Low Toxin Diet Recurrent acne

[Elchupanibrain]

what can i do about recurring acne with low toxin? vitamin a and accutane are definitely not options. i think dr. smith mentioned that acne is caused by copper toxicity and too little zinc?
thanks

 

[taralynne]

what can i do about recurring acne with low toxin? vitamin a and accutane are definitely not options. i think dr. smith mentioned that acne is caused by copper toxicity and too little zinc?
thanks

I have the same issue. Been dealing with acne forever. I read on one of the low vitamin a groups recently that someone had mentioned that they have been putting Vaseline on their face after washing before going to bed which worked really well. I had never heard about doing that before so I bought some Vaseline & have been using it every night. I have to say nothing that I have ever tried has ever worked this well. It's amazing. My skin is so clear now. I only hope that there's nothing toxic about Vaseline because TBH I don't know if it's good or bad.

 

[DrJ]

what can i do about recurring acne with low toxin? vitamin a and accutane are definitely not options. i think dr. smith mentioned that acne is caused by copper toxicity and too little zinc?
thanks

Interestingly enough, retinoids kill malassezia which can cause acne. Did your acne respond to antibiotics or anything else?

 

[Elchupanibrain]

I have the same issue. Been dealing with acne forever. I read on one of the low vitamin a groups recently that someone had mentioned that they have been putting Vaseline on their face after washing before going to bed which worked really well. I had never heard about doing that before so I bought some Vaseline & have been using it every night. I have to say nothing that I have ever tried has ever worked this well. It's amazing. My skin is so clear now. I only hope that there's nothing toxic about Vaseline because TBH I don't know if it's good or bad.

Vaseline is made from mineral oil, so i think its not the best because it contains petroleum. on the other side, there is not much evidence about the toxicity (if you are not eating vaseline ). Glad its working for you

 

[Elchupanibrain]

Interestingly enough, retinoids kill malassezia which can cause acne. Did your acne respond to antibiotics or anything else?

antibiotics worked, but only as long as i was using them.

 

[curious_anthro]

antibiotics worked, but only as long as i was using them.

Never found anything that has worked to get rid of the acne but I can recommend some topicals. Raw manuka honey mask for 15 mins morning and night + repairing skin barrier helps calm it down a lot. I found out about this “three step moisture method” where you get your face wet, apply hyaluronic acid to draw in the moisture and then seal it in with either a ceramide or oil based serum (e.g., squalane) on top. I still have acne but my skin texture/redness has improved a lot.

 

[taralynne]

Vaseline is made from mineral oil, so i think its not the best because it contains petroleum. on the other side, there is not much evidence about the toxicity (if you are not eating vaseline ). Glad its working for you

That's disappointing but not surprising. I'm not eating it though, lol, so maybe I'll be ok. Hoping others will have some good recommendations.

 

[charlie]

what can i do about recurring acne with low toxin? vitamin a and accutane are definitely not options. i think dr. smith mentioned that acne is caused by copper toxicity and too little zinc?
thanks

Cholestasis and zinc deficiency is what causes acne. The liver is not able to excrete the toxins correctly so it backs up into the blood and then oozes out the skin. Low toxin lifestyle and diet fixes this.

 

[Richiebogie]

@taralynne

Do you wash off the Vaseline in the morning or does it get absorbed into your skin?

That is, is the Vaseline drawing out toxins (like the theorised beta carotene, retinol, copper etc.) or is the oil providing something that cools and soothes the inflammation (perhaps caused by mild acids exiting the skin)?

Another alternative is that the oil is smothering and killing bacteria.

It is interesting that acne is associated with puberty. Perhaps the body is purging toxins accrued during childhood…

 

[taralynne]

@taralynne

Do you wash off the Vaseline in the morning or does it get absorbed into your skin?

That is, is the Vaseline drawing out toxins (like the theorised beta carotene, retinol, copper etc.) or is the oil providing something that cools and soothes the inflammation (perhaps caused by mild acids exiting the skin)?

Another alternative is that the oil is smothering and killing bacteria.

