Hi all.

I have been a vegetarian for nearly 4 years, and my acne has come & gone. At the moment, it's sort of in between. It's not as severe as it has been, but it's not great, either....still problematic.

I was a vegan for 6 months, and, oddly, despite eating loads of soy, my skin was actually very good. I only had the occasional breakout at that time of the month. Now, though, soy does seem to break me out. I went back to being vegetarian as I found it was really hard to be vegan at the time, due to me not having a job/ not much money and always wanting to eat something.

My diet now consists of rice, fresh vegetables, soups, eggs, legumes & beans (are they the same? I always forget), low sugar fruit (I only eat berries because higher sugar fruit breaks me out), quinoa, and at the moment, the occasional meat substitute, such as fake sausages, or fake bacon. I let myself have a little tofu if I am out and there isn't anything else to really eat on a menu. I normally snack on things like homemade popcorn, corn chips, hummus, celery, olives, sun dried tomatoes, roasted chickpeas etc. I literally eat no refined sugar, and don't drink any alcohol at all. I recently made the cut to gluten in my diet, and after a huge breakout due to some pro-biotics, I have cut out diary.

My acne is calming somewhat since cutting out gluten & diary, and it's only been a month, so I need to give it more time. But I'm wondering what others out there have found is good for pro-biotics, as I am worried about my inner balance. Diary free pro-biotics broke me out also, which was really weird...it must have been something in the strain of bacteria. I wonder if homemade sauerkraut would be any good? Maybe some fermented tempeh (the best way to consume soy and often people don't react to this type of soy).

I also really miss milk, but don't feel like I should drink flat out soy milk anymore. Would anyone recommend coconut milk? Or am I asking for a break out? I love coconut!

It's hard when you feel as though you are being very healthy, and your face is being really gnarly at you!

Peace & love.