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Could Eating Junk Food Finally Put My Fears About Acne to Rest?

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This article is a bit of a continuation from Wednesday’s post. If you haven’t read it, read it here to get caught up.

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read my ginormous post on Wednesday about why I decided to quit the GAPS and get on the RRARF, and also adding their two cents to the comments. We got some lively discussion going on there!

There seemed to be quite a few unspoken themes and lessons wrapped up in that post, and those were:

  1. Stressing and being strict about diet may not be the means to the end that we hope for when we research 12 hours a day and bounce back and forth between all these diets that claim to be the answer to all of our problems.
  2. We can’t get too wrapped up in everything we read on the internet about nutrition, because it is all so contradictory. Everyone has extremely compelling arguments as to why their diet is the best diet, when in the end – everyone is completely different in what they respond well to.
  3. Stress probably has a much bigger role in how we digest food than what we actually eat.

Even though it’s only been three or so days since I quit the GAPS, somehow it feels like it was a long time ago. Like a bad dream – was I really just about to start two years of a strict diet?? 

Note – I’m not saying anything bad about GAPS or anyone doing the GAPS. It’s helped a lot of people. 

But anyway… the reason that GAPS, despite my symptoms not being severe, didn’t seem unreasonable to me was because

  1. Of the blogosphere! It seems like everyone’s doing the GAPS, and that if you have digestive trouble, you gotta do it. No way around it. Or maybe that’s just the way it seemed to me from the people I read.
  2. I already cooked very, very close to the full GAPS diet anyway. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal to just go the extra inch and do the GAPS and heal my gut/skin for good. I also thought it would be a breeze because candida diets have worked so well for me in the past, and haven’t given me any gut troubles.

Now, normally, in my day to day life, I am a very good follower of the 90/10 diet rule. That means that you eat nutritious, whole foods 90% of the time, and you can go out for dinner with your friends or eat a bit of junk 10% of the time and it’s okay.

Honestly, I know in the last post I made it sound like food stresses me out a lot, and sometimes it does – but most of the time it really doesn’t. When I first started trying to clear my acne, I was extremely crazy and strict about my food to the point of unhealthiness. Now I will have a meal out or go away for a weekend and eat things I wouldn’t normally and be totally fine – skin and emotion wise.

However, until I actually started GAPS and was faced head on with the idea of a strict two years, I completely forgot how important giving yourself that 10% (or 20%) leeway is to your emotional and social health (and more than likely your skin health too).

I was excited to try the diet to see of its effectiveness, but I have to admit that I wasn’t looking forward to the next two years all that much.

The proof was when I decided to quit and suddenly felt a huge wave of relief sweep over me, and all of a sudden I felt positively EXCITED for what was to come.

Excited for all the summer festivals, and the road trip to the Rocky Mountains that Luke and I want to do, and my friend’s wedding, and the camping and kayaking trips this summer, and when Luke’s parents come over from Australia next winter and we’ll all go skiing and I won’t have to be the weird one who feels awkward about eating, and probably have a bad time because I’d be worrying about it so much.

And I’m also excited that maybe we can travel overseas – to Thailand, or India – sometime in the next couple years, if we want. I don’t know if we will, but  at least we can.

Matt Stone’s a Bit Much, But Still Cool

Even though Matt Stone’s a bit in your face, and is annoying because he changes his mind a lot, and I don’t know if his RRARF thing will work, the reason I like him is because of his core message about repairing your relationship with food and getting away from dieting. It’s a very down to earth message, one that can help you feel like you can breathe.

I guess it’s kind of sad that I needed someone else to give me permission to chill out, but I really needed that.

Not All is Well Though

I’ve been thinking about what my relationship to food actually is – and although it’s much better than it was when I was first trying to get rid of my severe acne, and I can manage my 90/10 rule very well, and I have no real problem with eating real, whole foods at home – I still get extremely stressed out if I am faced with the prospect of not being in control of my food for an extended period of time.

The truth is that I’m just scared. Deep down, I’m afraid that if I’m not in control, my bad acne will come back, and I guess I’ve never completely resolved that with myself.

Not eating the way I want is like a scary dark abyss… I can tell that in my subconscious mind, the dark path leads quite pointedly to the despair and sadness of having severe acne – even if my conscious mind knows that isn’t necessarily the truth and that the less stress I have, the less likely that will ever happen again.

Besides – aside from acne, there’s many reasons that I keep myself on track with healthy eating and real foods – whether it’s my blog, the fact that real food tastes good and it’s habit now, or because I want to stick it to the government, the pharmaceutical industry, and Monsanto.

But, I know the biggest reason is fear.

I have to admit that I don’t feel as free as I did before the bad acne, and began associating everything I ate with a potential breakout. I used to have mild acne, and it was frustrating, sure, but at least I never worried about everything I put in my mouth. I travelled extensively, free as a bird. Now my thoughts veer much more toward ‘how will I eat, what if my skin gets bad again’, instead of pure excitement. The proof is in the pudding because I stressed out big time about this exact thing when I was in Australia this past winter.

Yet, when my skin decides to break out and when it decides to be good is still a mystery. My skin was being stubborn and breaking out around my chin quite a bit the whole time I was there, no matter how much effort I put into eating well. Yet, for the last two months, it’s been extremely well behaved, even throughout all this stomach and digestive trouble – and throughout living at my parents house where I was not being strict about my food.

So clearly stressing doesn’t work so well, and trying to control just ends up controlling you. Yet I can’t seem to just let it go, so I keep searching for the next thing that I can try to help me control some more.

Does Junk Food Have Any Worth?

I was reading this blog post on Matt Stone’s blog yesterday, and I found it extremely interesting:

When is Junk Food Healthy

Mostly I found the comments interesting.

My digestive problems were a mystery to me too, but only at the time when I was so sure there was no way my whole foods diet could be the cause. At the time I got the sickest I was eating nothing but pastured animal products, eggs, raw dairy, local vegetables, fruit picked from the trees in my area, etc.—pretty much the “perfect” diet right? And so when my health started declining I thought the answer would be to become even more strict with my diet and I did things like eat nothing but meat, eggs, saturated fat, and vegetables for a month, which worked very well to improve my digestion temporarily, but left my body even weaker in the long run and also gave me heart palpitations and other strange things and on my second attempt of that spartan diet I had no improvement and only worsening of my digestion and health.

I second Zach’s comments about the fruit, white breads, eggs, and dairy. That’s at least a good starting point for experimentation. I think the most important thing is to eat ONLY what your body truly wants. Don’t go eating veggies or meat because you think it’s a good idea. Eat only what your body wants! Weight gain should be the least of your concerns with digestion like that, and honestly I haven’t noticed any change in my weight since eating more easily digested and palatable foods (we are all unique, of course), but I have noticed better digestion, better energy, more mental clarity and focus, and the like. How healthy something is should only be judged on those things, not what someone else has claimed is healthy or unhealthy.

A few other people were saying the same things – their body is such a mystery that they can eat all beautifully prepared whole foods and feel terrible, yet they can eat processed foods without problem.

Other people were saying things like:

I was able to raise my temperature really quickly eating ice cream, pancakes, danishes, cookies, Jelly Bellys, basically anything and everything I wanted. I didn’t always eat past appetite on these foods. Even still, I haven’t found these foods to be addictive personally. Because I know I can have any of these foods whenever I want since they no longer make me gain weight (liberation!) they have lost that crazy appeal they used to have. After eating them to my heart’s content for 3 weeks, I’m finding I don’t reach for these foods at all now.

