This is a guest post from Jill Therese, author of the blog Heal Your Face With Food
Six years ago, I was deeply ashamed of my skin. I couldn’t run a mile. My diet was french fries, burgers, pizza and eggs. Every time I went to the gym it felt like punishment. I wasn’t happy.
Fast forward to today, I have beautifully clear skin. I’ve ran 3 half marathons. I drink delicious green juices almost every morning and crave salads all day long. I’m a fitness instructor. I feel beautiful and confident again; I know exactly what I’m doing with my life.
How did I make these changes? And most importantly how did I clear my acne?
It was a combination of 4 things happening over a period of two months that changed everything.
I want to share this with you because I think these changes are available to everyone. And, I want my acne story to be your acne story.
First Change:
I took a workout class called Intensati. It’s a different type of class; a combination of yoga, martial arts, and kickboxing (normal part) combined with spoken affirmations as you’re working out (weird part). Yep. You literally yell “I am strong now” as you’re punching.
For the first ten minutes of the class, I was completely out of my comfort zone.
But after about 10 minutes in, a light switch went off.
Wait a minute…I thought. I am strong. I am powerful. All this time, it was my thoughts- not my body, mother (haha), money, etc. holding me back. It was my very own thoughts!
This workout is really hard. You use the power of your words to push you through the workout. As a result you accomplish more than you thought you could, which then changes your perception of what you think you can do. And then you start taking that idea into the rest of your life…
Second Change:
Around the time of my first Intensati class, I was also at the complete end of my rope when it came to my acne.
So, I decided to go see another doctor (“maybe they’ll have another option”) and as I finished listing everything I had tried, the doctor cocked her head to the side, looked at me sadly and said, very simply, “You’ve tried everything. I dunno what else we can do for you. We do have a laser treatment, it’s 500$ a session but I can’t guarantee it’ll work”
No. Thanks.
I left her office beyond frustrated, crying and yelling in my car all the way home.
However, that day was actually everything I needed to change my life.
I had always been told that my acne was not caused by the food I was eating. But I had read in Chinese medicine journals and Aruveyda that jawline acne (my exact type) in women was very much tied to their hormonal cycle.
And because of the Intensati classes I was taking, I had truly started to feel powerful. As in, can do anything powerful. So, I decided to take the healing of my acne into my own hands and started looking at my food.
Third Change:
I picked up Kris Carr’s new (at the time) book Crazy Sexy Diet and a few others (ok, maybe six) and read all about diet, food, and juicing.
And I started to change what I was eating.
Slowly- but seriously. I cut out sugar, gluten. I had a huge glass of lemon juice plus cayenne pepper and a huge green juice every morning. I started taking probiotics every day. Almost immediately- I noticed my skin start to “calm down”. I didn’t notice as many “new zits” coming.
I kept it up. Removed more bad, added more good. (bad = sugar, gluten, dairy, meats. good= grains, plants, pro-biotics).
I followed this diet for about 30 days… and I literally have not had more than 2-3 small break-outs since. Literally. Clear skin since.
And to be completely honest and transparent with you- I don’t eat like that anymore. I still eat very well, but it’s my belief (and much of my research has confirmed this) that I reset the bacteria in my tummy (super important) and got it back to normally functioning levels so that it supported my skin in a better way. (After years of eating badly which deeply affected my body chemistry)
Fourth Change:
Also at this time, I started to work out consistently. Not as a punishment, but because it felt good.
Exercise is so important to your body’s endocrine (hormone) system. And this system has a major impact on acne.
So these four changes added up to a complete healing of my acne, from the inside-out.
How Can We Make This Your Acne Story As Well? 3 Steps:
- #1. Listen to your thoughts. What do you say to yourself? Think about your body, and your life? Can you think more empowering thoughts today?
- #2. Pay attention to your food. You don’t have to go crazy, but start to really examine what you put in your bod. When do you break out the most? After a weekend with your peeps drinking? For women- what time of the month? Sometimes there are teeny changes you can take on to really see nice “calming” results.
