Hi everyone, so I've been trying to root out dietary causes of my longstanding acne/bacne and have gone dairy, gluten, and junk food free for a while in those efforts. I have seen some success which has been encouraging, although admittedly up and down.
My question is for people's thoughts on Chipotle bowls. I basically eat Chipotle every day for lunch because it's the only spot nearby where I can reliably get non-dairy, gluten-free meals. I actually don't mind the repetition at all and my initial sense is Chipotle shouldn't have any triggers, but now I'm not so sure.
My order is a chicken bowl with brown rice, corn, mild salsa, lettuce, and guac. No cheese, no chips, so I always thought this was about as acne-friendly as you can get. Could I be missing something? My concern is primarily with the high amounts of salt/sodium, especially in the rice, but there are moments where I think if I need to restrict my already ridiculously-restrictive diet so much to even exclude such a basic ingredient as salt I ask myself if it's even worth it anymore, because it's honestly insane for my skin to react so negatively to so many common ingredients/foods.
I have generally attributed the back and forth with my acne even on this diet to not being able to perfectly adhere to it, primarily due to social engagements where I eat out - for example, it's my roommate's birthday tomorrow and we're going to a taco place for brunch, which literally has no menu items which are both dairy and gluten-free (unless I order a bunch of guac lol) It kind of makes me wonder for those who can stick so strictly to such a restrictive diet how you handle eating out? Or do you just not eat out at all, which seems impossible if you're trying to have any kind of a social life? Not to be demeaning haha, just genuinely curious here.
Not to digress on that last point though as I'm mainly curious to hear people's thoughts on Chipotle. Thanks all!
Chipolte i think uses oil which in reality is not the greatest (not sure what kind of oil). Also, the quality of the meat they use is probably not the highest standard. Could you try making lunch everyday instead of eating out? I think with diet and acne, the 90/10 rule is suffice for some people. Eat well 90% of the time and allow yourself to enjoy not so clean foods 10% of the time. Sometimes particular foods are the issue so if you can find your triggers, it would make things easier.
8 hours ago, leelowe1 said:Chipolte i think uses oil which in reality is not the greatest (not sure what kind of oil). Also, the quality of the meat they use is probably not the highest standard. Could you try making lunch everyday instead of eating out? I think with diet and acne, the 90/10 rule is suffice for some people. Eat well 90% of the time and allow yourself to enjoy not so clean foods 10% of the time. Sometimes particular foods are the issue so if you can find your triggers, it would make things easier.
Yeah the oil is a good point, based on their website it looks like they use rice bran oil:
https://chipotle.ca/ingredient-statement
From some very cursory Googling this seems to be a healthier oil compared to more popular ones? But you're right though, generally oils don't do any good. I may start making my own lunches, it's just tough because I'm not great at cooking and I have minimal free time, even during the weekend, to meal prep for the week. So theoretically I can make my own Chipotle bowl and perhaps I need to go down that route, I just wish it were as simple as a PB&J sandwich (which of course has a bazillion red flags, what with the carbs/gluten, peanut butter being a known trigger on its won, and added sugar in jelly... sigh).
Certainly it'd be great if there were obvious food triggers in my diet, but I've resigned myself to the fact it's probably not as simple as that and more a holistic breakdown of my body to anything that gets my internal nutrients off track/raises blood insulin/high GI imbalance, whether it's dairy, gluten, or anything else 'unnatural'. I also have real food allergies, IBD (which seems to be connected to acne), and genetics with family having acne, so I guess I'm the perfect storm for dealing with this indefinitely even as I'm in my 20s now - depressing to say the least. It's why I do think diet can really make a difference here where topicals and oral medications do nothing, but it's just such a tough thing to control - and why it spurred this topic on Chipotle since I thought I had found something sustainable diet-wise...but perhaps not.
Would love to hear other's thoughts/viewpoints from their own experiences.