28 replies to this topic

[LivesInABox]

So after 19 or so years with acne either i'm having a very lucky week, or finally i've isolated my triggers and corrected my nutrition gaps - either way i'm happy! No new spots at all, just some red old ones fading away slowly! Seeing as it'll probably start some big argument about how "unhealthy" this all is, and whether it helps with acne or not, i'm just going to list what i'm doing and taking and then if anyone else wants to try they can! No explanations, no discussion - do your own research and come to your own conclusions!

Things to do
Don't drink with meals, but drink lots of water throughout the day (preferably filtered)
stop using heavy chemicals on your skin, hair (try to find genuine natural products)
avoid spray deodorants, hair products
take some light exercise atleast 2/3 times a week

Supplements (best quality you can find!)
Fibresure (one tea spoon mixed in water = 5.8g fibre) 3 times a day
Aloe vera juice (tablespoon) once a day in water
Lewis Labs Brewers yeast (provides protein, b vitamins, minerals - read case's thread!!)
BioCare Calcidophilus (Calcium, vit C, lactobacillus acidophilus) 3 times a day
BioCare Vitasorb B (B vitamins) 5 drops once a day
BioCare Vitasorb E 3 drops once a day
BioCare Potassium Magnesium Ascorbate (vit C, potassium, Magnesium) 1g twice a day
FSC Zinc Picolinate + Copper 2 times a day
Healthspan MSM 800mg tablets 4 times a day (1 with each meal)
Healthspan Cod Liver Oil 2 times a day (read romeo's thread - just the last few pages)
Quest Enzyme Digest with betaine HCl (1 table when eating hard to digest processed food - no idea if this actually works!)

Totals (rough)
Vit A 23mg (6468iu)
Vit B3 (niacin) 13mg
Vit B6 2.5mg
Vit B2 (Riboflavin) 2.4mg
Vit B1 (Thiamin) 1.8mg
Folic Acid 300mcg
Vit B12 1mcg
Vit C 1871mg
Vit D 20mg (832iu)
Vit E 81.4mg
Selenium 63.4mcg
Chromium 190mcg
Potassium 773mg
Magnesium 60mg
Calcium 390mg
Lactobacillus acidophilus 5.1mg (630 million viable)
Zinc 60mg
Copper 4mg
MSM 3.2g
Omega 3 1840mg (Epa 690mg, Dha 920mg)

Food
No dairy (at the moment, i will test phasing this back in slowly and small quantities)
No Gluten (gluten free stuff at the moment, will test oats and grain again in the future)
Snacks of dried fruit & nuts (small quantities, sometimes half an hour before a meal)
atleast 4 portions of fruit a day, and 2 portions of veg (atleast 2 apples & 1 banana)
don't eat fruit after meals
have atleast 4 meals a day
eat smaller sized meals
have a balanced diet as possible (I aim for 20-30% protein, 20-30% fat, 40-60% carbs)
avoid refined sugar (and -ose's), flour,caffeine,fruit juice
moderate alcohol (avoid alcohol with gluten in it - so cider is good)
chew your food properly and let saliva mix with it to help it digest (don't rush meals)
eat protein in the meal first, or at least don't leave it till last
high cocoa dark chocolate is ok, in small quantities (80% or better)
limit processed foods
moderate salt

Above all listen to what your body is trying to tell you - enjoy life, don't get too paranoid or stressed and don't let acne run your life! Good Luck

[Triarii]

Why avoid gluten, whats the relation with acne?

Or do you have gluten sensitiveness?

[NdnRomeo]

That is really good to hear! 19 years is a very long time. Keep posting and updating us to let us know if it continues!

[iceboi]

CONGRATS!!

[acnevy]

damn you really went all out, i bet if i did the same id have results like yours, but unfortunately, laziness prevails....

[Healthoid]

Congrats man. Me and many others are finding success with a similar diet. Notice the patterns here:

- No gluten (and no grain altogether?)
- No dairy

I keep seeing success stories show up and these two are almost always there.

[dejaclairevoyant]

Two common allergies. I havent noticed any terrible breakouts with dairy and it doesnt feel as hard to digest for me. So Im trying to eliminate gluten first. I noticed an hour or so after eating a subway whole wheat sandwich I developed a very painful cyst on my lip. I hadnt had any breakouts for a day or two before that {I dont eat bread often but I had been taking in small amounts of gluten often in things like soy sauce} and I know there is a large amount of gluten in a bulky wheat bread sandwich. It felt like a connection for me. Its been less than a week now since Ive been trying to avoid it and I havent been avoiding it perfectly Im sure. Its a work in progress. I want to try my best to avoid it for a couple months and see how I feel.

