Anyone tried the "no grains" diet for acne?

I recently read a post on another forum in which getting rid of grains and sugar in the diet seems to be the new thing in eliminating acne.  I thought I'd try a couple things and start a thread here about it.  Please post if you've tried it.  The more I experiment and discover things I will come back and post any results.

For the past 2 weeks I tried the "poke the problem with things that might be bad for it and see what happens" approach.  First, I am a vegetarian.  I have found that eliminating meat completely from my diet got rid of some problems I was having that I won't go into.  (It worked because a diet heavy in meat and sugar changes the body's Ph, and getting the Ph to go closer to normal is what fixed those problems...which I won't go into right now).  The veggie diet did not, however, do anything for acne.  I didn't eat that much grains in the past few years, mostly only rice, I varied between eating sugar and not for a few years at a time.  My only drink was water or milk.  My skin was about okay, not really very bad at all, and I credited proactiv with fixing it for me, but not I'm not entirely sure this was correct....

So, these past 2 weeks, I ate grains at every meal to see what would happen.  I ate spaghetti one or two times a day, and a slice of homemade bread with jelly on it, and cereal for breakfast.  I did eat lots of veggies with the grain meals twice a day.  The jelly, brown sugar in my coffee, whatever sugar comes in cereal, and ice cream after dinner were the only sugars I ate. 

My face has been broken out far worse than usual, (it wasn't really a big problem before) even though my skin care regimen hasn't changed.  I forgot how uncomfortable acne is!  No wonder teens are cranky!  My face,  neck, and scalp also itch, which they never did before.  I'm thinking there may be something to this thing with grains causing problems.  Next week I will eliminate grains and see if this improves any.  Please post if you've tried any of this.

I started the atkins diet jan 4 of this year. I initially started it to loose weight. I went in for my yearly, and had a coniption fit!I have lost 25 lbs since, so it it working for the weight los.

Its good to hear your experiences.  Eating too much meat was what messed me up with the body Ph thing, so I wouldn't be going for the atkins myself, but its great that it is working for you. 

I love meat anyway,( I was the the only girl raised in a home with 4 brothers and a single dad, so I didn't have much choice), so this is a good diet for me.

coffee is bad for the skin.

Alisa, I used to love it too way back when, but then I started getting the problems from it.  Now that I haven't eaten it in a long time, most of it doesn't even taste good to me anymore.  I guess that's a blessing!

Jinn, I never heard that about coffee....maybe experiments will have to be done for that one too.  I can think of two reasons why it might be considered bad though.  One is it affects the body's Ph, it can supposedly make it more acid and that can increase breakouts.  Some of us are breakout prone even after we correct the body's ph though.  Another reason is caffeine helps to dehydrate you, and drinking tons of water really helps a lot with acne, so by dehydrating you it isn't doing you any favors.


So, UPDATE about the diet....
I mostly gave up wheat for awhile, and it did clear up any acne I had.  I notice worsening of symptoms after any wheat-cheating as well.  I did eat rice, so apparently rice is okay with me.  I am surprised at what else not eating wheat cleared up also.  I no longer have any runny nose or sneezing that was my allergies before.   I can even eat peanuts without sneezing and having a runny nose afterwards, and drink milk without getting congested.  (I thought I had a slight allergy to peanuts and milk -- not your usual food allergy, no hives or anything --apparently it was the wheat all along).  Note:  Its hard to give up wheat.  Its in everything.  White flour is made of it, spaghetti is made of it, cous cous (semolina) is made of it.  You can pretty much eat only rice if you want to give it up, and no other bread products. 

I also tried switching from proactiv to stuff that does a similar routine but would be cheaper.  I tried a neutragena product with microbeads for the wash, witch hazel for the toner, and a regular 10% benzoyl peroxide product for the third step.  Unfortunately this little experiment didn't pan out.  I got more breakouts than I usually get with the proactiv, so I switched back to it.  I have tried using the proactive wash, followed by witch hazel, then the proactive repairing lotion, and this works great--- even better I think than with the proactiv toner in the middle.  But I haven't yet found anything to replace that important first step that still works as well.

Hi Susan,

Wow, what a great subject. I love anything that has to do with nutrition and your skin,nails, hair,etc.

