137 replies to this topic

[jennifer36]

So about a year ago I took accutane and it cleared up my skin completely, yay! Guess what, all my acne came back... Not impressed with all the side effects I had to suffer through on accutane, to wind up with my acne back in less than a year. I'd classify my acne as mild on a really good day, moderate on an average day, and very persistent. I STILL have soreness in some of my joints, remaining from the accutane. I haven't really posted much except for a few product reviews/accutane review. I wanted to keep a log of this for myself, and for anyone else who might be thinking about trying this approach.

I've decided the reason I'm breaking out is NOT my skincare regimen, it's very good and all very anti-inflammatory, and taking out any of the steps results in almost instant breakouts. Plus everywhere I don't have acne/scarring, my skin literally glows. I'm already a vegetarian, and I mostly eat healthy... except I've been slacking on the supplements and eating more refined sugar than I should. Chocolate is my weakness, and being lactose intolerant that's not a good thing.

Morning:
wash face with korres white tea cleanser
moisturize with clarins daily energizing creme
derma e brand tea tree and willow bark spot treatment (highly recommend this, shrinks big zits in a few days)

Night:
wash face with korres white tea cleanser
apply chamomile tea topically (helps with scars and acne, especially chest acne)
depending on oilyness of skin, moisturize with nivea visage rich regenerating night creme
derma e brand tea tree and willow bark spot treatment

1-2x per week I use The Body Shop's oatmeal and honey mask.

ALSO I obsessively flip my pillows... I sleep on one side then flip the pillow and sleep on the other side the next night, then switch to the next pillow. I religiously change my sheets every 8 days (4 pillows, sleeping on both sides of each), and do not allow anyone else use of my bed. I never use the same towel/face cloth twice, nor will I use it if it's possibly come in contact with oils. As well I avoid alcohol as I've seen a big correlation between when I drink and when I break out.

I'm going to change my vegetarian diet to a vegan diet, and completely avoid added sugars, added sodium, most caffeine. I will only eat naturally occurring fruit sugars, and in moderation have only agave/stevia (my protein supplement contains a small amount of stevia). I will drink green tea, the caffeine in green tea is minimal, and it's good for me, as well as white tea, roobios tea, oolong tea and chamomile tea. As well I will take a multivitamin, 500mg extra vitamin c, and Progressive brand Vegegreens Vegan Protein supplement (has tons of super good for you greens, as well as vegan protein from other sources than soy) each day.

So day 1 began rather successfully today!

breakfast: whole grain toast with organic natural peanut butter (only ingredient is peanuts!)
lunch: vegegreens vegan smoothie powder mixed with 1/2 cup soy milk, 1 banana, 1 cup frozen berries
snacks: a whole carrot, a bowl of almonds
dinner: moroccan chickpeas (with no sodium added canned chickpeas) (tomatoes, onions, jalapeno peppers, chickpeas)

also daily I drink 3+ cups green tea and or white tea, 1 cup chamomile before bed, as well as 8+ glasses of water

sorry for the long post, but if this works for me I want to know exactly what helped! If this works I hope it can help anyone else deal with their acne as well. the next posts won't even come close to this long.

I attached two pictures as well so we can hopefully see the progress.. fingers crossed. No make up...

We'll see how things look in the morning.

[jennifer36]

Day 2!

No significant improvement, to be expected. No new spots either though at least. I topically applied green tea this morning after cleansing and it really calmed my skin down!

breakfast: peanut butter (natural) on toast with apple slices, POM brand pomegranite juice, green tea
lunch: ginger green tea, gomacro brand vegan meal replacement bar cashew caramel flavour (sweetened with a small amount of organic agave)
dinner: vegetable soup, a pear and an apple, a few sesame/poppyseed crackers (unsalted of course)
snack: vegegreens vegan protein smoothie with 1 banana, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1 cup frozen strawberries

I do have a lot more energy and my digestive system seems to be adjusting reallllly well to the new eating plan.

[jennifer36]

Day 3...

No significant improvement in the look of my skin, but my skin feels a lot smoother! Only two or three tiny tiny little whiteheads that are new, barely visible. My active acne spots have all begun healing except for one, and the spots on my cheeks have started to fade.

breakfast: same as last two days, no POM juice though
lunch: leftover moroccan chickpeas, carrots, unsalted chips (only a few!!!)
snacks: apple, almonds, protein smoothie (same as past days)
dinner: organic no salt added minestrone soup. tasted like water.. yuck.

My skin feels a lot healthier today, let's hope it starts looking healthier too soon.

Edited by jennifer36, 29 September 2011 - 10:11 PM.

[jennifer36]

Day 5!