*Sigh* I’m at this place where I’m feeling like I just don’t understand what’s going on and why my stomach is in such knots, despite my incredibly diligent whole foods diet. I’ve been RRARFing for three or four days now on whole foods, focusing more on starches, and I can’t say that my belly (or body) feels much better than it did on GAPS. Currently, I’d say it feels worse (yet my skin is still clear as a bell)??

After reading that blog post on 180 Degree Health, and the comments, it got me thinking – if my true problem is not the food itself, but the perceived fear of what processed foods will do to my skin, wouldn’t that only be treated by purposely eating whatever I wanted for a period of time to prove to myself that everything will be okay (even if I did break out a bit)? Allowing myself to do the very thing that I have feared, in order to desensitize myself to it?

I don’t really like the idea. It’s scary. It makes my heart pound when I think about it. And I wouldn’t even know what to eat at the moment – we don’t have money to go out for lots of dinners right now, and… I just…. when I grocery shop…. I want to buy real foods. It feels wrong to just buy processed foods for the heck of it when I really like eating whole foods at home (because…. why not? I’ve gotten in the habit of it and have been doing it for so long now that it’s just second nature).

Seriously – when I think about eating processed foods more than every once in a while (like I am doing right now as I type this), it totally makes me squirm with fear. That’s saying something.

I really do think that facing the thing that scares you the most is the fastest way to grow though. You may have remembered when I recently started the caveman regimen and gave up makeup. Giving up makeup was SO scary at first, but it was so worth it to go through, and I’m really happy I did it. And I believe the caveman was one of the best things I ever did for my skin, so what if I had never faced my fear?

I don’t know. What do you think?

“If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.” ~Ajahn Chan XX century Buddhist Monk

photo by g.bremmer

Related posts:

I Feel Like I Have Finally Arrived at Complete Physical and Mental Freedom from Acne On Disordered Eating, Food Fears, And Trusting People On The Internet Too Much Be Wary Of Junk Foods Passed Off As Health Food How RRARF (Rehabilitative Rest and Aggressive Re-Feeding) is Going For Me 2 Weeks In

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Comments

  1. I do not think eating junk food will help people, as opposed to eating a healthy whole organic type thing… Seems to me like they were having extreme withdrawal like symptoms from eating junk for so long their bodies became used to it or something. I don’t know, I’m for sure not a nutritionist but to me and my logical mind going and buying a burger from a greasy fast food shack or grabbing a box of cheese nips does not seem like a solution..I also very much dislike supporting all those nasty corporate companies, and try to do it as little as possible.. Overall I don’t think putting junk food in my body will do anything for my acne, maybe I’ll just meditate to relieve stress and opt for some form of salad or something if I eat out. Maybe it won’t be all organic but it’ll be better than the enriched spaghetti noodles…..
    On a side not I’m totally not knocking your’ credibility as a loving healthful mama, I love your’ blog and read every new post. This particular one just didn’t seem to make much sense in my heart.

    Reply

    • Hi Mira 🙂
      Fair enough – I wanted your opinions. As I said, I don’t really like the idea either and have lots of reasons to not eat processed foods – I think this concept would work a lot better if I were on a trip or something – because then it would make a lot more sense to just stop stressing about what you’re eating completely, where as it just doesn’t feel right to go out and buy process foods just for the heck of it in day to day eating. So I may not do it now, but I will try it out, say, when we go on our road trip to the Rockies. The last time Luke and I went on a road trip (which was a few months after I got clear from the severe acne, I was PETRIFIED, and micromanaged my food to the point where I really didn’t have that much fun and was super stressed. And I broke out quite a bit too…. of course).

      Also – I mean it more in the sense of like – if I went to a restaurant, choosing the pasta dinner over the salad if that’s what I felt like. Or getting an ice cream cone at the beach. Or taking a sandwich with cheese for lunch on a day out, instead of trying to avoid dairy and gluten. Just doing whatever I felt like without worry – I doubt I would really want to go and eat McDonalds either way (despite the photo depicted !)

      Reply

      • I think you’re totally on the right track with the pasta over salad 10% or 20% of your diet, or whatever the choice may be.
        I just don’t enjoy eating out if I have to always plan ahead what to eat. I have done it before, searching menus online, and it just ruins it with the stress of eat
        I definitely think the emotions tied up with acne and fast food just make it not worth the stress eating it.

        Reply

  2. I’ve really let my diet go since easter really…

    I tired making healthy ‘treats’, which never worked out because I refused to add ANY sweetener, so that actually frustrated me and wasted a lot of money.

    Since easter I’ve eaten junk pretty much everyday, and honestly, I can’t wait to give it up. There are two reasons why I’m eating junk though. 1) I’m on my last few weeks at university, it’s extremely stressful and I have little time to prepare healthy snacks. I’m basically allowing myself these few stressful weeks of the year to stop worrying so much about what I eat and just eat it.

    2), I just want to taste and experience what everyone else in the house eats and why they think my diet is so weird. Since eating some junk, my (obese) Dad is actually saying “well done”, like eating sugary wheat junk is good for me. (Yes I’ve gained 6 much needed pounds in weight, but this isn’t really the most ideal way to gain weight)

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m still eating very healthy proper meals like salads, but I’m replacing dinner and healthy snacks with junk food (mainly because I don’t have the energy to start every single meal from scratch right now)

    The results? I’m kinda less stressed because I’m not worrying about letting myself slip (I don’t do the 90/10 rule, I just eat very well when I want to and when I don’t I eat junk quite often during the day. I find that if I ‘allow’ myself a treat, whether it’s homemade of processed, the physiological ‘reward’ is too much and I end up eating far too much sugar. I also think that giving into to a set rule is too easy and lays the road for later binges.

    Weirdest thing is though is that my skin has barley broken out. Like at all. My under eye dark circles are worse, which is probably due to wheat amongst other things, and I do feel bloated with a sluggish digestive system, but the so-called energy bursts of junk food have actually helped me power through my studies.

    I plan on doing some form is diet in a few weeks, be it candida or something more extreme to reduce the persistent eye issues, but I would never continue to eat like I have.

    I totally understand where you are coming from in terms of ‘which diet works best’, but I’ve come to the conclusion that Paleo would work for me. (elimination of grains is fine for me because whenever I eat grains, they are in the junky food form, plus I can’t tolerate dairy – that’s something which I know for certain)

    Reply

    • Haha, are you me? That reads exactly like my story since Easter. For a few months I was all about gluten/dairy/sugar-free, green smoothies, salads and nothing else – and lost way too much weight. My skin didn’t even get that much better, pfft. I visited my parents for Easter and eat any chocolate, cake, peanut, whatever in sight! I don’t know where these cravings came from, I’ve never experienced something like that, but I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t care less about it anyway because I thought when I’m back at my flat I’ll eat “normal” again. I didn’t. Then there was a death in my family and I went from binging like a madman to not being able to eat anything at all every few days. My skin was pretty unaffected through all of this.
      Well, now I’m in my final weeks in university as well and have more important things to do than planning every meal/snack to be organic and whatnot. I’m also slowly trying to get back on a more healthy track, i.e. balanced/bingeless, but if I want to order indian takeout with lots of naan or pizza, so be it. You’ll only live once.

      Reply

      • Indeed! I use to eat green smoothies EVERY morning without fail. Seriously, if I didn’t get my green smoothie it was like something was wrong. My skin honestly didn’t get that much better either since eating perfectly, but I have noticed that my energy level have plummeted since eating junk and in general I don’t feel as healthy.

