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Acne Diet
Acne (pimples) has some relationship with nutrition, however there is little credible research providing links between certain food groups and acne. As an acne sufferer it is a process of trial and error. However there are some guidelines that may be useful.
Foods to Avoid
Foods with saturated fats and trans fats can contribute to oily skin. Saturated fats are found in most animal products – such as meats, dairy, and poultry. However the body does still require other essential fatty acids – such as from fish, flaxseed or hempseed oil.
Some believe that a high calorie intake (i.e. eating too much) can lead to increased hormone levels, and subsequently more ‘break-outs’ – but this is unproven.
What about chocolates and candy?
Many believe there is a direct relationship between eating chocolate and increased acne. However this is unproven – although chocolate does have a high proportion of saturated fats.
Foods to Try
A higher protein intake may assist in acne control. This may be to do with the decreased production of a certain enzyme that can cause more oil production, and increased clogging of pores. A diet with 60-70% carbohydrates may be too high in carbs.
Acne Treatments & Vitamins
Some people have found that Vitamin A and Zinc have helped with acne. In addition Green Tea could also be incorporated into the diet (as it leads to a decrease in androgen production).
High levels of iodine in the diet does impact some acne sufferers – by causing new outbreaks of acne lesions. Note that very salty (iodized salt) foods such as chips etc, contain high levels of iodine and should be avoided.
Jon, all comments are moderated and we don’t work on the weekends, sorry your comments weren’t deleted but held until; we look over them. Thanks for commenting!
I have been battling with zits, acne, pimples – whatever you want to call them since I was 12! I am now 28. They are gone! I had a baby a year and a half ago and hadn’t been able to lose the last 15 lbs so I went on the Atkins diet (simply low carb – NO SUGARS or STARCHES). And after only 2 weeks, it’s gone! My face has cleared up, my back, my chest. They are all healing, and not coming back – in fact, it almost seems as though I can’t make them come back.
I have tried Accutane, prescription antibiotics, every ASA treatments by every brand, peroxide and alcohol cleansers, spot remedies, ProActiv. Changing my pillow cases daily, stopping using fabric softer, taking extra vitamins, grapeseed extract…. I’ve tried everything!!!! NOTHING has EVER worked (except for the Accutane, but that’s practically deadly and only effective while you take it).
I always thought I’ve had a relatively healthy diet, I’m 5′6″ and always maintained 125lbs.
But I guess not healthy enough! I don’t eat breads, cereals, pastas or rices anymore. And I DO NOT ingest ANY TYPE OF SUGAR including corn syrups and fruit syrups. I substitute with Splenda if need be.
And it’s ALLLLLLLLL good when your skin looks great, you’ve lost excess pounds, and have an abundance energy.
I to was on a diet to lose lbs and had ate salad for lunch for about a month and my skin cleared up
I am reading now and see others have posted too about cutting out refined sugars and upping veggie and lean meat, fish, water… I wanted to also state that I have gone through *all* of the OTC acne products, and have seen a handull of derms throughout my years. I use Benzaclin during the day and Tazorac at night topically. But this is not enough. I will always have breakouts if I don’t eat right. I would not be surprised if there is more evidence out there already that supports my ” Gut instinct” theory here… but there would be alot of $$$ lost in the Acne business ( like the Diet business.. altho I fell prey to SBeach… ). Acne comes from within us. On the skin’s surface, our inability to shed skin and excessive oil production comes from within. Topical stuff is just not the answer, it’s a bandaid on top of a gaping wound. Cut out the bread, alcohol, potatoes, white rice, SUGAR.. etc. Don’t falter, you may feel a kind of withdraw ( yes, I am serious, not being dramatic) for a day- maybe two. Your body is really used to this junk. After this hump, it’s truly smooth sailing. Just make the commitment to yourself- to your health, your skin’s health, and your emotional health. =D Good luck, I hope this advise helps at least one other person ***AND PLEASE, I AM NOT A HEALTHCARE PRO, THEY SAY YOU SHOULD CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE MAKING CHANGES… ***
I am 27 , have suffered from moderate acne (jawline, lower face) since *cringe* 13 years old. My advice: really and truly, diet does effect skin. There will be evidence of this in the future. I was on the South Beach Diet for a few months, and among losing weight ( and honestly, not being hungry and having more energy), my skin started to clear up!!! I was not as oily, flaky, etc. Breakouts really diminished..like significantly. I’ve become so used to covering it up, and trying not to dwell on my cursed face, that I am slow to correlate two things together. But it was the only change that I made. Acne has to be linked with how individuals process sugars (refined), carbs, and proteins. Diabetes runs in my family, and I think I just have a gene somewhere in me that makes me unable to process certain foods, and I really believe that many others like me suffer from the same thing. I really suggest to anyone who suffers from acne to adopt some principals from SB, I’m not advocating for this diet, but merely for some of the honest-to-goodness parts of it- cut out refined, unnatural sugars, cut out refined carbs (white bread, white rice, potatoes, etc), up your intake of water, low fat meat, veggies, low fat cheese, water, nuts, fish… I swear, give it a week or 2 and I bet you’ll notice a difference. Good luck to you (us) all!!
