hey, quick tip here. Broccoli causes me to break out. I just found out about this days ago. You can read my thread here that I just started:

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/321893-broccoli-broke-me-out/

broccoli is goitrogenic as well as cabbage, flax, soy and such. Try taking out the broccoli for a week or two and see if anything changes. I am amazed at your diet. I applaud the perfection there. Those things are incredibly healthy. The only thing i would change would be to add some berries in there, maybe some egg yolks occasionally (raw if possible). Also two other things to look into: wheatgrass and organic hemp seed oil. If i had the money I would take two shots of wheatgrass a day. That will clear up those white heads in no time. Its just really expensive. Also hemp seed oil helps my white heads too.

You may have leaky gut syndrome where even healthy food particles can enter the blood stream and cause acne. You'll have to repair your gut, and that takes a direct and focused approach with supplementation and a detox diet.

Omega oils do not work for every one. Stop it for a while and see how it goes. Have yogurt/kefir homemade if possible and if you don't break out. Also supplement powdered wheat grass juice.

Your diet does sound very good, indeed. I might switch the chicken to something lower in n-6 fats (organic beef for example), although as you don't have a problem with the 3n:6n ratio, it shouldn't have a huge effect. I try to get most of my PUFA from eggs, since despite containing quite a bit of omega 6 fats, they're otherwise so healthy that they're worth it.

How low-carb are you? A very low-carb diet gave me thyroid issues and made my whole body sluggish, and it also may have contributed to my getting shingles (through contributing to my stress levels at the time). Based on my experiences, I think a very low-carb diet (<60g per day) might be too stressful for the body and thus contributing to acne and other health problems. Of course it does seem to work for some, so you have to weigh in your situation and other lifestyle factors (such as stress and sleep). Nowadays I try to make sure I get a decent amount of carbohydrates every day, although since I don't eat that many grains or fruit, the total amount would still be on the lower side. I feel this is healthier for me than being low-carb.

Anyway, I haven't been able to clear my acne 100% either, so I'm in a similar situation as you are, unfortunately. I'm starting to think that physical exercise, emotional stress, and the appropriate lighting for the circadian rhythm might be the most important factors for me, since I can't think of how to improve my diet further and working hard to make it better and better hasn't yielded in any changes in my skin. Maybe there's still something that I'm missing though. Nevertheless, I think exercise, stress and sleep are likely to be important in my case, and also somewhat more challenging to fix properly. Maybe you should consider these too?

Thanks for the replies.

Broccoli - doubt it, I dont each much of it, and I've swapped it to spinach occasionally. However soy.. oh man, it's the worst thing ever - I agree on that.

Leaky gut - I looked at the diet, looks like I check out. When I swapped to gluten free, it took 2 months before any benefits came about from a diet change (this is what I believe to be the stage most people say "diet doesn't work". Then it took another 4 months to see reasonable improvement. I'm currently at 2 years.

Omega 3:6 - no clue, but I know fish oil calmed inflammation. That's why I do it. I don't react well to yogurt (sugar free of course).

Low-carb - sweet potatoes only, fruit breaks me out. Depending on whether or not I work out, I add in the necessary calories with sweet potato. So, many times I dont eat it. No carbs does make the body sluggish, but only temporarily (like 2 - 3 weeks, I know because I went grass-fed beef diet only a few months ago, no carbs). I must do low-carb b/c blood sugar spikes = acne for me.

Austra, would you consider yourself an extrovert? I just feel like there is something introverts do that prevents them from clearing (I'm introverted, lots of time studying & on the computer).

Oh no, I'm an introvert and I do study a lot and spend lots of time at the computer. That's the reason I find it so hard to improve those other lifestyle factors - being outdoors during the day, going to bed at regular times, being physically active on a daily basis, not stressing and being laid-back etc. Those of us who are introverted should really try to push ourselves out of those bad habits, so that it wouldn't affect our health or contribute to acne.

I tried a low-carb diet for a good few months, and I wasn't talking about the initial sluggishness. For some reason, it seemed to permanently mess up my metabolism (I did have lots of stress at the time as well) so that after a couple of months I just hit a wall and was incredibly tired for weeks and weeks. It wasn't until I started eating a lot of everything and resting that things improved. I think I'm very sensitive to stress and prone to sluggish metabolism, which is why low-carb doesn't suit me very well. But you should of course listen to your own body and base your decisions on that.

I do sometimes wonder about the blood sugar spikes after my meals, since I sometimes eat mostly carbohydrate-based large meals. Maybe I should try to eat smaller portions more often and see if that helps.

All I can say is that I was having major, major problems until I eliminated sweet potatoes. I'm hoping that by using the gut healing diet and adding tons of probiotics, I can heal my body enough to digest them again. But as of now, they seem to just mess up my gut and make my leaky gut worse. I've been reading about them in regards to the gut healing protocol, and some of the experts say they are no good for those with gut damage.

