Acne Magazine

This is part two of  my “Cheap Acne Remedies” article which focuses on control factors in our diet that can dramatically improve our skin and our likelihood of further breakouts, including body acne breakouts - not just the face!  So enjoy, and remember to look for the full article soon in other online publications.  This is the smaller part so sorry for a such a measly post today, but if you want more of the meat of the article, read the prior post to this entitled Part I. 

We really can control the food we put in our mouth, even if we can’t control whether or not we have “good skin genes”, so stop thinking that your acne is out of your control, because as soon as you think that, you’ve lost part or all of the battle for clear, great skin!  Food is probably one of the best ways we can treat our skin to a better look, less acne and a youthful, toned and even look for years to come.  Thanks for reading as always everyone!

If you want to try to neutralize inflammation caused by eating foods that increase skin volatility as mentioned above, a good suggestion is to start drinking lemon water.  Not only is drinking lemon juice infused water a refreshing difference from plain old water, but water with about an eighth of a lemon (preferably organic) squeezed into it can help neutralize acidity in the body caused by acid-producing foods, which in turn limits inflammation.  Seriously, begin to drink lemon juice infused water for a few days and I’d be surprised if you don’t see at least a little difference in the way your skin looks.
 

If you want to get really adventurous, add a sprinkle or two of cinnamon, again prefereably organic, to your water, and you may also enjoy a bit of a revved up metabolism as well as a more stabilized blood sugar level, as research is showing cinnamon has excellent benefits for blood sugar stabilization.  Why do I mention blood sugar?  Well, because a stable blood sugar level helps to lower inflammation, and it also helps reduce the effects of stress and anxiety which can trigger higher levels of androgens in the body, which are the very hormones that cause acne. 
 

And there you have it, free or very cheap, easily incorporated, and dare I say “pleasant” ways to combat acne.  Not only do these suggestions help reduce breakouts, they are also generally beneficial to your health in other numerous ways.  Who says everyone needs a dermatologist or expensive skin care regimens to achieve pristine skin?  
 

What’s one of the easiest things we can control about our life?  Yes - our diet.  And granted, it’s not easy to be disciplined, but if you think about it, controlling our diet is a good way to make up for what we may lack in bad “acne genes”.  So here is part one of an article I recently wrote about controlling acne through diet.  Watch for it to be published in its entirety soon on other online media outlets! 

Acne remedies are a dime a dozen these days, and some of them like Zenmed’s acne line as well as the natural antioxidant acne formula Acnezine are highly recommended, but there are also other things you can do to significantly curb your acne without buying anything.  The very word “acne” conjures in many people’s minds either past or present struggles with self image, embarrassment and feelings of helplessness if they’ve ever suffered this skin condition, or are currently suffering varying degrees of acne. 
Our skin’s appearance is very important, and it seems to have been only made more important by the emphasis of “great skin” in beauty magazines, tabloids and other media outlets that our society has become so enthralled with.  It’s no wonder that the skincare industry has enjoyed growth and profits in leaps and bounds over the past fifteen to twenty years.
So, what can you do, besides enlist the help of an expensive dermatologist or spa specializing in skin care to help combat acne and prevent new breakouts on your own, for next to nothing, or better yet, free?  Well, we will start off with focusing on things you can change in your diet to get rid of or dramatically reduce acne breakouts, since diet is more key for your skin’s appearance and health than most people may think. 
There are many schools of thought on what to avoid and what to include in the diet if you are to attain and maintain clear skin, however, one thing remains pretty clear, and that is the avoidance of sugary foods and caffeine.  I cannot tell you how many times I myself have experienced major periods of breakouts that I can directly attribute to the consumption of sugar or caffeine in excess. 
Sure, it’s ok to have a sweet snack (a small one!) here and there, and not suffer the consequences of a few new pimples, but by and large it is prudent to either strictly limit sugar or try to eradicate it all together.  Sugar has many destructive properties that are generally bad for overall health, but it’s recently been proven to help accelerate the aging process of the skin, and also to lend a hand in the inflammation of skin cells. 
Inflammation is a direct cause of acne, since it is by definition an inflammatory skin condition, so we can safely say that sugar is indeed a category of food to be avoided in the quest to be acne free, oh and also to keep your skin young too!  OK, enough about sugar, now let’s move onto to another culprit behind acne.  Caffeine can have similar effects on the skin to sugar, since it actually may increase inflammation, especially in some people who are more caffeine-sensitive than others (like myself). 
With all the super caffeinated beverages out on the market today, it’s no wonder we’re all not walking around with broken out faces.  I suspect that teens especially are susceptible to the caffeinated drink rage, which is unfortunate because they may be unknowingly aggravating their skin and causing breakouts at the age where they are more apt to break out anyways. 
Caffeine can also produce an uneven and “bumpy” texture of the skin.  Beverages aren’t the only culprit either, since there are many supplements, pills and diet aids that contain stimulants that will break your skin out faster than you can say “energy”.  Caffeinated drinks and other products containing stimulants should be avoided if you want to avoid bumpy, broken out skin. 
 