        I’m in the exact position – the way I’m eating now is really odd, but I think that it’s more of a habit than hunger or actual cravings. like when I have a cup of tea (herbal), I often eat biscuits because that’s english ‘tradition’, which sounds pathetic but that’s not even the reason – it’s just habit.

        The last few weeks at uni are crucial so I’m not even worrying about what I eat right now, but I really do thing a ‘deep’ cleanse or something is needed. Yes candida helped but it never made my skin as good as it should be considering the way I ate for 5 weeks during the cleanse.

        I’m sorry to hear about your loss. That’s a tough emotional trip to deal with and I completely understand how that affects your eating.

        For me, I think that the pale diet plus a few recipes from the GAPS would work. i.e nothing fake, fairly low carb but with bone broth and healthy snacks. (I have yet to make bone broth)

        Reply

  3. Wow tracy i can relate to this post SO MUCH. Its like your saying everything im thinking. I would love to see how this turns out, esspecially with your digestion problems. I know what you mean about being given permission as well. I feel just by this post you are giving me permission to eat more of what I want and less ‘perfect’ ect. I dont even do the 10% thing really because I have so much fear. So tommorow i might have that one gluten free chocolate brownie that I have not been able to stop thinking about. But really enjoy it, without fear, because fear it probally the thing that is going to stop me digesting most of it. Its a visious cycle. Sometimes I do wish I could go back to when I knew nothing about nutrition because I was happier then and ironically had less problems…

    Reply

    • Hi Amy – good luck 🙂 I usually don’t have much of a problem eating the thing, it’s just the not feeling bad about it part that can be hard!

      Reply

  4. Hey Tracy!
    Have you ever thought about only eating seasonally? I have a professor who is doing a lot of research on seasonality and cultures around the world. He’s found that those who eat exclusively by the seasons have very little disease. It seems pretty interesting to me!

    Reply

    • Hi Lulu 🙂 I agree, eating seasonally is a really good idea. It’s challenging though! I’m actually thinking of trying a local ’50 mile diet’ challenge thing they do in my town in August/September, where you eat totally local for 50 days.

      Reply

  5. I don’t know why you need to do anything more or less than what you were doing at your parents’ house if you felt great there. I don’t really buy the whole temp thing being important. My Functional Medicine doc doesn’t, either. It just seems to me that your body is working a little harder than it needs to burn up all the extra food you’re eating. I’m currently on a Paleo style candida diet; my temps are a little higher but that’s also because my Synthroid dose is a bit higher. I lost 16 pounds, my digestion is better, and I’m eating delicious food. My skin is brighter, though I still have some acne. My last period was nearly cramp free, and I can tell I have no fertility issues.

    Reply

  6. Tracy, may I ask, as it’s not a 100% clear to me after this post: Do you eat what you want? I understand that you enjoy eating healthy and you don’t have any cravings for junk food, so I guess there is really no need for you to eat more processed food. I believe if cravings take over and cause too much stress it’s sometimes better to give in and not feel bad about it. Not feeling bad is probably the hardest part though! However, you still just don’t know what causes your gut problems, right? And you wonder why despite your awful digestion your skin is still clear as the theory is bad digestion=bad skin, right? So how do we know anyways if the pimple of today was caused by stressing out yesterday or by eating ice cream last week or by feeling bad about eating that ice cream? I’ve been seeing a psychotherapist for the past 6 months who is specialized in psychosomatic issues. I told her once that I cannot eat dairy but was invited to a friend’s dinner where everything included dairy and I ate it anyways because I didn’t wanna offend my friend. Afterwards I had a bad belly ache and was mad at my friend for forgetting that I’m lacto intolerant and mad at myself for eating the dairy just to be polite. First of all the therapist told me to consider what’s more important: The dinner or seeing my friend. And second she said I should just tell my stomach to digest what it gets. Well, these are not the words she chose, it was all a bit more elegant, but that’s what I remember and what stuck with me. On the other hand she also believes that it’s absolutely normal if an adult doesn’t eat dairy, coz milk is for baby cows. However, I tried this with a pint of Häagen Dazs and told my stomach to be able to digest it and believe it or not it worked! although I would usually get insane stomach aches from ice cream. Still, I wouldn’t eat ice cream all the time because I’m not excited about it (who invented to eat something that is frozen?), but it’s good to know that my mind has an influence which can be helpfull in emergency social situations.

    Reply

    • Hi Eva – your question got me thinking – do I eat how I want? I guess I would say mostly yes I do, so you’re right. There isn’t much to change. I think if I had my way, I’d probably just eat more cheese. And eat sandwiches for convenience.

      That’s a really cool story about telling your stomach to digest well. It’s funny, after I read this, and then I went and had a beach fire with some friends last night, and I decided I really wanted to eat cheese, so we bought a couple things of fancy cheese, rice crackers, and some salami, and gorged on that. Of course, my stomach felt pretty much fine… I told it to digest it well, and of course I was sitting around laughing with friends. It seems to be a different story when I’m eating at home.

      Reply

  7. I agree that emotional stress is probably the most detrimental thing we can do to our bodies. I have been a very anxious/stressed person since childhood. It’s probably the biggest reason I struggle with acne. Before puberty, I would break out in hives all over my body. Since puberty, I’ve struggled with acne. You’re right though, it is easier to micromanage our diets than deal with emotional baggage and negative/fearful thinking habits.

    I’m on a similar road with you. I tried GAPS to help with acne but only lasted a week. Then, after reading about RRARF on the Cheeseslave blog, seriously started thinking about giving that a whirl. Raising metabolism makes more sense than anything I have tried yet. And it is something you can actually see happening by your temps rising as opposed to just hoping your gut is healing on GAPS. I haven’t “officialy” started it yet, but I will in the next few days. I’m having trouble thinking about adding dairy back in. I thought dairy was a major “no no” food if you have acne. And I really don’t think I can add gluten either! If it weren’t for my skin, I probably could. I hate acne!

    Good luck! I hope it helps you.

    Reply

    • “I hate acne!”..me, too! But since we are talking about stress now and since I’m back into reading Dr. Grossbart’s Skin Deep trying to figure out my emotional riddle I’m reminded of the saying “What you resist persists”..I know Tracy already did wonderful inspiring posts about not forgetting your emotional health, explaining how much she learned from her journey (and we all benefinit from it!) and still it’s easy to overlook this part. What about saying (okay this might be a bit of a stretch for some of us): “Acne, I love you. I’m grateful for all I’ve learned from you and I promise from now on to look after myself. But now it’s time to leave, I don’t need you anymore.”

      Reply

      • “What you resist persists.” -That is true.
        Somehow, deep down, I know that my acne will get a lot better as soon as I stop freaking out about it. I don’t notice any food that makes me break out, but stress? I’ve always been stressed about the way my skin looks. I’m not sure right now I can love acne, but being indifferent to it would be a great start!

