A Diet For Your Skin

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Charger2016
Charger2016 Posts: 20 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've recently had a rebound of acne, and I was wondering if there is any food stuffs in particular I should include in my diet to combat this? I've heard that drinking a lot of water can help flush out your system and improve your skin's health and appearance. Is this true?

I have a daily skin care routine that is helping somewhat, in addition to taking recommended Zinc tablets, but what can I change about my diet that will aid my battle against acne? What works for you?
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  • RachNRoll
    RachNRoll Posts: 192 Member
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    when I moved to a new country I got some waves of acne coming and going (before I had some spots from time to time only). Then I noticed that these waves were more severe when I had milk, or cream cheese or ice-cream, basically dairy. So I stopped eating cream cheese and switched to coconut or almond milk, no dairy at all (except for my occasionally greek yogurt as a treat) and my skin cleared out dramatically.
    I also drink a lot of water & a clean diet, but really cutting on the dairy made a huge difference.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Charger2016 wrote: »
    I've recently had a rebound of acne, and I was wondering if there is any food stuffs in particular I should include in my diet to combat this? I've heard that drinking a lot of water can help flush out your system and improve your skin's health and appearance. Is this true?

    I have a daily skin care routine that is helping somewhat, in addition to taking recommended Zinc tablets, but what can I change about my diet that will aid my battle against acne? What works for you?

    First thing that's generally recommended for acne is:
    1. Drink plenty of water
    2. Keep good hygiene habits such as not touching your face, cleansing after a workout, cleaning pillowcase every 2-3 days, cleaning cell phone or switching to using earbuds for phone calls, etc.
    3. reducing or cutting down on dairy in your diet
    4. reducing or cutting down on sugar in your diet
    5. Switching to a gentle foaming cleanser and moisturizer such as cetaphil (don't use benzoyl peroxide or salycylic acid products)
    6. Steam face with a few drops of tea tree every 3-4 days

    This is what was recommended by a dermatologist for my sister before prescribing her anything for acne and her skin cleared up within 2 weeks. She hasn't had a reoccurrance of acne since. I really really think it was the dairy/sugar, her habits, and trying to use a ton of "acne" products which made her skin a hot inflamed and broken out mess. This is of course, assuming you just have normal acne and not something more sinister like cystic acne.
  • Lydilod
    Lydilod Posts: 135 Member
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    Drink lots of water, I also found when I reduced the amount of soda I drank (2liters to 1, 330ml can per day). Not only was my skin a lot clearer but my hair also became softer and shinier.
  • Charger2016
    Charger2016 Posts: 20 Member
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    I think I have normal acne, although occasionally I get the deeper more painful ones, but only one at a time and nothing nearly as bad as I've seen on the internet. I'm desperately trying to cut out all sugars and unhealthy junk. The only time I hav dairy is milk in my coffee and cornflakes and a slice or two of cheese if I'm having a sandwich. I've also stopped wearing foundation unless I absolutely have to and take it off and clean my skin as soon as I can when I do. I will definitely wash my pillow cases every week. The steam treatment is something I haven't tried yet... I will add that to my routine.

    The water will be the hardest part though... But I'm determined to change
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Coconut oil worked for me, and more water.

    ETA: Clarification, coconut oil as moisturizer on my skin, not eating it.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    MommyL2015 wrote: »
    Coconut oil worked for me, and more water.

    ETA: Clarification, coconut oil as moisturizer on my skin, not eating it.

    This is why i suggested a very simple and basic skin care routine that is ultra gentle on the skin. Coconut oil will do the same thing, but unfortunately, it is comedogenic and can cause acne for some. I know for me i had the best skin of my life with coconut oil for the first 3 weeks, and then i developed huge deep cysts all over my face (keep in mind i have never really had acne, just dryness). This was enough for me to cut it out. :(

    Now i only use it if my skin is particularly dry and painful from the cold or something.
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
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    Trial and error. I've been using it daily for over 4 years with no issues at all and it's the only thing that ever worked for me, (including prescriptions and all the over-the-counter cleansers you can find) so that's why I mentioned it. Obviously, if it causes problems for someone, they shouldn't use it.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Over supplementation of zinc for a prolonged period of time can cause problems.
    Please google this.
    One is it can deplete copper.
    I suggest you take a daily women's multivitamin instead.
  • Paiger816
    Paiger816 Posts: 129 Member
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    I used to have days where I felt like crying when I looked at my skin. Just touching it to put on makeup was painful. My face literally hurt. I started tracking my food intake and noticed that whenever I ate dairy, my skin was a giant swollen mess. I've always had dairy issues with digestion and lactose, so I didn't eat dairy more than a few times a week. So it was pretty easy to track dairy days followed by breakouts and swollen skin. I started searching for links between dairy and acne and found this article.

