7 replies to this topic

[runningqueen]

Hello   Hope everyone is having a good day. I would like to hear peoples thoughts on the topic of acne and what you eat? I am curious because I have been an acne sufferer for over 7 years. I believed food had everything to do with my acne and food allergies. Last year I stopped eating and cut out any bad food that could be causing acne , and in fact became anorexic. Today I am fine and eating well , but if anyone has any tips of what not to eat or what to eat I would appreciate it. I know dairy does acne for me personally, and have not drank milk, cheese, or yogurt in over 3 years.

 

 

[melmel87]

Hello   Hope everyone is having a good day. I would like to hear peoples thoughts on the topic of acne and what you eat? I am curious because I have been an acne sufferer for over 7 years. I believed food had everything to do with my acne and food allergies. Last year I stopped eating and cut out any bad food that could be causing acne , and in fact became anorexic. Today I am fine and eating well , but if anyone has any tips of what not to eat or what to eat I would appreciate it. I know dairy does acne for me personally, and have not drank milk, cheese, or yogurt in over 3 years.

 

Pretty much all processed food is bad for acne, dairy in large amounts, sugars, high glycemic foods.

[IvyHawk]

Basically anything un-healthy. 

Dairy has allot of hormones in it. This can lead to breakouts. I aim for only 1-2 cups of milk/other dairy a day.

 

And, Eat more fruit and Vegetables. They will help you!

[runningqueen]

okay thank you so much!

[ZeroZero]

My theory is that it isn't processed foods, wheat, dairy, etc. that cause acne. Rather, insufficient levels of nutrition and not having enough vegetables and such in your diet may have some effect, possibly. Anyone who tells you that diet certainly is or is not (either way) a contributing factor is wrong; we simply do not know for a fact.

[IvyHawk]

My theory is that it isn't processed foods, wheat, dairy, etc. that cause acne. Rather, insufficient levels of nutrition and not having enough vegetables and such in your diet may have some effect, possibly. Anyone who tells you that diet certainly is or is not (either way) a contributing factor is wrong; we simply do not know for a fact.

 

This is true. But, all the same, it couldn't hurt to not eat the un-healthy food. (in theory)

[darkheart]

Don't forget acne vulgaris is a "skin condition". A lot of thse foods like dairy, gluten, casein and so on - don't *cause* acne vulagaris but are correlated with "break outs" not full blown acne. There's a difference between haviing a medical diagnosis of actual acne and having otherwise clear  skin but you occassionally break out on your chin when you eat "cheese" (for example). People get this confused.

[dejaclairevoyant]

I had the same situation as the OP and I think many of us do. My problem is, I genuinely am allergic to a few different foods, specifically soy, gluten and dairy. I was hopeful that maybe I had imagined the dairy allergy (I noticed it causing me problems after I originally went gluten free) but unfortunately, after testing it with a truly open heart, I discovered that I do indeed react terribly to it and the reactions are bad enough to make me not want to eat it again. If it was just a little pimple that would be one thing. I'm talking terrible, deep cystic/nodular acne that is very painful and takes months to go away. If one bowl of yogurt can do that, it's not worth it to me at all.

 

That said, what really led to my eating disorder wasn't avoiding the foods that I react badly to, but avoiding other foods because I thought they would increase the likelihood of me having reactions. Basically, it was the leaky gut theory that did me in. Because I believed these allergies were a result of leaky gut, my focus became on making leaky gut better so my allergies would then (supposedly) stop. The problem is, no one really knows about leaky gut or how to make it better, and depending on where you will look, there are huge lists of different foods you are supposed to avoid, from beans to okra to sweet potatoes. So I just kept cutting these nutritious foods out of my diet, not seeing results, getting more and more distressed thinking everything I was eating was worsening my gut...and cutting out more foods. It's a scary, fast tumble down a very slippery hill.

 

Now, my rule is that I will eat anything in moderation IF I don't notice any immediate, violent acne reactions. Things like beans, which are supposedly not good for leaky gut, are back in my diet a few days per week because 1) I love Mexican food and felt so sad without it and 2) I don't notice any terrible acne right after eating them. There is no point in being so restrictive if it doesn't help anyway.