I’m a big believer in linking the health of your skin to your overall health. The better your health gets the better your skin usually looks.
Occasionally I get emails from people who say they’ve been so healthy and eat such a good diet, but still their acne keeps getting worse and worse. When I ask them tell me the foods they actually eat and describe their lifestyle it quickly gets obvious their idea of health and healthy diet is a bit off the mark.
So of course these people have problems getting clear.
Here’s a bit of a test for you.
I listed 5 common diet myths/mistakes I see repeated over and over. See how many hit home for you.
Whole grains are healthy
How many times have you heard or read about the benefits of eating whole grains? It’s one of the most pervasive health myths in our society.
I just finished reading Dr. Graham’s book ‘Grain Damage: Rethinking the High-Starch Diet’ and it gives quite a bleak picture of the "staff of life". Here are just few negative points about grains (whole or processed):
- Highly allergic, especially grains containing gluten. Allergic reaction always involves the immune system, and that means more inflammation and more acne. Dr. Graham: "All of us respond adversely to gluten consumption. Celiac disease affects everyone who consumes gluten, to some degree."
- Irritates the digestive track and may lead to nutrient deficiencies. Grains contain insoluble fiber which is not compatible with the human digestive system. We need soft, soluble fiber from fruits and vegetables not the coarse and sharp insoluble fiber from grains.
- Absolutely tasteless and unappealing. To make grains palatable you need to add spices and eat them with other foods; usually fat or protein.This creates a terrible food combination where neither grains or the food eaten with them is digested completely. Further difficult food combinations require huge amounts of energy to digest even partially, leaving you drained.
- Addictive. How often do you crave fruits and vegetables? Probably never. But how often you get cravings for starchy foods? Probably very often. Gluten grains contain addictive chemicals that cause withdrawal symptoms once you stop eating them.
"The peptides from gluten and casein are important because the react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine. These compounds have been shown to react with areas of the brain such as the temporal lobes, which are involved in speech and auditory integration."
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/gluten-casein.html
Also see: Celiac Notes: Opiate Withdrawal from Gluten and Casein? - Easy to overeat. Complete carbohydrates in whole grains take long time to digest. Since they take long time to affect blood sugar levels our brains don’t get the signal that we have eaten enough. So we often eat until we are stuffed. Overeating leads to insulin resistance, weight gain and other health problems (including acne). On the other hand, it’s almost impossible to overeat with fruits since they are digested quickly and the brain gets the signal that we have eaten enough and turns off hunger.
This was just a small sample of dangers of grains. Hopefully it’s enough to get you thinking the next time you want to get a sandwich.
Sugar is evil
This is another pervasive healthy myth, and a dangerous one because it scares people off fruits. Instead of fruits we should eat more complete carbohydrates (such as grains) and fat - or so we are told.
I admit there’s a grains of truth in this myth. Refined sugar is bad for you, but that’s about as far as it goes.
Riddle me this. If glucose (the simplest sugar) is the fuel for all of your cells, how can it be bad for you? It’s like saying petrol is bad for your car. Of course that makes no sense at all.
Sugar and carbohydrates have bad rap because they’ve said to cause blood sugar problems. But that’s not true. The real problem is insulin receptors. Insulin is the hormone that escorts glucose from the bloodstream to the cells. People with insulin resistance these receptors have desensitized to insulin. So the glucose levels remain too high and the pancreas must pump more insulin to get them down.
Insulin resistance is not caused by eating sugar or carbs. It has many causes, but eating too much fat, overeating, sleep deprivation and chronic inflammation are among the main ones. I explain this in detail in Clear for Life.
Remove insulin resistance and fruits are no longer a problem. As has been demonstrated by Dr. Graham, who has been treating diabetics with high-fruit, low-fat diet for over 25 years, Pritkins Longevity Institute, with impressive track record on healing people with low-fat diets, and other doctors.
And closer to home, people who follow Clear for Life program show remarkable improvements in their skin within the first few months.
Bodybuilders and athletes require more protein
Many people believe they have to eat lots of meat to get enough protein, especially if they are athletes of bodybuilders.
This is the ‘protein myth’ and is not supported by science or real life experience.
First, yes athletes need more protein, but they also need more calories. Since all whole foods contain calories, more calories also means more protein. As long as you meet your calorie needs from whole foods it’s impossible to be protein deficient.
Institute of Medicine/Food and Nutrition Board conducted an extensive study on protein requirements. Here’s what they say:
"There is little evidence that muscular activity increases the need for protein, except for the small amount required for the development of muscles during physical conditioning. In view of the margin of safety in the RDA (10% of calories from protein), no increment is added for work or training."
Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids (Macronutrients)
Food and Nutrition Board
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Aside from studies athletes in real life have shown that it’s possible, and even recommended, to eat a diet high in fruits and low in fat. Few examples of athletes who have worked with Dr. Graham are tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball player Ronnie Grandison and bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams.
If they can do it, I’m sure you can too.
Drinking fruit juices is healthy
What? Didn’t you just say that fruits are healthy and we shouldn’t be afraid of sugar?
Yes, I did. And sugar as such is not a problem. It becomes problematic when blood sugar levels raise too high.
Fiber in fruits slows down the absorption of sugars. Juicing removes the fiber from fruits. When you drink fruit juices the sugar goes into your bloodstream almost instantly. And this spikes up the blood sugar levels and leads to massive insulin spike.
Combine this with insulin resistance and you start to get major issues.
Best source of a nutrient is the food that contains most of it
When it comes to exercise and sunlight we understand that more is not always better. We need both of them in sufficient quantities, but too much is bad for us.
The same concept applies also to nutrition.
Getting more of a specific type of a nutrient is not always better. What you need is enough of a nutrient to meet your requirements, and in correct balance with other nutrients. Too much of one nutrient can lead to imbalances and deficiencies in other nutrients.
This is why I don’t recommend supplements. Nobody knows for sure the correct balance of every nutrient, and we probably haven’t even discovered all the nutrients yet. So a pill by definition cannot meet your nutritional requirements.
Only healthy, whole foods can do that.
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So how did you do?
Already knew all 5? Then congratulations, you know more about diet and nutrition that 99% of the population. And your chances of getting clear are pretty high because of it.
On the other hand if that left you scratching your head and you’ve struggled to get clear, you may need get up to speed about diet and nutrition. There’s so much BS and misinformation floating around that it’s easy to waste years trying to sort it all out. Unfortunately it’s something you have to do if you want to get over acne.
Or you can choose the easy way and let me tell you.
Get Clear for Life, go through it, and you are up and running in two hours.