Three Kinds Of Detoxifying Diets That May Help Improve Your Acne

It has been thought for centuries, that what you put into your body has a direct result on how healthy you are. You are what you eat, and all that. In medieval times, sick people were treated with herbs and teas, and things that we generally now classify as a detoxification diet, as a way to both make them feel better, and to actually cure them of their ills. Some modern studies have shown a correlation between a poor diet, and problem acne. The problem is that different diets have different effects on people, and some have different abilities to conform to those diets.

Before continuing, let me mention that the things we are about to discuss should be talked over with your doctor, or a dietitian, to ensure that what you are about to do wont have an adverse affect on you in some other way. No two people are the same, and no general health advice can ever be specific enough for any specific person.

Okay, let’s look at the three major classes of acne-improving, detoxification diets.

First, Lectin-Free diet. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins, which are present in plants, animals and humans. It’s also the major ingredient in the chemical weapon Ricin-B. The act of carbohydrate binding causes your body to work against itself, which creates swelling, inflammation and irritation. Predictably, this can lead to more acne breakouts. To cut lectins from your diet means cutting out grains, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, and many starches.

Then there is the Gluten-Free diet. Roughly ¼ to 1/3 of all people have shown to have some kind of intolerance to gluten, and some cases are severe. The severest form is named separately, called Celiac Disease. You could have a mild case, and not know it, but your body could be feeling (and showing) the effects externally. This intolerance creates problems in your digestive tract, which may escape your body in the form of skin irritations, or acne. Gluten is also the cause of Dermatitis herpetiformis, or Duhring’s Disease, which is another kind of skin irritation syndrome. Gluten-rich foods include wheat, barley, rye and some cereals.

Finally, and probably most difficultly, is the Dairy-free diet. This means no milk, cheese, yogurt, cream, whey, or anything else that would come out of a cow. Dairy cows are often given drugs and hormones to make them better milk producers, and are given antibiotics to keep them from getting certain diseases that are specific to cows. All these things, the drugs, hormones and antibiotics are passed to us when we consume milk, cheese & butter, and can cause other problems. There is a significant industry created around the lactose-intolerant. Lactose makes up as much as 8% of the solids in milk, and in Latin, literally translates to “Milk sugar.”

Now, I’m not suggesting that you try all of these at once, or even any of them. They are all difficult to follow, as it encompasses things we eat a lot of every day. In fact, if you were to try to do more than one of them at once, you wouldn’t know what was working and what wasn’t. Some people have had success by following one of the diets for 3 months, and watching the results. If they don’t see any changes, drop that and try another one. Eventually, you’ll hit upon a combination that works, and can be followed without too much difficulty on your part.

The link between what you eat and your skin has been made repeatedly in studies, but there is no way to give a general proscription for specific people. In this article, we looked at three kinds of detoxifying diets, why they could be causing your acne, and what to do to follow them. They aren’t right for everyone, but they may be right for you.