how long do u have to keep this up? i dont want to live without pizza, burger, cake and stuff like that

how long do u have to keep this up? i dont want to live without pizza, burger, cake and stuff like that

As long as you want to stay clear or hormones tank as you get older.

^{I'm 62 and my hormones never tanked. My derm says that he's seeing more of this...ongoing acne all through adult life into one's 80's. This is a fairly recent phenomena which points to environmental factors that may be playing havoc with hormones. Such environmental factors can be things like the consumption of vegetable oils...a fairly recent development...and the direct use of hormones in conventional meat, fowl, and fish production. Antibiotic use in animal food production also affects hormones. That's why it's so important to do everything you can like diet to ensure hormones are not getting so affected.}

^{So to answer your question, Dayne, --- yes, you would have to continue this diet for as long as it takes. And for those of us with resistant acne it can be your whole adult life. Regardless, it is a very healthy diet that will help make sure you don't succumb to other inflammatory diseases as well (heart, diabetes, etc.).}

^{You mention pizza. Actually you can make your own pizza with olive oil that is very good. You don't have to avoid flour products but just don't eat them all the time. For example --- the usual western diet is cold cereal (ground grains) for breakfast, sandwich for lunch (flour) and pizza for dinner (flour). Instead for your daily starches eat oatmeal for breakfast (with raisons and fresh fruit), leftover dinner (potatoes or rice with vegies and a little meat) or a salad or soup for lunch, and potatoes or rice for dinner (make extra for lunch next day). Then only eat flour products when nothing else is available...like when traveling.}

^{It's just a different way of eating that actually follows the way 80% of the world's population eats...ie rice, potatoes, yams, etc. In cultures where there is no acne, flour products are rarely eaten and if they are they are from course ground grains.}

cvd, if you are still taking antibiotics, plus spiro, plus using BP daily, the only way to truly put this to the test would be to go off anything else, drugs and topicals, and rely only on this diet. Otherwise, I find it hard to believe that this is what is clearing the most you when your signature states all these other variables. I would be interested in an update a few months after you wean off your medication. I think that will be the true test, don't you think so? Because at this point, it's very hard to tell what % the diet is playing in your regimen, and if someone chooses to follow this diet they should be aware that you are also using a bunch of other stuff to control your acne. I wouldn't want anyone to think this is the cure to all types of adult acne because it's only ONE factor, it will most likely not clear the majority of acne sufferers 100% if they are not relying on other things too, like a good skincare regimen.

what she said ^

i thought for some reason this was addressing only using diet to clear ones skin.

Sorry for any confusion! If it's important to know if diet alone will clear adult acne...then you're right, meds should not be taken at the same time. But that's not important to me. I just want clear skin...however I can get it. If I need to take meds while also following a diet, then that's okay with me.

I felt I needed to share about this diet because it's what finally got me totally clear. Despite everything I was doing with meds I wasn't getting totally clear...eventhough I'd been doing it for years. So I know the clear skin I have now was not the med regime alone! I did not get totally clear until I added on the diet.

Adding the diet component, at least for me, seems to be what finally did the trick. I can't begin to tell you how many meds and med regimes I've done over the past decades but they never completely worked...ever...except for full strength antibiotics and accutane. But you can't take those things forever. The med regime below stopped my cystic acne (for which I am eternally grateful) but I was still breaking out in small pimples and whiteheads everyday. And my rosacea was still acting up too.

I've always followed a healthy diet but it was switching to mainly whole foods (versus flour products, even whole grain flours), avoiding dairy and sugars, and most recently avoiding oils that did the trick.

I can't begin to emphasize how avoiding oils really caused the final clearing of my skin. Over the past 3 months since stopping oils my skin has gotten progressively better and better. It really cleared up within the first month but now it is even clearer. It just looks so much healthier which is nothing short of a miracle to me. Maybe avoiding oils changes the quality of the sebum or something. Who knows? I'm just sharing what is working for me.

