Blog › Forums › Eat the Food! › (Share your) Clear skin success story?
Tagged: acne, clear skin, food
- This topic has 7 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 10 months ago by
derek.
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AuthorPosts
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November 9, 2013 at 9:17 pm #13645
kestocker
ParticipantHey all,
Can someone please reassure me that this f*@#ing acne is a temporary thing, and that if I just hose enough gallons of Ben & Jerry’s my skin will be glowing and smooth as a baby’s bottom?
Especially to hear from people who used to have terrible skin and for whom that is now just a distant nightmare.
Thanks!
November 21, 2013 at 7:18 am #13741eto
ParticipantI’m a student/practitioner of Chinese medicine and have experimented a lot with it on my own skin over the last 4 years. It definitely works on acne if applied correctly (though there are many useless practitioners out there and sadly one often have to shop around a bit to find a good one.)
I never had really bad skin, but would on a weekly basis get a couple of deep cystic pimples. Often they were so deep that they were not very visible and never erupted, but they really hurt. I tried all the regular antibiotics and creams, nothing worked. With the help of CM and some other techniques my skin has now been clear for about a year.
Its tricky to explain the concept without getting too complicated, but in a nutshell, the Chinese medicine diagnosis of acne is “damp heat”. When the digestive system and water metabolism are weak, this leads to an accumulation of “dampness” in the tissues (on the skin swelling and pus). “Heat” is seen as redness, inflammation, pain, etc. and is associated with an overstimulated nervous system, often caused or at least worsened by mental stress. So, what we do is remove the excess dampness, tonify the bodys metabolic activity, remove the excess heat, and tonify the bodys ability to handle stress.
Food wise this means:
Less sugar and more starch. Sugar is good for bringing down the stress, but too much can lead to said dampness. Same with wheat – in CM noodles and bread are great for building strength and creating body fluids in people with OK digestive fire, but not good for acne.
Cold food like ice cream cools down the stomach and really fuks up its function in transforming and transporting food => dampness.
Stimulating foods like chili, coffee, chocolate, alcohol are heating, so these are avoided. So is too much meat + garlic, ginger and other pungent spices.
Lower fat ratios. Definitely stay off the omega 6s, but that is perhaps not necessary to say. Here in China people eat bucket loads of vegetable oils and fat in general, and acne seems more prevalent than in the West. Most people don’t know about or follow the CM guidelines for acne, which are “avoid too much spicy, greasy, sweet foods”. Modern Chinese people live off of grease, spice and stress, and think Western medicine is much cooler than CM.
The typical CM diet that doctors recommend is heavy on the starch – white rice, sweet potato, millet – with some vegetables and meat or fish as supplementation. Some broth is often drunk on the side. Fat is kept at a minimum, salt levels are high. Then its slightly individualized according to the patients constitution. Its pretty 180 compatible, minus the sugar.
Tea (green, green oolong or puerh) is amazing for clearing up an already developing pimple, but too much / too strong can be very draining. Drinking with food is better.
Hydrochloric acid + digestive enzymes can be really helpful (though they dont fix the underlying pathology). HCLs effect could be seen with less greasy skin and pore size. Get HCL in bulk and cap it yourself. Start with low dosage.
Phenibut is fantastic for stress relieving, it can also help with fatigue and provide focus and motivation. Plus lots of other things. Its a GABA agonist – powerful stuff and truly a wonder supplement. Whenever I got my stress level down, I immediately saw improvements in my skin.
Meditation and breathing. Meditation lessens stress and I think deeper breathing has a profound effect especially on lymph flow and digestion.
Bathroom habits. Going to the bathroom first thing in the morning is helpful. Constipation seems to be directly linked to acne.
Massaging the face also seemed to help. Some have told me they used facial yoga.
Hmm, I think that was all. If I remember more, I’ll post it. Hope this helps :)
November 28, 2013 at 7:18 am #13941Esqueleto
ParticipantStill get a couple of juicy ones every week or two, but I do better sticking to whole foods like potatoes and white rice. Makes it difficult to snack though.
December 8, 2013 at 5:42 pm #14176supersweet
ParticipantEto, I found that incredibly interesting! If I over-do the sugar my skin is worse. I’ve had blemishes since the age of 10 (now 36!). I’m sure this is why I became a beauty therapist, to help women of all ages improve self esteem and confidence. Before I found Matt’s book Diet Recovery, I knew for sure that what we eat affects our hormones.
I make Kombucha and have found that 6 oz a day helps my liver, and my skin improved. I had to throw a SCOBY out and restart the fermentation process, which can take a few weeks to build up; I’m enjoying it again now, but in the absence of it my skin got awful :(
Will be interesting to continue healing my metabolism under Matt’s guidelines and see what improvements are made xx
January 25, 2014 at 8:41 pm #14771penny
ParticipantI feel your pain! I found that increasing sugar made my skin worst. Especially as my body wasn’t used to it. I Highly recommend 1 tsp of human grade Diamateous earth (sorry about the spelling there) it is just a great form of silica but it made such the difference. Normally I would get acne typically before my period or eating a lot of sugar and this cured that, if i get any they are small and manageable. Warning though the first couple of days taking it will make your skin break out, but that’s it! and then your skin begins to look amazing!
January 29, 2014 at 4:42 pm #14827derek
Participant@penny what brand of diatomaceous earth do you take? Aside from getting the “food grade” stuff, is there any other way to be sure it doesn’t have other impurities?
January 31, 2014 at 8:26 am #14847penny
ParticipantI am not sure @derek . I guess there is no way. All i know is that my parents dogs health improved dramatically on it and she is still here thriving! It did amazing things for my gut as well as skin. You could just get organic silica online if you were concerned. I am not sure of the brand, as I put it into another container, says made in the USA.
January 31, 2014 at 10:25 pm #14863derek
ParticipantThanks @penny. I was able to find some food-grade diatomaceous earth at a health food store. I’ll give it a try. I’m still a little hesitant, since all my previous experience with it has been for killing insects (it acts as a mechanical pesticide, not really a poison). Pretty much all I can find online about taking it internally is anecdotal.
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