God! it all sounds so difficult with no sure fire way of eliminating it. Only clear way is to go on some stone age diet. With all the advances in medicine and technology you would think that they’d have a clear answer for what causes acne but all I get from googling is a load of old wives tales. I mean its just acne is it really that complicated? Maybe if the truth was known a lot of companies would lose a lot of money. I still live at home like a lot of acne sufferers and so choosing my own diet or buying my own food all the time is not an option. All I now is acne is definitely a recent phenomenon and a western world one. Looking at parents class photos from 60’s Ireland nobody had acne and if you look at isolated tribes in south america nobody has acne. Hopefully one day we’ll have the answer.
acne on my fore head and cheeks
I’m 27, I don’t want to “control”, “reduce” or “help” my acne – I want to ELIMINATE it. I don’t want to have to deal with this anymore.
Even the guy eating bowls of broccoli and drinking 20 glasses of water still had acne.
So if I change everything about my life and torture myself with vegetables, my problem will still be a problem? That’s not good enough for me. No way.
Ive had mild acne for a few years but im very light skinned so i would scarr easily.. right now i use murad and its working i stopes your breakouts but it does not fade your scarrs unless you buy a separate step..but you can get a chemical peel monthly to fade your scarrs and the main thing is workout alot of cardio and sweat out your impuries take a hooot bath so your skin can soak up the steam and open your pores….girls can drink herbalife or a balanced diet….exercise cardio…murad…chemical peels and even birth control to balance your hormones….as for me im just trying to get rid of some scarring
Follow Last Girls advice. I followed a very strict regiment a yr ago. Consisting of alot of Vegies, fresh salad, bright fruits, alot of H20, Salmon, Flaxseed. I did it for about 2 mnts and noticed tremendous change in not just break outs but also skin tone, alot of ppl. asked my why and how my skin glowed. There’s a book on diets and the author gaurantees if you follow his diet for 28 days your acne would be a thing of the past. Now the above mentioned foods is only a part of his regiment. Not sure what book it was but i’m pretty sure there’s alot of books on similar topics just chose 1. The only reason i stopped was i just didn’t have enuff time to prepare meals everyday, or may be i was just being lazy and couldn’t stay away from normal home cooked and junk foods. Contrary to experts beliefs nutrition does effect you skin and chemical products are usually just temporary. Its all about balance some ppl. are sensitive to Dairy, some are allergic to nuts, and if u’re acne prone, there’s alot of foods to stay away from, esp grease, chilli peppers, fried foods… list goes on.
Good luck and things will change if you want it to, nothing comes easy so alot of effort and you’ll be anew.
I used to have real oily skin it was terrible and lots of pimples but now i drink about 10 big glasses of water a day and the oily skin goes away : ) it also makes my pimples show alot less. I’ve been using clearasil but that only works when you have controlled acne not severe. I’ve been eating alot of fruits and veggies and my skin is getting much better even my back. My back for the past 5 years has looked terrible haven’t taken my shirt off at the beach in forever but i’m almost to the point where its all gone!
so far so good you must give it a try it help’s a lot
i have bad acne one time now it all gone thanks a lot for
the help
OMG! Thanks so much for all this helpful advice. For three years I’ve had the most horrible acme you could ever imagine. And all that people ever told me to feel better was that it would go away over time and it sort of has but not much. Thanks for all this info. I will definately try it.
I was where beenthere has been since I was 11. My breakouts were so bad at one point that my face looked crusted. I got made fun of for having “mold” on my face. I almost failed grade 10 because I would stay home in tears over my skin. I turned 25 3 months ago and decided to make a change in my life that I knew would be the hardest lifestyle commitment of my life. I changed my diet. And it’s working. Now, I’ve been on proactive for a few years which only sort of helps, I just like that it’s a good exfoliater without drying my skin (it’s sensitive too). I still got acne all the time tho. Anyway, these are the following changes that I made to my diet and life.
-A minimum of 10 8oz glasses of water a day
-Include a multivitamin with the largest meal
-Tons of green,red, orange and yellow veggies (Lettuce, broccoli, spinach, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers etc…) RAID your grocery stores produce aisle. (Organic is better because there’s no harsh chemicals or hormones)
-Tons of fruit – the more color the better. Berries, citrus, tropical fruits (Again, organic is better because there’s no harsh chemicals or hormones)
-Eat lean meat that are grain fed & organic. Make sure they don’t use hormones in the meat you eat.
-If you can stomach fish, eat fish. I can’t so I purchased a 3-6-9 omega supplement. It makes your skin have a nice glow.
-STOP consuming dairy, alcohol, and refined sugars/starches
-If you can, don’t smoke
-Always put on sunscreen. The sun can exacerbate acne problems and make old scars look more red
-Exfoliate daily (I use proactive, it’s gentle on my skin but still works great as a cleansing system) I heard Murad was good too tho.
I just purchased “Chocolate Soft Chews” by Healthy Skin and “Perfect Skin” vitamins. I will post back to let you know how they work.
My skin looks amazing now, scars are almost all gone. Good luck to everyone. Acne can be so painful.