My advice is probably common sense for most people, but it took me forever to figure this out. I'm not sure if you're male or female, so I don't know know if you wear makeup. However, I have recently discovered that my makeup was a major contributer to my acne. I used to wear small amounts of stick or cream non-comedogenic concealer on just my pimples. I never thought that makeup was good for the skin, but I figured that at worst it would worsen my acne slightly. However, when I switched to just mineral makeup for just one day, my skin looked way better. Over the course of a few weeks, I discovered that I would get major breakouts whenever I wore concealer (and this was just tiny amounts of it) and my skin would clear up when I didn't. It seems to be more of an allergic reaction / intolerance than clogged pores. Now, I never wear concealer and, this, in conjunction with a healthy diet seems to be clearing up my skin completely. I'll report back after a few months to let everyone know if it sticks or not.

I brought this up because I see many people driving themselves crazy trying to figure out what it is in their diet that's breaking them out. I don't here much talk about makeup or soaps on this forum, but it's really worth looking into those as well.

My advice is probably common sense for most people, but it took me forever to figure this out. I'm not sure if you're male or female, so I don't know know if you wear makeup. However, I have recently discovered that my makeup was a major contributer to my acne. I used to wear small amounts of stick or cream non-comedogenic concealer on just my pimples. I never thought that makeup was good for the skin, but I figured that at worst it would worsen my acne slightly. However, when I switched to just mineral makeup for just one day, my skin looked way better. Over the course of a few weeks, I discovered that I would get major breakouts whenever I wore concealer (and this was just tiny amounts of it) and my skin would clear up when I didn't. It seems to be more of an allergic reaction / intolerance than clogged pores. Now, I never wear concealer and, this, in conjunction with a healthy diet seems to be clearing up my skin completely. I'll report back after a few months to let everyone know if it sticks or not.

I brought this up because I see many people driving themselves crazy trying to figure out what it is in their diet that's breaking them out. I don't here much talk about makeup or soaps on this forum, but it's really worth looking into those as well.

 

That's very interesting! I wear make-up to make my skin look better, but I try to only use it on problem areas and as little as possible. It didn't occur to me it could have such an effect. Does it affect your skin also in areas where you don't apply make-up?

My advice is probably common sense for most people, but it took me forever to figure this out. I'm not sure if you're male or female, so I don't know know if you wear makeup. However, I have recently discovered that my makeup was a major contributer to my acne. I used to wear small amounts of stick or cream non-comedogenic concealer on just my pimples. I never thought that makeup was good for the skin, but I figured that at worst it would worsen my acne slightly. However, when I switched to just mineral makeup for just one day, my skin looked way better. Over the course of a few weeks, I discovered that I would get major breakouts whenever I wore concealer (and this was just tiny amounts of it) and my skin would clear up when I didn't. It seems to be more of an allergic reaction / intolerance than clogged pores. Now, I never wear concealer and, this, in conjunction with a healthy diet seems to be clearing up my skin completely. I'll report back after a few months to let everyone know if it sticks or not.

I brought this up because I see many people driving themselves crazy trying to figure out what it is in their diet that's breaking them out. I don't here much talk about makeup or soaps on this forum, but it's really worth looking into those as well.

 

That's very interesting! I wear make-up to make my skin look better, but I try to only use it on problem areas and as little as possible. It didn't occur to me it could have such an effect. Does it affect your skin also in areas where you don't apply make-up?

 

Probably not, but it's hard to say. My chin seems to be the most sensitive to the makeup. It was always broken out and it cleared up completely after stopping using the concealer. I used to often get new acne right next to or almost on top of existing acne and it would take forever to heal. Of course, I was putting concealer on top of it and probably hugely interfering with it healing. Other areas of my face (like my forehead) seem to be more affected by my diet than what I put on my skin.

I took some of your advice - I'm a dude (for the makeup topic).

Broccoli - leaving it in, but definitely in moderation now. Will swap for spinach when possible.

Sweet potato - I actually added this in long after I maintained the grass fed beef + veggie diet for 3 months. I did a "test" to see if I reacted. My body appears to take it well. Tossing this out will make me lose a lot of weight. The grass fed beef diet makes me feel always full (ate 3lbs a day), but I lost 3 - 5 pounds a month without knowing (hint: need to lose weight?)

Omega oils - reduced to take in moderation.

Makeup - I decided to stop using creams - I used it for 12 - 16 hrs / day. So far so good - appears to be helping actually. Pulled out my dusty light therapy set to deal with potential inflammation.

Lifestyle - Ok I'm making a lifestyle change.

I want to mimic the extrovert lifestyle while being an introvert. I'm not changing who I am.

I found:

http://www.juststand.org

which will make it so I'm "always active."

Also, constant body-weight training throughout the day; I hope this will stabilize blood sugar and keep inflammation to a minimum.

When I was eating trashy but did an intense tennis boot camp (4 hrs / day), my acne nearly disappeared even when it was severe.