Next year I plan to start weaning off my oral meds...not to see if diet alone will keep me clear but instead for my general health because oral meds are generally not good longterm. The doxy is for my rosacea. It's not an antibacterial dose but instead an anti-inflammatory dose (like Oracea). The spiro is an anti-androgen that I've been taking since 2001. It's never gotten me clear by itself. However I will try to lower the dosage of that and see what happens.

I plan to keep on using the BP cleanser and Cleocin-T because they are topicals and topicals are generally okay longterm. FYI --- by themselves and as part of a med regime they have never kept me clear. They help stop cysts but not regular pimples, at least for me.

And the monthly microdermabrasions I plan to do for life...they are wonderful for keeping skin like mine in better condition.

I have dealt with acne for over 40 years and if I've learned anything it is that there is usually never one thing that will clear adult acne. Adult acne is different than typical teen acne. It is more complex and to get clear it usually requires a multi-prong approach that includes killing acne bacteria, helping skin cells to shed better, lowering sebum amount and type, and doing everything possible to balance hormones and lower inflammation. This is where diet can help.

That said, I too look forward to seeing what will happen when I stop the oral meds. But I may be too afraid to stop the topicals. I've been too scarred emotionally by acne. I really do not want to have to deal with it. I'll share just one story that is typical of my struggle with this...and it may be instructive for younger adults who haven't had to deal with acne as long as I have. Several years ago at age 59 my old derm had this brilliant idea that I should stop everything and see what would happen. At that time I was on Spiro, retin-a, and an oral antibiotic. This regime helped...I was getting fewer cysts but I was far from clear...I still got several cysts per month and was also breaking out with small pimples everyday. However she was adament...so I stopped everything. Within a month I returned to full blown acne --- cysts everyday, the works. This is at age 59. Can you even begin to imagine my dispair. I am a pretty woman but I have always had acne...always. After about 4 months I found my current derm who immediately put me on the regime below. The cysts went away within a month (sigh of relief). My skin started to heal.

I never want to return to having the acne I had before. So you can see...it really doesn't matter to me how I stay clear. If diet is what I need to do along with taking meds I will do it...and vice versa.

In other words --- this is a very good diet to follow if you have resistant and chronic adult acne (like me). It will help regardless if you do it alone or as part of a regime that includes meds. For some people it may clear their acne without having to do anything else. For others they may need to add some meds to get clear. Dr McDougall recommends first following the diet and then adding on meds if needed. He advocates also avoiding meat but when I researched these cultures I found they did eat wild fowl and fish but very sparingly.

I came upon this diet approach while I was already doing meds --- so for me it was different. I will try weaning off meds to see if the diet works alone...but as I shared above I'm not sure I have the guts to wean off the topicals...we'll see.

Personally I believe a multi-prong approach is what clears up adult acne. It takes a lot of experimenting to find what works because everyone is so different. And with adult acne it usually is not just one thing that does the trick...it is usually a combination of things that finally gets the skin clear.

Ok, thanks for clarifying. I understand your point about attacking acne from all possible angles. Hopefully you'll reach a point where you won't need any meds or harsh topicals.

I think most of the food mentioned in this thread can trigger acne. Especially carbohydrate and dairy. They almost always cause a zit to pop up the next day I consume them in high quantity. Goat cheese, however, doesn't cause acne for me. So if you are one of those people who cannot live without dairy, try goat cheese. Also, nori (or anything with high iodine) triggers adult acne, at least for me. Hope this helps.

If you knew what I know you wouldn't be using EVO. It's my 2nd highest toxin and everyone I tested, even my Italian wife, tested positive for EVO. The heart surgeon in the documentary Forks Over Knives even mentioned to avoid EVO.

I use Grape seed oil which is the same quality only with out the immune response. If you have a sensitivity to grapes, however, you might want to avoid that too.

I am not sure what you mean by EVO being toxic. If it is organic extra virgin cold pressed oil then it is not toxic. EVO is not meant for using with high heat but if you are using EVO like I am which is basically hardly any at all and only for light sauteeing then it is fine. At high heat EVO will smoke and is not good for you.

