Foods That Cause Acne

For healthy and clear skin, avoid these foods that cause acne.

First of all, I should probably point out a technicality. It's not like the following foods directly cause acne. It's more like these foods wreak havoc on your body which creates an imbalance. Your body then attempts to adjust to this imbalance. One of the symptoms of these adjustments is acne.

For some people, eating these foods doesn't end up creating acne. Everyone will react differently to foods due to their unique genetic makeup and environment. Because there are many factors which contribute to whether acne appears in a person, the lack of acne does not mean that the food is any more healthy.

Treat your acne as a warning sign, your body is trying to tell you that something is wrong inside!

Many people still believe that there is no link between food and acne, and that's just not true. There are many studies that show a relationship between the two. Try searching for "diet and acne" in Google Scholar to see what comes up.

It seems that acne is linked to blood sugar problems, specifically insulin resistance. It also appears to be linked to chronic inflammation. I know that's a mouthful, and there are entire web sites that are devoted to talking about those subjects.

Simply put, the foods that cause acne are the ones that aggravate blood sugar and inflammation. They're not only bad for acne but for your body in general. Many of these foods are typical in the western diet:

High Glycemic Load Foods

By high glycemic load foods I am mainly talking about refined carbohydrates such as grains and refined sugar (candy and soda), but there are many high glycemic load foods that cause acne. The glycemic index website has a large database for you to explore.

Sugar from eating fruit is very different because it doesn't spike your blood sugar nearly as fast, due to the fiber. So you can eat fruit in moderation with no difficulties.

Foods that have a high glycemic load spike your blood sugar, which is very dangerous for your body. Your pancreas releases some insulin to counteract the spike in blood sugar, but can overcompensate.

The insulin increases sebum (oil) production. Also, the rate of your skin cell regeneration is increased, and the ability for your skin cells to break away one at a time is reduced. All of this increases the chances for clogs in your skin to form.

Graph of Blood Sugar Levels After Eating

Most people have some level of insulin resistance, so your pancreas has to work extra hard to get the blood sugar and insulin to connect. The pancreas overcompensates and makes your blood sugar too low - which is also dangerous - so your body releases androgens (hormones) to raise your blood sugar levels back up.

This is what makes you want even more sweets after having some, and can repeat the whole process.

The androgens released raise your blood sugar by telling your pancreas to release more glycogen that it has reserved. The liver turns the glycogen into glucose, which raises your blood sugar level. The thing is, these same androgens can trigger your sebaceous glands to produce even more oil.

So now we have clumps of dead skin cells being pushed through your pores at a faster rate. This greatly increase the probability of plugs in your pores to develop. Ta da... acne shows up.

Not only that, but refined carbohydrates have very little nutritional value. It actually takes more vitamins, minerals, and enzymes to digest than it provides! Your body has to go looking in its reserves and this can create deficiencies. These deficiencies can cause a whole range of problems, not to mention acne.

Even though whole grains have more nutritional value in the way of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes - they still have a high glycemic load and is one of the foods that cause acne.

We just aren't made to digest grains properly. Humans didn't eat grains for millions of years, and have only started doing so since the agricultural revolution... which was about 10,000 years ago. That's not enough time for our bodies to evolve into digesting grains.

Fatty Foods

The subject of fat is a tricky one. There are good fats and bad fats, and fats that are good in certain ratios, and too much fat isn't a good thing either. It is a key part of foods that cause acne.

When you're eating not enough of the good fats and too much of the bad fats, you build up insulin resistance. This means your pancreas has to shoot out even more insulin to counteract an amount of blood sugar, which makes you crash even harder.

Your blood sugar levels swing too high and then too low, which as we saw earlier, wreaks havoc on your pores.

In addition, eating too much of the wrong fats promotes chronic inflammation in the body. This weakens your immune system (white blood cells), because it's always getting "false" alarms.

Trans fat is very bad for you all of the time. It's seen in a lot of processed foods like:

• Spreads, like margarine and butter
• Soup (packaged), like ramen noodles and soup cups
• Fast food
• Processed food
• Frozen food, like pies, pizzas, waffles
• Cookies, cakes, donuts

I know that this list can be depressing, because there's a lot of "tasty" foods on there. But they are foods that cause acne, and are terrible for your body in general.

Saturated fat has had a bad reputation over the recent years, but I'm not so sure it's bad for you. I'm starting to see a lot of research and discussion about how saturated fat is actually pretty good for you, when taken from clean sources like Coconut Oil and in moderation of course. That's because it can apparently help stabilize blood sugar and protect the essential fatty acids.