It is interesting that acne is associated with puberty. Perhaps the body is purging toxins accrued during childhood…

I don't use any facial cleansers anymore but I rinse my face with warm water before putting the Vaseline on & then again in the morning. I'm sure some of it must get absorbed. When I first heard about using Vaseline for acne I searched a little online about it & from what i remember the vaseline is supposed to keep out bad bacteria so that your skin can heal. It's seems to work surprisingly well so I really don't want to stop using it. I've had acne on & off since I was a teenager & I think I just don't detox well at all which is the real issue. I used retin-a for several years in my twenties which now I know only made the problem much worse.

 

[Richiebogie]

I wonder if the Vaseline stops the body from using the skin as a detox pathway?

That would mean less pain and less scarring but best to get detox working again through the digestive tract.

Have you been trying the rice, oats, apple, banana, beef diet, @taralynne?

 

[taralynne]

I wonder if the Vaseline stops the body from using the skin as a detox pathway?

That would mean less pain and less scarring but best to get detox working again through the digestive tract.

Have you been trying the rice, oats, apple, banana, beef diet, @taralynne?

You're probably right about the vaseline, that would make sense & I agree that I need to improve my ability to detox properly. I also have eczema so it would be great if detox could improve so that I could permanently clear up all my skin issues.

I have been doing a modified low A diet for almost 2 years so I am on the slow path to healing. There's a lot of things I can't eat due to severe bloating and my previous experience on a strict AIP diet several years ago was the start of hair loss issues so im hesitant to limit my diet that much again. I would love to eat apples & bananas but they cause bloating. I think from the fiber. I try them every once in awhile but no improvement yet. I can't eat oats either as I seem to be allergic; fairly immediately after eating them I get itchy palms & sometimes nausea though I didn't always react to oats so I may try them again some day. I do eat quite a bit of beef and worry sometimes that I may be eating too much. Staples include a lot of beef, some chicken, rice, blueberries, coffee, iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, asparagus, turkey sausage, 1 egg every day, some sugar & some chocolate. Not ideal I know but I did stop drinking milk & juice, stopped eating lots of honey & cut back on dairy significantly. Even with the not totally on point diet, my hair has been growing back & my nails are growing better again too so I am making some progress, it's just slow. Now if I could just start losing some weight I would be a really happy camper.

 

[peter88]

Dairy reliably gives me acne, especially on my back and cheeks.

 

[taralynne]

Dairy reliably gives me acne, especially on my back and cheeks.

Sometimes dairy sometimes seems to help and sometimes it makes it worse for me. I can't figure it out. When I cut back on the amount of fruit I was eating; though, it made a noticeable difference.

 

[Richiebogie]

Hi @taralynne.

Relating to your oats, banana and apples issues, when I started reintroducing bread, I would get a runny nose later that night for several hours!

I thought it was a bad sign so I would go back to avoiding wheat.

With Charlie encouraging us to reduce fruit and return to starch I pushed through and discovered it was only a short term issue.

Now with the detox mindset short term symptoms are not a good indication of a food’s value! It’s all about long term health!

A bit like your hair issue. What do you think caused the hair loss on the AutoImmune Protocol diet?

 

[taralynne]

Hi @taralynne.

Relating to your oats, banana and apples issues, when I started reintroducing bread, I would get a runny nose later that night for several hours!

I thought it was a bad sign so I would go back to avoiding wheat.

With Charlie encouraging us to reduce fruit and return to starch I pushed through and discovered it was only a short term issue.

Now with the detox mindset short term symptoms are not a good indication of a food’s value! It’s all about long term health!

A bit like your hair issue. What do you think caused the hair loss on the AutoImmune Protocol diet?

That's interesting about your experience with bread & I'm glad to hear that it resolved. Hearing positive experiences like that always give me hope that things will get better with time!