        Reply

  8. I never got a chance to comment on your earlier posts but go get yourself checked for an ulcer. Mine appeared about 2 months after starting paleo. Not sure why that is but smokers who quit often get mouth ulcers so maybe the stomach ulcers come out the same way? Mi e started with the same symptoms you’re describing and on e it goes past that it’s quite excruciating. On topic of stressing about what we eat…have you ever read the secret? It’s the whole idea of power of thought and it’s quite interesting

    Reply

    • Hi Dori – can I ask how you ended up getting rid of your ulcer? I think there’s a good chance this is probably what I’m dealing with… my symptoms definitely sound like they fit the most with the ulcer description

      Reply

  9. Have you looked into having bodywork done? It might not just be stress and diet that’s contributing to your digestive issues. The organs work much like muscles and there can be physical tension, as well as alignment issues, in them that can be eased by skilled bodyworkers. I’ve had some incredible work done to help release tension, adhesions, and alignment issues in my organs – all which have helped with digestion and comfort. For example, the esophageal sphincter, between the esophagus and stomach, can hold a lot of tension which can cause heartburn. Having someone work with it can release the tension and ease up or clear up the heartburn. Also, we hold a lot of emotion in our body tissues (including organs). Having bodywork done can help to bring those emotions to the surface and allow us to release them. That in itself can be incredibly healing. I’ve had people who practiced all kinds of modalities work on me – I really like like the approach of Body-Mind Centering practitioners. It’s a gentle approach and looks at the body holistically rather than each body part as separate from one another.

    Reply

    • Hi Basha – this does sound like a good idea. I just get so overwhelmed though – there’s so many things to try! haha.

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  10. For me diet had/has the biggest factor in my acne. I’ve had acne on my face, chest and back for over 15 years. I used to eat a junk food diet with lots of bread, rice, pasta, dairy and tonnes of sugar and had not a care in the world. I rarely got sick but also felt blah and never quite 100%. I now avoid wheat, dairy, sugar and processed foods but don’t stress if I eat McDonald’s or whatever I want when out with friends. Sometimes i go the gluten free option other times ill eat whatever i feel like. (mmm.. Choc mud cake) But many times i react to them and my friends see that I might start sneezing or get a stuffy nose after eating pizza or a tummy ache or headache after eating icecream. They’ve actually started telling me to go completely gluten and dairy free. I feel so much better when I eat healthy and keep up my psyllium and cod liver oil- my skin looks and feels sooo much better- i notice when my diet has been 50/50 my bacne flares up. Sure my skin breaks out a little when stressed over uni assignments but I’ve noticed the biggest change when I changed my diet to 90/10 and started light exercise and being as happy and carefree as before 🙂

    Reply

    • Hey Gabby! It’s funny – sometimes it helps if you have a really obvious symptom after you eat something – like sneezing or a tummy ache right after. Then you know for sure it’s a certain food and it gives you more of an incentive to avoid it. I find it really frustrating that my symptoms are just random!
      Either way, I’m really happy you’ve found what works for you 😀

      Reply

  11. Your experience with GAPS makes me think so much of me when i decided to do a 100 days juice fast! i was sure i could do it, i was mentally prepared and even if it’s not 2 years like GAPS… it’s still a lot! I was sure this was the answer to all my problems…like you, i was hearing good things about it… and i finally quit after 6 days because, like you, i love having a 10% of the time where i can indulge on social events. I know that fasts and healing diets can help people, but i also think eating whole, organic food is enough in many cases…And i agree with you, we should not stress if we eat a little bit of junk food now and then… My ‘rule’ is that every meal i make at home, by myself, is whole organic food, then if i go out, i get the healhiest thing i can possibly find on the menu, and if i ever get in a situation where i can’t find anything ok to eat, well, i eat what’s there, but not too much! and that’s perfect for me! My problem is not acne, i need to lose weight. But i already lost 20 pounds doing what i do, so i guess it works 🙂

    Reply

    • 100 days! Wow! hahah. That is ambitious! Yes the way you eat sounds like how I eat normally and I am mostly very happy with that. But I still haven’t found a way to not stress if there is a threat of not eating the way I want for an extended period. What about you? Or have you not had to deal with that?

      Reply

      • Oh yes i had! it happens to me as well. I think it’s the same with you, for example when i’m at my boyfriend’s parents, when i visit family or friends for a few days. On special week ends, the holidays, vacations, etc! Or when i don’t have too much money. Just like you. We can’t be perfect and that’s ok! Maybe you should focus on particular problems…from what i understand, you ate some junk food but you still don’t have acne, just like i lost weight even if i ‘cheated’ a few times… If your actual problem is digestion, and you had this problem even while doing GAPS, maybe it’s something else, maybe it’s not even the food. Like you said, stress can play a large role, especially in digestion. I’m pretty sure that if you continue like you do, with whole foods most of the time, some junk food on occasions even sometimes on extended periods…try everything you can not to stress about it… also, i was thinking that maybe it stresses you because you have a blog and people are waiting for advices from you so…you don’t want to eat junk too often because of that? you want to be an example, maybe? i could be wrong… but being known for eating healthy can put some pressure, for sure…try to find the reason why it stresses you that much…once you’ll find it, work on it…i’m sure you’ll be fine 🙂 don’t worry too much 🙂

        Reply

        • I think the blog does stress me out… not so much about the perfect eating (haha it seems like people like it when I don’t eat perfectly)… but just … you know, having acne at all. I do feel like because I’m supposed to be the ‘acne guru’, I need to crusade against my acne until it’s gone and it is really hard to just forget about it. Because if I just stopped paying attention to it, I probably wouldn’t have anything to write about/keep my interest

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  12. Nice to know I am not the only one! I have been healing my skin for so long I have developed a “food catalog” on my head of what foods I should and should not eat. Consuming something(like cheese)that may cause acne gives me anxiety. Time to chill and relax(even though relaxing about food is harder than it looks!).

    Reply

    • I know haha. As I said in a comment above, it’s not hard to eat the food, it’s the not feeling bad about it part that is difficult!

      Reply

  13. Eva, you’ve hit the nail on the head there. I likr to believe that everything happens for a reason. Consequently, I wonder now and then if my acne is trying to tell me something was amiss with my body, be it emotionally or physically. On the rare occassion I would even question the merits of acne, that is – perhaps I’m one of the lucky ones who gets clear warning of when things aren’t functioning how they should. Like surely it’s better to see the problem clearly and then have something tangible to work with..? I also read up on Louise L. Hay a while back (her ‘little blue book’ associated particular emotional issues with the varied skin disorders and gives daily mantras to say to overcome both. Whilst I didn’t stick to the mantras, it did help me to understand myself a bit better 🙂 I think we have a LONG way to go when it comes to the vvv likes of metaphysics and our emotions no longer overwhelming us. People are still so guarded when it comes to that area. It’s thanks to Tracy et al for making us probe a little further. Where would we be without these amazing bloggers, seriously!

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  14. I understand your overall message and I actually think it is a great idea. Eat what you want. If you want to eat very cleanly, do it, if you are craving something processed and HORRIBLE for you, do it too. I’m sure it will satisfy your need then and you won’t have a craving for it for a while.
    When I read this I just got out of it that you don’t want to deprive yourself, but you also aren’t planning on binging on processed foods. Just focusing on being more care free and lenient about your diet, not force the veggies down if you’re not really feeling them, etc.
    And I can’t imagine doing the GAPS for two years!…lol

    Reply

    • Yes 🙂 Exactly. And now that I’m not doing GAPs, I also can’t imagine doing it for two years!

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  15. I think I’ve been practicing this kinda already…for example this week I wanted a burger for dinner and Trader Joe’s was out of grass fed ground meat…I would have normally freaked out, been disappointed and just went for the chicken but I didn’t, I said what the heck, it’s one time, it wont hurt me.
    I’ve also been allowing myself dark chocolate when I crave it after dinner. Not overboard, less than a serving size and it’s delicious!
    This weekend for Mother’s Day we are going out to get the best bbq in the city…I would normally not order anything but I am going to and I am flipping excited to have some barbecue ribs and brisket. Is it grass fed meat? Prolly not. What’s in the bbq sauce? Who knows. But it’s going to be delicious. I am still going to have my green smoothie and everything on Sunday, but I am going to have a good time with my family also and eat some BBQ. My skin hasn’t looked better either. I don’t know if these are the reasons because I’m on my second month of eating sauerkraut and fermenting foods and drinking kombucha tea and just started taking FCLO…but it also hasn’t gotten worst because of being more leniant.