Grape seed oil is normally used for high heat cooking and is usually made with solvents such as the toxic solvent hexane. There are some high-end grape seed oils such as those made by Spectrum which are not made with solvents but they are still heat processed which affects the quality of the oil.

I am not sure what you mean by EVO being toxic. If it is organic extra virgin cold pressed oil then it is not toxic. EVO is not meant for using with high heat but if you are using EVO like I am which is basically hardly any at all and only for light sauteeing then it is fine. At high heat EVO will smoke and is not good for you.Grape seed oil is normally used for high heat cooking and is usually made with solvents such as the toxic solvent hexane. There are some high-end grape seed oils such as those made by Spectrum which are not made with solvents but they are still heat processed which affects the quality of the oil.

I have my clients get food allergy testing performed by the top lab in the country. We are testing positive to Olives. People tell you it's good for you, science tells me it is toxic to us.

I can give you the test name and have your Dr order it for you so you can see for yourself. Hey, ya never know, you could prove me wrong

Ps... did you hear that less than 60% of EVOO on the shelves is actually EVOO? Check out Dr Oz online to view it. The only way to tell is by sticking it in the freezer. EVOO does not freeze.

I totally agree with the concept of getting high quality allergy testing. My doc had that done via blood test with top rated lab and for several years I had to avoid certain foods. Now I can eat most of those foods in rotation except for dairy, shellfish, and fructose which I have to avoid. The testing was comprehensive but olives did not test positive for me. So sorry to hear they test positive for you! Everyone is different as far as allergens go. I also agree with knowing your source of olive oil. I use an organic extra virgin olive oil from California that is very highly regarded as being one of the best. Many low end EVOO's sold in supermarkets may be suspect. It's hard to get high quality foods these days, especially when you don't know your sources all the time!

I totally agree with the concept of getting high quality allergy testing. My doc had that done via blood test with top rated lab and for several years I had to avoid certain foods. Now I can eat most of those foods in rotation except for dairy, shellfish, and fructose which I have to avoid. The testing was comprehensive but olives did not test positive for me. So sorry to hear they test positive for you! Everyone is different as far as allergens go. I also agree with knowing your source of olive oil. I use an organic extra virgin olive oil from California that is very highly regarded as being one of the best. Many low end EVOO's sold in supermarkets may be suspect. It's hard to get high quality foods these days, especially when you don't know your sources all the time!

out of curiosity, what lab did the testing? The top 3 labs are Quest Diagnostic, Lab Corp, and Bio Reference. In that order. Outside of them testing is suspect to say the least.

Quest offers even more testing that no one else has. That's what puts them over the top. That and most hospitals use them as their Reference Lab.

Ps... just a fyi, once allergic always allergic. Stem Cell research has shown that and Quest Diagnostic confirms it.

I can't remember the lab that did my original testing years ago but I was tested again this year...a complete panel...by Genova Diagnostics --- the same lab used by our hospitals here in Oregon. The testing was for food antibodies which registered as very low - low - moderate - high. There were foods I had a low to very low response years ago and that I don't have a response to at all anymore. I never had serious allergies but my doc thought it would be good to avoid all foods I had even a little response to in order to get my system to calm down and not be so reactive. It worked and now I can eat those foods again with no problem and I also rotate them to be extra safe. I also had fructose testing and the complete panel for gluten. Gluten was negative over and over again and this is what prompted the fructose testing. I have continued to test positive to fructose and so I avoid all high fructose foods...and my gut thanks me! I have a high response to grasses...and of course I get hay fever every year but I manage that with quercetin and generally avoiding grains in my diet during the spring.

I can't remember the lab that did my original testing years ago but I was tested again this year...a complete panel...by Genova Diagnostics --- the same lab used by our hospitals here in Oregon. The testing was for food antibodies which registered as very low - low - moderate - high. There were foods I had a low to very low response years ago and that I don't have a response to at all anymore. I never had serious allergies but my doc thought it would be good to avoid all foods I had even a little response to in order to get my system to calm down and not be so reactive. It worked and now I can eat those foods again with no problem and I also rotate them to be extra safe. I also had fructose testing and the complete panel for gluten. Gluten was negative over and over again and this is what prompted the fructose testing. I have continued to test positive to fructose and so I avoid all high fructose foods...and my gut thanks me! I have a high response to grasses...and of course I get hay fever every year but I manage that with quercetin and generally avoiding grains in my diet during the spring.