How long did it take for your skin to calm down? From avoiding allergens I mean? {that question directed at both livesinabox and healthoid}

[Healthoid]

How long did it take for your skin to calm down? From avoiding allergens I mean? {that question directed at both livesinabox and healthoid}

If I eat a bunch of gluten it can take me a couple days to a week for my skin to get back to normal.

But I've been avoiding gluten for a very long time, so my recovery time is probably quicker than someone who has been eating lots of gluten all the time. For someone like that, it would probably take at least a month or longer.

Dairy only takes me a day or two. I'm actually eating some very low-lactose raw dairy (raw cheese and raw cream) right now and doing ok with it. It's mainly the high-lactose and pasteurized dairy that causes me problems...and those problems go away after a couple days if I avoid it.

[DeAntonio]

How long did it take for your skin to calm down? From avoiding allergens I mean? {that question directed at both livesinabox and healthoid}

If I eat a bunch of gluten it can take me a couple days to a week for my skin to get back to normal.

But I've been avoiding gluten for a very long time, so my recovery time is probably quicker than someone who has been eating lots of gluten all the time. For someone like that, it would probably take at least a month or longer.

Dairy only takes me a day or two. I'm actually eating some very low-lactose raw dairy (raw cheese and raw cream) right now and doing ok with it. It's mainly the high-lactose and pasteurized dairy that causes me problems...and those problems go away after a couple days if I avoid it.

do you eat eggs in your diet?

[Healthoid]

How long did it take for your skin to calm down? From avoiding allergens I mean? {that question directed at both livesinabox and healthoid}

If I eat a bunch of gluten it can take me a couple days to a week for my skin to get back to normal.

But I've been avoiding gluten for a very long time, so my recovery time is probably quicker than someone who has been eating lots of gluten all the time. For someone like that, it would probably take at least a month or longer.

Dairy only takes me a day or two. I'm actually eating some very low-lactose raw dairy (raw cheese and raw cream) right now and doing ok with it. It's mainly the high-lactose and pasteurized dairy that causes me problems...and those problems go away after a couple days if I avoid it.

do you eat eggs in your diet?

Not right now. I was never a big fan of eggs, but I don't actively avoid them. Someday I'm going to test them to see how I react to them.

[babadum]

For the don't drink with meals thing, is it like you have to wait a certain number of hours between drinking and eating or just not at the same time like if you do it separately before or after it's still fine?

[LivesInABox]

Update - skin's still looking pretty good. Got 1 new small red bump, but the rest are fading well. Will be a couple of weeks before i see 100% - unless something goes wrong!

[NdnRomeo]

Update - skin's still looking pretty good. Got 1 new small red bump, but the rest are fading well. Will be a couple of weeks before i see 100% - unless something goes wrong!

Keep updating us on how it's going every few days to a week. I'm excited to hear about your progress!

[LivesInABox]

Still going ok - although i get a spot or two every couple of days or so, which quickly comes to a head then fades. So still not 100% all the time. I've discovered that wet shaving causes some red spots and the odd ingrown hair - so i'm trying dry shaving. I'm also trying washing my face only once a day - to see if that helps. I've added an earth based probiotic, and am trying upping my vitamin C and fibre supplement to see if that helps, and i'm swapping brewers yeast for hemp protein.

Still no improvement on general skin and redness around my nose or dry skin around above my eyes or dark circles - but i'll keep working on it!

[Veen]

eat protein in the meal first, or at least don't leave it till last


why? I thought protein should be eaten last, because its the slowest to digest...

[iwillkillacne]

so many supplements...

[LivesInABox]

eat protein in the meal first, or at least don't leave it till last


why? I thought protein should be eaten last, because its the slowest to digest...

Apparently it helps slow the digestion of carbs, so if you eat the protein and start digesting that when you add carbs it slows the sugar conversion - can't prove if it's true or not but the logic sounds reasonable (and also the reason to eat complete balanced meals of carbs, protein & fat).

so many supplements...

You should have seen my previous list - I've since dropped the aloe vera and brewers yeast, dropped zinc to once a day and reduced msm to once a day, but i've added some olive oil in like romeo suggests in his oily thread.

I had quite a bad relapse and all i did was to up my calories per meal and per day (for bodybuilding). Things have settled a bit, but overall it's still good, but not the magic 100% clear.

[strawberries]

Can you eat rice?

[Constantine]

I have been experimenting with a similar diet.

Everything was ok unil last night I had curry and rice, and broke out a bit. I think something caused inflammation, but what?

Perhaps spicy food? Or the rice. Its a shame if I can't have rice or noodles, I love them.

[Negi]

So basically you sit in the corner rocking backwards and forwards?