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  16. I tried whole foods, then went to a vegan diet- trying to eliminate everything that caused my acne. It ended up getting worse. I found out when I am feeling happy/hopeful it improves. But it’s to the point where I can stay perpetually stressed worrying about my skin- so I could relate to the article and miss the “free as a bird” feeling. So, I try to eat healthy day by day- but I will randomly consume a whole pizza 🙂 I am interested in the alternate day diet (have you heard of it?) and wondered, when you used the honey did your skin slowly improve. Now it seems that nothing is inflamed but I still see the red spots and don’t know if they’re waiting to strike or healing.
    Thanks in advance! That was a bit all over the place.

    Reply

    • No I haven’t heard of the Alternate Day Diet.. what’s it about? As for the honey – I don’t know. I was changing my diet and doing so many things at the same time as starting honey (I started honey soon after my acne got severe), so I can’t say

      Reply

  17. Agh, nutrition! I know exactly how you feel about wanting to be able to explain every breakout, and controlling everything you put in your mouth. And who can blame you? The food industry today is so corrupt, no wonder we need to teach ourselves how to “eat around” all these chemical options that are sitting on the supermarket shelves. And it can end up being a bit of a losing battle. This is our modern day curse; back in Paleolithic times I bet nobody knew anything about nutrition (at least, I’m sure people didn’t intellectualize their food), but of course back then nobody had access to processed food.

    Since I started this weaning off the birth control pill thing, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking trying to work out what could have triggered my acne breakouts in the past (3 serious breakouts in my life), and you know what, I can’t actually pinpoint exactly what the triggering factors might have been. Sure, I probably wasn’t eating all that well, at least I know I was eating dairy and gluten, but other times when I ate loads of dairy and gluten I had perfect skin… hmm, maybe it was the hormones, or maybe stress, or negative feelings about myself… Anyway, all this thinking has brought me to the conclusion that there is definitely more than one triggering factor for acne. Who knows what might have brought on your severe acne breakout a few years ago… maybe junk food contributed, but I’m not sure all of it can be put down to just that.

    I’m definitely an advocate of whole foods, traditional foods, organic foods, local foods etc, but I believe it’s also very important to enjoy, I mean REALLY enjoy eating. They say the French live to eat, and in many ways I think this is the way to go. We health foodies spend so much time thinking about meals that we often forget that eating with others is also a wonderful way to heal the pangs of life. I think that if you’re not craving junk, don’t force yourself to eat it, but if you do want to indulge a little from time to time, by no means should you feel guilty. There were probably many other factors that triggered your breakout in the past anyway, and I’m sure you’ve solved many of those problems now! 🙂

    Reply

    • Hi Christelle – Yes, I feel the same way – I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure out exactly what triggered my severe acne – a relationship that wasn’t the greatest for my self esteem, eating horrible restaurant food all the time and drinking a lot more than usual (because of where I worked), stress from waitressing, taking the morning after pill quite a few times in prior months, changing my face routine too many times and using something way too abrasive, and then the stress from the breakouts themselves once they started.

      When I look at that list, much of it is stress, and so many of those factors are not even in my life anymore at all. But because changing my diet and living healthier was what lead me to heal my skin, I know my mind kind of associates it like … if I were to reverse the steps of my diet, then it would lead right back to where I started.. right back to the bad acne.

      Wow. Even just writing that was really eye opening. Thanks.

      Reply

    • Christelle, I like what you wrote about eating with people being really healing. I agree. That was a good point to bring up.

      Reply

  18. Normally I hate starting sentences with “If I were you…”, but here we go:
    If I were you, I’d stay away from ANY dietary concept for a while. Eating like RRARF sounds kinda risky if you have already an upset stomach with these severe symptoms that you mentioned. Why jumping from one thing to another, esp. if they are basically total opposites? Just eat what you want for a while without thinking about raising your body temp.
    I’ve read in the comments in your other post that you think about doing an anti-parasite treatment. May I ask why? I don’t have ANY knowledge of parasites but couldn’t the medicine stress your gut even more? What’s the point if you don’t even know IF you have a parasite? Hm. Besides all that, I’m really curious to know why you don’t get checked for an ulcer. Seriously, the symptoms make way more sense (for me anyway) to be an ulcer than to be some kind of weird parasite. I understand that you don’t want conventional medical treatment because you believe in the holistic approach. But why not getting checked for an ulcer by a conventional doc and then treating yourself with alternative medice or whatever, so you’d at least know for sure that you have/haven’t an ulcer instead of dieting/treating yourself even further in this awful cycle of stomach pain and digestive issues.

    Reply

    • Hi Stella, you’re right. I’ve been kind of thinking this… I think an ulcer sounds like the most likely thing that is going on as the symptoms fit the best. I really should just go get diagnosed by a conventional doctor… I think I’ve been hesitant because I don’t like my doctor, and the last time I went, I couldn’t help but argue with her. I guess I just expect that they won’t know any better than me, but I shouldn’t think like that. Just having someone else confirm a diagnosis would help me be a bit more decisive with what I’m doing.

      As for the the parasite thing, it would just be a general parasite cleanse… I believe most people do have some parasites, or bugs – maybe not specific ones like protozoa, or giardia, or whatever, but could possibly benefit from a general parasite cleanse, and I’ve been interested in trying that for a long time. I do think I will hold off on using it though until I get this really figured out though – you’re right, I don’t want to put more stress on my belly right now.

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  19. Tracy I think there is alot of truth to this post. When I was at college eating a meticulous paleo diet with no sugar I was miserable. It wasn’t because I was having withdrawals or anything because I wasn’t I was just tired of having to decline invites to go eat with my friends and that was depressing. So after I realized my acne wasn’t clearing up and I realized I was stressing over what I was eating way too much, almost obsessive I said screw it and ate whatever I wanted. My acne did not get crazy and it actually got a little better. It felt like a huge load had been lifted. I’m a pretty care free stress free person so looking back I feel like all that stress and raw food messed with my digestion.

    Reply

  20. My diet is a BIG problem for me at the moment – hence the reason I have yet to talk about diet on my site.

    For a long time I was eating a total raw diet, mostly just fruit, nuts & greens.

    While this sounds extremely healthy, and it may be for some, it definitely wasn’t for me.

    Not only did I lose a lot of weight on it, I lost friends also as I could never really go out and socialize with them anymore.

    Anyway I am starting to add in more foods such as eggs, cereal bars (wheat-free) etc now, but it’s a long way back before I feel I will be able to really enjoy food again.

    Thanks for sharing Tracy.