Your lucky to have a smart doctor. The tests he ordered sounds like the panels I do. Their primary function is to tell how well you're following your diet as opposed to finding allergens. I use them for both but if I told you how it would kill my business. Lol.

thanks for your replies. I appreciate it.

ps... I just visited Genova Diagnostics website. They are similar to the testing I do. From what they say, they are new to testing (patent pending) . They don't, however, offer individual food IgG testing which is more accurate and with a actual number. The are more like the other online lab tests you can get without a order from your own doctor.

What's also a good "test" is eating something you haven't eaten in a long time and then remembering why that food was avoided in the first place! I had my "test" this holiday when I ate bread (sourdough) for a number of days while visiting relatives. I thought I could avoid any problems because sourdough is made without oils or sugars...but forgot it's high glycemic and, although natural, is made with a yeast process. I had a minor rosacea flare-up with a couple of flat pink spots on my cheeks...nothing to worry about...but reminds me once again that diet makes a difference. I have to stick with WHOLE foods (not flour products or yeast or sugary foods, etc.) if I want to maintain clear skin. This can be hard to do when traveling but it's possible.

I just wish our culture's diet wasn't so wheat-based and, especially these days, so oil-based (fried, grilled and sauteed in cheap plant oils). Whatever happened to meals like steamed vegetables and poached fish in herbs? Or even a decent sized baked potato? It's hard to find good rice meals on the road ---not everyone wants to eat Chinese every meal. My relatives are like most people in western culture eating sweets for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and pizza for dinner. A day or two of this and I'm blotchy, itchy and spotty. I bring foods with me but it's not always feasable to eat them for every meal without creating a fuss. Everyone knows I have allergies and try to order clean fresh foods when out but it's still a bother.

What's also a good "test" is eating something you haven't eaten in a long time and then remembering why that food was avoided in the first place! I had my "test" this holiday when I ate bread (sourdough) for a number of days while visiting relatives. I thought I could avoid any problems because sourdough is made without oils or sugars...but forgot it's high glycemic and, although natural, is made with a yeast process. I had a minor rosacea flare-up with a couple of flat pink spots on my cheeks...nothing to worry about...but reminds me once again that diet makes a difference. I have to stick with WHOLE foods (not flour products or yeast or sugary foods, etc.) if I want to maintain clear skin. This can be hard to do when traveling but it's possible.I just wish our culture's diet wasn't so wheat-based and, especially these days, so oil-based (fried, grilled and sauteed in cheap plant oils). Whatever happened to meals like steamed vegetables and poached fish in herbs? Or even a decent sized baked potato? It's hard to find good rice meals on the road ---not everyone wants to eat Chinese every meal. My relatives are like most people in western culture eating sweets for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and pizza for dinner. A day or two of this and I'm blotchy, itchy and spotty. I bring foods with me but it's not always feasable to eat them for every meal without creating a fuss. Everyone knows I have allergies and try to order clean fresh foods when out but it's still a bother.

I'm going on a 4 day cruise to the Mayan Ruins and staying 5 days in Miami. I'm scared to death about what I'm going to eat. I know I have to live my life but this really sucks.

The masses have no idea how bad the western diet really is or how many have the Gluten Allergy. And we both know gluten is in everything.

What's even worse is I get reactions from all most all of allergens because I have avoided them for so long. I lost my tolerance to them.

It's really nice talking to someone else that knows what I know. There are not many of us. My wife follows her diet plan for the most part but she is able to cheat. Her only noticeable reaction is a migraine. That drives me nuts.

Ps... her acne trigger is chocolate and she knew this long before it became a problem and it's easy to avoid. That's how she has flawless skin. I wish my trigger was something like that.