It's funny, over the past several years since finding out about the pro metabolic diet I have had different theories about what caused my hair to start shedding. Initially, I thought it was a combination of not eating enough calories as well as not eating enough carbs; 1,300-1,500 calories per day & very few carbs most days except when the cravings got too intense & I binged. AIP is a super restrictive diet & there were so many things that I wasn't supposed to eat that I just didn't eat much for a long time. Once I found Matt Stone & Ray Peat, I literally did a 180 & started eating more calories & a more varied diet and the hair shedding stopped fairly immediately. What I lost never seemed to grow back; though, & I had a few more episodes of hair loss when I did things to try & fix my new weight issue (taking too much progesterone, increasing thyroid meds too fast, too much MB too fast & also when I tried to slowly come back down on calories- the stress of all those different experiences caused more hair shedding). Anything that could possibly help with losing weight caused my hair to fall out. So needless to say the weight is still an issue. Now, looking at it from a low toxin perspective, it's possible that eating too many sweet potatoes , broccoli, leafy greens & spinach may have contributed as well. So even though increasing calories & carbs stopped the shedding my hair didn't really start growing back until I decreased my vitamin a consumption. I have had a few setbacks with shedding during this low A journey but my hair still keeps filling so I am super grateful for that.

 

[Richiebogie]

@taralynne

That’s great news about the hair! I would love to regain some hair. Maybe less vitamin A and more bile flow will help me there! I have only just given up 1.5 litres of OJ per day in February so time will tell…

I have lost weight by decreasing dairy and chocolate. I am now on about 1 cup of milk per day and the odd slice of cheese that delicatessens put in their sandwiches! Also 50g of milk chocolate and 200g of chicken or beef or tuna.

I think the grains go into muscle energy rather than fat. I am eating a lot more grain now. I haven’t had much grain since discovering the evils of seeds around 2014!

Also I am back to swimming twice a week which I couldn’t do during Covid!

 

[taralynne]

@taralynne

That’s great news about the hair! I would love to regain some hair. Maybe less vitamin A and more bile flow will help me there! I have only just given up 1.5 litres of OJ per day in February so time will tell…

I have lost weight by decreasing dairy and chocolate. I am now on about 1 cup of milk per day and the odd slice of cheese that delicatessens put in their sandwiches! Also 50g of milk chocolate and 200g of chicken or beef or tuna.

I think the grains go into muscle energy rather than fat. I am eating a lot more grain now. I haven’t had much grain since discovering the evils of seeds around 2014!

Also I am back to swimming twice a week which I couldn’t do during Covid!

So glad to hear that you have lost weight by decreasing the amount of milk and chocolate in your diet! Hopefully, with time as I become less toxic weight loss will jsut happen because dropping milk & juice and reducing the amount of chocolate in my diet surprisingly has not helped me at all.

Did you have any issues with acne too?

 

[Richiebogie]

Hi @taralynne

I haven’t had acne but I am hoping the low A detox diet will heal my inguinal hernia, pot belly, gray hair at the back of my head, bald top of head and my longest two complaints from childhood: asthma and short-sightedness.

Several early 20th century naturopaths believed that many diseases came from the same causes.

They attributed disease to eating animal meats and milks.

They described detox as a short term illness leading to improved health.

They also warned about medical drugs stopping detox and therefore stopping the body from healing.

The toxic bile theory shares a number of these old healers’ ideas.

 

[taralynne]

Hi @taralynne

I haven’t had acne but I am hoping the low A detox diet will heal my inguinal hernia, pot belly, gray hair at the back of my head, bald top of head and my longest two complaints from childhood: asthma and short-sightedness.

Several early 20th century naturopaths believed that many diseases came from the same causes.

They attributed disease to eating animal meats and milks.

They described detox as a short term illness leading to improved health.

They also warned about medical drugs stopping detox and therefore stopping the body from healing.

The toxic bile theory shares a number of these old healers’ ideas.

I hope you are able to reverse these conditions for you. I have been near-sighted since I was 12 and I would be so thrilled if my eyesight improved.

I have to say that the one of the reasons that the low toxin diet is appealing is because of the simplicity of the theory like you attributed to the 20th century naturopaths that medical drugs stop detox and stops the body from healing. It makes a lot of sense.