    Bobby Thomas

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  21. Hey Tracy!
    I just wanted to say that I think the key to good health is to also have good emotional and mental health as well as yoyour spiritual because everything is connected that way. I’ve gone on a strict no sugar diet as well as gluten free because I was told I had a sensitivity to gluten. It hit me hard the most when I
    found I deprived myself of sugar and starches. like I couldn’t eat some fruit either? I felt so upset and angry about it when I saw that my brother could eat all the sugar he wanted including gluten and not have skin eruptions. I was pretty much envious and stressed about keeping up with this diet, and I felt unwhole and stressed about it, and I felt as though my skin wasnt showing a mass improvement. Finally after having a discission with my parents about how pricey organic food is, my dad went on.saying, “once upon a time everything was cheap and organic or minimally processed and people weren’t issued with all these ailments or diseases.” Right then and there I felt as though I was sort of spiritually awakened. I felt that every food from God was good to eat, and that God didn’t want us to be plagued by fear or want us to develope into control freaks. Taste and see whats right for you because we’re all different but don’t hold that one thing thats caused you some trouble in the past, overwhelm if you face having to eat it again. I’m so for eating everything in moderation and to your enjoyment because honestly we can’t be in control over everything. We are here to overcome any fear or obstacle that gets in the way of our happiness and peace.
    I’ve also wanted to include that I myself had some digestive issues, and when my natural healths practitioner suggested I use coffee enemas, lets just say my gut feels so much happier and healed, haha. I would secondly ask a natural healrhs practitioner or naturopath about taking enemas to help out with gut issues. Hippocrates once said that enema is better than purgative/laxative herbs or medicine.

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  23. I know part of Matt’s encouragement to eat junk food stems from just wanting people to develop a healthy emotional relationship with food. I get that, and I agree. But he also reminds people that every individual responds differently to RRAFing, and it doesn’t work for everyone, either. Here’s what I teach my kids and try to practice, too: pay attention to your body’s physical, emotional, and mental signals and feed them all with the healthiest “food” available to you at the time. For instance, we eat very cleanly and rarely go out (not because we’re following some diet or someone’s rules, but becaues it’s just our lifestyle), but my 6-y-o has recently become obsessed with wanting to go to McDonald’s because of her classmates talking about it. I hate McDonald’s. It’s gross. But, we went out to lunch yesterday together to prove a point: we ate the food, played on the toys, and neither of us died. Her McDonald’s craving is now over. End of story. By creating diet protocols to “heal” us, we end up creating psychological problems that just exacerbate the physical. Totally unnecessary and perpetuated by every doctor, nauropath, nutritionist, blogger, and neighbor. Just pay attention to your bodies! When your stomach is hungry – fill it with what your body is calling for! Does it really need fake colors and GM foods to fill it, or can you satisfy your physical, emotional, and mental hunger with something similar, but without the additives? If you can – go for it! If you can’t – don’t stress over it! Then pay attention to how your body reacts to it – do you feel gross or energized? Some people feel great with lots of carbs, sugars, etc, and others feel horrible. Just do what works for you as an individual. My oldest will be in the ER from eating tree nuts, but my youngest loves them and feels great from them. Foods are not inherently “good” or “bad.” No one is going to heaven from the piousness of avoiding a doughnut. It’s what we as people do with foods that can help or harm us. So relax! Lowering your cortisol levels from not stressing about if your carrots are organic will help your acne anyways :-).

    Reply

    • I think that’s a good point, to not stress about the food. I have been trying to eat better to heal my skin and also to heal my teeth, and am definitely still rounding the learning curve, but I also knew my body was feeling better in some ways and not overly craving things like too much Pasta, cheese or fats. I feel more balanced. It felt good to consciously be choosing what to eat with the goal of healing my teeth, especially. It was neat to feel like I didn’t have to be fulfilling my enjoyment factor every time I ate, knowing I was choosing to put things in my body that would heal it. So that was a good lesson to experience. But I also was getting kind of extreme and noticing fear in me, and I wasn’t eating enough because I didn’t know what to eat sometimes and am going through other life challenges that make being really energetic about food planning unrealistic and unhealthy for me. (I’m easing along.) So I let myself eat a snack that was not perfectly healthy according to what I think I know about health, but was decent, and realistic in view of my options and where I am in life right now. And I enjoyed it. I’d been craving chocolate, which I haven’t allowed myself since starting this more intentional diet to heal my teeth, but I ate other pretty healthy foods instead and enjoyed them. So there, I learned that I could acknowledge a craving but still enjoy something else. But then I was still really craving chocolate, so in light of what I’ve been reading here I looked for some, but in vain. So I mixed small amounts of dark chocolate cocoa powder with coconut oil, honey, ground cinnamon and cloves and ground red pepper, and I really enjoyed it. And I prayed over my food, asked God to bless it, and to heal my cavities and my skin, and my heart, and told my body to digest it well.
      Anyway, so I liked what you said, Amy, about listening to your body, and trying to find the best way to satisfy what it needs and is telling you. I’ve been doing that more and it’s helpful. I can’t remember if Tracy wrote this somewhere or if I read it somewhere else, but we crave what we have had before. But its helpful to figure out what we’re really craving and why, and to be aware that there could be something better out there to fill the craving. …So those are some of my musings and I don’t know if I connected all the dots but there it is.

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  24. Listen to your body, that’s what I say, and give it what it wants. I spent 5 years shifting from various diet to diet, fretting about food and thinking various things were breaking me out. First I thought it might be gluten, so I tried no gluten; then when that didn’t work it was no dairy; then it was avoiding specific foods like eggs, then I thought tomatoes were breaking me out so they were out, cheese next… onions…. banana, and on and on it went….. It was forever changing. My family couldn’t keep up. The thing is, eventually I thought I saw an improvement restricting my diet so heavily. Then I read about shower filters and bought a shower filter and, again, thought there was an improvement. After that it was a red blue acne light, which I would spend 15 minutes in front of every morning religiously. All this I thought was keeping the acne to a minimum. I recall Christmasses in the past when I would go to my parents’ house for a few days and packed amongst the clothes in my holdall would be the shower filter. And I would spend the time there fretting about eating their bread, what was in the gravy and was I breaking out because the acne light had been too big to pack? Now, had my acne disappeared for good with all this effort, I might have thought it was worth it. But it didn’t, the mild acne still persisted. Eventually I thought enough is enough, what mild improvement all this was making just wasn’t worth it. I didn’t want to look back on my life one day and think the acne controlled it. It was no longer going to get the time of day. At the back of my head, though, there was a voice saying, “But what if you don’t make this effort and it makes things a lot worse? You’ll have undone five years of hard work”. But I ignored it because my lifestyle was just stressing me out. I started eating again all those foods I had excluded. I still avoided foods laden with chemicals, E numbers, hydrogenates, but no longer avoided specific foods or food groups. I ditched the shower filter and had an extra 15 minutes in bed in the morning instead of getting up to sit in front of the acne light. If I craved a bag of potato crisps at midnight, I would have it. I now feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Why? Because three months down the line my skin has not gotten worse at all, and just now it is really quite clear. I realise that what improvement I thought I saw was likely just placebo. I am much more relaxed now and feel like I am back in control instead of the acne controlling me. For me, mastering the science of diets is just way too complicated. Too much of one thing knocking the other out of whack, too much of the other knocking something else out of whack. Who really knows? A lot of people may have had success with diets, but I’m no longer interested in them. Now I just listen to what my body wants.

    Reply

    • Wow this is a great post! I really feel I connect with what you’re saying – I have mild acne, so I felt like there must be something I can do with gadgets and creams etc, just to zap the bag skin I get. So I got tons of prescription creams, and about 3 years down the line, barely anything had changed. I also considered buying the electronic acne clearers – I bought a Clarisonic, thinking it would clean my skin, but it made absolutely ZERO difference. It was all about the stress, like you said. I also did the stupid diets – I actually only ate shiritaki noodles for a while, and guess what, my skin didn’t get any better. It’s since reading this blog I’ve realised that diet an NOT stressing are so important, but that means diet NOT giving you stress. I’m so hung up on my looks, and the more I obsess, the worse it gets, and the worse the acne gets.
      I’m still trying to work out my ideal diet, but unless you have an intolerance issue, I totally agree that cutting stuff out entirely won’t work if it causes a lot of stress and unhappiness.