I can certainly empathize with your dilemma! It takes away the joy of traveling when you constantly have to think of what to eat and what to avoid. Also being on a ship and then in motels makes it virtually impossible to cook things that are gluten-free such a nice big pot of rice or fresh potatoes or something else that can fill you up. I don't have a problem with gluten but instead it's the plant oils, sugars and yeast in many of these foods (bread, sauces, breading, etc.)...but it could just as well be the same thing as gluten allergy given the hassle it is to avoid. I tend to lose weight on trips because I'm subsisting on salads and lean meats...and I'm already at lower weight.

I have trouble with restuarant food like vegies because they're usually drowned in butters or cheap oil preparations despite my asking for dry or steamed. And it seems to be getting harder and harder to get even a plain baked potato. Everyone is going gourmet with prepackaged potato "creations" (scalloped, baby yukons, stuffed, etc.) and vegetable medleys (think large packages of frozen vegies already in sauces) that are doctored up with spicy seasonings (rosacea triggers) and oils and then microwaved or fried (yes - even whole potatoes). I used to run a restaurant long ago and this happened all the time because it is more cost effective than actually cooking something from scratch and bought in bulk...sometimes from China --- yes, China. And this was happening back in the late 70's...think about what is happening now with prepackaged frozen foods and all the junk in them! This is why there is such obesity and inflammatory diseases...cheap oils infusing everything and food that has been prepared months before from dubious sources to maintain low cost. The food in restaurants can sound fresh (grilled salmon with string beans and baby potatoes) but it is usually all prepackaged, often partially or totally precooked and then just warmed up. The only way to know for sure that food is being freshly prepared is to talk with the owner and visit the kitchen. Staff don't know (or care) and if you ask if food is prepared on-site...they say yes - because it is being microwaved or fried on site.

I try to frequent more organic restaurants or ones that advertise they cook locally sourced foods. These are hard to find tho on trips sometimes. I ask locals to recommend fresh food restaurants. My worse dilemma is visiting with relatives who think a good meal out is eating at Elmers!

I take along baggies of pre-mixed oatmeal with raisons and chia seeds for breakfast that I can usually find a microwave for or ask staff to microwave up for me. I pack brown rice cakes --- yes they are somewhat high glycemic but don't seem to bother me too much, a can of refried beans and some avocados for snacks. I use the beans like a spread on the rice cakes and put slices of avocado on top...nice filling snack. But this strategy only works if you have access to a fridge to store the beans and unused avocado. And TSA has a field day with the can of beans, rice cakes and avocado stored in my suitcase...I always get checked --- must look suspicious!

Hope this helps. Tell me how it goes!

I can only agree that diet has a huge role in my adult acne, I am 40 years old. For the most part my skin has been clear but I sometimes do get one cyst or pimple which I treat with clindamiyacin and differin but the goal is to only use that on an existing pimple.

I only eat baked chicken breast tenderloin, steamed vegtables, bland quick one minute oatmeal in water, small amounts of unsalted almonds, cashews but be careful on the nuts; I only eat nuts because I weight train for a living and need small amounts of fat/calories, no sugar but I do substitute with splenda in my green tea which I drink a lot of, sometimes I will eat a can of tuna raw, no salmon as it makes my skin break out, no carbs, no bread, no natural fruit because a bananna will send my sugar levels crazy, no greasy foods, no fatty foods, I have recently experimented with cooking egg whites and I think I can eat those too.

I know this diet sucks and I can never eat anything fun but I know what triggers my body to have break outs now and I can usually pin point what caused a break out and eliminate it from my diet. I do think I am rare in a sense that I hate acne so much I have been able to control my food cravings to avoid breaking out.

I can totally understand your ability to be disciplined about diet. Since making the connection between diet and acne I've been able to avoid foods most people would feel they can't live without. This is because I suffered with acne for so long despite doing meds that I am willing to do anything to have clear skin!

