Hello. English isn't my native language.
Ok so i have acne since 17. I started eating raw since 20 and now I'm 21 and I still can't get rid of acne. My skin looks pretty bad even though it is probably a mild type of acne. Also sometimes I get almost ok skin and then I will break out again randomly.

I eat very simple, mono meals and sometimes even only one type of fruit or vegetable for a week. No salt, oil, nothing. only whole fresh fruit/vegetable. I have always been skinny but now I am even more skinny. I tried fasting for a week recently and my skin got much worse, basically pimples all over my face. Probably a detox. Still I am tired and i'm losing faith. I try to do all I can, enough sleep, physical activity, fresh air. I don't use any topical treatments (benzoyl peroxide). Any ideas, help?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2007 09:05AM by Walkern.

Hi, ever considered it may be an allergy? I had what I thought was acne for years. Tried every antibiotic, every topical treatment (except accutane which scared the crap out of me - I like my liver the way it is thank you), only to realise after 15 years of random break outs and oily skin, that I was allergic to (obviously not applicable anymore to either of us) fish, dairy, and nuts...

The allergy recently came back when I started the 8/1/1. It's either a fruit or as someone pointed out, a GM fruit, or I possibly suspect sesame seeds as they are in the nut allergy family.

Just a thought. Otherwise, I highly recommend retin-A. It's just topical vitamin a and it really works miracles whether for acne or for allergy oiliness.

good luck, I know how it feels..

thank you for the reply!
I don't think it may be an allergy because I basically eat only apples, cucumbers, tomatoes and bananas and that's all, nothing more. plus I don't combine them. I ussualy eat only apples for a few days, then I would eat only cucmbers for a few days and etc.

Also my skin could be rather good for weeks, no new acne or only 2-3 not very noticeable pimples in my problematic areas. And I eat the same food now as I did back then.

But right now I have around 50 pimples all over my face, I don't even count them. My acne usually appeared only in specific problematic area (near nose) and not anywhere else for months. But now I don't have acne in my usual problematic areas. Instead I have it all over my face, everywhere. Very unusual, very bad.

I tend to think that the 1 week fast is the reason, but why is it so bad? I started a fast because I got ill (cold) and I healed in 2 days but decided to keep fasting for a few more days...
I still constantly get new acne now, old acne doesn't have time to heal before new acne appears. It just keeps getting worse.. 1 week has passed after a fast.

I tend to think that the cause of acne are toxins in the body, and skin is an organ of elimination, but I've been eating 100% raw for so long, why would I get such a bad skin? Should I just ignore it and wait? I don't really see many more options anyway... I'm going to try eating only oranges for a month maybe now and see what happens or I really don't know...

I would like to think that our bodies with millions of cells and millions of years of evolution are wise but when I look in the mirror my body doesn't seem to be acting very wise. I'd rather have my toxins removed through other areas... Without becoming ugly...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2007 12:58PM by Walkern.

you could have an allergy or sensitivity to something in your environment, it could be a fragrance, a soap, something airborne. have you had any testing done?
break outs can be hormonal too, maybe do some research on that.
what are you cleaning your face with? have you considered the Oil Cleansing Method? it's apparently very good for problem skin. i have used a combination of castor oil and jojoba instead of castor and oilive oils and it was really nice.
look it up online and try it out. it could be just the thing.

don't give up your diet because of your breakouts, there are so many other benefits. and remember that it took a lifetime to get to where you are health-wise, it could take a few years to get better.

i'm so sorry Walkern...i know how you feel, as i suffered with cystic acne for most of my adolescent and early adult life! here are some of the things that helped me...

1) NO harsh chemicals like benz-peroxide, retin-A, over the counter stuff...it always made my skin so much worse! I now use a combination of half rose water and apple cider vinegar to rinse my face....and that's it! afterwards, i put some fresh aloe (from the plant) on my face.

2) Flaxseed Oil really seemed to take down some of the inflammation/redness on my face. i don't take it anymore...but it really helped therapeutically at the time. I took about 2-3 TBSP day.

3) Probiotics (good bacteria) help outnumber all the bad critters in your system and boost your immunity.


Also, fruits/vegetables that may cause skin allergies are fruits from the nightshade family: TOMATOES, potatoes, peppers, eggplant. Sometimes citrus fruits as well.

i send you much love!

*m*

I admire you for sticking with the raw food diet despite the acne and totally sympathize.

I like this website and thought it might help [www.earthclinic.com]

I've heard that if you put Iodine on your pimples they will heal within 24 to 48 hours, due to the Iodine cleaning up the bacterial infection. I would try it myself. You want the diluted type of Iodine, a 5% or 2 % such as Lugol's Iodine. You can find that at jcrows.com

Love,
Prism

Prism, why is iodine so helpful for detox.....I have never heard that before, but I just read your post in the thyroid thread as well.



So interesting,, and actually being iodine deficient doesn't make sense to me, but maybe that's because it doesn't get talked about. I do understand that salt with added iodine is vastly different to getting it from diet, soil etc.

Walkern,

Sorry to hear about your problemse with acne. I just want to make another point about the allergies. Most of us tend to think of being allergic to apples or wheat or peanuts yet you could very well be allergic to a component of the food. I am only writing this because of the education I received while being treated for my allergies. Among other things I am allergic to vitamin C, vitamin A, sugars, and phenols (compounds that give plants dark pigments). So while I can't say that I am allergic to apples, sometimes I have had reactions to them depending on the species of apple and the amount of say vitamin C in it. About 1 month ago I started drug-free allergy elimination treatments. After 4 treatments I have received huge relief. I am only about 1/3 of the way there. I go to a homeopathic/osteopathic clinic.

