Are you confused about how to eat for acne? Does it seem like everything could cause an acne breakout? Are you wondering why your hormones are out of balance? In this post we will cover the best foods for acne and how you can eat well for skin health
What Causes Acne?
It helps to understand your skin and how acne develops to be able to choose the best foods for acne. The skin’s surface is covered in small holes that connect to oil glands under the skin.
These holes are known as pores and the connecting oil glands produce an oily liquid called sebum. The oil glands send sebum up to the skin’s surface through a follicle.
The oil gets rid of dead skin cells by carrying them through the follicle up to the surface of the skin.
Acne occurs when the pores clog up with dead skin cells, excess oil, and bacteria.
How Does Diet Affect Acne?
Certain foods raise your blood sugar more quickly than others.
When this happens it causes the body to release a hormone called insulin. Having excess insulin in your blood can cause your oil glands to produce more oil, more blocked follicles and a higher risk of acne. These foods are usually high in carbohydrates and are known as having a high glycaemic index and are the worst foods for acne.
Worst Foods For Acne :
- sugar
- white rice
- white bread
- pasta
- potatoes
Most of the foods that are bad for acne also cause inflammation in your gut. If your gut is imbalanced, the stomach lining inflamed, your body cannot absorb important nutrients as well. Inflammation will trigger a hormone imbalance causing more acne.
Some irritants are sugar, dairy, animal fat, and gluten.
Best Foods For Acne
Foods that have a low glycaemic index do not trigger insulin as quickly and can reduce the risk of acne.
Low Glycaemic Index Foods include:
- Whole grains
- Legumes
- Unprocessed fruits and vegetables
- Eggs
- Proteins- Chicken, fish, Red Meat
Drink More Water
Staying hydrated is key. Your body is around 60%-65% percent water, so it’s no surprise that you need to drink enough water to optimize physical processes.
Drinking water is also key to not over consuming calories. Often we mistake hunger for thirst, so when in doubt drink water first. Water is the foundation of healthy, it helps to track your intake by using an app or a labelled bottle that encourages you to keep drinking.
Reduce Sugar Intake
This is easier said than done, while it is easy to try to avoid obvious sugars like cakes and sweets, there is a lot of hidden sugars in many foods that you would not expect it to be in such as sauces, condiments, cereals and dried fruit.
Keep your daily intake of sugar to a maximum of 30g a day by reading labels carefully.
Cut Out Alchohol
The majority of alcoholic drinks are full of sugary and high in calories.
Apart from this alcohol has no nutritional value and actually increases our risk of long term health conditions like heart disease, strokes, pancreatitis, liver disease and is even related to some cancers
If you do choose to drink keep below the national guidelines of 14 units a week.
Choose Anti- Inflammatory Foods
Foods containing the following ingredients are also thought to be beneficial for the skin because they reduce inflammation:
- Zinc
- vitamin A
- vitamin E
- vitamin C
- Omega-3
You can find these skin boosting vitamins in:
- carrots, apricots, and sweet potatoes
- oranges
- watermelon
- cucumber
- spinach and other dark green and leafy vegetables
- tomatoes
- blueberries
- whole-wheat bread
- brown rice
- quinoa
- turkey
- pumpkin seeds
- beans, peas, and lentils
- salmon, mackerel, and other kinds of fatty fish
- nuts
- lentils
For more information on how to treat your acne from the inside out check the Post 8 Of The Best Supplements For Acne And Glowing Skin
Switch To Dairy Free Alternatives
Milk and dairy products promote insulin secretion and their intake has been linked to an increased risk of acne.
Similarly whey protein, which is derived from milk is linked to an increased risk of acne.
Dairy is high in calcium, this prevents the absorption of zinc . Zinc is needed for clear skin, also many people have mild allergies to dairy which can trigger breakouts when consumed
Some alternatives to dairy include:
Soy Milk
Coconut Milk
Oat milk
Almond milk
It is important to check that they are not sugared as some brands can add sugars and flavours that will spike your blood glucose.
Drink More Green Tea
Green tea is considered as the gold standard of teas for acne.
Green tea contains an amazing mix of antioxidants including EGCG, carotenoids, tocopherols ( vitamin E), ascorbic acid (vitamin c) and selenium which promote skin health by preventing oxidative damage due to harmful free radicals.
The affects of green tea on acne have also shown to help Acne when used directly on the skin and the results are promising!
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