[QUOTE=Alisa06]Wow, what a great subject. I love anything that has to do with nutrition and your skin,nails, hair,etc.   [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Susan W] [/QUOTE]

I started the Atkins diet because of a weight issue, but also because of a suspected yeast over growth. I have been struggling for the past several years with an energy problem. I have always been more on the easily fatigues side because of a heart murmur, but this went above and beyond. At first we thought it was because I had 3 kids in  3 1/2 years, and nursed them all until almost 1 yr or over. with my first two,there was a month were I was pregnant and nursing, and did not know it. I ended up with post pardum depression with my 3rd. This started me on a long road of anti-depressants. I eventually ended up in a psychiatrist's office. He in turn sent me to a sleep specialist after watching me for a year. After doing two sleep studies, I was diagnosed with idiopathic hypersomnia. For those of us in the real world, this means unknown sleepiness. I was so sleepy, I was almost diagnosed with narcolepsy. To be diagnose with narcolepsy, you have to all asleep in under 5 min. My average was under 2. I was put on Ritalin, which gave me anxiety. I already had  been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder by my psychiatrist, so this wasn't good. I decided I wanted " heal myself" with as natural means as possible. I have always been intrigued by natural medicine. 

In the middle of all this I developed acne, and chronic sinusitis. I have never had acne, even as a teenager, so I was put on birth control pills, and oral antibiotics.After two years, they quit working, and the meds were changed.My father in law came up with the possibility of a yeast overgrowth. In Jan, when I started the Atkins diet, I also started taking a pro biotic that claims to kill yeast by eating it. After about 3-4 days, I felt like I had the flue! I can honestly say, that I believe he was right. My skin had cleared up, and my energy had gone through the roof. Every now and then , when I forget to take the pro biotic for a few days, or cheat, and eat sugar or flour , I start to get sluggish again, or my skin starts to brake out. 

Did one of you say that candida will make you shed more? I believe that this is what I read. I was just going to post about this on the long hair care forum. All winter I have been sheding really badly. I mean REALLY bad. I know you are supposed to loose quite alot of hair daily, but I loose a huge hunk in the shower, and whenever I comb. It is not coming from any one spot, just all over like regular sheding.I am starting to get nervous. I have alot of hair, so it has taken me a while to get nervous,now, I am. I know this is not skin care related, and I am sorry, but do any of you have any suggestions?  

[QUOTE=Alisa06]Did one of you say that candida will make you shed more? I believe that this is what I read. I was just going to post about this on the long hair care forum. All winter I have been sheding really badly. I mean REALLY bad. I know you are supposed to loose quite alot of hair daily, but I loose a huge hunk in the shower, and whenever I comb. It is not coming from any one spot, just all over like regular sheding.I am starting to get nervous. I have alot of hair, so it has taken me a while to get nervous,now, I am. I know this is not skin care related, and I am sorry, but do any of you have any suggestions?   [/QUOTE]

Well, doesn't that just take the cake! Thank you so much for you insight and thoughts. I guess I am going to have to re-evaluate my diet. I had been border-line vegetarian most of my life until I started having babies, then my body just screamed for meat. Well with my boys, anyway, with my daughter I had to stay as far away from meat as possible until I figured out to smother it in a sauce.

I have always eaten mushrooms.  I have heard also that they are bad, but I think that's just because they are fungus so people think "how can fungus be good for fungus?"  But I never had any problem with them or with the spirulina drink (which is algae).

You can't eliminate eating any new yeasts from your diet.  I have learned this, that like bacteria yeasts are everywhere and it won't do you any good to peel and scrub every fruit you eat just so you don't eat any more.  Changing the environment of your body is the best way just to keep any you eat from taking over. 

I love, eat and drink lots of dairy.  Even at the point when I gave up ice cream because of the sugar, I never gave up milk (or its sugars).  I can imagine there that someone may think its bad for yeast because there can be a lot of antibiotics in it if you don't buy organic (because they were fed to the cows and chickens and they excrete it).  For this reason, I do always buy organic.  For the Ph diet, dairy is fine though.  Milk, cheese and eggs are all almost neutral as far as what it does for your Ph. 

thank you, Susan, and Karen you have been so helpful.It is good to know about the dairy. I love cheese. Any kind of it. I  don't drink milk to much, but I love ice cream,I thought I had to live without it until my husband brought some home that was made with splenda. I don't have it like I used to (every night) but I feel better knowing I can have it if I really want. 

