Photo On 4 10 15 At 11.06 PM

Your skin looks amazing Hun!!!!! Keep up the good work. Life is way too short to obsess over the slip ups. As long as you follow the 90/10 rule, you should be fine. You're definitely an inspiration.

Congratulations on coming so far! I'm surprised you are still breaking out in cysts with sweets after healing for so long. Do you get cysts often? And is it only from junk trashy foods?

You know, it's possible only a few sweets are causing those reactions. 5 months ago, I ate one single Lunds doughnut, and got a cyst near my ear that lasted a month and a half. I then ate an entire pack of cookies from Lunds, and didn't breakout at all. I tried eating 5 packs in a row and eventually broke out, but I could tolerate the cookies much more than the doughnut.

You could try keeping a log and eating one sweet at a time if you'd like. I'm sure that will be fun!

I've found that I can eat:
- An entire chocolate pound cake (Lunds)
- A bowl of cereal (almond milk)
- A pack of cookies (Lunds)
Occasionally without breaking out

I've found I breakout immediately with:
- One doughnut (Lunds)
- 2 Pieces of butternut squash pie (Food Co-op)
I haven't tried eating one piece of butternut squash pie

I hope this helps you cheat.
But I'm shocked you're still not fully healed yet.

Thanks a lot!!

"Often" would be about once every couple of weeks, but only if I have junk food, and by junk food I usually mean cake and pie and pop and doughnuts other milky, sugary snacks.

Lol, yes, doughnuts are the worst for me too. In fact, some of my friends and family who don't even get acne would have small breakouts from them too. Cookies don't have as much milk, oil and sugar as doughnuts do, so I can eat the same amount of cookies as you can and tolerate them a lot better than the doughnut. We're probably the same when it comes to a combination of milk and sugar. Doughnuts are one of the worst things for my skin.

I probably could, yes .

I'm the same as you! But I love butternut squash soup. I sometimes buy the carton at the grocery store, usually found in the health food isle. I fill up one coffee cup of soup and just heat it in the microwave. I also like broccoli soup and vegetable broths without the tomatoes.

I am surprised too, but because of how bad I broke out during most of my life, as well as how much stress I was under and little sleep I got, I KNEW I wasn't going to fully heal anytime soon. That's why I gave up trying to cure my acne fast. I gave up "regimens" and just started to live a more natural, fulfilling life. If I wasn't eating pie and cookies, and was very good with my sleep, I would be 100 percent clear in a month or so... but I stay up late watching movies, go out with my friends, and sometimes forget to drink water throughout the day. I am still human, lazy and young .

I can see your profile picture, and I have a good feeling about your skin and that you will heal faster than I, but if you saw my personal pictures when I was 12-21, before I joined acne.org, you'd understand how prone I am to getting acne. It's just too easy it is for my skin to break out. I use to drink 3 large glasses of milk every morning, and tons and tons of pop in the evening... for years. It's going to take me a while, but I am extremely satisfied with the way my skin is now. I'd take a few measly pimples on my neck over the 20 cysts I had every day anytime .

Ha, I used to drink tons of milk and soda, too! Water was foreign to me. I used to tease my cousin for saying "pop". Thought it was just him, not all of Chicago. I see what you mean, though. You started healing much later than I have and I guess that means your damage is much worse than mine. That sucks that you've had it for so long. I hope it didn't interfere with your life too badly. But at least it's later rather than never. I'm happy you're optimistic. Also glad to see I'm not the only one who spazzes out and binges on junk food.

hahaha

Haha, we all say "pop" here, but my dad is the only one who says "soda". Sometimes I say "pop-fiz".

Well, for a long time I was also inconsistent with leaving milk and sugar out of my diet because I still ate yogurts and breads and what not. I was just starting to learn about food and was still quite ignorant, so a lot of it was indeed trial and error. Now I know the secret(s) to 100% clearness, and it was completely worth it and not a negative experience at all .

One of the worst crimes someone can commit is not giving me my desert

hahaha that gif had me laughing! Cookie monster looks ready to get f'd up.

I know you heard of sourdough bread. Have you tried it? It's supposed to be like the brown rice of bread.

I've only eaten the store bought sourdough bread, but bread is still bread to me, just like rice is still rice. I like jams and jelly still, as well as occasional butter, but the more I leave out bread the less taste I have for it. If you want jams, jellies and honey, you can stir them in your tea's (Russian style!). If I have coffee, then sometimes I'll use cocoa power if i'm not in the mood for drinking it black, but I'm not much of a coffee drinker. Bread is an age old health argument that I have no real opinion on except that no one should really be eating a lot of any of that stuff, regardless of it's color. People also make the mistake of switching to brown rice only to have twice as much of it. Don't get me wrong, all whites (sugar, flour, pasta, rice, etc...) to me shouldn't be consumed as a normal part of anyone's diet... way too much sugar. Occasionally I'll have a piece of bread with butter, but I'm not a huge bread fan. I use to eat sandwiches a lot, so if you'r a sandwich kind a' guy then use any kind of bread as long as it isn't white. If you're eating sourdough then you should be fine... I'd recommend avocado, lettuce (not iceberg), some tomato, wide cucumber and wide zucchini slices and then whatever kind of dressing you'd like... cilantro vinaigrette, mayonnaise, and good quality mustards. If you just want some toast, you can grill or toast your bread, then put a little melted butter on it with lot's of seasonings like basil, oregano, parsley, garlic and pepper.

Thanks. I don't mess with tomato either, though, after tomato paste gave me a crap load of cysts. I really don't know what's in tomato to be causing such extreme reactions, but I know mine isn't as bad as yours.

I'm just going to check out some of these recipes you gave me. They will help me to keep wheat out as much as possible.

Tomato past, ketchup, salsa's, etc... have lots of sugar in them. I don't understand fully how it works yet, but preserving tomatoes in such a way where they are sold off the grocery store's shelves forces them to have a unique kind of chemical compound that isn't very kind to the stomach.

Sugar is hidden in tomatoes and commonly in the ketchup we eat... maybe that's what happened? If you badly want your fries though, then try mayonnaise, honey mustard, or BBQ sauce. Good quality pizza's should be fine for you. Whatever kind of tomato paste you had probably had a crazy mixture of sodium and high fructose corn syrup in it (very bad sugar)... not including the acidity and unique chemicals already found in tomatoes. I wouldn't be so afraid of the paste, just don't have too much of it and don't buy the extra cheap stuff if you can help it.

Glad to help!!

For fries, I just cut super thin circles of sweet potatoes. They are good enough without condiments. I've also bought Blueberries, and have been eating them as a snack every night without eating the entire box!

I've read that on here about tomato paste, sauce, and all that having a crap load of sugar. I haven't tried tomatoes, but I don't like them much, anyway. I'm still gathering recipes from what yu gave me. The more foods in a diet, the easier it is not to cheat.

Yeah, I love sweet potatoes . And I'm glad to hear that you don't chow down on every thing you have the instant you buy it. Portion control is not as hard as people think and is actually a natural thing.

Since I am forced to leave tomatoes out of many recipes, I was happy to find out that they still taste pretty good without them. It all depends on you. I still miss them in a way but always enjoy what I have. Good luck with the recipes!

Thanks. You too.