There have been a lot of correlations made between good skin and omega 3 fatty acids, and I must say that I do believe that this correlation has some merit, at least for my skin personally.

I have to share this healthy recipe, which I believe is an excellent skin health booster, as well as good for your appetite, getting your daily dose of fiber and antioxidants, as well as a healthy helping of protein.  I’ve been making these healthy little breakfasts for my boyfriend and I for the past two weeks, every morning, and I swear it’s also helped my skin, besides keeping me full for hours, which is a virtual miracle with my sometimes voracious appetite. 

It’s got a lot of ingredients at first glance, but trust me, once you start keeping this stuff around, much of it is freezable or can be stored in dry storage, so it lasts a while.  The only perishable is the bananas, but if you want you can even cut up banana and freeze it, or when it’s about to turn brown, put it in the freezer peel and all, and peel it and use it when you’re ready.  Actually, you may want to freeze it, it’ll add more volume to your healthy skin smoothie!

Here’s my recipe for the healthy skin smoothie.  Oh, also the reason I call it a healthy skin smoothie is that it contains milled flax seed, which contains lignans and omega 3 fatty acids, both of which are wonderful and therapeutic for the skin, as well as anti-inflammatory in nature - double bonus for us acne sufferers, or acne rosacea! 

Ingredients of the healthy skin smoothie - this makes 2 nice sized smoothies, you can cut this in half too for one :

Milled golden or regular flax seed. About 4 tablespoons.  It’s fine, so it’ll blend well, and it will also add a nice bulk to the smoothie and fill you up fast.

Banana - one whole. 

Soy protein powder, plain, or you can use whey powder, but I prefer soy powder for health reasons.  2 scoops

2-3 packets of Stevia natural sweetener.  No artificial sweeteners please.  Defeats the “health” of this smoothie recipe.

2 cups of Carb Control yogurt in Vanilla Creme.

1/2 to 3/4 cup organic orange juice

Berries of your choice - strawberries, raspberries and blueberries are my favorite, and all have an abundance of antioxidants, especially the blueberries.  Great for skin! 

Acai berry smoothie packets - Original.  One packet.  You will only find these at a natural foods store, they are in the frozen section.

Put all your liquids in first, the yogurt and OJ, blend, then add all the rest of the stuff and blend with about one full drinking cup of ice. 

Voila, natural skin care treatment in a glass!  You will stay full for a few hours, and you will be doing something great for your skin, your acne, and your body and mind. 

Acne is the most noted and problematic for people in their teens, but it can occur in individuals in their twenties and thirties too. There are some simple steps you can take to keep acne under control and discourage new pimples and blackheads from forming.

First of all, before we get into this discussion of one of my favorite topics, natural skin and natural acne skin care, let’s discuss what exactly an “astringent” is.

I just wrote about the benefits a sauna can have if you have acne.  You see, at my gym, they have a sauna.  Hardly anyone uses it, but I just happened to turn on the timer before my workout one day so the sauna would be nice and toasty for me for a little post workout relaxation and muscle heating and stretching. 

My first time in the sauna I noticed that my skin felt really great, almost as if I could “feel” my pores opening in the intense heat and drinking in the steam from the lava rocks, enveloping my face in a luxurious steam bath.  On the other hand, when I did not put the water on the rocks, I still noticed a sort of soothing feeling to not only my muscles, but also to my facial skin. 

