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There are two issues to be dealt with in this post: first, my observation that Omega 3 supplements, even in small quantities, breaks me out.
Being vegan, I thought an Omega 3 deficiency could be the cause behind my mild acne, so I've tried on at least 3 distinct occasions taking Omega 3, either as flax-seed oil or as Okinawa Omega (a supplement made from different oils, but mostly Perilla). Every time I took them, even if just one teaspoon, new pimples would show up the next day and I woulfd feel my skin somewhat "sensible" and "inflamed".
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Now onto the next topic. This week I came back to Brazil after spending 7 weeks in Germany. During the first 2-3 weeks abroad my skin was definitely worse than it was before I left Brazil, but afterwards it was great: scars were fading and seldom would new pimples show up, and when they did, they showed up alone, were small and faded fast.
Before returning, I had some problems with my flight which made me a little stressed (but only for about 1-2 hours), and already a few hours afterwards I noticed that a new lesion was forming; when my flight landed, there were 2 fresh pimples. Since then, I feel my skin is terribly inflamed, oily (in Germany I didn't even need to wash my face, probably due to the cold weather) and very acne-prone, and I believe the new lesions showing up, though small, are going to last quite a while.
I don't believe this change for the worse can be attributed to diet changes: in Germany I had no kitchen of my own, so I didn't have full control of my diet; I ate what the restaurants offered. And though I often ate in excellent vegan restaurants, I also ate a lot of pasta. I also ate almost no fruits, nor did I drink juices. My digestion was indeed not very good, but still my skin was the best it's been for a long time. I also don't think one can say it was due to being less stressed. I don't consider myself stressed, but I wasn't by any means unusually relaxed there: I was studying and not in the most comfortable accommodations. I'd say I was as stressed as I am normally when at home.
My only guess in view of all that is that my acne may be in some way either psychologically or environmentally induced.
Well, the air here is certainly not as clean as in Germany, but would the effects show so quickly? And what could be done to counter them? Eat more antioxidants, I suppose?
But what bothers me most is the Omega 3 question. I eat normally very little Omega 3 and a decent amout of 6, so that my proportion 3:6 is quite unbalanced. What could explain that eating a little extra Omega 3 would cause break outs?
Try flaxseed meal. I eat flaxseed meal everyday and it improves my acne. Whenever I stop eating flax meal my skin gets worse.
> I also ate almost no fruits, nor did I drink juices.
Maybe that's why you acne got better in Germany. Stop drinking fruit juice and see if it helps. Fruit juices have a lot of sugar and has a high GI, which has been shown to cause acne.
I used to drink a lot of juice everyday but then I found out about the GI-acne link so I stopped. That really improved my acne. I also limit my fruit intake to no more than 1 piece per day. Fruit still has a lot of sugar and while it's not as bad as fruit juice in terms of GI it's still not something you'd want to eat a lot of.
I could try limiting my fruit intake and having more flaxseed meal. I have one at home and indeed it seems like it doesn't break me out when I eat it, but I'm not sure.
And I thought I could be having problems not with the Omega 3, but with the flaxseed itself, that's why I bought that Okinawa oil, which has no flaxseed, but the results were the same.
It's the vacation effect. It happens to practically everyone. I've been on this forum a very long time and seen hundreds of people come here and report that their skin cleared up while traveling, even despite not paying attention to their skin-care regimen and eating whatever they wanted. Why? They aren't focused on it. We really do manifest things into our reality and when we are constantly focusing on our skin (like we have time to do back home), we get more acne.
There are obviously other factors as well, such as different regional diets, more sunshine, etc. But overall, I think it's the less stress and having your mind off it. I was in South East Asia for months and had totally clear skin. I was back in America for a few days when my cystic acne completely returned.
I would be inclined to say there is something inherently toxic about the vibe in America (which is probably true) but it obviously goes farther than just that, as it also happened to you and you are from Brazil.