I didn't eat meat for five years, and that is when my acne got really bad. When I started eating meat my diet was less based on bread and potatoes and my skin improved.

maybe thats it then,its not so much not eating meat thats the issue but eating less carbs as a resulf of a meat diet.

Do you think it has anything to do with iron? My sister had a friend who didnt eat meat & had bad skin & her doctor (not derm) told her to try & eat fish at least because she was not getting all the nutrients she needed in her vegetarian diet (& especially being a woman she needed to be careful about getting enough iron so as not to become anemic).

Anyhow, I imagine being a vegetarian who is careful to get everything they need would be fine but a lot of people dont make the effort to do so (& many of us non-veggies dont either).

a lot of things have iron, spinach, kale, wheat protein products, etc etc. Many many things. If you can't get enough iron, take a multivitamin. You don't need to eat meat to have good skin, a lot of people have gone vegan and had all their skin problems clear up (one of my exes had cystic acne when he was 19-20, he went vegan (from being omni, not veggie) at 21 and was instantly clear). I think the diet aspect has to do with how much JUNK you eat, not whether you eat meat or not. Of course, vitamin deficiencies happen with any diet, but generally it's from eating foods that are starchey or have tons of sugar. If you eat healthily, whether omni-paleo or veggie, you won't have an imbalance.

Hey,

I've only been a vegetarian for about a year, but I definitely have noticed my skin has gotten much worse. Since I refuse to eat it again, the only alternative is to get enough iron from other foods and/or pills. But, like the above poster said, you don't need to eat meat to get those nutrients.

And, I've also noticed that soy products are really bad for my skin. It sucks.

I'm lucky in the fact that I don't think I'm sensitive to soy. Nice Elliott Smith avatar.

i did not eat meat for many years and my skin did get worse

my skin did not get better until i added red meat to my diet

i think its because of the zinc content

other foods that have zinc but they are probably harder to absorb

its best to eat it on an empty stomach without anything else......organic grass fed is best

a lot of things have iron, spinach, kale, wheat protein products, etc etc. Many many things. If you can't get enough iron, take a multivitamin. You don't need to eat meat to have good skin, a lot of people have gone vegan and had all their skin problems clear up (one of my exes had cystic acne when he was 19-20, he went vegan (from being omni, not veggie) at 21 and was instantly clear). I think the diet aspect has to do with how much JUNK you eat, not whether you eat meat or not. Of course, vitamin deficiencies happen with any diet, but generally it's from eating foods that are starchey or have tons of sugar. If you eat healthily, whether omni-paleo or veggie, you won't have an imbalance.

I was a vegetarian/vegan for 10 years. I ate the model vegetarian diet - no junk, tons of veggies, grains, beans, tofu/tempeh/miso, nuts, fruit. I was FINE for many years, but then developed acne in my mid-twenties which I'd never had before. I also became extremely anemic. Again, it took many years for this to happen. I went from a vegan diet to a paleo-style diet over the course of several months - first adding eggs, then fish. Once I eliminated grains and began eating meat every day, the acne and anemia both went away very quickly.

There is no physical difference (acne) between the Indians in India who are vegetarian (half of the country) and the Indians who eat meat (the other half of the country). Since they have lived that way for thousands of years, researchers would have noticed a major difference in skin -- such as acne.

There is a people who live in the Himalayas who have been VEGAN for about 5,000 years. They have never changed their habits. Scientists go there and study them...they are one of the healthiest people and oldest living people. Tourists who must trek far into the wilderness to see these isolated people, describe the beauty of these women as "greek goddesses" -- no mention of severe skin problems or acne. Plus there are pictures of them online and you can see they are healthy and without acne.

Go here to see pics of them and read about them:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2...10700080200.htm

Anyway, I've had acne since I was thirteen. I became vegetarian 2 years ago... my skin is the same. There are more than enough vitamins (iron) in veggies and foods that are meat-less. I can see a vegetarian developing acne if their diet is mainly filled with pizza (white bread (which depletes the B vitamins) tomatos and cheese), chips and french fries).

I think that a lot of people who become vegans/vegetarians don't eat the right kinds of foods. I know I had a lot of trouble finding the right foods because I lived in a small town in a big meat eating area of the country (I was the only vegetarian in my high school). Before I realized it I was eating a lot of junk along with more healthy foods just to keep from being hungry all the time.

