If you read my article about food sensitivities, you know that certain foods can cause an immune reaction and a lot of inflammation when you eat them. This may result in acne. Food sensitivities can vary widely from person to person, and people can be sensitive to basically anything. However, there are certain foods that are much more common than others when it comes to what causes problems.
Watch the video below to find out the top three!
I also explain in this video which grains contain gluten and which ones don’t.
[..YouTube..] Awesome video. I, like many people, was cursed with the soy and gluten allergies, but dairy doesn’t seem to affect me in any way, good or bad. D:
Thanks! Yes… food sensitivities.. not fun times, but it’s good to be aware of them!
[..YouTube..] I was a vegetarian for 8 years and my skin was terrible. I went vegan over a year ago and my skin really improved because of cutting out dairy but i was still breaking out quite a bit. I’m giving up soy for a month as a trial and so far after two weeks my skin is dramatically clearing up. I’m amazed. Kinda sucks being vegan and reacting badly to soy but I guess I’ve just got a temperamental body grrr but I’d rather have clear skin.
Yeah I think that going vegetarian and vegan doesn’t always work out so well when people start eating a LOT more wheat and soy in replacement of animal foods, and it causes them problems because they are common sensitivities. I’m sorry you’re having a problem soy!
I’m very inspired by your site and you amazing skin progress! 🙂 I immediately read your “Roadmap to Clear Skin” and there are so many important things that get so easily overlooked like the skin-emotions-connection. Still, I’m quite unsure about my diet: You write that acne patients should cut out gluten and I once did a blood test for gluten sensitivity and it was negative. I also don’t notice any difference when I cut out gluten for a week and then reintroduce them full force (with a yummy seitan dish). It seems therefore that I’m not gluten sensitive (?) – should I still banish it from my diet?
Well, the thing is that gluten is generally pretty unhealthy for everyone. It’s extremely tough to break down and digest for humans and can be quite harmful to the digestive tract. However, sprouting it or fermenting makes it a bit more digestible, so if you were found to not be specifically gluten sensitive, then you may be able to handle sprouted bread or sourdough bread (which is fermented). Even better if it’s made of spelt or something other than wheat, because wheat gluten in particular is the worst type of gluten.
Hey Tracy! Could you make a post about the best testing for food sensitivities/intolerances and allergies? I’ve been considering having a blood test done, but want to make sure it’ll actually steer me in the right direction. Thanks!
Sure I can try to put that on the list… I would recommend kinesiology testing (muscle testing) or electro dermal screening, both usually done by a naturopath or other alternative health practitioners. Traditional medical allergists only really test for immediate allergies which only account for about 20% of allergies, most allergies are delayed reactions. There is a blood test called ELISA/ACT which can catch both of them but even that isn’t 100% accurate and it’s very expensive… I think the muscle testing or electro dermal screening machines are accurate enough and much more affordable. They had certainly helped me clear up the rest of my acne.
Ok, awesome, I’ll look into the alternatives. Thanks!
Hello. I have celiac disease and the diagnosis for that is by blood test at your Dr. they look for specific antibodies in your blood and if you have a high level then you have a good chance of having it, they then send you to a gastro specialist who preforms a biopsy of your small intestine where they look for damage to the villi which help you absorb nutrients, if there is damage there then that is your 100% gold standard for diagnosis. Not sure if natropathic doctors do this type of testing for celiac disease, only gluten intolerance or wheat intolerace/allergies I was also tested for lactose intolerance and that came up negative. The great thing about getting these tests done at your dr office is that you dont have to pay for them 🙂
Hi Tracy, I would like to ask what about corn (maize)? I it “safe”? 🙂
And my second question: I tried to stop eating dairy but after few days I have a toothache and I think it is because of the lack of calcium. I know that there are other sources of calcium such as nuts or poppy seed, but one should eat a lot of these things to get the proper amout of it. What do you recommend?
Anyway, amazing website! Thanks for very useful information!
Have a nice day
Hi Beruse! Corn is okay… it is a grain, not a vegetable like it’s usually portrayed so excess corn isn’t great and most corn these days is very heavily laden with pesticides and genetically modified. It’s also a common allergy. It’s fine to eat sometimes if you aren’t allergic… it’s better than wheat! Also with calcium… eat lots of leafy green vegetables! Vegetables have plenty of calcium and milk is simply a middle man for calcium… cows don’t produce it, they get it from the plants they eat. And if you were drinking pasteurized milk, you probably weren’t absorbing a lot of it and maybe even leaching calcium from your body. How many days after stopping it did you get the toothache?
Thanks for your answer, Tracy. Yeah, maybe you´re right I ´ve heard that we don´t absorb a lot of calcium from milk. But I tried to stop eating dairy and after aprox. 5 days I feel that my teeth are weak and start to ache. So, I try to eat goat kefir, but I buy it so it´s probably pasteurized and expensive too. I will have to try to make it myself. And eat a lot of lettuce from our garden 🙂
you mentioned rice being ok to eat but is that just brown rice or is all rice ok? thanks! x
I wouldn’t eat white rice too often, as it has no fiber or nutrients and it will spike your blood sugar 🙂 Brown rice is good… its best if you soak it before cooking! (for example, if I’m going to have rice that evening, I’ll rinse off the rice in the morning and let it soak in water with some apple cider vineger until after work when I will cook it!) Makes it way more digestible and healthy.
Okay. So my 11 year old has been dealing with “acne” since she was 7. After 6 different dermatologist and her allergist and countless topical and oral medications I have concluded her acne is from food sensitivities. We cut out dairy, all gluten, corn and dyes and her acne was almost 100% better after 10 days. We started re-introducing the items one at a time, and it seems she has issues with all of them. It’s so hard to feed her anything. My first question is, do you know any really good, cool diets for kids that would help us? And my second question is, do you have any idea if probotics would help her or should we do a cleanse of some sort? Please help her/us. She is so depressed about what she cannot have and what others can, and she cheats often because there’s just not a lot for her…. Thank you.
Jill
Hi Jill, she might not be sensitive to these things forever if you are able to heal her gut. Avoiding those foods she’s sensitive to, Probiotics, antifungals, L-glutamine supplement, etc should help. You can look into the GAPS diet too, it’s pretty hardcore though. It’s probably best to work with a naturopath, really, to tailor a plan for her.