Acne Magazine : Skin Care, Tips, Treatment Reviews

I know that not everyone is a fan of fish, but it really does have some outstanding health benefits if you can eat it a few times a week. Of course, the media has trumped up the fear of mercury in the news, but the health benefits of fish may far outweigh any mercury possibilities. Not only that, you can minimize your risk of mercury contamination by choosing fish that is wild caught instead of farm raised.

Farm raised fish actually has much higher levels of mercury typically than the fish that is swimming around freely in the ocean of fresh water.  Have you ever noticed how asian women have really beautiful skin usually?  Well, of course some of this boils down to genetics, but it’s also no coincidence that the asian diet is typically high in fish consumption.

Fish really is good for your skin, and if you consume it a few times a week, you can really start to see the benefits in your skin’s suppleness, it’s moisture, and it’s overall balance. If you don’t like fish, you can definitely take a good fish oil supplement. However, if you do take a fish oil supplement, don’t buy the el cheapo brand, and try to get one that has been filtered for mercury.

Purified fish oil is a much more potent form of the oil since it contains only the good stuff, and not all the extras that you don’t want in your body.  Fish oil has been known to help the skin to retain moisture more. It is also excellent for the heart and also for your circulation since it helps keep the vessels and passageways limber rather than rigid, which is a problem as we age.

Guess what better circulation does? You guessed it – it makes your skin look better!  There is also some evidence that fish helps you feel fuller for longer, so it has some weight benefits as well. The fact that it helps you feel fuller longer also means it stabilizes blood sugar long after other types of protein do, and when your blood sugar is stable, your hormone levels are more stable.

One thing we’ve learned is that all acne is hormonal in nature, one way or another, and if you can find a way to keep your male and female hormones balanced, then that is half the battle with acne. It’s all in a comprehensive approach, including diet, exercise and using the right acne products topically and internally to keep your skin clear.

I’ve pretty much beaten the fact that drinking a lot of caffeine, or a lot of other nervous system stimulating beverages like coffee and caffeinated tea, may make certain people break out more than others. I personally break out pretty quickly when my body is on caffeine overload, or any other type of energy and nerve system stimulant.

This is usually because the person’s hormones are particularly susceptible to being thrown off balance by these types of stimulants, and therefore they produce more sebum when their nervous system is overstimulated. Sometimes I may see a lag time of a day or two on a caffeine binge and a breakout, but it almost assuredly always happens when I drink a lot of it, or when I’m under large amounts of stress or anxiety.

So, when we talk about soda, particularly caffeinated sodas, like the ever so popular and seemingly addictive diet colas that are out there, there are a lot of ingredients besides the caffeine itself, that really aren’t skin friendly.

And for those that have acne prone skin, we need all the dietary help we can get when it comes to getting the right hormone balancing foods and nutrients in our bodies so we can “fight acne from the inside out” as has become such a popular marketing phrase for so many of the popular acne fighting supplements today.

Phosphoric acid is a common ingredient in soda, and although it is no so much caloric in and of itself, it breaks down into sugars in your body. Sugar is another skin sin, and you should strive to minimize it in your diet, if not totally eliminate it (I know, this is impossible, I love desserts and especially chocolate and that’s just never gonna happen for me, but I do try to minimize it).

Sugar basically can throw off your blood sugar levels, which in turn aids in breaking your face out by turning on the hormones that cause acne or throwing them out of balance. It also is bad for your collagen, as it makes your collagen cells rigid, which is why we look more aged. Your collagen cells should be soft, and pliable, and excess sugar in the diet makes them rigid.

Soda is also loaded with artificial flavors, chemicals and a host of other body and cell toxins that boil down to nothing but trouble for your skin. If you think drinking diet is any better, then you’re wrong because artificial sweeteners have their own host of bad side effects as well. The bottom line is that you should try to steer clear of any type of carbonated soda and try to drink non carbonated, healthy drinks in it’s place for your skin.