I do marathons and am already at a low weight so I have to be careful not to lose too much or I will lack stamina (much like your weight training). To eat more like cultures that don't get acne, I avoid processed flour products like bread and instead get my carbs from foods like beans, rice, and potatoes. But eating only these carbs barely keeps my weight up so I also eat pasta and/or a flour burritos once a week because they don't seem to flare up the acne. Not sure why pasta or burrito doesn't cause a flare and bread does (blotches on cheeks within hours)...except that bread is made from yeast. So maybe yeast is the issue for me! Also bread has more sweetener and I don't tolerate sweet foods very well but even non-sweetened sourdough bread will cause a flare-up. So it must be the yeast. And I can drink soy milk that has some sweetener in it with no problem.

To test the yeast theory and rule out flour, I made a quick bread today with soda, whole spelt, a tiny amount of olive oil, less than half the honey listed which was already low, unsweetened applesauce, eggs, sunflower seeds, cinnamon and raisons. To compensate for lack of oil I put in an extra egg and to compensate for less honey I added cinnamon and raisons. The bread is delicious and packed with nutrients. I'm curious to see if I have a reaction. It would be nice to eat something with whole flour on occasion. I do eat brown rice flour waffles once or twice a month and they are good but it would be nice to have something that is more like a treat but still very very low in oil and sweetener since these things can be a problem for me if too much.

Hi cvd,

I just wanted to let you know that I was inspired by your posts and have also been having success with using diet to manage my adult acne and skin issues.

I'm female, 41yo, and have had seborrhea and seborrheic dermatitis (SD), with a lot of blocked pores and the occasional pimple, since the age of around 11 yo. I also get inflammation in the skin around my eyes, called blepharitis- which I've had since 5yo!!- so like you, inflammation seems to play a big role in my skin issues. There are some dematologists who view SD/blepharitis as forms of rosacea. I've also, in the past, had IBS, which is definitely diet related (too much sugar and caffeine), and if that flared, so did my skin problems.

My diet was already very good compared to most people, as I'd already worked out that it played a big role. Like you, I've become a bit more philosophical as I've realised how these health issues have forced me not to take my health for granted.

But inspired by you and some other stuff I've been reading, I made the following tweaks to my diet around 3 weeks ago:

-very minimal dairy (ie tiny amount of milk in black tea, or tiny amount of real parmesan on pasta); this was a big change, as previously I was eating 2-3 serves of yogurt, cheese and full-fat milk daily

-very minimal fat and extracted oils (I found your take on that very helpful- so I now use, say, 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil in a salad dressing, but no other added fat in a meal; before I might have used 3 tsp oil in the dressing AND roast potatoes in oil)

-some animal protein (so an egg for breakfast, a small amount meat, fish or shellfish for other meals)

-lots of starch; I focus on sources of resistant starch (this is something you might like to read up on- because of the positive influence on blood sugar control and gut bacteria); minimally processed grains eg cooled and reheated brown rice or parboiled rice, cooled and reheated potato, sweet potato, some pasta, and cooked, minimally processed grains such as freekeh (wheat), rye, barley, and non-grains like quinoa, buckwheat, well-prepared pulses

-lots of vegetables, cooked and raw

-some fruit (but not loads) including under-ripe bananas for the resistant starch content

-minimal caffeine (two small cups tea per day), alcohol, sweets (1 piece of 85% choc at the end of the day, with dandelion tea...)

I also drink a tablespon of potato starch in cool water, after meals. This is to increase the resistant starch content of the meal. To anyone experimenting with resistant starch, it is very important that you build up taking resistant starch slowly, or your digestion will act surprised and unhappy! Again, I'd suggest reading up on it- a blog called FreeTheAnimal has a lot of great info about it (but be prepared for a lot of swearing). So, I started with a small teaspoon in water, after meals, and built up from there. Its extremely important that you take the starch in cold water, and that the potato starch is from uncooked potatoes.

Effects noted after 2 weeks:

-vastly improved energy; I no longer get shaky and vague due to blood sugar issues, which I used to every 2.5-3 hours if I didn't eat; yesterday I didn't need to eat for 5 hours!

