Miranda posted this comment yesterday:
Hi Seppo…
I am completely baffled. I have eaten no processed foods, just fresh fruits, veggies, raw nuts, and basic staples like rice. However, every morning I wake up to find more and more acne. It doesn’t make any sense. I am not on any medications or things. Is there hope? What is my problem?
Thanks…hope you can help.
I’m sure many other people are in a similar situation, so I decided to answer this in a bit more detail.
First, don’t worry, most likely there’s nothing wrong. There can be a million and one explanation to why your acne is not getting better.
First, please understand that acne is a chronic condition. In Acne 101 I explained that acne is a result of blood sugar metabolism problems and chronic inflammation. It took years, possibly even decades, for these conditions to develop to a point where you got acne. They are not going to go away immediately, not even next week. Even if you eat perfect diet and live the healthiest life possible.
You can get blood sugar issues under control pretty quickly, but inflammation takes more time to cool down.
To put things into perspective, please read this article: How long does it take to cure acne?
Next, getting clear is far more than just diet. In Clear for Life I explain the six elements of health, and how they together help your body to rebuild your health and clear your skin.
Most acne victims just focus on diet and forget about the other elements of health. That’s a dangerous path that can lead to frustration. As you’ll see from this article: Why anti-acne diets don’t work.
From the little you told me, your diet looks ok. You have to be careful with nuts, because they contain so much fat. Too much fat, leads to blood sugar issues and acne - especially if you eat lots of fruits.
Food allergies is one possible explanation. Maybe you eat something you are allergic to. Allergens activate the immune system, which leads to more inflammation and possibly more acne.
Maybe you are just going through a detox and that breaks you out. As toxins and poisons leave your body they increase inflammation and can lead to breakouts. The breakouts will get less intense over time and eventually stop altogether.
According to Randall Fitzgerald, the author of ‘The Hundred-Year Lie: How Food and Medicine Are Destroying Your Health’, we all carry a body burden of 700 synthetic chemicals. We know that almost all chemicals increase inflammation and many cause blood sugar issues. See this article at Natural News: Chemical Causes of Diabetes: Overeating Is Not the Only Problem.
It’s going to take some time for the body to clear the chemicals from your tissues.
One more thing.
It sounds to me that you are very obsessed over your skin. I maybe wrong, but that’s the feeling I got from your comment.
I know you want to cure your acne, but staring at it everyday just gets your frustrated and depressed. And it’s just going to extend your suffering.
Here’s a radical idea.
Stop trying to cure acne and start building your health. That puts your focus on where it serves you. I know it’s not easy, but in earlier post Zen of clear skin I explained why you should do it.
So instead of looking at your skin for signs of progress, focus on how you are feeling otherwise. Do you have more energy? Do you sleep better? Are you happier and more optimistic? All these and many other are signs that your health is getting better, and that means your acne is on its way out.
So just relax, ride out the healing process and watch your health improve.
And while you are at it, grab a copy of Clear for Life, it shows how to turbo-charge your progress and get clear faster, plus you’ll make me happy : )
Give me your email address and I'll take the mystery out of curing acne.
For immediate access just fill in this simple form, and start on the road to clear skin already today.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
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August 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
What if this person has the metabolic-type that requires more fat and protein than others? You’re diet plan focuses so much on carbs that is is more for a carbohydrate-type person. They could be suffering because this approach does not work with how their body metabolizes food.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
The exact same thing happened to me when I changed my diet and started eating healthy. I also started taking 2-3 tablets of Grapefruit Seed Extract and some daily probiotics (Natren) to my diet and, after about 3 months, my skin started clearing dramatically. Just keep up the good work and I’m sure you’ll get the results you’re looking for - good luck!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Andre, Yes, I agree, that’s a downside with Clear for Life. It only works on humans. It doesn’t work on lions, dogs, cats and other animal that require different diets.
OK, sorry, couldn’t resist the sarcasm.
Look, you’ve bought into nutritional fairy tales.
There are no such things as different metabolic types. All, and I mean all, human thrive on similar food.
Anatomically, physiologically and biochemically speaking we are all nearly identical. Sure some people are taller than others and have different skin colors and what not, but I’m talking about what’s happening inside of us.
We all have nearly identical digestive systems. We all produce the same digestive enzymes. Our whole digestive system is optimized for plant-based, carbohydrates.
Your cells run on glucose, so do mine and everybody else’s on this planet. If you don’t eat enough glucose your body is going to make glucose out of fat and protein. The conversion is very inefficient and produces toxic by products; such as acetones and other ketones.
This is a protective mechanism that allows us to survive times when carbohydrates might not be available. It was not meant to be used all the time.
In nature all animals of same type eat the same foods. Don’t let anyone tell you humans are the only exception in the nature.