Well, my hunch was right, because the next day a few of my little blemishes had noticeably faded, and my face had a very clear, bright and fresh look to it.  I now go in the sauna after my workouts every chance I get, for about 5-10 minutes, for a little R&R and skin rejuvenation. 

It does help with acne I’ve found.  Call me crazy, but the sauna really does help people with acne, at least in my case it certainly does.  If anyone else has experienced this, please share your experience.  I’m curious to see if I’m the only one who has noticed this benefit or not!  It’s actually a really cheap natural acne treatment, or at least can add benefit to your chosen treatment regimen.

Evening primrose oil, or as it is otherwise known, EPO, is an all natural flower plant that is used for it’s qualities of soothing and healing, internally.  It is supposedly very useful for some skin conditions, including eczema which is a dry, scaly and flaky skin condition that is pretty tought to treat. 

Evening primrose oil has a substance in it called gamma linolenic acid, which is actually a natural compound which is currently an approved natural medicine for the treatment of eczema over in Britain right now.  It is suggested that you just take whatever the recommended dosage of these oil caps when you purchase them. 

There isn’t really too much on whether GLA, or gamma linolenic acid, is useful in treating actual acne, but my guess would be since it is supposed to be beneficial for treating irritating skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis, it will also be of help if you have acne scarred skin, or skin irritations related to acne, as it may help speed the healing and “calming” process up so you have less redness, irritation and overal dry skin.

Evening primrose oil is actually quite a common natural remedy that is “prescribed” to women that are going through change of life, as it is supposed to help counteract many of the side effects and symptoms of menopause in women.  I actually took this supplement for a little while and did not have a good reaction to it, but that’s just me. 

I actually think I may have had an allergy to it, as it made my skin break out in almost a rash like state, and it was unlike any acne I ever had, it was just more like a red rash on my face.  Like I said, that was just my experience though, and I do have some known allergies to things, so this is most likely the explanation.

One of the most “exciting” acne skin care tips I thought I’d received when I was a young teen suffering the daily trials and tribulations of having incredibly acne prone skin, was to use the very cheap, plentiful drugstore home remedy for acne, hydrogen peroxide. 

I was excited because hydrogen peroxide literally only ran about fifty cents a bottle back then (I’m not sure what it runs now - can’t be too much), and also because it was so easily accessible and plentiful, and came in a big, generous bottle that would surely last forever.

I was told to just dab a cotton ball in the hydrogen peroxide, and use it as sort of a toner on my face after I had gotten done washing and drying my facial skin.  And I did that, religiously for about a week.  Only problem is, all I noticed was that my skin was deteriorating more each day. 

Every day I woke up, it seemed my skin looked worse and worse.  It looked more red, it was dried out beyond belief, and my skin tone was sallow and slack, making me look ten times worse than I did before. 

Not only that, it had actually CAUSED me to get a few new pimples.  I was extremely disappointed.  This was just another product that I had to shelve that didn’t work in one of my cheap acne treatment schemes. 

I put it on the shelf along with all my other cleansers, thinking I might someday give it a whirl again.  Heck, at least I had it for when I got scrapes!

Has anyone ever heard of this one?  I was intrigued when I heard that hydrocortisone cream, the stuff that you put on your skin when you get poison ivy and other itchy, bumpy rashes on your skin, is used by some people as a home remedy for inflamed acne lesions. 

Some people use cortisone creams, such as Cortisone 5 or Cortisone 10, two common OTC hydrocortisone creams, on inflamed acne bumps to help relieve the swelling.  While I agree that cortisone cream may help to relieve the swelling of an acne pimple, I do not think it is a wise home remedy for acne to use, since cortisone creams are extremely oily and greasy in texture, and may actually aggravate the pimple more in the end, and just make it come to an ugly, messy head again. 

If you really want to try to relieve excessive swelling of a pimple, just take an ice cube and hold it one there for a little while.  Do not keep messing with the pimple and pushing on it.  This will only cause it to swell further and be redder. 

If you have the money, and you are desperate to get rid of a zit, you may actually go to a dermatologist and get a cortison shot - it shrinks that baby right up.  The Hollywood stars use this a lot. 

Another good product for shrinking swelling pimples is the infamous pink stuff by Mario Badescu - although some say that this well known acne product leaves their pimples even more dried out looking than they were before.