The Critical Role of Diet in Acne Elimination

by T.

Rarely talked about in the allopathic medical community is the critical role of diet in acne. I would would never have gotten on top of my terrible acne without stumbling on the awareness that milk & milk products were a big source of my acne. Really, it was the worst source of all. My body can detect a tablespoon of milk in a typical recipe for a dozen muffins, for instance. One bite of a milk chocolate candy would cause three or four huge acne bumps. At a time of life when I went on a largely dairy diet to lose weight, tremendously inflamed and painful acne covered my whole face, neck, chest and back. It was horrendous, and so are the scars that remain.

I became aware of the milk issue when I was in my late 30's, and still having horrible daily acne. I was puzzling over one year of my 20-something life -- the only time when acne was absent -- and wondering how it was different from other years. When I thought back to that year, I realized that the one year my skin was clear was distinctly different. It was only the year I lived in an ashram. As I combed through that year in my mind, I realized that we didn't buy any dairy products in the ashram because they were too expensive for us. So I experimented with my diet, as I would urge you to do, to eliminate dairy (and it could be another food for you). The results were fabulous. I still had work to do, but that was clearly the biggest source of the problem.

Sugar turned out to have an effect too, but that was related to a condition called "chronic candidiasis" (a condition that now goes under other names as well). Chronic candidiasis is where the ecology of the gut gets out of balance, and yeast take over to the point of creating a toxic gut ecology. The flood of toxins created in the gut can be released through the skin, and this is what happened to me. Many medical doctors don't believe in this condition, but alternative ones do. And a few can cure it, but only a few. I was lucky to find such a one after living with a whole host of symptoms, including acne, for 20 years. I now live symptom free.

And my skin is clear, unless I eat one of my three remaining allergens. Added to the list with dairy --that is, foods I must avoid to keep my skin clear -- are all nuts and seeds. This is easy for me to do because having clear skin by avoiding these foods has made such a huge difference. My skin is clear everywhere.

Your allergens might be different. But instead of flooding the body with antibiotics or hormones, as my dermatologist did so many years ago, which sets up gut ecology nightmares, first do no harm. Go on a simple diet of brown rice and vegetables, and after two weeks slowly begin adding back one food at a time. You should know within three days of eating a newly introduced food which ones your body treats like the enemy. But shorthand, eliminate dairy, sugar, nuts and seeds and see what happens.

With every good wish,
T.