Both the Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids are good for you. It's just that the ratio between the two is far from optimal in the typical western diet. The Mediterranean diet is much closer to an optimal level, which is about 3:1 for Omega 6 to Omega 3.

The typical western diet is about 10:1 to 20:1. This is due to using oils like olive oil for cooking, which has a ratio of 10:1. This can be solved through eating habits as well as supplementation with fish oils or flax seed oil.

Dairy

Dairy products are some of the worst kinds of food you can eat. There is a lot of research that has been done on how dairy is one of the foods that cause acne.

I'll start off with an easy example. Dairy products are high in fat, and as I mentioned earlier, eating too much fat can cause acne.

Secondly, just like grains, we can't digest pasteurized cow's milk properly. We just aren't built to do it, i.e. we don't have the enzymes for it. Instead, our stomach breaks it down as much as it can.

The larger molecules that are left over are treated as a foreign invader to the body. Our immune system sends over the white blood cells to attack them. This weakens our immune system (they're busy fighting the milk) and causes excess inflammation. So when we do get a pimple, our body's immune system can't heal it as quickly.

Thirdly, the milk people drink is full of growth hormones. These hormones are converted into other kinds of hormones by your skin glands, which trigger more sebum (oil) production. As we know, more oil means more acne - albeit indirectly.

Just think about this from a common sense point of view. We're the only mammal to drink milk past the years of being a baby, and we're the only mammal that drinks milk from a different species. How could that possibly be good for us?

Caffeine and Alcohol

Both caffeine and alcohol are potential foods that cause acne. They both trigger the production of hormones, which even in minimal quantities, are bad for your skin.

In addition, they also disrupt sleeping patterns. Even a little caffeine or alcohol can supposedly affect the deepest stages of your sleep, and this is when your body is doing its most effective healing and rejuvenation.

Now, I know that these are almost impossible to give up in our modern society. I'm not afraid to admit that I have the occasional coffee (although I usually drink green tea) or beer. That's ok, it's not like one cup of coffee is going to cause you to break out.

They're just not helping, and really should be minimized. Don't use them as a crutch because they can cause a whole range of other problems too.

Food Allergies

Food allergies can also cause acne. There are many foods that you regularly eat that you could be allergic to and not even know it. This includes food sensitivities and intolerance.

The reactions you get to food allergies cover a large range, and that could be why you aren't fully aware of them. At the very least we all have an intolerance to wheat and dairy because we don't have all the required enzymes to properly digest them.

There could be almost any food that you are allergic to, which could be one of the foods that cause acne for you. How is this possible?

By eating an allergenic food you are triggering your immune system to respond. This causes a chain reaction of inflammation and insulin resistance, which can ultimately lead to acne. So there could be many foods that cause acne.

The best way to deal with this is to simply eliminate these acne causing foods. If you don't know what the foods specifically are, there are many ways to find out.

The best way is to go get your blood tested for allergies, so see your doctor. A less accurate method is the pulse test, but it can be done by yourself from the comfort of your own home.

Water Retention

There are some foods that cause acne by increasing your water retention. If your skin is swollen with more water than is normal, you may be pinching the pores on your skin.

Pinching the flow of sebum and dead skin cells out of the body increases the chance for plugs to develop. Guess what that means... I think you can guess... :)

...So what foods do this?

• Salts
• Spices
• Cooked meat (due to the protein)

Now I'm not saying you should avoid these foods, or that they are foods that cause acne by themselves. In the right quantities they can be quite healthy for you. Some people may disagree about meat, and that's fine because I myself am unsure on this point.

There are definitely some down sides to eating cooked meat, but there are benefits as well.

Eating sea salt and some healthy spices isn't a bad thing either. But beware, don't go overboard. For example - eating a bag of salted nuts may be too much. Why not try unsalted?

Moderation is the key here. Although, if you really wanted to do everything in your power to get clear, eliminating these foods entirely for a short period of time would maximize your chances for seeing results.

What Else?

More research needs to be done to find out more about foods that cause acne. This type of information is only known by the few people interested enough to dig enough. Most of the public, including doctors and dermatologists, will tell you there is no link between diet and acne. The information I have just given you is really on the cutting edge.

Don't be misled, there are foods that cause acne.

You can also read about about Candida diet Foods , this article is talking about sugar and High glycemic foods. Foods that cause acne tend to be similar to the Candida diet foods.

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