Metabolic typing, blood type diets and other similar diet are a result of fragmented thinking. A scientists looking at some small piece that he’s studying and jumping to wild conclusions without really understanding health and how the human body works.
There’s nothing in the human body that would indicate that we would require fundamentally different diets. Meaning that one person would thrive on fats or protein while one does better with carbs.
I understand some pre-existing conditions may cause some upheaval to some people when they switch to this diet. Those are temporary and once they pass people will do just fine on high-carb diet.
November 16th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Hypothetically, if i were to eat only fruits and vegetables, then how much fat is necessary?
The reason i am asking is because, you said too much fat (from nuts, oils, et cetera) can contradict with the high amounts of fruits. So since i have been doing this i want to make sure i’m not just blowing it on the way from a simple mistake with too much fats. That would be hilarious…. NOT.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Oscar,
Then, hypothetically, you would do well to keep your fat consumption between 10 and 20% of your total calories. Preferably closer to 10% than 20%. Just to stress, it’s % of calories not weight or volume. And you have to take all foods into account. Not just fatty foods. Most non-fatty fruits have between 3 to 8% of calories from fat. So don’t discount any food as not having any fat.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
So do you believe i should add in some oils, like olive oil. Or will enough cal. of fruit provide me with the balance of oils?
-Thanks- =-)
November 18th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I wouldn’t recommend oils. It’s too easy to eat too much fat when you use oils. You can get plenty of fat by eating avocados, olives, nuts or other fatty foods. Eating fruits alone does give you fat, but it’s ok to eat a bit more.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Thankyou Seppo once again, for your immediate reply, i just don’t think that i can eat 5-6 avocados to achieve around 200 cal. of fat. (10% of my daily intake of calories). But besides the risk of overdoing it, is Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Flax Seed Oil, a great option which won’t effect my results (negatively of course).
PS: Without a doubt i won’t overdue it, no way, no how (that will not be MY downfall).
PSS: If I could, there is no doubt that i would eat no oils all together and just keep eating non-stop fruits and salads! However, i have had success with my fruits quite a bit and now realize i am underwater with my necessary oils. What to do… What to do>>>)
November 19th, 2008 at 4:11 am
Ah but Oscar,
You already made the mistake. It only takes ONE avocado to get more than 200 calories from fat.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1843/2
You probably confused grams of fat to calories from fat. I’m always talking about calories.
So it’s very, very easy to overeat fat if you don’t know what you are doing.
About oils. One tablespoon is already more than 100 calories from fat.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fats-and-oils/509/2
If you are careful I guess you could eat those oils, but I don’t really see a point. I’d rather eat the whole food they are made of. It’s always going to be much better for you than just the oil.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Oh my goodness!! thank you sooo much. That is the best answer i have ever heard! Ugh… always wondering what in the blue heavens i am doing wrong. You are officially my second saviour! (JK). Ok, now i need to look at this website, because i have got to refigure everything. But i am completely fine with that. Alrighty, so grams of fat… hmmm where exactly do i look to get that info? (i only see calories of fat or total fat)
PS: Do dates have alot of fat grams??
Thank you very very much again, i will work on this.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
OK Oscar, you are going off track again.
I don’t know where you got grams, but the figure you should keep an eye on is % of CALORIES from fat. You’ll get that figure from the website I linked in my previous comment.
So keep your fat consumption between 10 and 20% of your total calories from fat. So if you’ll eat 2000 calories a day 200 to 400 of those should come from fat - preferably closer to 200 than 400.
Since fat has 9 calories per grams that means 22 to 44 grams of fat a day (200/9 = 22 and 400/9 = 44).
Dates probably don’t have that much fat, but you can easily check it at nutritiondata.com.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Ohhhh, okay, i thought you were telling me to switch from calories TO grams. Not the other way around. But i got it now (-=, and yes, i did very much so confuse grams for fat (not anymore though) Thanks A LOT!
Also the website helps greatly; I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO CHECK THIS WEBSITE OUT!!
Also, do you encourage the ‘80-10-10′ way of living??(Because i’m looking to try it, that is of course, if i’m not already doing it :))
November 24th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Hmmm… now i need a little bit of clarification for the ‘Estimated Glycemic Load’ part. i put in only fruits and vegetables like oranges, kiwi, apples, banana, mango, and pairs with romaine lettuce & carrots, and then calculated the Glycemic Load and it came out to be about 140! The recommended level for that is 100 or less, and i don’t see how that can be possible while still getting at least 2,000 calories. I believe that it is just from the high amounts of sugar from the fruit, so should i just disregard that because of the diet? (Although i am still using the ‘Inflammatory factor’ wisely to my benefit)
PS: How much should the Glycemic and Inflammatory Load hover around? (i.e. Maybe YOUR own ranges?)
