Can Acne Diets Work?
Although several websites will tell you that the idea that what you eat can effect your skin is an “acne myth”, this is far from the case. What you put into your body does make a difference for your skin, as should be common sense. Of course, what you eat usually isn’t going to make a dramatic, overnight difference. That type of belief would indeed be a myth.
Acne diets are largely perpetuated by ebooks. If you use search engines, you’ve probably seen a few of them before, such as the famous “acne free in 3 days”, etc. Of course, it’s smart to be wary of anyone selling “online secrets”. So how do these diets work?
Acne can be a hard habit for your body to break, and you see this reflected in clear skin diets. Many of them involve some pretty drastic dietary changes, many of which are more accurately called acne fasting. One of the most popular involves eating nothing but apples - a lot of apples, every day. Truth be told, some of these diets do in fact work. Apples, for instance, are called “nature’s multivitamins” for a good reason. They are packed with helpful nutrients for your skin and the rest of your body. That said, eating nothing but apples isn’t going to make for a lasting or healthy solution in the long term.
Some other diets are even more extreme, involving taking nothing but gallons of water or green tea (in reality, apples are mostly water as well). The logic behind these solutions does make sense. Drinking a lot of water helps flush out unwanted bacteria and cleanse your system, while providing the moisture your skin cells need to stay supple and quickly repair themselves.
The catch is that sooner or later you have to go back to eating normally, and there’s a good chance your acne will simply return. Acne is usually tied to your metabolism. This goes back to vitamin B5 theory and the role of coenzyme-A. Metabolizing food also drains co-A, so eat less of those foods that are quickly metabolized (like processed grains), and your skin cells will usually have an easier time keeping acne under control. Unfortunately, you’re still going to be stuck in the cycle of eat-fast-eat-fast to keep your skin clear, unless you supplement with something like B5 to actually increase your co-A supply. Even still, it can be helpful to avoid foods that you find are problems foods for you.
No extreme diet is the solution. When your body is starved of the nutrients you’ve been missing out on, other problems arise for your skin and elsewhere. Not to mention that extreme diets are never good for your metabolism. Your body likes things predictable. When you starve yourself, your body will adjust by going into survival mode, lowering your metabolism. This can actually make it more difficult for your body to fight acne when it comes back next time. Rather than starving yourself, consider diets that are healthy and balanced. Sometimes specific foods (such as dairy products) can be the problem for certain individuals, and you don’t need to cut out everything.
Drinking more water is good, an apple a day is certainly good, but rather than eliminating all solid food from your diet, consider what you can add to it to make your diet for skin friendly.