My skin is actually starting to look better.. knock on wood. One new acne spot, due to the placement I think it's from some poorly planned cuddling yesterday, unclean pillows aghh. It's small though, and has already started to shrink from the derma e spot treatment. The rest of my acne spots appear to be inactive and are healing/fading.

breakfast: white tea, 2 pieces toast w/ peanut butter & apple slices
lunch: PC minestrone soup, low sodium, actually tasty!
dinner: quinoa with vegetable picadillo (green pepper, kidney bean, diced tomatoes, raisins)
snacks: vegegreens smoothie

Oatmeal mask tonight, apparently the weather's decided it's going to be november instead of october first, and the cold is sapping all my moisture.

[jennifer36]

Morning of day 7!

I had a really good skin day yesterday and today! I only have 3 active acne spots, one tiny little whitehead, one nodule that's FINALLY healing, one pimple that appeared day 5 that's going away. I thought I'd try and post a few pictures, although my skin doesn't look significantly improved in the first one, it actually is! It takes forever for my red marks to go away. All in all, I'm REALLY happy with the progress for only being 7 days in. The acne on my chest is better, but still there. Not AS great improvement, but there were so many spots there to begin with.

yesterday:
breakfast: toast w/ peanut butter & apple slices
lunch: leftover veggie picadillo/quinoa
dinner: veggie stirfry w/ a tiny bit low sodium soy sauce
snack: vegegreens smoothie, air popped plain popcorn, cashews, POM juice

today so far is basically the same as yesterday, except I haven't had lunch yet. Hopefully things keep going the way they're going.

[popsi]

Hi Jennifer

I will be following your log. I have started an anti-inflammatory and almost vegan diet on September 25th, so nearly at the same time like you.
I'm a vegetarian since 25 years (I am 31 now). I was eating dairy every day (especially cheese which I love!) and whole wheat bread.
Now I totally stopped eating dairy and wheat. I also try to avoid soy.
I am mainly eating fruits (papayas, melons, plums) and veggies + green smoothies (broccoli, spinach, cabbage, carrots...).

On the first two days of my diet I only ate fruits (nothing else). I saw an improvement almost instantly (my skin was less oily).
Then I started to incorporate veggies + green smoothies and now I also eat sweet potatoes, brown rice, avocados, coconut meat, chick peas and eggs (every 2nd day). I am drinking water + ginger tea.

I have ordered spirulina powder and rice protein powder because I am not getting enough protein with my diet. Today is the 8th day and I have only 3-4 active zits. Before I started with the diet I had 14-15 zits!

I wish you all the best with your diet!

[jennifer36]

Thanks! That's awesome that you've been having good results too, I'm really excited about this whole eating plan so far. I was actually thinking today about starting to avoid soy, as a lot of people have cited that as acne-causing. Maybe I'll pick up a brown rice or almond milk tomorrow instead of the soy I've been putting in my smoothies. I've heard that spirulina is really good for you, there is some in my protein supplement (along with yellow pea, brown rice, hemp and chia proteins), but not a very high amount of it. Also ginger is a really great idea, I want to start drinking ginger tea too, I didn't think of that at first, thanks!

[jennifer36]

Day 8!

I decided to entirely stop eating bananas and soy, as some people have cited them as acne causing. I made my smoothie with water, vegegreens vegan protein powder and frozen berries instead of the banana and soy milk I had been using and it was tasty! Less filling though. I also started drinking ginger tea, and a yummy ginger peach tea since it's ginger is really anti-inflammatory.

breakfast: apple slices with organic peanut butter, lemon green tea
lunch: veggie stirfry (water chestnuts, peppers, bean sprouts, chinese eggplant, zucchini, ginger, white onions), greens/protein smoothie with water/frozen berries
snacks so far: ginger tea!!

for dinner I plan to eat leftover veggie picadillo with quinoa, and I plan on snacking on some almonds later on as well.

Also I want to look into getting a spirulina/chlorella supplement as my vegegreens vegan protein only has 1025mg of spirulina and 200mg chlorella per serving. Although that's because it does have a lot of other good ingredients like dandelion extract, flax seed oil, spinach, kelp, broccoli, kale, nettle, milk thistle to name a few that stand out to me as things I've heard great stuff about. (It has over 70 different botanical ingredients, woo). Can anyone in north america, specifically Canada, reccomend me a good spirulina/chlorella supplement?

