acne and inflammation whenever i eat anything page 3

[Knifegill]

WTF? Just eat dandelion roots, green apples and green tea and get some sunshine every day. Good luck trying to get acne. You'd have to drink soda and cry big emo tears for an hour to get your stress high enough to beat that army.

Almost forgot some other tricks I've used for years that might not even be necessary for me anymore:
Change your pillowcase every night.
Never touch your face.
Never wash your face with hot water, use cool if you must splash some dirt off.
Feel calm as much as you can. No matter how busy you are, just force tranquility into your bones and hold it there. Stress will beckon the bumps. Clearly that doesn't mean you shouldn't address stressors, just do it without...stressing.

[ozbuckley]

I can vouch for the replies that talk about healing your gut. Since Ive started eating Primal, eliminated fruit, starches, dairy (except raw butter), etc my acne has improved considerably. I used to have bad acne around my nose.

Lately Ive been cooking up lots of bone broths and digesting them (aka GAPS diet) which I feel is helping A LOT!

Applying coconut oil topically broke me out badly when I first tried it about a year ago.. I started to apply it again 3 months ago and it has worked wonders. But obviously, true healing of acne comes from within I know believe.

[ozbuckley]

In the comments to his Podcast, Paul mentioned to someone that the more systematic/severe the fungal infection is the MORE CARBS need to be digested. Now, this goes against everything Ive heard.

Isnt the point of a fungal infection to starve it through diet (reduce carbs to 40-70g) and kill it off?

Can someone shed some light on this?

THanks

[IndigoBanshee]

My acne has also pretty much gone away completely since I went Primal/gluten-free. I never had it severely, but it was persistent, and I have very oily skin. I started washing my face with Dr. Bronner's baby mild soap and the oil has decreased quite a bit.

[Hunt3R]

In the comments to his Podcast, Paul mentioned to someone that the more systematic/severe the fungal infection is the MORE CARBS need to be digested. Now, this goes against everything Ive heard.

Isnt the point of a fungal infection to starve it through diet (reduce carbs to 40-70g) and kill it off?

Can someone shed some light on this?

THanks

I already did shed some light on that in my first reply:

Avoid ketosis, if your acne is caused by a fungal infection in the gut (candida) then fungi have mitochondria and are able to metabolize ketones for energy. When I first started experimenting with fasting I noticed my breakouts got worse. I never skip a meal now although I do restrict protein and carbs in the morning, so I may only eat some fresh coconut and a handful of berries for breakfast. Also, get 200-400 carb calories (calories only from carb content) each day to help prevent ketosis, but from "safe" starches, no wheat! The Perfect Health Diet is really good about explaining this, but my favorites are taro, cassava, and even white rice. I always cover them in pastured, cultured butter.

But I also asked Paul to clear up that recommendation on the comments for his article announcing the podcast: Podcast with Chris Kresser and Danny Roddy | Perfect Health Diet

And if you listen to the podcast too, or read the PHD book, they explain the differences between trying to heal from bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.

[Pitter]

interesting comments Hunt and others. I had moderate acne on my face from about college onward. As soon as I cut out industrial oils that cleared up completely. It was the one thing I hadn't tinkered with in all that time. I did dairy free, alcohol free, sugar free, etc, but the source of dietary fat was absolutely the most important thing in my case. Even too many nuts or a restaurant meal with say, regular salad dressing may set me off.

I also get breakouts on my back, which seem to be more stress related and have not fully resolved.

[ozbuckley]

Hunt3r: "I never skip a meal now although I do restrict protein and carbs in the morning, so I may only eat some fresh coconut and a handful of berries for breakfast. Also, get 200-400 carb calories (calories only from carb content) each day to help prevent ketosis, but from "safe" starches, no wheat! The Perfect Health Diet is really good about explaining this, but my favorites are taro, cassava, and even white rice. I always cover them in pastured, cultured butter."

--

Hey hunt3r, what 'safe' starches are you referring to? sweet potatoes ok?

It seems like every resource I find says that sugar feeds the fungus. I wouldve thought that coconut (not so much the berries) would contain too much natural sugar for an anti-candida diet!?

How bad was your infection/overgrowth?

Ive been on a very low carb anticandida diet (e.g no fruit) and have had some pretty good results so far.

Its interesting to see other peoples approaches and results. how is your progess going?

[ozbuckley]

I also find this approach by Paul to oppose some other gut healing methods such as the GAPS diet which eliminates anything starchy. It does allow some fruits though so there are some similiarities i guess. Just interesting (and a little confusing) to see info that contradicts each other.

[SlimIcy]

I've had acne since I was 12. Cutting out gluten didn't change it. Cutting out dairy didn't change it. Cutting out vegetable/seed oils is COMPLETELY changing it for the better.

[Hunt3R]

Hey hunt3r, what 'safe' starches are you referring to? sweet potatoes ok?

It seems like every resource I find says that sugar feeds the fungus. I wouldve thought that coconut (not so much the berries) would contain too much natural sugar for an anti-candida diet!?

How bad was your infection/overgrowth?

Ive been on a very low carb anticandida diet (e.g no fruit) and have had some pretty good results so far.

Its interesting to see other peoples approaches and results. how is your progess going?

By safe starches, I'm referring to anything with low-to-no known toxicity. I was very low carb for my first couple years of paleo/primal but after finding the PHD I started reintroducing starches with good results. I don't like the taste of sweet potatoes so I don't eat those. I prefer to eat taro, malanga, boniato, ņame, or cassava (yuca) but my favorite is white rice. I'll make a homemade duck/beef/lamb bone broth and then cook a ton of white rice in the broth. It's awesome. Then of course, cover it with some pastured butter or coconut oil.

I've found that regardless of how many carbs I consume daily, as long as I eat regularly my skin will not break out, but I eat dinner late, like ~9pm, and so I have to eat breakfast early, like ~8am, or else the longer I go in a fasted state, the more my body gets into ketosis, and the more likely I'll start to break out over the next couple of days. This can still happen to me and I don't know how long I will have to be careful to avoid ketosis, a year? Maybe more? I usually consume those "safe starches" for dinner which I believe helps me get thru the 11-12hrs of fasting each night.

There are other supplements that may help get rid of different bacterial infections and antibiotics may be very beneficial too if you know exactly what type of bacteria you're trying to target and you can find a doctor willing to work with you on it. But the only supplements that I'm taking at the moment are magnesium, high-dose Iodine, and low-dose chromium and vitamin C supplements daily. There are herbs too I think that may be beneficial? The PHD has a lot of info on this and Paul has mentioned them in some of his interviews as well.

And BTW the PHD has a good series of 4 articles on the possible dangers of a low carb diet. For instance, I had noticed for a long time that my eyes were always dry and irritated and I didn't know why. Turns out it was a sign of glucose deprivation and it can also affect more than just the mucous production in your eyes, like your digestive system. Eating starch was an instant fix but if I don't regularly eat enough starch, I notice that the dryness comes back. So the PHD convinced me that some small amounts of starch daily are beneficial, if not necessary, for health reasons other than just helping to cure a fungal infection of the gut: Dangers of Zero-Carb Diets, I: Can There Be a Carbohydrate Deficiency? | Perfect Health Diet

As for the sugar in coconut, maybe the antimicrobial properties of the coconut fat cancel out the small amount of sugar? There's really not that much in coconut anyway. I looked it up real quick and 1 cup of coconut has 5g sugar while 1 cup of blueberries has 15g sugar. 1 cup is a whole lot to eat of either IMO.