I had pretty severe acne starting in junior high and all through high school. It would go away and my skin would be clear on occasion, but I never noticed the nutritional cause of my acne was just a few things I shouldn't have been eating. That was until my little sister who had a somewhat similar skin type to mine (occasional acne but almost never as bad as mine) ate an entire chocolate orange (6 oz of milk chocolate) by herself one X-mas and had acne for a week after. It was a revelation to me! I'd read that chocolate causing acne was just an unfounded rumor, and I'd rather have believed that! I had been eating chocolate almost all the time! In fact, my first pimple occurred in junior high after eating candy bars. After eliminating chocolate from my diet, I noticed my other nutritional triggers were peanut butter and other nuts (very bad, I'd have acne for several weeks after) and celery seed (also acne would last a week or two).

During high school I had tried all sorts of conventional remedies that had almost no effect. I'd gotten a prescription for monocycline that made all my skin dry and reddish yet I still got pimples. I got topical isotretinoin that didn't help either. Of course I tried all the OTC products too (antibacterial soaps, benzoyl peroxide, salcylic acid, sulfur soaps) without much benefit--they might make my skin dry but I still got pimples. So needless to say, when I finally learned how easy it was to avoid acne, I was astounded!

It was only after years of avoiding chocolate that I discovered that it was not just any chocolate that affected me but only (cheap) low quality chocolate (especially milk choc and all candy bars) that caused acne in me. I could eat high quality dark chocolate with impunity! The only connection between these diverse foods (chocolate, peanut butter, peanuts, most nuts, celery seed and some other seeds) that I can draw is that the fats are of low quality somehow. The fats in them might be oxidized. Oxidized fats have been shown by many studies to have many deleterious effects in the body (like carcinogenicity!), but the big thing is just that they impair mitochondrial function sapping energy from all cells. This probably makes fat cells in follicles die a necrotic death instead of just lubricating growing hair.

Later still, I discovered that the supplement, acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR, acylcarnitine, an amino acid in our bodies but only in abundance in red meat) was a cure for my acne no matter what I ate, with one big caveat: I had to take it either before or within a few hours of eating the offending food. If I had it the day after, it would still help, but I'd still get a pimple or two, but at least my oiliness would dry up and the pimple wouldn't be very bad--otherwise I get clusters of pimples all over my body. And amazingly, it only takes the tiniest amount of ALCAR to prevent pimples: 1-5 mg! (Tablets are usually 500 mg!)

Now I avoid all my food triggers just because I figure they can't be good for my body anyway, but if I happen to find celery seed was in the cole slaw I got at a restaurant or potluck, I take a tiny amount of ALCAR when I get home, and I don't worry about acne at all.

I've noticed peanut butter gives a lot of other people acne, though much more mild than mine was. They tend not to believe me when I tell them their skin would be better without it, but then they do eventually notice that their pimples actually do follow peanut butter.

My ethnic background is Irish, German, Scottish, and English with a very tiny bit of Native American. It is mostly only other Irish background people in whom I've noticed peanut butter caused their acne too.

I hope this info helps others struggling with acne. I know how bad it felt. It was terribly emotionally scarring and extremely depressing. It made me really resent others with acne at the time. It was so liberating to overcome!

I've been so excited to have found this amazing cure for several years now since I discovered it. I try to tell everyone I can. No one needs to suffer with acne even if they don't or can't eat better. It is so easily prevented and treated!