I often bash acne treatments that are ‘quick-fixes’. Meaning this pill, powder, cream, flush or whatever cures your acne and solves your health problems. Just like the duck in this cartoon does:
Image courtesy of Mike Adams at http://www.naturalnews.com
Still, there’s a way you can use these quick-fixes intelligently. And this posts explains how.
I just saw one woman at an acne.org forum saying hormonal balancing is the key to acne. Her doctor prescribed her bioidentical (is that an oxymoron or what) hormones to ‘balance’ her hormones.
This is part of my reply to her, which explains one of the problems with these quick-fixes. I’ll get to how to use them the smart way after this.
And by the way, the same principles in my reply applies to any and all so-called imbalances (such as blood sugar, inflammation) that lead to acne, and pretty much to every cause of acne.
So this helps even if your acne is not hormonal.
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I feel I have to stick my dirty fingers here.
I feel happy for you that this is helping you. And I really don’t mean to rain on your parade. Just want to give you heads up.
Taking artificial hormones won’t ‘balance’ your hormones. You are just plugging a leaky hole and temporarily fixing the problem.
Your hormones are never ‘unbalanced’. They are the way they are for a reason. The body regulates hormones and it’s always based on your ‘internal environment’. In other words state of health.
Just because a doctor tells you your hormones are unbalanced doesn’t mean anything. He’s just comparing them to some number the medical community cooked up and agreed on. Those number don’t reflect your unique situation and condition.
Given your internal environment the body regulates hormones in a way that’s best for the entire body. Your hormones are always in perfect balance. Granted that balance will not always give you the results you want.
By taking artificial hormones you upset the balance the body thinks is the best. So you UNbalance them. That may give you the result you want, but in the long term it’s probably bad for your health.
Anytime you stick your fingers in and mess with your body you make things worse (regarding your overall health).
The body regulates hormones based on the internal environment. You can affect that with the foods you eat and the way you live your life.
That’s the only way to ‘balance’ your hormones in a way that also gives you the results you want.
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So far Clear for Life is the only acne book in the market that shows you how to do that. Acne No More is also good for getting you clear. But it’s not so good for long term because it’s mostly based on fasting and that doesn’t keep you clear for long time. All the supplements you need to buy also makes it quite expensive.
Ok, that’s all fine and dandy.
But I bet my crystal ball tells me your goal is to get clear as soon as possible. Unfortunately it may take some time before your body has gained enough vitality to cure your acne.
That doesn’t gel with your goal very well, does it.
The trick is to combine these two approached.
Start rebuilding your health (fixing the internal environment) right now. That’s the only thing that’s going to keep you clear in the long term. At the same time try some quick-fixes that can get you clear quickly.
That way you can have your cake and eat it too.
You get clear quickly, well at least have a chance to, and get to keep your clear skin for life.
The reason I often bash quick-fixes is because they kill your motivation to make the real changes. If you already are clear then why would you change your diet and lifestyle?
Plus quick-fixes give you a bag full of excuses. Instead of kicking yourself on the arse and making the change you think ‘maybe this new pill or product can fix the problems’.
Your motivation to change drains away and you stay stuck.
But as long as you don’t let this happen and actually make the changes quick-fixes are ok.
Keep that in mind because quick-fixes have as much chance of giving you the permanent freedom you are looking for as a disfigured chimpanzee in a beauty contest.
It just doesn’t happen.
Strictly speaking, this is not the best for your overall health. Because most quick-fixes throw the body off balance. Some more and some less. So it’s probably going to take you longer to regain perfect health (and skin).
Still, you have a good chance to cure acne, or at least significantly reduce it, quickly.
And somehow I feel that’s worth it for you.
Some quick-fixes are better than others. Meaning they don’t throw your body off balance so much.
Here are some ’safe’ quick-fixes (in my opinion):
- Topicals without any products (such as steaming).
- Homemade topical treatments, topicals with only natural ingredients are good also, but homemade are better.
- Supplements; this is a bit tricky because some supplements can create nutritional imbalances. I’d stay away from vitamins and other single nutrition supplements. Probiotics, enzymes, HCL and such are pretty safe.
- Homeopathy
- Laser and light treatments; this is a bit so-and-so. Although these don’t use chemicals (and as such are safe) they do cause free radical damage in the skin and that way can be harmful.
Here’s the blacklist of quick-fixes:
- Topicals with chemicals.
- Herbs; this includes Chinese medicine, Ayurveda and similar medicines. Herbs are nothing but mild form of drugs. They are inert substances and have no healing effect whatsoever. They only irritate the body and force the body into throwing the offending substances out.
- Cleanses and flushes of any kind.