- #3. Exercise for joy. Not to get skinny, or to get HAWT abs. Exercise for that feeling you get right AFTER you’re done. You know-the light hearted happy feeling? That’s the one you want. There’s a good-hormones-thing happening there and it’s super important to your body’s chemical balance.
I know many of you have tried many different things- and a LOT haven’t worked. I want you to know that I totally freaking hear you and that I’ve cried more tears over my acne than I can even count. But, by visiting The Love Vitamin, you are coming to the best place to support the healing of your skin from the inside-out.
That’s the way I did it and it was the best way. I hope some of these tips help you heal your skin in a new, more permanent way!
Don’t lose hope – sometimes the “fix” can come from the most unexpected place 🙂
Jill Therese is a former acne sufferer who is committed to helping others heal their acne from the inside out through the power of positive thought, nutrition, juicing, and movement at healyourfacewithfood.com
She is a former French poetry major (yes, yep.) from North Carolina, an ACE certified fitness instructor and IntenSati leader, a Series 7 & 63 certified financial representative, a 3x half marathon runner and a former actress. She can usually be found tweeting funny interweb snippets @heyjilltherese, watching bulldog videos online, reading as many books as humanly possible and/or watching the sunset in Brooklyn from her best friend’s roof with a glass of vino.
She wants everyone to feel glowing and beautiful in their own skin, and hopes healyourfacewithfood.com can help you do that.
Great, I love hearing these things, but I have the same kind of acne (jaw line) I eat very very healthy, I do exercise moderately, take a liver support, agnus castus (vitex) and still can not see any improvement…so sad about that.. 🙁 I wonder were I am doing wrong..My last blood tests showed low progesterone and vitamin D..I took contraceptives for about 14 years and stopped taking it around 9 months ago when my acne started to appear..it got really bad at around 5 months ago…should I wait some more?
Hi Alni – look into supplementing with magnesium and Vitamin B6! Apparently the pill specifically depletes these, and they are needed for the manufacture of progesterone
I’ve started taking a spoonful of organic blackstrap molasses a day. It has calcium (I don’t drink milk now because of the hormones/ might be intolerant to it… so it’s helped bring my levels up), potassium (good for cramps), and iron (nice for the time of the month). It’s helped my jawline acne so much. And and it’s reduced the period from nearly three weeks (I know alot) to barely a week. Found it out two months ago and it’s worked great since. It might help you too.
I had really bad Cystic acne for a couple of years. It was the type that covers your jaw line, cheeks and chin. I tried quite a few different diets, like, Ketos, gaps, Paleo, and my own kind of elimination diet, all of which helped to a degree, but never completely cleared it up. I also tried the common suggestions… probiotics, keifer, apple cider, olive leaf, drinking gallons of water, getting more sleep, topical things on my skin, exercising heaps and many more….(all of these things did help to some degree). Finally at the beginning of last year, I decided to go on a 3 week green juice diet. Which I believed helped my skin a lot …then I read about the fact that flouride in our water can stuff up your Thyroid from working properly and therefore mess with your hormones. I started drinking rain water and filtered water and also started taking small amounts of iodine everyday. Ever since doing this, my skin has been 98% acne free. I only really get a couple around my period.
I have experimented with it…. where I have drank water with flouride accidentally, or at someone’s house ect and have noticed a breakout the following days. My skin has stayed clear even when I have had weeks of not eating the healthiest. Anyways I hope this helps someone. Of course not everyone is the same, and that is one of the most frustrating things with acne…. you get so many suggestions from people and most of them don’t work for you.
That’s awesome Monica that you found the link!
