I've been thinking about this post for a long time. I wasn't that sure if I should post it or not, but then I realised that I'm not the only person with skin problems out there.
A couple of months before (just at the beginning of Summer) I posted many times about my problems with my skin. I got acne and PIH (Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation) and my skin looked the worst it has ever looked. I tried many different products, but I couldn't stand it anymore.
I got myself checked by a dermatologist. The waiting time was about 2 months which are OK in my country. The average waiting time is 6 months tho. D:
She did give me samples for a couple of products (Bioderma and La Roche-Poshay) but she did give me one suggestion that I took to heart. It was so out of this world that I never thought about it. To change my diet. She said that most of the time an intolerance is shown through the skin, because the ingredients build up and the skin wants to get rid of them. Truth to be told, the only reason I would change my diet is probably my child (I was without milk products for the first couple of months after his birth, because he got terrible cramps whenever I ate something with milk in it - like ice cream) and my skin /body.
She said to remove white flour, milk and dairy products and sugar from my diet.
This was my skin BEFORE the drastic diet change.
More after the jump
It's not that my skin looked terrible (it did), but it was mostly that I had these terribly painful acne on my scalp. It's incredible how painful those are. And they kept coming back, so at a time I had like 15 of them! I was embarrassed to be seen without foundation, but at the same time I knew that just covering up the problem isn't a long term solution.

The first weeks of the diet were extremely hard. I lost some weight, but I started noticing some changes in my skin.
At the time, I drank huge cups of coffee with milk. About 0,5L of milk per day or 3L of milk per week. Just from coffees. I switched to rice milk and luckily they started carrying it in Hofer for a nice price.
But whenever I went out for a cup of coffee I had to find an alternative because coffee shops around here (except a few ones) just don't carry plant-based "milk".

In the end, I started drinking my coffee plain. Without any sort of milk (it's just a nice treat now) and with a spoon of honey.I can now say which coffee is great and which isn't, simply because I'm not drowning it in milk ;).

A really big change was also my skin routine. I switched from a clay cleanser which I loved (Alverde) to just plain micellar water.
At first I didn't believe it would clean off my makeup, but it DID!
Also, I started using Bioderma Sebium Global for my overall face and during the hot days it was great.
But beneath all these things I included the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Serum in my routine. It did help by giving my skin some needed moisture and not being too heavy on my skin. I loved it for that.
After two months, I was finally happy enough with my skin to try some experimenting with food to see what makes me break out.
First - I drank a cup of cow milk. And I waited. The next day I could feel a cystic acne coming up. Coincidence? Well, I thought it was. So I tested it for a couple of days. The result? Painful acne on my scalp and some cystic acne on my face. WOW!
Okay, I definitely ditched the cow milk and the next in line for testing was white flour. It didn't break me out, but it definitely made me feel bloated and helped me gain weight. Nothing too drastic or unexpected here.
Sugar also didn't break me out but made me crave more and more of it. Not a nice thing but at least now I know how addictive it is to my body.
Later I went to the seaside and I stayed there for a week. There I decided I will eat EVERYTHING. So I went a bit on a binge eating which may not have been the best idea.
The results?
Broken outer corners of the lips because of the excess eating of sugar (ouch, it's a vitamin deficiency I think?), lots of scalp and neck acne (painful!), I was bloated from the white flour products but the extreme weather (heat) did help me cleanse my skin. I don't know why but the excessive sweating helped clean my skin faster than before.
Now, the after pictures. This is after about four months of the diet. The last two months it's just without milk (and most of the dairy products - I do however eat cheese here and there, let's say about once per week).
Now the skin AFTER. These pictures were taken yesterday.
My skin is far away from being perfect, but at least I'm one step closer.
My routine now is;
Cleanse with micellar water (Bioderma currently), apply a serum (currently it's the Afrodita Hydra Thermal Serum which is a cheaper alternative to the Vichy one) and apply Sebamed Matt cream (again a cheaper version of the Bioderma Sebium Global), maybe apply some Sunscreen and makeup.
The night routine is very similar except for the Sunscreen and makeup.
My skin isn't all that oily anymore on the T-zone (thanks to the Sebamed cream) and isn't dehydrated (the Sebamed can do this to dry parts of your skin, so using a serum underneath or just skipping dry parts is crucial!) thanks to the Afrodita cream. I can hopefully make my skin even better in the future by switching problematic food ingredients for better (and raw) ones.
I am finishing this post with a small recipe for a Chocolate Ice-Cream Alternative that anyone can make. It's delicious and contains no "pesky" ingredients that my skin wouldn't like.
You'll need:
1. avocado
2. two bananas
3. Chocolate powder (3 spoons) (unsweetened)
Open the bananas, cut them into circles and put them in the freezer for about 2 hours. After two hours, take them out and put in a blender. Add the avocado and the cocoa powder and start the blender. Blend well. DONE!
Have you ever tried a diet to cleanse your skin?