[QUOTE=Susan W]I have always eaten mushrooms.  I have heard also that they are bad, but I think that's just because they are fungus so people think "how can fungus be good for fungus?"  But I never had any problem with them or with the spirulina drink (which is algae).

You can't eliminate eating any new yeasts from your diet.  I have learned this, that like bacteria yeasts are everywhere and it won't do you any good to peel and scrub every fruit you eat just so you don't eat any more.  Changing the environment of your body is the best way just to keep any you eat from taking over. 

I love, eat and drink lots of dairy.  Even at the point when I gave up ice cream because of the sugar, I never gave up milk (or its sugars).  I can imagine there that someone may think its bad for yeast because there can be a lot of antibiotics in it if you don't buy organic (because they were fed to the cows and chickens and they excrete it).  For this reason, I do always buy organic.  For the Ph diet, dairy is fine though.  Milk, cheese and eggs are all almost neutral as far as what it does for your Ph. 

[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Alisa06]thank you, Susan, and Karen you have been so helpful.It is good to know about the dairy. I love cheese. Any kind of it. I  don't drink milk to much, but I love ice cream,I thought I had to live without it until my husband brought some home that was made with splenda. I don't have it like I used to (every night) but I feel better knowing I can have it if I really want.  [/QUOTE]

I do ok with splenda. I only really have it in the ice cream, and in flavored water. I don't bake or anything of tht sort that would require suger/ sugar substitute

Tell me about that!  My husband is a bbq and steak nut.  It was hard at first to go with him to all-meat restaurants and not order any.  I have gotten used to it though, no matter where I am its my right to order only veggie side dishes if I must!  Surprisingly I haven't gotten any dirty looks from waitresses so far!

Update on the "no grains" for acne diet:
This week's experimenting has confirmed that it seems to have a cumulative effect.  I can cheat a little and not break out, as long as I avoid the wheat mostly (I had had pecan pie for lunch one day - bready crust - and I only got a pimple...no major aching breakout like when I ate breads more frequently).  Its a lot easier knowing I don't have to avoid it like the plague, I can just mostly avoid it, and have some if I really want something.  I can deal with a pimple or two, its the bigger breakouts that start to get me feeling self conscious and depressed.

Edited to add:  I also found that using the proactiv 3 step system once a day, and using the neutrogena bead scrub, witch hazel and regular 10% benzoyl peroxide for the other wash (meaning also once a day), is a great mix!   My skin is much better when I use both systems than it is when I use either alone.  Unfortunately this isn't what I was going for. I was trying to find a cheaper solution that would work as well as proactiv.  I am still working on this too. 




Susan W2007-06-12 08:26:30

Update on the "no grains" for acne diet:

I've been off the wheat for a few weeks straight now, it really does help to just not eat it most of the time, even if I cheat on occasion.  (I guess that makes sense since if its an allergy it would still be sitting in your intestines making you allergic otherwise).  I'm still utterly impressed with how great my skin feels, and even managed to get off the proactiv for a week.  (Then I hit my hormonal week and got one zit so I switched back to it, and still use both it and the neutrogena scrub). 

Whenever I cheat and eat a little bread, that is definitely what makes my face and neck itch.  This may be the whole reason it makes me break out (since I scratch and get hand dirt on my face), or maybe its just a side effect. 

Its not as hard as I thought it would be, after not eating wheat for a month, I've noticed I can cheat once or twice a week and sometimes not even get a zit.  I love being without congestion so much that I really hardly even miss it.  Since I know I can cheat once or twice a week, I don't feel like I'm hurtin' for it or anything, so this diet didn't turn out to be as hard as I thought it would be, even as a vegetarian.

Oh, and I still do eat as much sugar as I want, and drink a low-caf coffee in the morning.  Neither seems to cause acne at all for me.

The couple of people that I have met that are allergic to wheat have the most beautiful skin I've ever seen.

[QUOTE=Alisa06]Wow, what a great subject. I love anything that has to do with nutrition and your skin,nails, hair,etc. [/QUOTE]

Red wine has more toxins than white. Red gives me a headache if I drink more than 2 glasses. White doesn't do this.