See, the thing is when you go vegetarian, you have the tendency to start eating more grains unless you make a conscious effort to restrict them, and when you do that you have a pretty high carb diet. High carb diets are rarely good for acne, in fact I don't think I've ever read of a single person clearing up on a HC diet. I think the best way to go veggie would be the Fuhrman style of diet where nuts, legumes, fruits,and veggies are allowed unlimited and other things like grains are more restricted.

apple blossom, i was vegan for two years and alothough i was post tane i was acne free so its hard for me to no what cleared my acne more.

thinking about it wouldnt it be even harder to follow a GI diet as a vegan as you cant eat eggs/milk and would even more limited.

my derm told me of the research you mention and said countries were a low Gi diet is consumed they found no cases of Acne.

thinking about it wouldnt it be even harder to follow a GI diet as a vegan as you cant eat eggs/milk and would even more limited.

my derm told me of the research you mention and said countries were a low Gi diet is consumed they found no cases of Acne.

yes, it pushes a restrictive diet over the edge. suddenly it's not a diet anymore at all, but a complete lifestyle that you revolve around.

besides, eggs are a very healthy food

i have been vegetarian for almost 8 years, my husband for over 10. i have problem skin and he has great skin. we eat the same things. he eats more junk if anything and he has the better skin. i don't think that it has anything to do with it. oh, and he hates most vegetables!! we rarely eat vegetables. we do the veggie burgers and such. meat substitutes.

I have had acne since I was 14 and at 16 I went vegetarian until I was 21 and I am now 27 and in that whole time my acne has always been the same, whether I was vege or omnivour... But I did notice that my hair became very thin while I was a vegetarian and my finger nails stopped growing and became very weak... as soon as I started eating meat again after 4 years my hair went back to normal and my finger nails started growing again, it was really amazing, I didnt even realise meat could have this effect on me.

i sometimes feel that eating meat may make a difference, and whilst im not judging others,i couldnt eat it though.

also there is the issue that meat is full of hormones ect so surely this wouldnt be good for my skin either!

i am thinking of cutting out breads in general. it is true that i did notice clearer skin when i did stop eating grain for 1 year.

i just think as a veggie it would be hard i mean i do eat alot of bread/carbs.on another note maybe this is the problem.so what did you eat in that year? a typical day for example?

i just think as a veggie it would be hard i mean i do eat alot of bread/carbs.on another note maybe this is the problem.so what did you eat in that year? a typical day for example?

It IS hard. I tried it. For awhile I had a diet of eggs, sweet potatoes, quinoa, vegetables, beans and nuts. (I still had acne) Eventually I started eating fish once or twice a week. I finally added meat, elimintated the quinoa and limited the beans and sweet potatotes, and hey presto, the acne went away.

I have tried really hard to get rid of acne, and I have to say that even when I was doing a wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free diet + liver flushes, making my own kefir, doing fiber shakes, I was still getting some inflamed spots. Simply following a low-carb diet is like a dream come true compared to all the other crap I did. Note ....I'm not saying liver flushes and the like are useless because I'm sure they work for some people. I'm just saying that I'm relieved I have found an easy foolproof way to keep acne away. Also, I will say that I've read of more success stories of people following a paleo-style diet and getting rid of acne, than of people getting rid of it through liverflushing. not to go off on a tangent here.....sorry.

so going low gi not enough then you have to eat meat,i wonde why that made the difference?

i sometimes feel that eating meat may make a difference, and whilst im not judging others,i couldnt eat it though.

also there is the issue that meat is full of hormones ect so surely this wouldnt be good for my skin either!

You sound just like me, thats what I used to think how could all those hormones in milk be good for me... I got my blood checked once to see what I was allergic too and the main thing was milk... so I gave up drinking milk for one year and everything else that contained milk, I must admit I had the odd chocolate here and there but nothing major and my skin still remained the same... but when I found out I was lactose intollerant I thought yes, yes as with everything else that I had finally found the reason and I believed it so much because of the hormone thing but sadly it never cleared my damn skin up and im currently trying other methods. I hope you find your answer darling but I seriously dont think acne has anything to do with food we consume otherwise if you got acne when you were say anywhere from say 12 to 19 or at any time basically what was so different to what you ate when you were under 12 years old before you started getting acne, you are still eating all the same foods that you were eating so how could all of a sudden some food make you break out, but thats just my logic so maybe I could be totally WRONG!! Good luck anyway my friends.

so going low gi not enough then you have to eat meat,i wonde why that made the difference?

I never followed any gi chart. I think for me, giving up all grains was key. I needed to eat meat because I had deficiencies stemming from long-term abstention of it. You'll just have to experiment.

the last few days i've eaten less meat and drank milk for the first time in a year. the last few days my skin has cleared a lot... skin is too confusing. i thought milk was bad for my skin and meat had no effect. my hormones might have taken a swerve. who knows. its hard to establish cause and effect. im getting pretty sick of trying to figure out the answer.