[popsi]

Thanks! That's awesome that you've been having good results too, I'm really excited about this whole eating plan so far. I was actually thinking today about starting to avoid soy, as a lot of people have cited that as acne-causing. Maybe I'll pick up a brown rice or almond milk tomorrow instead of the soy I've been putting in my smoothies. I've heard that spirulina is really good for you, there is some in my protein supplement (along with yellow pea, brown rice, hemp and chia proteins), but not a very high amount of it. Also ginger is a really great idea, I want to start drinking ginger tea too, I didn't think of that at first, thanks!

You are welcome! Yes ginger tea is great, rooibos tea is very good too. I am drinking one cup right now.

I have ordered the spirulina powder from amazon.com. It is called "100% Natural Hawaiian Spirulina" (Now Foods) with 4 lbs: http://www.amazon.co...37&sr=8-2-spell

Not sure if you can import it to Canada though. Good luck!

[jennifer36]

I had so much ginger tea today!!! I'm working on a chamomile now. Unfortunately that spirulina looks like it can't be shipped to Canada ! Oh well, I'll go to my health food store tomorrow and see what they have. Thanks anyways!

I feel like I'm running out of no salt, no sugar, unprocessed foods to eat! If anyone has any food suggestions or recipes I would greatly appreciate it. Especially anything that's quick or easy to prepare for when I'm short on time.

[popsi]

Hi Jennifer, did you find spirulina in your health food store?

As regards food suggestions: Do you eat avocados? I like eating salads with avocados, chickpeas, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic.

I also often make scrambled eggs with onions and veggies. Not sure if you eat eggs though.

I am currently searching for vegan cheese recipes (I miss eating cheese ) and found this one: http://allergyfreeme...oy-free-cheese/
I think I will try it out soon (have to order some ingredients first).

[jennifer36]

Day 9!

I've been meaning to try avocados, I don't currently eat them. Also I didn't get a chance to go to the health food store yet. Tomorrow probably.

My skin is looking pretty good still, better than when I started, but a few little hormonally triggered spots.. grr. Not much difference from the last photos I posted, except some of the healing red spots have faded some more. Also I'm having a no make-up week to avoid my make-up potentially irritating my acne.

[PepperMae]

Glad to hear the Vegan diet is working for you. I am currently a Vegetarian and am considering eliminating refined sugars and dairy to see if it improves my acne problem. I heard Dandelion Tea is supposed to help. I will post any vegan recipes I come across. Good luck!

[jennifer36]

Day 12

Thanks! I didn't post the past two days because I've been feeling pretty negative about my skin, and didn't want to focus on it too much. My little hormonal spots turned into big gross nodules, and they were so painful I ended up popping them (bad, I know). They felt like they were pulsing, grosssss. I couldn't stop staring at them and stressing over them. They're at least not gross and full anymore, just flat and red and scabby. Yuck. I mean I'm sure the breakout was from that time of the month, the zits appeared the day it started so that makes perfect sense. No new spots at least yesterday or today. It's just discouraging to stick to my diet and break out so badly after sacrificing so many different foods I love.

I'm considering getting some dandelion leaf tea as it's good for cleansing, maybe that would help. Maybe I'm in a purging phase and a cleanse seems like it might accelerate the process. I've been trying to think positive thoughts, not wear make up and tell myself that it's my hormones/purging. This weekend is Canadian thanksgiving, so I'm going to ALMOST cheat on my diet. I bought a tofurky roast, but other than that I'm going to continue my diet. No scalloped potatoes, sad, dairy is a big no no right now. That's going to be hard to resist, but hey, I'm almost halfway to my 30 days now.

I bought some new tea and a new shirt today to cheer myself up after work! Yummy morning dew green tea with sunflower, cornflower and rose petals, as well as a zen chai tea. I've been missing chai tea, but it's generally black tea which is on my bad list since it's got quite a bit more caffeine than green tea does, but the loose leaf tea store in the mall I work in carries a green tea chai tea! So excited to find it. I went out for dinner with the girls from work earlier this week, and the only thing on the menu that fit my diet was green salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing on the side (I'm not a big dressing person, I used about 1/4 of the dressing served, if that), and a water, while they all had nachos, thai chicken bites, pasta, and brownies for dessert, so jealous of the brownies!

today I ate:
breakfast: apple, vega brand organic vegan nutrient bar, green tea
lunch: apple w/peanut butter slices
dinner: boiled carrots, HUGE garden salad, no dressing
snacks: green tea, will have vegegreens smoothie

Let's hope it's just a purging phase combined with hormones, I want this breakout to go awayyyy.

[jennifer36]

Day 15! Halfway there!!!

So I definitely expected a bit more results for being halfway there ! My skin's doing better than my last post, but not significantly. Only two-three new spots, and not nodules like the last breakout. I conquered thanksgiving without cheating somehow! Tofurky (not marinating, just cooked plain), and just boiled sweet potatoes, normal potatoes, turnips, corn and steamed broccoli. Strawberries for dessert yum!