Coffee is something that a lot of us Americans are hooked on.  Shoot, I have a hard time resisting the smell of it, the mere idea of holding a steaming hot cup in my hands in the morning with cream and sugar (actually I use Truvia, a natural healthy sweetener), and reading my morning news, or preparing for my day at work, makes me feel that familiar, cozy, warm feeling.  My husband brews it every morning, so it’s very hard for me not to give in to my coffee craving every morning and instead opt for the decaffeinated greet tea that I know is much better for my skin, and requires no cream.

Even though I have strong resolve most of the time, at least during the work week, I do sometimes break down and have that hot steaming cup of caffeine on the weekends. Because I know that too much coffee or caffeinated beverages, which are also usually highly acidic, cause acne for me, I try to offset some of the acidity at least, knowing I can’t really offset the caffeine.

What do I mean by acidity?  Well, coffee is a very acid-producing beverage, meaning that when it enters the body it causes a more acidic, toxic environment. That is not good for the skin.  Skin that has a good, alkaline diet (foods like cucumbers, walnuts and so forth are very alkaline), tends to have less breakouts and glow more than skin that is subject to lots of red meat, processed carbs and other highly acidic foods.

So, to at least offset the acidity in my cup of joe, what I do is I put some freshly squeezed lemon juice in my water. I drink tons of water along with my coffee, so that the coffee doesn’t dehydrate me (again, why I can’t keep my hands off this stuff for good, I don’t know, it’s all mental I’m sure, I don’t even love the jitteriness I get from the caffeine content).

Lemon juice, as I’ve discussed before, is sort of a wonder juice.  It helps to neutralize acid in the body. Seems counter intuitive, I know.  You’d think that something that tastes sour would be highly acidic, but once lemon juice hits your body, it actually neutralizes acidity and is beneficial to maintain a more alkaline environment within the body. Alkaline environments, it is believe, help with inflammation, while acidic environments promote inflammation.

Green tea, as you all may well know by now, is a great alternative to coffee in the morning.  Green tea supplies an excellent stream of antioxidants, which is excellent for your skin. Not only your skin, but your overall body health is affected positively by green tea because it supplies a couple of key natural chemicals that help fight free radicals.  Free radicals are responsible not only for cell damage around the body and degeneration of the tissues, but it is also responsible for skin damage.

If you’ve had acne for any length of time in your life, you know that it can damage your skin and cause scarring and trauma in it’s path of destruction.  Antioxidants are an important part of your diet because they help to mend cell damage.  Not only that, but there is even some evidence that when applied topically to the skin, green tea extract can help to calm inflammation, which means it probably helps with cell damage on the outside as well.  Inflammation after all, is when the cells get “irritated”.

Acne is basically an inflammation of the skin, so any foods or drinks that are anti inflammatory in nature, like green tea or strawberries, blueberries, and other dark fruits or veggies, give you an anti inflammatory boost along with antioxidants, which work together to address cell damage.

If you’re worried about the caffeine in green tea, there are decaffeinated green teas you can buy.  I found one that says it uses a special process to decaffeinate the tea to make sure the antioxidant value remains in place. You may want to read the label to make sure the process they use doesn’t interfere with the antioxidant content. Oh, and to squeeze every last benefit out of it, make sure you mix a little lemon or some other kind of fresh citrus juice with it. Lemon actually tastes great in tea.

There has been research that shows that when you drink it with a citrus juice, you absorb much more of the antioxidant value.

You have to include a lot of fruits, and a lot of vegetables. Some of my favorites are pineapple, mango (great for keeping your regular, tons of vitamin A and C which are excellent for your skin), organic Fuji apples, and melons.  I noticed during the time I was on the vegan diet regimen that my bowel habits were wonderfully regular, and I’m a person who normally experiences irregularities in that department.

That may be TMI, but it’s a fact. I’m sure that simply becoming regular helps your skin because you are regularly expelling toxins and harmful chemicals from your body, and you are continuously cleansing out old stuff that can help lend to hormonal imbalance.  Digestive problems and waste elimination problems have even been linked to complexion problems, but it’s all interconnected, and a good healthy diet is going to benefit you on multiple levels.