Thanks again, i am sure this will guide other searchers as well.
November 24th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Yes, I very much recommend 80/10/10 way of living. And I’m glad you used ‘way of living’ instead of diet. Because this whole thing is so much more than just diet. Every aspect of your lifestyle affect your nutrition, and your nutrition affects every other aspect of your lifestyle.
Here’s what I suggest, use nutritiondata.com to check for total calories and breakdown of calories from carbs/protein/fat. That’s what it’s good for. And for the other information. It’s nice to look at, but you’d do much better by ignoring it.
Most of it is based on the mainstream view of healthy diet and nutrition. Since the mainstream view is somewhat off base it’s just going to confuse you.
Glycemic load and inflammatory ratings are examples of totally baseless information when you follow the diet in Clear for Life. They are based on the mistaken idea that sugar would somehow be ‘evil’, or that eating sugar would cause spikes in blood sugar levels.
They won’t, and I covered this in detail in my posts about Candida and acne. Such as this:
http://blog.natural-acne-solution.com/candida-in-bowel-and-acne/
I don’t even want to give any guidelines for those values. Simply because they wouldn’t serve you at all. Just eat until you are satisfied and you’ll do fine. You’ll notice that the inflammation levels in your body start going down rapidly - even if nutritiondata.com would inform you that your diet is highly inflammatory.
And don’t even think of going ‘nutrition hunting’. Just eat a good variety of fruits and vegetables and you’ll do just fine. Perhaps take a B12 supplement if you are concerned about it.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Hey Seppo!
So yesterday I went to my dermatologist (which is always a mistake) and it was probably the worst visit to a doctor I have ever had. My face has cleared considerably since going tanning and eating healthier. But I went to him to ask about anti-inflammatory medication or anything that he thought would help.
This is what he told me- The reason you have acne is because your skin cells grow close together and connect to form a plug or ‘clogged pore’ that causes me to break out.
Is there any truth in that and if yes how do I clear these clogged pores without harsh topicals?
So he said the only things that would help me are Retin a micro, tazerac, and/or accutane. Seriously!? accutane..this guy is trying to kill my liver for no reason. I told him I wanted none of that but he did not listen to me. He wrote me a prescription for Retin A micro anyway..even though I was on that before and it did not work for my skin.
Any way I need some one who knows what they are talking about and who I trust to give me their advice…so of course I came to you. Which i just should have done first..besides there’s no 20 dollar copay! ugh what a waste.
Thanks as always!
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Hi Lauren,
Really loved your comment that going to derm is always a mistake : ) Unfortunately most acne victims take 10 years to realize that.
Anyway, let’s stop picking derms. Most of them are nice and good people. They are just stuck in a system that doesn’t support health or clear skin.
I don’t really know about his comment about cells growing close together. I doubt it, but it may be true.
But whatever the reason you can get clear. It doesn’t matter how acne forms. What matters is that you can get rid of it.
I get emails everyday from people to ‘prove’ that. So no matter how the pimple comes to be your body can fix it.
So just keep up with what you’ve been doing so far. It seems to be working for you.
And the prescription? Perhaps you can use it to light a fire where you burn all your old pictures with acne… or something else equally creative : )
December 27th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
My son has severe acne on his forehead and around his mouth. His face was clear until he went through a big growth spurt this last year. He grew several inches all is one year.I am attributing his acne to his hormones. He is eating more fruits and less snack foods, but its not seeming to help.
Will apple cidar vinagar help and does he take it internally and topically.
Will baking soda work as a cleanser.
He has tried this for a few days but gave up.
I need cheap help but my son is really down about his face.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
December 30th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Tammy,
Sorry to hear about your son. There are really no secrets to clear skin. It comes down to building health. But one has to understand that health is not only about physical (diet, exercise and such) but also about mental and spiritual health.
Eating and living healthy may not help if one is constantly negative, sad and stressed.
Other point to keep in mind is that health is not a light switch. You just can’t flip it on and off. Health must be earned through healthy living.
Acne didn’t just emerge overnight. It took many years to develop. Equally clear skin won’t just magically appear overnight. To cure acne one has to reverse the disease process that created it in the first place. This is going to take some time and persistence.
How long? Nobody knows but at least few months.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I was wondering, I am planning on buying your books and cds package but I can’t afford it at this very moment so until I can I want to get started on changing my diet. I read your 101 lessons and all but I want to know what the 6 elements of health are, so I can start working on them I imagine that they are something like exercise, diet, fresh air, positive thinking etc but could you please tell them to me. thankyou
June 26th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Michelle,
You pretty much nailed them. Just add sunlight and sleep and you’ve got them all.