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  25. Something I have found weird is that when I eat grains, dairy, and other crap I actually feel much much better than when I eat a strict diet. I wake up bursting with energy. Unfortunately, my skin doesn’t react very well. I know it isn’t a difference in macros or anything like that since I am very strict in that respect. I do some fitness modeling (no I don’t take any supplements for PED), so I have my diet pretty down.

    I can eat a 4,000 calorie/day diet with very similar macro breakdowns, and just feel better with grains and dairy. I’ve been testing diets for the past 5 years or so, and the only way I can keep my skin somewhat clear is to avoid grains, dairy, and nuts(peanuts too). This doesn’t not leave me feeling optimal though. Oh well, maybe one day I’ll figure this out.

    Btw, I never measured my body temp, but I am ALWAYS hot. My gf hates it because I keep my thermostat set very low in the winter, and crank the AC in the summer. Metabolism certainly isn’t an issue for me, but skin still sucks. Just something to think about. Raising body temp certainly doesn’t translate to better skin for me.

    Reply

    • Hi Seth – yes I’m not entirely sure what significance this metabolism thing has for acne. I get the feeling it might be more of a potential remedy for females, because as I am hearing, the body temperature and carbs are very important to female reproductive health and fertility, which means the proper hormones -> less acne. But I’m not saying that the metabolism is the one reason everyone gets acne, there’s lots of reasons

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  26. Hm, I think that “everything in moderation” is still the best path. Eating only junk food is far from healthy, as is eating no carbs or only salad etc… But I think you should allow yourself a period of time where you eat anything you feel like eating. Just in order to get rid of your fears, because they sound to me like a forming (or probably already existing) eating disorder? This got me quite worried about you. You are stressing out so much about what you eat, no wonder that your stomach is in knots!
    Oh, and btw. I think that what is perceived as a very healthy diet is often quite hard to digest.

    Reply

    • Hi Kat – I would say I used to have more of an eating disorder (orthorexia) and now it’s really not so bad, but food and health is still is on my mind quite a bit. It’s hard to shake constantly thinking when you have a blog about it! That’s an obstacle I’m not sure how to overcome

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  27. Hello,

    What about having a simple diet ? Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Organic stuff. Juicing green.
    I found out that a palatable and simple diet will always work. This cured a lot of my problems. Also a change of diet should be always progressive and not too restrictive. We need to have fun and appreciate what we eat and this will induce well-being. Below, 8 laws of health:
    Nutrition
    Exercise
    Water
    Sunlight
    Temperance (not too much of one thing even if this thing is good)
    Air
    REST
    Trust (God)

    Also, let us give our body the time to recover…it might months before the digestive system gets well again. I have a friend who had a lot of problems: constipation, gas, palpitations, acne, headaches, hot flashes,back pains, overweight, etc…She is 23…By just removing cheese and cow milk from her diet, she experienced so much changes in her life. Cheese makes her system go nuts :(. Now she told me she has her life back just by following simple eating habits. We do not have to look for “fancy”, tricky,fishy diet. We just need to know how our body works and go back to the basis.

    🙂

    Reply

    • I’ve had allergy testing done before, and it’s been extremely helpful for my skin (but not necessarily for my digestive issues)… but it seems like sensitivities change all the time and I can’t keep up … I may consider going to my naturopath and getting tested again though, it’s been a year

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  29. Tracy,

    So are you starting to eat wheat and grains in higher quantities now? I’m thinking about transitioning to adding more rice and such in my diet after reading about the correlation between “cold” foods and “dampness” in chinese medicine.

    What do you think about sprouted wheat?

    Reply

    • I haven’t really been eating wheat, .. I’ve been eating lots of sweet potatoes, rice, buckwheat, and quinoa, and some potatoes too. As for what I think of sprouted wheat… well…. it’s probably the best way to eat wheat I guess. Especially if it was sprouted sourdough. I mean… in the end, whether wheat and gluten is a problem for you is very individual. I don’t really know how much of a problem it is for me, but when it comes down to it, I think I’m just scared of it just because. I know it doesn’t seem to make me sick for days like it does for some people. And I really don’t know if it has a direct effect on my skin or not. I’m nervous to eat it again in any great quantity :/ but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t or can’t.

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  30. “Besides – aside from acne, there’s many reasons that I keep myself on track with healthy eating and real foods – whether it’s my blog, the fact that real food tastes good and it’s habit now, or because I want to stick it to the government, the pharmaceutical industry, and Monsanto.”

    Me too Tracy. I don’t focus on whole foods just because I want to be in awesome health.

    The food industry sickens me. You read my post on olive oil. It’s not healthy to stress about whether or not my olive oil is real. So, I have let it go. But, it’s always on my mind and I will be looking into it more.

    I just hate the food industry. You watched Food Inc, right? You vote with your dollar.

    Just always remember that STRESS must be managed. You can’t go wrong with focusing on whole foods and then eating foods that aren’t so whole when the time is right such as the weekend, vacations, etc.

    We are all on an endless experiment. We all know ourselves best. No one can feel what you are feeling. Change things up a bit. Don’t start eating a ton of junk if you don’t want to unless you think it may help you.

    As you may know, I am doing a 21 Day Sugar Detox. I ate more fruit then what is allowed today but I let it go. I was about to slice myself another piece of left over chocolate cake tonight but was VERY EASILY without any stress at all able to pass it up. Why? Because I am doing this detox. Seriously. It’s crazy. Had I not had a blog and had I not announced to the world I am doing this detox then I would have enjoyed a slice. I happily passed it up without stress. Win.

    2 years strict? Never for me. 21 days? Easy.

    Just remember that food is a never ending experiment.

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  31. Ah yes. Yes. I can’t stand walking into walmart anymore. Or any other regular grocery store for that matter. It just makes me want to cry when I look at the junk I used to eat, and all the others there who are still eating it.

    What is the food industry doing?? I thought it was their job to make GOOD food choices for us to consume.

    And Monsanto.

    It’s all about control, and mostly, money. They don’t give a about what they are doing to the food that was once healthy. Or this planet that was once balanced and beautiful. They are turning this place into a heap of chemicals. I can’t even get real healthy fish anymore unless I get them from way up in the north pole or something. Runoff from the chemical-laden GMO soybean crop (among many other things) has contaminated all the waters they’re living in.

    Wow, really?

    How do you not get disgusted and stressed with this stuff? Gosh, I just wanted some fish, I thought they were healthy! Or with the olive oil. I thought all along I was doing something good. But no, of course not. Nothing is as easy as going to your local grocery store anymore. Even if you were to opt for the “healthy” stuff, they’ve almost always done something to make it less so.

    Sigh.

    When I get to Heaven…

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  32. Hi,

    Can anyone advise as to how to put on weight through eating healthy food?

    I cut out dairy (I ate a lot of cheese!) to reduce my acne but I feel I have lost too much weight because of that. I was never overweight to begin with!

    Im fed up with people telling me I am too thin and my husband thinks I am trying to lose weight! Completely not the case!!

    Any advice please?

    Thanks.

