressing it is not going to take you back in time.