Acne

Yes, I’ve had acne, especially after going off the pill. It got bad for awhile. I still deal with it. The thing with acne is it is expressing imbalances going on in your body. It’s actually a healthy way for your body to get them out, so you don’t want to suppress that process, but rather fix the inner imbalances, while at the same time helping your skin get the toxins out so that it doesn’t need to form pimples to do so.

Here is what I have found to be the most helpful:

-Try to determine if you have any “trigger” foods. This is hard to do sometimes, but I discovered chocolate is a huge one for me. I know people claim it doesn’t cause acne, but for me it does and makes the biggest difference of anything. I can get away with very small amounts on isolated days, but if I do more than that, I will get these horrible pimples. If I don’t eat chocolate, I don’t get them. I’ve heard some people have the same thing happen with nuts, and I’m sure there are other foods out there, too.

-Stress-reduction and sleep – pretty obvious here, but I think, after avoiding trigger foods, is the #2 thing for making a difference.

-As un-processed a diet as possible. The less crap I eat, the better my skin looks. Definitely true for any junk food, but even somewhat for white flour. I love pasta and white bread, but I have to say that when I keep those to a minimum and have more whole grains, my skin looks better (note, I do not give them up, but might keep it to once a day or every other day on the white flour). This might be hard to do if you are earlier in your metabolic healing, and I don’t think it’s that big a deal from the acne standpoint, at least for me, so I wouldn’t stress it. Eating fruits and veggies is great for my skin, too.

-Note that your ideal diet might be different. It’s all personal experimentation.

-Cod liver oil – not everyone does well on it, but my skin looks better when I take a small amount. Some people also swear by b-vitamins, but I never noticed a difference on them. Probably worth a try, though.

-Paying attention to lymph drainage – google facial massage techniques for this. It gets the toxins moving out in the lymph so they don’t have to come out via pimples.

-The right skincare. You want something that will clear out your pores and allow your skin to expel toxins easily. I am using Evan Healy products right now, which I love, but different things work for different people. It’s worth experimenting a bit. Like, using oil on your skin can make a serious positive difference. You wouldn’t think it would be good, but it is. However, which oils work is all personal. Some people have amazing results using coconut oil, and for other people it causes acne. I am afraid to even try coconut oil on my face for fear that I *might* have a bad break-out, but I use sunflower and rosehip oil and those work well. In general, though, using natural, gentle stuff and avoiding anything soap-like makes a big difference (soap messes up the PH of the skin). Try to avoid putting acids (like glycolic acid or fruit enzymes) on the skin. They help short-term but just screw up the integrity of the skin and make things worse longterm). The best routine is a gentle cleanse (like removing make-up with oil, followed by a cream cleanser), then alcohol-free toner, then gentle serum or oil. (note when starting this, you do go through a break-out period while your skin adjusts and purges)

-Clay masks – they will make you break out initially but they are un-matched for clearing out the pores. I can HIGHLY recommend Evan Healy’s green tea clay mask. It’s not cheap, but it is amazing. Mountain Rose herbs has cheaper clay for masks, if it’s too much, but Evan’s is the best.

-Sweating and exercise – again, these can make it worse at first, but regularly sweating it out is great for the skin.

-Really watch what goes on your skin. I can’t tell if you are male or female from your name, but if you wear make-up, you may want to be careful of silicones, and mineral make-up can be really pore-clogging. Sunscreens make me break out big-time. Zinc oxide is ok for me, but not the chemical stuff.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by The Real Amy.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by The Real Amy.

Long time sufferer from acne as well. It’s actually why I’m even here. I started a Paleo diet over 6 years ago to try and clear up my skin. It worked but my health suffered in the long run. The biggest thing I learned about acne is that for a lot of people, and definitely myself is that it’s an inflammatory skin disease usually most related to your insulin levels. Basically living almost as a diabetic. I remember one time on an acne forum one time I read someone’s recommendation for acne was to “Eat, breath, and live like a diabetic”. The biggest thing that affects your blood sugars are: Stress, sleep, food, exercise.

@positively. I felt fine on a relatively high sugar diet. I don’t really get acne anymore, except I might get a little if I eat really oily food, especially nuts.

I think it’s so individual for people. I don’t think sugar issues have any effect on my acne. At the height of my ED, my skin looked pretty good, and in recovery. Hormones are much more of a factor, which I learned big time when I took myself off the pill. I’m sure for some people the insulin/sugar thing is more of a factor. Inflammation is a factor, though, for sure.

One thing I forgot to mention above is, eating homemade yogurt is amazing for acne (just plain, fresh yogurt), so somehow probiotics must help. Apparently, within the first week of making yogurt the bacteria is more active so store-bought is not the same. I have found this to be true.