Win Your Fight Against Acne with the Right Foods!
Your skin is literally what you eat – so following an anti acne diet should be your mantra! Why not amp up on doctor recommended foods for acne treatment; and boost your skin health? Nutrition for a clear skin needs to be the backbone of your skin care regimen.
Understanding Acne and it’s Causes
Do you dread looking in to the mirror and seeing angry acne glaring back at you? Then, you need to know that the only real secret fix to combat stubborn cases of acne is carefully watching your diet and modifying it to suit your skin type. Diet and acne is a very close partnership! Logically speaking, if what you eat shows up on your face; and cakes, cookies, French fries, pizzas and sodas set off awful flare-ups and are dubbed ‘acne causing foods’; then likewise, there are certain specific foods which will help resolve as well as prevent acne eruptions – these should be a part of your ‘anti-acne diet’. Remember, diet and acne go hand in hand!
What is Acne?
When your hair follicles and pores get plugged with oil and dead skin cells, acne gets triggered. You tend to develop whiteheads, blackheads and pimples. Effective treatments for acne are available, but acne can be very persistent. What makes it worse is, the eruptions heal slowly, and when one eruption starts to resolve, others crop up within a short period of time.
Causes and Triggers of Acne
Understanding how acne flare-ups happen –
- A lot of oil production in the skin
- The hair follicles and pores get blocked by oil and dead skin cells
- Bacterial infection sets in
- The skin gets inflamed
- Breakouts happen
The Role of Nutrition in Combating Acne
There is a direct effect between what you eat and what it does to your body. Experts talk about a strong relationship between your diet, the gut microbiome and their influence on the skin – this is the ‘gut-skin-axis’. Whatever reaches the gut, directly affects the skin.
How Diet Impacts Acne
The fundamental factor that affects your skin is your diet. Foods which raise the blood sugar level rapidly are responsible for triggering acne breakouts. When the blood sugar level escalates, your body releases huge quantities of insulin. Too much insulin in the blood causes the sebaceous glands to produce large amounts of oil, and this increases your vulnerability of developing acne. When you consume a diet comprising of refined, processed foods, greasy fried foods and sugary foods, it also alters your gut’s microbiome and this causes inflammation. Widespread inflammation in the body provokes an occurrence of breakouts.
We’ve got you covered with a round-up of all the go-to foods for a healthy acne free skin. These foods tackle your triggering factors and help deal with the condition more effectually. Here’s to an anti acne diet!
The Link between Nutrition and Skin Health
If you tend to eat high glycemic foods and have been fighting a long drawn out battle with chronic acne; then most definitely, doing away with these foods from your diet, and instead including plenty of low glycemic foods will help you tackle your condition better. Nutrition for clear skin is the very cornerstone for acne treatment. When you switch to a low glycemic diet, you will quickly see brilliant results – your flare-ups will reduce, the intensity of acne will lessen, and your skin will clears up appreciably. Add loads of fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, and whole cereals in to your diet, these are low glycemic foods and guarantee to give you a radiant, blemish free complexion.
Specific Foods that Help Battle Acne
Here are 5 superfoods which are scientifically proven to help you attain a blemish free complexion.
1. GREEN TEA – Anti-oxidants for Preventing Breakouts
Green tea is packed with powerful polyphenols, which are super potent anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory agents, thereby making green tea an ideal treatment for acne. Consuming 1 to 2 glasses of the brew everyday promises astonishing results – it will flush out toxins and noxious wastes from your body, successfully get rid of acne flare-ups and scars, and will keep your skin healthy and supple. Topically too, green tea is excellent; place cold tea bags over your face to help tone and nourish the skin. EGCG, a polyphenol found in green tea helps keep the oil production in your skin at a normal level. Large amounts of sebum clogs pores, increases the chance of bacterial infection and raises your susceptibility to breakouts. EGCG helps break this vicious cycle. Make sure you incorporate green tea in to your daily menu and your daily skin care routine.
2. CARROT – A Veggie Packed with vitamin A
Green tea is packed with powerful polyphenols, which are super potent anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory agents, thereby making green tea an ideal treatment for acne. Consuming 1 to 2 glasses of the brew everyday promises astonishing results – it will flush out toxins and noxious wastes from your body, successfully get rid of acne flare-ups and scars, and will keep your skin healthy and supple. Topically too, green tea is excellent; place cold tea bags over your face to help tone and nourish the skin. EGCG, a polyphenol found in green tea helps keep the oil production in your skin at a normal level. Large amounts of sebum clogs pores, increases the chance of bacterial infection and raises your susceptibility to breakouts. EGCG helps break this vicious cycle. Make sure you incorporate green tea in to your daily menu and your daily skin care routine.