    I completely cut out dairy (and casein after discovering that the milk protein also made me break out) and my skin was completely clear within 2 weeks. Not only had the painful, swollen skin gone away but the little tiny bumps that I thought were normal went away also. I take pictures without make up now, I run errands with nothing but moisturizer on my face. This may seem small and trivial, but there used to be days where I would hide at home if someone came to the door and I didn't have make up on. I'd put on make up just to run to Target at 8pm at night. I wore a full face of makeup to the gym.

    I get so many compliments on my skin now, it's hard not to talk about how such a simple thing completely changed my life. Yes, some days I miss delicious pizza with actual cheese on it or cottage cheese, but me eating a slice of pizza for 5 minutes is not worth me hating my skin for the next week. Plus, there are so many alternatives out there now, I don't really miss much.
  • HealthierRayne
    HealthierRayne Posts: 268 Member
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    I am with Paiger816, cutting out all dairy completely changed my skin very quickly. I still get a spot or two when it's that time of the month but on a daily basis I rarely need makeup as even skin discolouration has improved significantly :)
  • Charger2016
    Charger2016 Posts: 20 Member
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    Paiger816, you have convinced me
  • Charger2016
    Charger2016 Posts: 20 Member
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    Thank you for showing me that article and bringing this to my attention. Starting now I will cut out all dairy products for the next month. I'm keen to try this. Also, I've been exactly where you've been. High school was horrible for me because of my skin. I don't think anyone can understand how that feels if they haven't been there themselves
  • JeepHair77
    JeepHair77 Posts: 1,291 Member
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    Dairy does make a difference for a lot of people. I all but cut dairy a number of years ago, when we realized my daughter was lactose-intolerant. I didn't purposely set out to quit dairy, I just never really had it in the house anymore after that. And like magic, my skin improved. And still, I didn't really make the connection for a long time.

    Drinking lots of water seems to make my skin more even and glowy, but I don't think it ever made a significant difference in acne.
  • Paiger816
    Paiger816 Posts: 129 Member
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    I'm glad I could help! I totally wish I would have tried this in high school. My skin was awful, but I just figured it was normal teenage hormones. I'm wondering if cutting out dairy would have helped my skin back then too.

    Be sure you look for hidden sources of dairy too, casein and whey. I broke out a little once and I KNEW I hadn't eaten anything dairy. Turns out the "Non-dairy" coffee creamer I had been using had casein (milk protein) in it. I cut that out and everything went back to normal. But everyone has different sensitivity levels. You can cut all dairy out and then maybe sneak casein back in and see if anything changes. I swear it's in everything so I read labels in everything.

    For dairy free butter, I really like "Earth Balance Soy Free" - its in the health food section of the grocery store. I honestly don't notice the difference between that and normal butter.

    Silk Cashew Milk is the closest thing I could find to real milk, and it goes great in coffee. It's really creamy, and doesn't have a strong nut flavor. Almond milk is a close 2nd, but it's pretty thin and watery, more like skim. Coconut Milk was to sweet for me, and had too much of a "coconut" flavor to use in cereal.

    And real dark chocolate (like 60% cacao) doesn't have any dairy in it. Just read the labels. ;)
  • Paiger816
    Paiger816 Posts: 129 Member
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    Oh, and this just happened and I haven't shut up about it for days. My dairy free friends are rejoicing with me. My dairy eating friends just want me to shut up.

    dwwomke8d0oy.jpg

    That Coffee Caramel Fudge has my inner fat girl rejoicing. And my thinner outer self telling her to calm the F down, we still have 10 pounds to go. :#

    .
  • Charger2016
    Charger2016 Posts: 20 Member
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    Almond milk and silk cashew milk actually sound really nice - next time I'm shopping I'll keep an eye out for those :) A concern of mine though: what important vitamins and nutrients will I be missing out on by cutting out dairy and how can I compensate fully for them?
  • earth_echo
    earth_echo Posts: 133 Member
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    Barberries!

    ======================
    Iranian researchers studied the effect of extract of dried fruit of Berberis vulgaris(barberry) on teenage acne patients. They took 49 12-17 year old teenagers with moderate to severe acne, and gave them a daily dose either 600mg of dried barberry extract or a placebo 4 weeks.

    They showed about 45% reduction in acne in the barberry treated group.
    ======================
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Paiger816 wrote: »
    Oh, and this just happened and I haven't shut up about it for days. My dairy free friends are rejoicing with me. My dairy eating friends just want me to shut up.

    dwwomke8d0oy.jpg

    That Coffee Caramel Fudge has my inner fat girl rejoicing. And my thinner outer self telling her to calm the F down, we still have 10 pounds to go. :#

    .

    I am dairy free and we don't have these yet. I've been hawking the store like crazy waiting for them!
  • Paiger816
    Paiger816 Posts: 129 Member
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    You can always take a multivitamin, but calcium is probably the main thing that milk has that you'd want to supplement. I'm super terrible at remembering to take vitamins though, so I just try to get as much from food as I can.

    Almond milk has quite a bit of calcium, 1 cup is 45% of daily value. Spinach has 25% of daily value for calcium also.

  • Charger2016
    Charger2016 Posts: 20 Member
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    TYSM

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