- Drugs; antibiotics, Accutane and the entire gang.
Those are not exhaustive lists. Just something I had on top of my mind now.
I think Mr. X Acne Says is one of the best quick-fix solutions. Mr. X Acne Says is based on the idea that inflammation causes acne. I agree fully with that.
Mr. X Acne Says then offers a combined dietary and supplement based solution to reduce inflammation. The dietary changes are simple and easy to implement to anyone who is at least a bit health conscious. If you eat at McDonald’s every day it can be bit of a challenge.
The supplements cost you a bit, around $50 a month. But when you combine it with diet and lifestyle changes, you need the supplements only for 2 to 3 months.
I’m in touch with ‘Mr. X’ (this sounds like some blind dating program) regularly. He’s a good and reliable fellow. If the program doesn’t work for you he will give you a refund. And if, for any reason, you have problems just contact me and I’ll email him.
Of course I can’t promise Mr. X Acne solution gets you clear, but combined with lifestyle changes in Clear for Life it’s the best solution for getting clear quickly and permanently I can think of.
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May 31st, 2008 at 11:54 am
Hey Mr. Seppo, thank you for your emails that are really helping me alot.
I think herbs are just okay not to be included in the blacklist. In my country (Philippines), herbs have different meaning and are treated as a seperate term for Chinese medicines and the like.
In my country, we usually do “green smoothies, or green bevarages” and those are called herbs, not chinese medicines. These green bevarages are composed of leafy local vegies found in every garden. So herbs in my country are natural, pure and for us, we can say that it is effective.
I am pointing out that the term “herbs” may be defined based on culture, and not with the examples like chinese medicines or ayurveda.
Again, thank you for your help in clearing out my acne!! (^^)
May 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Yes, this is a matter of definition of herbs. I was referring to ‘medicinal’ herbs that are used to ‘treat’ diseases. These are often dried and powdered or made into tinctures.
I agree with you that whatever herbs you grow in your garden are good. I regularly use mint, basil, cilantro and other similar herbs in my green smoothies and salads.
These are definitely good. But I don’t use them to medicate myself. I use them to nourish myself and that’s why they work. I’m sure you do the same in Philippines.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
The only thing I don’t agree with is that herbs have no healing affect. Our ancestors used herbs for health and healing, herbs have been used for thousands of years. I am an Aromatherapist and work with essential oils, which are highly concentrated oils from plants, and they can help with a variety of health issues. I do agree though that using essential oils or herbs to heal acne specifically won’t necessarily work, or to heal any specific health complaint, depending what it is. They can help the body to heal itself. Herbs are plants, like plants that we eat to nourish our bodies, they have properties and vitamins and minerals in them that help the body to heal itself. Perhaps you were saying using herbs specifically as a quick fix for healing acne won’t work, which I would agree with. As far as herbs in general I believe they are a part of mother nature and are wonderful, and can nourish and help the body.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Let me clarify what I meant.
First, there’s no outside substance that’s ever going to heal anything in the body. No herb, drug or supplement is going to heal the body.
Only the body has the healing power. And only it can heal.
So the notion that herbs can heal is a fallacy. It doesn’t happen.
Herbs can suppress symptoms, and they probably are much safer than drugs. Still,let’s not kid ourselves that they heal anything.
Healing happens (among other ways) when damaged cells are broken down and new healthy cells built to replace them.
I’m sure you agree that no herb has the power to build cells in your body?
If they have nutrients they can nourish the body, and in that way help the body to heal itself. But the healing power belongs solely to the body. Herbs, drugs and so on can only create the illusion of healing by suppressing symptoms.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:53 am
This is more of a question than a comment but it’s based on the article. I love by the way that your trying to get people to truly consider their health of mind body and soul rather than telling them some product will fix everything. Anway, i wanted to know, i take a multivitamin that’s supposedly time released, but here u said that vitamin supplemenets can end up making imbalances…and i was just wondering as a matter of health, if it really would. Also, i eat lots of natural yogurt which is supposed to contain probiotics, but i never really knew quite what benefits probiotics have…
July 8th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Vitamins and nutrients never work alone. They all depend on each other. If you take them as a pill you can be sure they are not in correct proportions. Plus you are missing all the vitamins scientists haven’t yet discovered.
That’s why I don’t like to take supplements.
Probiotics help to deal the gut and the digestive system. I just don’t know if the probiotics in yogurt survive your stomach acids.
You don’t really need to take probiotics. Just eat plenty of green and vegetables with fiber. The fiber feeds the good bacteria in the gut and helps them to grow.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
[…] Still as these herbs seem to mimic insulin I would classify these as smart use of quick-fixes. […]