I can so relate to everything in this article! Especially the first 2 oaragraphs. Mine would be almost the same, in my late teens until early twenties I suffered very bad acne including some cystic ones… It got so bad and I can so understand the crying coz I did that a lot too. Now 8 years on in my mid-twenties and I took similar steps as Jill (including your Candida cleanse, Tracy! That helped a lot too…) but I’d like to include that I started sleeping more properly – and earlier too. Some days I still sleep late now but when a zit occurs because of that, the next day I get on to normal sleeping hours and my zit clears up in a few days! (As compared to previously it would stay till like God knows how long…). Thanks for sharing your story Jill!
Mardh, I’m SO happy that you’ve been able to clear your acne too! Its such a freeing feeling. Congrats!
XOX,
Jill Therese
Alni,
I am so sorry, that is SO frustrating!
I have a few questions/ideas. Did you happen to get a result on your blood sugar levels? High blood sugar or big swings in your blood sugar can cause a lot of hormonal issues-so monitor your sugar intake and try to cut down. Also- I would love to know what was going on in your life at the time of the acne reappearance- i.e. Did you move? Change jobs? Even something as seemingly simple as getting into a new relationship can have a significant impact on your skin (getting into a new relationship usually means there’s ahem, a little bit more hormonal activity (tee hee) which can deeply impact your skin).
Also, do you use probiotics at all? I found they helped immensely for me.
I would love to help more, please feel free to email me at jilltherese13@gmail.com
Xo,
Jill Therese
Hi!
Im a 19-year old girl and my acne became worse two years ago when I moved abroad to a boarding school.I stressed A LOT, didnt like the food and lost a lot of weight. Now Im back in my home country, trying to eat healthy and exercise. My acne has calmed down but its still there. Ive gained weight a bit too but I still dont have my periods etc.. I stress about food, because I still eat gluten(wholegrains) and dairy and dont know if I should cut them out. But the problem is if I cut too much food out it’s gonna be a lot harder fot me to gain weight. So what should I do?? Do you think I should cut down gluten and dairy??
ps. Sorry if my English is bad, its not my first language:D
Hey Essie, if you got acne when you lost a lot of weight, it might have to do with your body not producing enough estrogen and progesterone to offset testosterone and this can result in acne. So gaining weight until you’ve regained your period is probably key here, not cutting out more food
Thanks for the fast reply!:) I know my weight has a lot to do with my acne.. but the problem is I have read so much about food causing acne that everytime I eat for example bread(even wholegrain) or cheese or milk(things that I used to eat freely before) it makes me feel guilty and stressed. So basically Im constantly wondering if I should cut out these “unhealty” foods(even though gaining weight would be a lot harder!) or just eat freely..Would you eat gluten and dairy??(you seem to think it causes acne..)
Hi Essie!
I 150% agree with Tracy, your hormonal balance might be quite off (happens with weight loss) which is causing a lot of problems for you!
In terms of cutting out gluten and dairy- I’m with Tracy here too- they are known to cause acne and/or make it worse. However, I understand you want to keep your weight up so here are a few alternatives:
For gluten alternatives, try the “Udi’s” brands of bread. They’re delicious AND gluten free. Also, while you’ll need to remove pasta and normal bread, you can start substituting other grains; try quinoa, brown rice, and buckwheat, just to name a few! Those grains will help you feel full, without the gluten.
XOX,
Jill Therese
Thanks for the advice, Jill!:)I just wish it was that easy.. Ive tried so many times to cut out gluten but its sooo hard. Firstly gluten-free food is so expensive 😮 and it feels hard to eat with friends and family if you have to avoid so many foods(=stress:D) And I keep thinking if its actually causing me my acne.. it seems so unrealistic because before I used to eat gluten a lot without breaking out. And dairy.. Not having my periods and not eating dairy will cause me a huge lack of calcium which is not good :/ Im so confused what to do…
Hi Essie,
I would not think that gluten free diet will lead you to clear skin.
Acne is essentially stress and hormone related.
One of the hormone is the cortisol which when stressed we have in way to much.
For the dairy product, I have tried to go lactose free to see if any changes will occur. Does not seems to have any effect either.
However, avoid any cheese with more than 20% of fat. Yogurt with probiotic are a healty choice that will not give you extra breakout!