For those interested search for Dr. Cordain’s book – The dietary cure for acne. He is the Paleo diet scientist. Based on sound science, evolution and pre western diet societies where acne is unheard of.
I’ve had acne since i was in the 7th grade and i’m now 22. I have the worst breakouts and sometimes it actually hurts to make facial expressions due to soreness and severity of the pimples. I’ve tried every acne “Solution” out there and nothing has worked. So i’m going to try “Been There”’s advice and see if it works. the way i look at it is i’ve tried everything else why not. I’ll keep ya posted on how it goes!
A good alternative to harsh chemicals, prescription or OTC, is tea tree oil. I use a natural facial wash with tea tree oil in it. It works great!
i can’t even remember what it felt like to have clear skin. The first time i broke out with acne was when i turned 13. My face looked horrible, my cheeks where totally covered with pimples. i went to a dermatologist and she perscribed me with oxytetracyline and each week my acne became less severe. by the end of the month my face was totally clear and scar-free. As i grew older i would get break outs but not as severe, again i would go to a dermatologist and they would give me drugs but the effects would only last a week and my acne would return. so this basically happened each year i would be clear for most of the year and then for a few months i would break out. It bothered me but i didnt feel like it was holding me back. im now 17 and about a year and half ago i started getting moderate/severe acne again and it just won’t go away. i’ve tried almost EVERYTHING! alot of anitbacterial drugs, benzoyl ( it totally made me break out more), natural remedies (lemon, vinegar, potatoes and yoghurt). Nothing works. i’ve changed my diet, i eat healthy, work out everyday and drink water. I didnt appreciate what if felt like to have clear skin before and i so regret it now. i think that medication should be the last resort, stuffing chemicals into your body just isnt natural and the results never last long. acne has totally lowered my self-esteem, i feel moody all the time and i never want to go out unless i hide behind a face of makeup because i feel so ugly. no one understands, none of my siblings or parents have had acne only mild cases. They always tell me you’ll grow out of it but i dont think i will, im 17 and a half..i dont want to spend my last teenage years fretting over stupid pimples and scars. im not the person i see in the mirror and i dont know how to change it. You can only be patient for so long.
Ok, when I was 12 to 13 I began getting acne; it runs in my family. By high school it got really bad. I became severely depressed because of it, and didn’t want to leave the house. I went to the dermatologist, who prescribed antibiotics like tetracycline, doxycycline, erythromycin, and as a last resort Accutane. I used all types of cleansers, benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, proactive, zinc ointment-and nothing really helped. I had the worst kind of acne-cystic acne, which has left me with some scarring today.
When I turned about 18, after years of frustration, I decided to do something that I had long suspected was responsible, but did not have to the will power to control, and that was my diet. Believe it or not, I cut out all poultry (cause I had heard that the hormones they inject in the animals can effect your skin) no dairy, and drank lots of water, and ate lots of green vegetables. I went to the extreme, and think some people might have a hard time replicating what I did, but to that person out there who feels that there is no hope, this is for you. I ate very large amounts of broccoli, I mean like 3 to 4 humongous bowls of broccoli, I ate a lots of colorful fruit: strawberries, blueberries, and kiwis, and I drank soooo much water–about 20 to 25 16oz glasses a day. And I forced myself to go out and get air, before I stood in the house mostly because I felt so depressed about my skin I would stay in and feel sorry for myself and afraid that people might be mean to me. But I forced myself out, I got out in the sun for a few minutes, breathed in the air, took time to focus on the beauty of nature and of life. I began to meditate at my local park and focused on heavy breathing and stopping the negative thoughts in my mind. I also began to exercise, lots of cardio, and weight lifting.
And you know what? In a couple months my skin was calming down, it began to have a healthy shine, it glowed like it had never glowed before. It was so amazing, it gave my soul a peace that I never thought I was going to achieve. My pores were still big, and I had a few acne scars on my face, but my skin looked healthy, and I felt good, and I felt healthy, more importantly I really looked healthy.
That was about 10 years ago and I still have problem skin today but it really doesn’t bug me now the way it used too. But it’s amazing if I ever feel that my problem skin is beginning to get out of hand, I always revert back to those habits and it never fails.
-Drink lots, lots, and lots of water
-Eat lots, lots, and lots of broccoli and green vegetables
-Stay away from poultry and all dairy-Red meat is ok
-Eat fruits
-Try to find peace and calm within yourself through meditation
-Get outside in the fresh air for a few hours every day, nature I truly believe has healing properties
-Try to exercise, especially cardio it helps sweat out impurities, but lifting weights (for both men and women) is good too, it gives you a sense of empowerment
-And lastly, I know that every person is unique and that this might not work for you, but I only share this because I had horrible skin and I allowed it to make me into a passive victim, these habits helped me feel empowered and in control and helped me enjoy life. While I was doing these things in the beginning it was tough and I would be tempted to eat junk food all the time (especially pizza) but I stuck with it and over time it became easy to keep away from crap (junk food). So I bid you the best of luck and believe that it can be done if you stay patient, positive, and committed!.