On another, but very related note, acne can also be the result of candida. (Food allergies and candidiasis kinda go hand-in-hand.) There are products you can take (I have no personal experience with these) but there are things you can do with your diet to help. Primarily - alkalinize! Lots of greens are the best way to do so. A very small change that will help is to get rid of the fluoride in your life - toothpaste, dental rinses, tap water. If you can try to only drink distilled or purified water. Ideally we should all have filters in our showers to get rid of the fluoride we bathe our bodies in. Fluoride displaces iodine and creates havoc anywhere you need it - especially afflicting your thyroid gland.

I have read that clogged liver is often behind acne and allergies and thyroid problems and a host of many common afflictions. Maybe consider a cleanse like The Master Cleanse?? I have never done this but read the book a few weeks ago.

It sounds like your condition waxes and wanes and I would imagine that it might parallel phases of your body detoxing.

Good luck.

Patty

My daughter, age 17, has been raw for 3 months. As soon as we started making green smoothies, 1.5 months ago, her acne improved by about 70%. Not only is she getting less pimples lately but the old scars are almost completely faded.

Definitely try adding more greens into your diet. I think Victoria Boutenko, the author of "Green For Life," hit the nail on the head about greens.

Sometimes, it can be what you put on your skin, that breaks you out, not just what you eat or drink. Try using a mild acne facial cleanser, soap free, from a natural foods store.

Probiotics, yogurt & acidophilous, cleared my sons skin nicely. He's not a raw teen, either.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2007 11:08PM by Rawrrr!.

Walkern...keep us posted on any results you may have. I know exactly how you feel as well. I suffer from it too. Acne is so hard, especially when you feel as if u are trying everything and nothing seems to work. I have been following 80/10/10 for a month now and I am seeing if that helps. I read that acne is just a way for your body to rid of toxins, but after eating raw for so long, you question if that's true.
best of luck = )

I really appreciate all the support and advices, thanks for taking the time to post informative replies!
Since my last post I did not get any new acne and old spots keep fading away, my skin is actually a lot better at the moment.

I did not change my diet. I ate oranges for two days but I couldn't stand them for some unknown reason so I switched to apples.

Also I do not put anything on my face at all. I do not even wash my face with water anymore. It probably may seem crazy, but I actually stopped washing my face a few months ago and I got rid of oily skin problem. My skin just stopped being oily and shiny and became normal. I still brush teeth and wash hair though...

I do belive in raw foods overall obviously. My skin was still always better on raw food than before going raw. My back and chest acne went away a long time ago and never reappeared. My mind is much more clear and I have more energy. I had very bad stomach aches before raw, and I forgot feeling of this terrible pain now. Also I just really like the taste after eating raw for so long.

I tend to think that I should just be patient... I was destroying my health for almost all my life. I almost never ate fruits or vegetables. My diet consisted of cakes, cookies, sweets, pizzas, fried potatoes with meat, fast food buckwheat with meat, mineral water, fast food porridge with milk...
I would generally eat cake at breakfast and keep eating cookies and sweets through the rest of the day. Pizza or some other fast food in the evening and etc. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of how bad it was for health and nobody ever told me... Anyway I'll stop here since I could go on forever with this topic...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2007 04:07PM by Walkern.

I am so glad to hear that your acne has improved! You're absolutely right, it will just take time. We didn't destroy our health in a day or even a month, so it takes awhile to rebuild our health.

Hello!

Have you tried eating low sugar foods? That might help. Bananas are moderate-high GI. So maybe it them in moderation (if you want). You could try lower sugar and see how it works if you want! Just an idea!

Thank you for your kindness!

love

Have you tried eating more a more veggie based diet such as big salads with some sort of dressing with some oil? Maybe lots of mild greens, with some fruit as well? Also, I know that I need a lot of protein! I noticed that you said that you were very skinny, and call me crazy but I think that being too skinny is often a sign of ill health, and maybe you need to address your underlaying health issues and really nurture your poor body, instead of seeing it as a toxic dump that needs cleaning out! I had acne for a long time, and just eating a balanced diet and using a very mild cleanser with a nice high-quality moisturizer (which can unfortunately be a bit pricey) did the trick! Good luck!!!

Yes, giving your skin a rest and letting it heal on its own was very wise of you. Sometimes messing around with skin too much esp. on the face can make the oil glands overproduce, hence more bacteria are attracted and hence more acne.

I'm so glad that raw foods have done so very much for you..lots of us can attest to that ourselves!

Love,
Prism

I agree that it could be allergies (I'd look for a good NAET practitioner to find out), but given that you used to eat a lot of garbage, I think the detox thing is more likely. (I was raised eating healthy vegetarian, then vegan for 15 years with high raw towards the later half and I still had some rash detoxing when I went 100%). You might try a special cleanse program (HealthForce Nutritionals seems to have a good one), to accelerates the detoxing . . . they have special ingredients (bentonite clay, zeolite ,etc) that suck the guck out much more quickly then if you were to just do the raw thing . . .

-Ryan
radicalvitality.com

I personally would take zeolite (natural cellular defense) - it's such a fast & easy way to get rid of toxins.

I say:

-Take your time, keep eating raw, you might just need to detox more. (especially if your acne got worse during a fast, you were probably detoxing more)

-My acne actaully got better as I washed my face less.

- I agree, that you should/could try adding some essential fatty acids, I have found flax seed(make sure you grind it up), and pumpkin seed are good for skin.