So enjoy and don’t restraint for your calcium intake!
I would say first focus on gaining weight and regaining your period… although dairy can be a reason for high androgens that might be a factor here.. so just go light on the dairy. Use dairy alternatives where possible. You’ll get enough calcium, or as Jill says.. take a calcium supplement if it worries you. Gluten… it’s kind of tricky. For some people it’s a big deal, but it’s not a huge deal for everyone (https://thelovevitamin.com/12329/do-i-have-go-gluten-free-clear-my-acne/), and in this case especially since you used to eat it and not break out and only got acne once you lost weight, I think it’s best to just focus right now on eating and weight gain as your primary objective and don’t worry too much about gluten right now.
Ok, thanks 🙂 I promise to come back here when I’ve cleared my skin(which hopefully I will do!) and tell you what worked and what didnt 🙂 Oh, and btw I lived in India for two years so Im superexcited to hear about your journey there! But dont worry Im sure you wont get acne there like I did, cause I was just stressing waay to much all the time.. Just have fun and relax:)
Acne is a war since I am 14. At first, I thought it would go away in my twenties…
I am now 40 and still have to manage this.
I have read everything, hoping of a some kind of a miracle cure (as if it would really exist!)
Nope. It doesn’t.
I have came to the conclusion that acne is a combination of many things.
Here are some I wanted to share with you as well:
1. Stress. The stress is the desease to everything. When I am stressed, I breakout more. The thing is that I do stress all the time! I have a career that is asking of lot of me, needing to be everywhere at the same time.
The solution: relaxation. But honestly, I don’t do it. Instead I do sports. Sports and exercices can be boring, constraining. However, if some people go to the gym is to loose weight, tone muscles, I go as a stress relief. To that extend I do whatever pleases me : I sometime jogg, sometime use the elleptic, or bike. But most of all I have registered to sports I like: swimming, tennis or ski. I found that the swimming is the best to my skin. The water in public pool are either salty or bleach.
2. Sleep. Lack of sleep shows on your skin.
3. Cafeine. I don’t like coffee: I love coffee. But anything that ease my stress does also ease my pimples! So I tried to limit my self to one a day. I do love chocolate too. it add up to the anxiety I have. Chocolate and all the other stuff does not give acne it self but put you in a state of mind of stress and the hormones of stress is then there.
4. Cheese. I have noticed that cheese gives me pimples. Bad news is that I am a cheese lover. Everyday I have cheese. The good news is that not all type of cheese gives pimples! I have noticed that stong cheese with raw milk gives me a straight garantee of a pimple within 48 hours. So if I planned to have an event a restain myself of this type of cheese.
5. Sugar. Again I am a sugar lover. Those days I have less sugar intake gives me a clearer skin. But sugar is a drug and not having sugar at all for days made me feel bad and in a state of withdrawl.
6. Summer. I hate summer. Indeed summer is nice: we can go outside barely naked in that sexy dress and sandals. But when hot days are coming I am breaking out like crazy. Perhaps I should get more sun and it would dry the pimples? I can’t stand hot and humid temperature. However, cold days, wind dries up my skin. I then, glow like a star and since then I am planning to retire to Groenland so I get no pimples this the rest of my life!
Acne aint an easy thing. Most of all, finding ways to manage stress (which stress increase Cortisol seem to have a direct link with my breakout)
Finally, having an acne proned skin doesn’t mean you should not moisturize it or trying to overdry it. the more you try to dry your skin, the more sebum it will try to produce!
I love my Laroche-Posay cleanser (physiological foaming water) which does not dry my skin, use the Hydraphase Intense mask (to rehydrate your skin) and at night I use a cream my dermatologist have prescribed me (Benzaclin). During the day, I choose a cream with either Retinol (Redermic R from Laroche Posay as well) and have a AHA serum before. To vary, I use a glycolic acid cream such as Reversa (UV anti-wrinkes fluid)
I have to admit, results are never a few days of treatment. I have seen good results after about 8 weeks of treatment.