Let’s talk about some of the more fun foods that I liked on the vegan diet when I tried it. I loved to have some tasty, organic granola (I liked Cascadian Farms brand) with rice milk. Rice Dream makes organic rice milk that is 100% dairy free and tastes pretty good in cereal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a 100% replacement for milk, it’s somewhat of an acquired taste, but once you get used to it, you really appreciate that flavor and the fact that it doesn’t have any added hormones or antibiotics as milk from cows often does.

Pretzels are vegan, so I like to snack on those or pita chips, or corn chips with fresh salsa is also great.  You can indulge in a vegan bean burrito with fake vegan cheese also. There is a good one out there that melts well, and tastes pretty decent too. The downfall of the vegan diet is that it may be a little more expensive to maintain than other diets, especially if you are buying a lot of the specialized vegan processed foods. However, you may like the rewards you reap with a clearer and more calm complexion.

Just a few examples I found when looking (I’ve experimented with eating vegan) do contain  milk protein.  Some examples are soy cheese (you have to make sure there is no casein or milk protein added), soy burgers, and many vegetarian meals that on their surface have no cheese or egg in them. You really have to read the ingredients because you don’t realize how often milk protein is added to improve texture, melting ability and more.

Some of the foods that I found I liked to eat most when I tried the vegan diet were quinoa, which is a protein rich grain (it’s actually a seed, but it cooks up like a grain and it’s delicious),  of course there are any veggies too but I liked avocados as a replacement for meat, tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, cucumbers dipped in hummus and whole wheat pita bread.

There are a lot of other foods, I just found these to be the tastiest ones that were easier to find and think about than some convoluted vegan meal idea that had a million ingredients that were only found in health food stores or obscure locations.

I did see an improvement in my skin when I was on the vegan diet for a week or more. I fell off the wagon and had pepperoni pizza the weekend after, but I noticed that during the week I was on the vegan diet I made a few observations of how I was feeling and other bodily functions that had changed that I’ll share with you now.

I think the vegan diet has multiple uses, not just for clearer skin, but for overall digestive health, reducing heart disease and cancer likelihood, and more.  But you have to make sure it’s balanced. There are plenty of vegan foods that aren’t healthy. For example, fried potatoes, fried vegetables, and things like that which are fried in vegetable oils may be perfectly acceptable to the vegan diet, but if that is all your diet is comprised of, forget about reaping all the benefits of this diet and it’s potentially acne hormone balancing effects.

Have you ever tried to eat a vegan diet? It’s quite challenging if you want to eat out a lot, because there are a lot of foods that you wouldn’t even guess have dairy products in them that do, and that makes finding a truly vegan meal challenging.  You really have to have a health food market that has a lot of vegan options near you if you want to succeed at a vegan diet without feeling deprived, but if you do, then you will find there are a ton of really amazing tasting options that are filling and taste awesome.

Many people who have changed over to a healthy vegan diet, and when I say healthy, I mean one that doesn’t just include vegan soy burgers and french fries, and no veggies or fruits, but a balanced, fruit and veggie rich vegan diet, experience clearer, more resilient skin.

This is probably not just because they eliminated dairy and meat although it’s probably a contributing factor, it’s also because they have dramatically increased their intake of fruits and vegetables, which are rich in acne fighting minerals, vitamins and nutrients that add to the glow of your skin.

What is a vegan diet, first of all? Well, you are not only forsaking meat, like a traditional vegetarian does, but you are also forsaking all dairy products. This means no egg, milk, cheese, nothing.  This may not seem to hard at first glances, but even when you start to look at a lot of products that look like they don’t have any dairy, you find that they contain milk derived proteins.

The hardest thing I found eating vegan was that you are really restricted to eating out at a few select restaurants, as most do not offer vegan fare. They offer vegetarian options because vegetarians aren’t restricted from dairy, but there are few true vegan options because even a lot of breads have eggs and dairy in them.  Even many pastas are made with eggs!

More to come, this is a three parter, because I have a lot to share with you on my experiences with the vegan diet. Let me disclaim, I am not a vegan, but I have experimented with this diet. I’m just not disciplined enough to be on this diet 100% of the time.