I bought organic dandelion leaf loose leaf tea today, and am sipping it while I write this. Not in love with the taste, but it supposed to be good for skin issues so I want to stay optimistic about it. Lol it literally tastes exactly like what you would expect if you steeped a dandelion plant... I want to do some research to see if it has any effects when used topically.

In exciting news, I found chocolate I can eat!!! No sugar added, dark chocolate. No dairy added whatsoever, made by Purdys. I only want to eat it once in a blue moon though, it still feels like junk!

today
breakfast: natural peanut butter on twelve grain toast, green tea
lunch: leftover thanksgiving dinner (tofurky, broccoli, corn, boiled potatoes, boiled sweet potato, boiled turnip), dandelion tea
dinner: making moroccan chickpeas or veggie picadillo
snacks: green tea, berry oolong tea, apple, will make vegegreens smoothie.

I figured it was time for some pictures!

[jennifer36]

I read someone else's log a few minutes ago who had extremely severe acne, and it makes me feel so much better about my skin. I know so many people have it so much worse than I do, and mine used to be a lot worse than it is now. I try to relax about my skin but it's all I can think about, ever. I don't want anyone to think I'm whining about my skin, I'm just trying to find a solution that works for me, and might be beneficial to anyone else. In better news, my existing pimples seemed to have dried out a lot since my last post earlier today.. weird.

[jennifer36]

Day 18!

Almost 2/3 of the way done. Aside from a new two new fairly small zits and one older one everything on my face is pretty well healing up now. I feel like the dandelion tea helped a lot and I kinda skipped it yesterday! Oh well. I'm trying to stay optimistic and things are looking up a bit more now which helps. There isn't a significant visible improvement via the webcam since my cheeks still have a lot of red marks, even though 90% of them are not active anymore.

breakfast: whole grain toast with fruit spread, green tea
lunch: moroccan chickpeas, an apple
dinner: tofurky, baked potato with pepper, corn
snacks: bolthouse brand antioxidant boost berry smoothie, almonds

[PepperMae]

I am glad you are noticing improvement! I have been drinking the dandelion tea also and I agree the taste is pretty bad. So I usually reward myself and drink a really delicious cup of some other tea after. Which is also increasing my water intake so I guess that is a good thing too! I noticed some improvement. Well good luck to you!

[jennifer36]

I am glad you are noticing improvement! I have been drinking the dandelion tea also and I agree the taste is pretty bad. So I usually reward myself and drink a really delicious cup of some other tea after. Which is also increasing my water intake so I guess that is a good thing too! I noticed some improvement. Well good luck to you!

Thanks! I actually do the same thing, dandelion tea then a yummy cup of some sort of green tea. Zen chai (green tea chai tea) is my favourite right now, it tastes so fall-ish.

Day 19!!!

Almost at 20, woooo. I've got a nice big nodule forming on my left cheek, and it feels like a big one. It's still under the skin and hasn't come to a head yet. The little pimples haven't gotten any worse, perhaps a bit better.

breakfast: peanut butter and apple slices, green tea
lunch: macronutrient bar, green tea
dinner: potatoes, turnips, cauliflower
snacks: dandelion tea, will have smoothie

I started getting paranoid about my moisturizer last night (clarins daily energizer cream) and decided that it's potentially causing some of my acne. It makes my skin too moisturized in the morning sometimes, AND it's not all natural. Plus it has vitamin c which can potentially irritate sensitive skin (which I have). Also the acne on my chest has made such a huge improvement, with only diet change, and my face hasn't made as much of an improvement. The only difference in regimen between my face and chest is that moisturizer, as I don't use it on my chest. Today I bought korres brand "pomegranate balancing gel-cream moisturizer". I read on their website that it interacts REALLY well with the korres white tea cleanser I'm already using (and loving, on my third bottle). So far I like the moisturizer, it's a perfect level of moisture and my skin doesn't feel oily. Plus the reviews on sephora's website were pretty good. I didn't want to change anything in my regimen until I completed the 30 days but the thought that the clarins moisturizer could be causing some of my acne made me crazy!!!

[jennifer36]

Day 21...

Today I seriously contemplated quitting my diet. I haven't gotten any new pimples but 3 existing ones have gotten so much worse. My nodule is now a big gross scab. My skin is looking as bad/worse than when I started this diet. Not newly from the moisturizer either, there aren't actually any new spots since the switch. I'm discouraged, extremely so. This is a really forgiving photo. Amplify the redness by about 50.