So a good balance between food, sleep, exercice and cream will make you glow!
Good luck!
These are great suggestions France, thanks!
Hmmmm Essie. I know it can be a bit confusing!
Definitely add calcium pills into your diet if you’re worried about that.
Also- a lot of gf food is much more affordable now!
There are so many nice alternatives now for basically the same price!
Since Essie’s talking about Calcium alternatives I wanted to post this again.
I’ve started taking a spoonful of organic blackstrap molasses a day. It has calcium (I don’t drink milk now because of the hormones/ might be intolerant to it… so it’s helped bring my levels up), potassium (good for cramps), and iron (nice for the time of the month). It’s helped my jawline acne so much. And and it’s reduced the period from nearly three weeks (I know alot) to barely a week. Found it out two months ago and it’s worked great since.
God I wish I knew how much diet works.. Ive been struggling so much lately. I feel I cant have any gluten, dairy, red meat, coffee, rice, potatoes, soya, butter, any processed food etc etc How do you do it?? I cant live by just eating carrots 😀 I know Tracy said I shouldnt cut out gluten but aaah everytime I eat it, it makes me feel so guilty! The result is I eat badly(sometimes too little, sometimes the “wrong stuff”), I dont gain weight, I dont have my period and my acne gets worse. Is there no other people who are like me, too skinny and with acne:D Would me nice to hear how other people managed to eat super duper healthy diet and still gain weight..
Hey Essie, I suggest reading 180degreehealth.com … it might help you feel better about just eating and not worrying AS much about the details
I’m almost clear. For me, the single biggest thing I have done is cut out caffeine. That has helped so much. I’ve gone from long-lasting cysts to tiny little white things that just sort of resolve themselves quickly on their own. Also extremely useful was switching to a natural face cleansing routine. And keeping my digestion moving along efficiently. Exercise also helps.
Mary thats great! Did you drink milk with your coffee? Dairy might have been a contributing factor as well. So happy to hear you’re clearer!
XO,
Jill Therese
No, I always had it black and I still drink milk (occasional)! My diet isn’t even that great anymore and when it was really clean, and I was still having caffeine, skin wasn’t clearing up as good.
Wow, interesting. A good detail to keep in mind. I’m so glad you’ve figured it out though!
Xox
Jill Therese
I had forgotten about Intensati. I have a DVD packed away somewhere. Love all of these tips, thank you!
My cystic acne flared when I went off the pill last summer (after having been on it for 20-plus years!), and I have been fighting the battle ever since. I have started the cod liver oil that Tracy recommends and have seen improvement. I was off coffee/caffeine but have since resumed. But I use almond milk instead of dairy now. I am trying to stay clear of gluten as much as possible. All of these changes have helped make improvements, I think. I also brought my eczema under control naturally.
I think it’s key to have patience and do a lot of research. Natural remedies will not have as fast an effect as pharmaceuticals. Be kind to yourselves.
I love reading stories from those healing their acne with food. It is so encouraging as I have just started the journey myself. Resisting temptation is a daily challenge, but I keep telling myself the result will be totally worth it!
Hi Mindy,
yes it might seem a daily challenge in the beginning, but it’ll get easier and easier with time. You’ll learn how to cook tasty AND healthy recipes and it won’t be so much of a sacrifice – at least as soon as conventional food starts to have a dull taste…
SUCH a great article. I’ve been struggling for about 6 years with acne (I’m 26 now) and I find things dampen down the inflammation but I never, ever have periods of time without acne. I’m a student of naturopathy so I have a diet to combat inflammation, while trying to balance my hormones.
I have PCOS and it is the biggest pain in my arse..! I will never give up on trying to clear my skin but I honestly don’t think I’ll achieve it.
Thanks again for the great article 🙂
Hi Tori,
never give up hope! You’ll achieve it one day! You’re already on a lovely healthy road 😉 – follow it!