-amazingly improved running performance (I have had to extend my running trail)

-very good sleep

-my skin is not oily by the end of the day, and my hair is also markedly less oily

-all seborheic dermatitis is GONE; I get it on my hairline, around my nose, and eyebrows

-skin tone generally better (much less pink)

-blepharitis (eye inflammation) much improved

-digestion has had some minor whinges along the way, mainly I think because of increasing resistant starches too quickly. These have now settled down.

I think I am starting to see a reduction in blocked pores (there is definitely a reduction around my nose), but it's probably too soon to report definitively on that. My experience is that you need to give something around 6 weeks to see positive changes in the condition of your skin. Whereas you can see negative changes in a matter of hours! I have made no other changes to my skincare regime in this time. I don't use any prescription medication to manage my skin- I would rate my SD as mild, seborrhea as moderate, blepharitis as moderate, prior to starting. My SD is now gone, the seborrhea is almost gone, and blepharitis now very mild.

Like you, cvd, I had to really increase the amount I was eating overall, to make up for the calories that used to be provided by fats and oils, dairy products and larger servings of protein. However, I am finding it an enjoyable way to eat, and I don't feel deprived. I'm aiming to stick with it for 6 months, and then see what happens if I reintroduce a serve of dairy. I don't mind the lower fat or protein, but I would like to know whether I can eat yogurt or kefir...

It's interesting, isn't it? It took about a month to really see the difference avoiding oils was having on my skin. My rosacea is almost nonexistent now and I rarely if ever get a pimple or clogged pore. Like you, I've always eaten a very healthy diet compared to the typical western diet but about two years ago I started tweeking my diet based on what I was reading about cultures that don't get acne. Then I read Dr McDougall's info on the relationship between oils and acne and that really got my attention. It was then (last summer) that I started avoiding all oil except for teeny tiny amount of olive oil for cooking. That change added to already avoiding dairy, sugars, alcohol, caffeine and flour products has made an incredible difference. I also had a bit of mild seborrheic dermatitis and that is completely gone. Maybe seed oils are too concentrated and too high in omega 6 and that is what causes inflammation. Personally I don't think one has to be absolutely religious about avoiding all foods that are a little high in omega 6, as long as there are sufficient high omega 3 foods in the diet to compensate. To me this means following as best I can the diets of cultures that don't get acne...tweeking them to fit what is readily available here and easier to do in our culture. Whatever I'm doing seems to work for me! And everyone is different. Personally I can't eat even a bit of dairy without breaking out but others can and stay clear --- go figure!

Another amazing thing about this diet is the amount of food that can be eaten without gaining weight. Although I need to keep my weight up due to marathon walking so that's why I add some oatmeal...a whole food but has more bulk for me than just eating potatoes or yams for my starch.

Yes, the amount that you can eat is pretty amazing- the other day I ate half a sweet potato, and potato for dinner (with other things!). The reduced oil is not that hard, if you're already used to cooking for yourself, and I'm starting to appreciate how the flavours of things, cooked without oil, are really clear. Yesterday I cooked up red peppers/courgette/mushrooms/onion/garlic and herbs; once I would have sauted the onion and garlic in oil, but I just used water to get it all started (then the liquids starting coming out of the veg on its own). This morning my husband commented how delicious it was, how you could 'really taste the flavours intensely'. I've also worked out a good way to roast sweet potato and potato slices in the oven, again using water, and it really concentrates the flavours.

The change to my blood sugar highs and lows is the most noticeable thing at this stage. Weirdly enough, it's as though my body expects the dip, and then the adrenaline response that follows, and starts preparing for it, but then nothing happens! Plus I am seeing (I think) a reduction in blocked pores, and the dermatitis is still gone. Still a bit oily sometimes- but that could be because it is summer here, and so I'm having to use sunblock, which my skin detests!

I am pretty much dairy free- if this works, then as I said, I'll see if I can eat a little dairy every so often. Like you, I've found avoiding flour products is really important- I just don't like the way I feel after eating them on a regular basis, as they tend to lead to really big dips in blood sugar. I love having sustained energy!

Can I ask, what kind of oatmeal do you eat? Do you favour any particular kind eg steel cut? And how do you prepare it??