3. LIME – A Fruit Loaded with Vitamin C
Packed with vitamin C, limes are potent detoxing fruits that help get rid of toxic wastes from the body as well as fight off bacterial infection, thereby thwarting ugly flare-ups. Consuming lime water on a daily basis provides your skin with instant hydration, a ton of vitamin C, and generous amounts of flavonoids. Alongside, applying lime juice to the acne prone skin promises you a cleaner, healthier complexion. Ingesting lime as well as using lime juice as a face cleanser gives you a double whammy!
4. KIDNEY BEANS – Protein and it’s Role in Skin Health
Kidney beans give you a protein overload along with giving you large quantities of fibre, and this can do wonders for your skin. Additionally, kidney beans are rich in zinc, a mineral that impressively fights acne and hastens the healing of acne scars. Power up with zinc loaded kidney beans!
5. FLAX SEEDS – Omega 3 and it’s Benefit for Skin Health
Flax seeds are power packed foods that are brimming over with oodles of protein, omega 3 fatty acids, fibre and anti-oxidants. If you include these seeds in to your day to day diet, you most definitely will have a gorgeous skin! These seeds cleanse your GI track, throw out the acne causing toxins and prevent unsightly flare-ups. Being strongly anti-inflammatory, flax seeds not only ward off eruptions, they also decrease the severity of the acne. The omega 3 fatty acids stop an over-production of oil by balancing the hormones, and lowering your risk of breakouts. Integrating 2 to 3 spoons of roasted and powdered flax seeds in to your diet and coupling that with an application of flax seed oil on to your face adds a whole new dimension to your acne treatment!
Your Takeaway!
There are a whole host of effective acne treatments that are available; however, it will take a couple of months for improvements to become apparent. However, the bottom-line is – you absolutely must create a nutrition plan for a clear skin and incorporate anti acne foods in to your daily diet. You need to amalgamate together – medications, topical applications, along with an ‘acne’ diet to attain the best possible results.
FAQs
The health of your skin is a reflection of what you eat. Your choice of food can help treat and prevent acne; and here’s a list of the top 3 most potent acne fighting foods.
- Vitamin A rich foods
- Vitamin C rich foods
- Green tea
Load up on these!
If your diet comprises of foods that contain a lot of high glycemic foods and you suffer from chronic acne; then most definitely, eliminating these foods from your diet, and including generous amounts of low glycemic foods will help you manage your acne so much better. Nutrition is the very cornerstone for having a healthy skin. Researchers have found that when people who are prone to acne switch to a low glycemic diet, they see brilliant and quick results – the intensity of acne reduces, flare-ups become fewer and your skin clears up radically. Integrate plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, and whole cereals in to your diet, these will help you achieve the desired result.
Fruits that are bursting with vitamin C are a sure-fire way to help you manage the most persistent case of acne. Vitamin C exerts strong anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and this helps stave off breakouts, get rid of eruptions and also greatly improves your skin texture. Pig out on limes, lemons, berries, mangoes, watermelons, apples and guavas!
Studies show a very strong relationship between low levels of vitamin D3 and exacerbation of acne. Experts say that a deficiency of vitamin D3 triggers as well as aggravates the symptoms of acne. Vitamin D regulates the synthesis of sebum, boosts your immune mechanism and has very potent anti-comedogenic properties. Thus, increase your intake of the vitamin to help keep flare-ups at bay. Amp up on – fish and eggs and make sure you expose your skin to the morning sunlight for 10 minutes. Also, talk to your dermatologist and consider starting a vitamin D3 supplement.
Here’s all that you need to know about the link between probiotics and acne. Adding probiotics to your everyday menu pacifies the internal as well as external inflammation, reinstates your skin’s normal barrier function, and protects your skin from harmful environmental agents. Having yogurt, kefir, pickles, cheese and kombucha help normalize your gut bacteria, perk up your GI microbiome and help bring down inflammation throughout the body, including your skin. Probiotic supplements too do the trick.
If you have been dedicatedly following a specific skin care routine, have altered your diet to include plenty of ‘skin friendly’ foods and have been using over-the-counter topical applications to manage acne; but, your flare-ups fail to resolve, then you should be conferring with a dermatologist. Timely treatment will help ward off unpleasant scarring. We, at the New Roots Hair and Skin Clinic will greatly empower your skin and deal with the root cause of your acne, thus providing you with a permanent solution. Our team will proffer you a customised treatment regimen that will be the best fit for you. We use the most advanced techniques and equipment for skin care. We offer numerous aesthetic therapies and protocols which thwart acne and lessen the appearance of scars. Our distinguished team of dermatologists understands your beauty goals and helps you achieve them!