    Reply

    • Yeup eat a lot ! I have the same issue as you. I always been thin and always had issues keeping my weigh normal. I am vegan so it is even more complicated now for me to keep my weigh. Eating a lot more and doing exercise are fixing the issue for me. And of course, if you rest more (go to sleep early) then you burn less calories and so you are more likely to gain weigh. The solution to gain weigh is to eat more calories than you actually burn.
      (hopefully my English is understand”able. I am French lol)

      Reply

  33. Just eat healthy at home and enjoy and treat your self when you go out or if you are on vacation…..life is too precious!!! Try to enjoy ever beauty of it:) you deserve it, try not to stress 🙂

    Reply

  34. You summed up all my confusion and thoughts exactly. I don’t know what to think of all this really, but what I gather from it is just the main message of the whole thing, which is to not be stressed out about your diet and really eat food and enjoy life. that said, I eat all I want now, but I still avoid junk food, no jelly beans or whatever, but I eat grains, carbs, fats whatever, no restriction, and I enjoy a good meal out with my friends.

    “Besides – aside from acne, there’s many reasons that I keep myself on track with healthy eating and real foods – whether it’s my blog, the fact that real food tastes good and it’s habit now, or because I want to stick it to the government, the pharmaceutical industry, and Monsanto.”

    exactly that too. I work at the farmer’s market and I’ve visited many of my friends at their farms too, it makes me appreciate all the efforts that go into real food. plus, if you’ve seen my blog you’d know I LOVE cooking, and good cooking and good food starts with good ingredients to me.

    I guess with junk food, don’t go out of the way to eat it, but don’t stress out when you do have to eat it.

    Reply

  35. It seems to me like there is something holistically healthy and beneficial about just enjoying food and allowing yourself to guiltlessly respond to a craving and enjoy the food, even if it is “unhealthy.” It seems like you have been touching on that point. I am beginning to think that though it’s good to be health conscious, if it gets obsessive, that’s actually unhealthy in the holistic sense. Remember the “love vitamin” concept? About enjoying life and being happy–I am piecing together in my life that fun and being happy are so important to health, and it’s life. I’ve been really over legalistic to my own detriment and I’m realizing I need to just enjoy life. I was watching a vlogger/youtuber yesterday who is so consistently positive and happy and it brings me so much joy just watching her videos because she really seems to enjoy life. I noticed she often refers to loving different candies and sugary things, I thought, that’s not ideal, but I also noted how she’s really enjoying these things, and there’s something good about that. I also noticed she has great skin. Anyway, she’s enjoying life!

    Reply

  36. Also, I really liked what you said about control and fear. I can relate. It’s really helpful for me to read your thought processes and realizations. Like you’ve said, and I agree, everything’s connected. It’s fascinating to try to understand how. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

  39. Hey Tracy! I’m not exactly sure what I should write here, but I think you need to try out the ”eat whatever you want for extended period” And see what happens after that. I mean, sure you might break out a little but I think that.. The only way you’ll overcome your fear of eating processed food and the waiting for ‘something’ to happen is to actually eat like an average person for a while.

    I think, the problem you have is that.. You’re afraid of breaking out horribly like you did here in 2010 but I don’t think that is going to happen even if you eat like an average person for maybe a week or two. I mean think about it, whenever you tell us about the time you worked in that pub, you told us you lived the life of an extremely unhealthy person who drinked every day and never exercised. But I know you’re not like that! Besides, eating like an average person doesn’t mean hamburgers or eating cake all day long. You can eat healthy whole foods and processed food (every once in a while) I think that applies to the 90/10 rule. 😀

    Either way, I hope you figure out stuff!

    Reply

  40. Hey Tracy! I was wondering. Is it okay if I apply the 90/10 rule while I’m trying to clear up my acne holistically?

    Reply

    • Hi Adel-Alexander – yes, absolutely. I recommend it, because eating 100% is just plain stressful, and that isn’t healthy or good for your skin

      Reply

  41. So eating something like.. A normal breakfast with friends with dairy and normal gluten bread is perfectly fine?

    Reply

  42. Hello Everyone,

    I live a healthy lifestyle as I exercise everyday, do meditation, eat extremely healthy, and relaxing in the sun as much as possible. About two years ago, I begin developing acne on my cheeks and it still has not gone away. I have tried cutting out carbs and dairy and gluten and my acne is still the same. I want to get through this naturally, however nothing I try works. I also drink plenty of water. I am not someone who is stressed about my acne and I am comfortable with myself as so many people suffer from acne, but I would like it to go away. Does anyone have any tips? Also, I have been doing the caveman regimen and my skin remains unchanged.

    Thank you.

    Reply

    • Hi Christos,

      did you ever make a test, if you might have any food intolerances other than dairy or gluten? It seems that your lifestyle is great.

      Good luck solving your mystery – I really can understand the pain!

      Reply

      • Hi Svea,

        When I was young I had done an allergy test and the results were that I was not intolerant to anything. Thank you for trying to help!

        Reply

        • Hi Christos,

          you’re right that most food intolerances start in childhood, but they can still develop at any time in a person’s life… However, it’s just a thought.

          Reply

          • Hi Svea,

            I will consider taking a test as soon as possible as I would like to clear my face! Thank you for the help. Hopefully my skin will be able to heal itself soon! 🙂

            Reply

  43. Hey Tracy, not sure how old this post is, but I wanted to give my two cents regardless. I was wondering about this very thing today, so I decided to google it to see if anybody felt the same way as I did-and I came across this post. It’s so nice to see somebody who shares some of the same sentiments as I do. I am currently 18 and have been dealing with acne since age 12. It’s never been severe, but has been constant, not just once a month hormonal breakouts. And the annoying thing is, I don’t get it just on my face, but on my whole upper body as well. It makes me feel really dirty and uncomfortable. I have always eaten a pretty clean diet, so I know that that is not the cause of it. I went on two different birth control pills last year in hopes of clearing it up, but to no avail. But then..about two months ago I went vegan and my skin cleared up drastically! It’s not perfect, but is much much improved. I know it is mostly dairy that causes breakouts for me-the couple times I have eaten it on accident since going vegan I have had severe breakouts within a day. But it’s also meat, because when I ate it once on accident, since going vegan, I got some painful pimples. Anyways, even though my skin is much improved, and I am so happy with this new lifestyle, I am still always scared of breaking out. Whenever I eat food which I don’t prepare myself, even though I am told it is vegan, I am scared it has a little meat/dairy in it and that I will break out. I had orthorexia the beginning half of last year, so I am always pushing myself to eat things every now and then that are not totally healthy. It’s hard to do this because I am scared my skin will break out (even though I know that junkfood never causes my skin to breakout-paranoid), and because I genuinely feel better inside when I eat healthy foods. It’s really strange, but for me when I listen to my body it really speaks to me. For example, when I eat an apple fresh off the tree I feel fresh and energized. But when I eat a few cookies or a milkshake I feel weighed down and icky inside. But I know deep down that even though these foods may not be the healthiest for my body, in moderation they are not unhealthy for my body. And I know that they are, in moderation, healthy for my soul. So like you were saying, I think balance is always healthiest.
    Thank you for this post! I hope you have a wonderful day.

    Reply

    • Hi Lia, I hear you! It is scary to do, but I think it’s so important. The more we run from our fears, the more they consume us, and I see the way that diet becomes a tool for control. As in, if I can control this, then I can feel secure and in control. And that can work until the minute we’re in a situation where we don’t have control (like someone making us dinner) and it ruins us emotionally. It’s important to challenge that mindset, and recognize that the healthiest food may not be the healthiest when chosen in fear. Choosing food out of love and compassion will be better (even if the food chosen is not objectively “the healthiest”). Since writing this article, however many years ago, I relaxed my diet a lot and found out that it was ok to have more balance. Nothing catastrophic happened. And I’m way happier. But I wouldn’t have gotten there without understanding what a big role my mind plays in the situation. Anyway — wishing you love and luck! xo

      Reply

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