odlično, da se ti je sčistila koža. Jaz pa od maja meseca ne jem nič predelanih OH in sladkarij. Pri meni je pa to povzročalo izbruhe. Koža se mi je neverjetno sčistila - mlečne izdelke pa jem omejeno - en jogurt (150g) na dan. Mleka pa tako ali tako nisem pila veliko - samo ob kavi. Zdaj pa večinoma pijem kavo brez mleka. Noro kaj vse hrana naredi a ne? Jaz sem prav vesela, ker dejansko ne potrebujem podlage in lahko brez problema skačem naokoli samo z maskaro :)
ReplyDeleteNeverjetno je, ja. Sploh ko se spomnem, ko so v OŠ govorili, da dela čokolada mozolje (no pa ne, ampak mleko notri lahko, verjetno).
DeleteJe pa presneto težko se držati takšnega načina prehranjevanja, če nimaš jasnega cilja pred seboj. Ampak lahko vsaj povem, da je kava brez mleka dejansko bolj okusna ;).
Kaj potem ješ, če ne ješ predelane OH in sladkarije? (recepteee??)
Nekaj sem že pisala na blogu pod oznako #healthylifestyle, nekaj imam pa še v planu. Link do objav pod to oznako: http://pinkdiamond1988.blogspot.si/search/label/HEALTHY%20LIFESTYLE (če boš brala, beri od spodaj navzgor - spodaj je prva objava na to temo)
DeletePod predelane OH mislim - karkoli iz kakršne koli moke. Ne jem pa niti riža, niti krompirja. Jem samo zelenjavo, sadje in meso ter omejeno mlečne izdelke :)
Wow, res neverjetna razlika. Opustitev sladkorja in bele moke je itak super stvar za celotno telo, nekoč sem probala, zaradi kandide in tisti mesec, ko nisem jedla sladkorja ali bele moke sem se počutila res zelo dobro, pa tudi moja koža je bila v zelo dobrem stanju.
ReplyDeleteJe pa to, vsaj meni, kar težko vzdrževati, ko kuhaš sam še gre, a obiski, obroki pripravljeni v restavracijah ... to pa je malo težje. :)
Oh ja, je težko tudi ko sam kuhaš. Meni se je ves čas luštalo sladkorja. Resno, prav zasvojena sem (očitno). Sem zato začela posegati po 75%+ čokoladah in tistih bolj "švoh" ne prebavljam več. Vsaj nekaj? D:
DeleteFul se ti je lepo sčistla koža :3
ReplyDeleteSicer sama nimam takih problemov, ampak itak, da je vsak na kakšno hrano občutljiv, in zato takšni izbruhi :)
Včasih jaz vidim razliko če en dan ne pijem veliko vode, drugi dan pa ful več :)
Mleka pa tako ali tako nikoli nisem marala..razn v kakšni kavi, pa še to spijem največ eno na dan, če sploh.
Oh, jaz tudi spijem eno kavo na dan :D. Ampak prej je imela ena kava na dan notri pol litra mleka :P. Grozljivo, vem.
DeleteFora je v temu, da sploh vedela nisem, da je opcija, da bi bila na kakšno hrano občutljiva, ker nisem niti pomislila na to, da sta hrana in koža povezani.
Sem pa vesela, da nimaš takšnih problemov. :D
Noro lepo kožo imaš sedaj, bravo za odločitev, da spremeniš malo svoje navade. Sama se packarij odvajam že dve leti in se res fajn počutim..meni res nekako ne paše bela moka, kruh, tudi krompir se mi že počasi preveč vseda na želodec, zelo sem spremenila svoje navade in kar se kože tiče je res čista, kakšen mozoljček ob PMS-ju in to je to. Sem pa dolgo potrebovala, da sem se navadila na spremembe, ker življenje brez sladkorja je bil kar kriza v začetku, zj mi je pa tk vse že skor presladko. Odlična objava in jo bom delila, da jo vidi čimveč punc, fantov, ker poznam dosti ljudi ki zapravi ogromno denarja za izdelke pa prehrane pa nič ne spremeni. P.s naj tvoja lepa koža traja in traja:)**
ReplyDeleteHvala Monika. Je bila težka odločitev ampak prepotrebna. Ej, jaz sem bila tudi včasih taka, da prehrana ziher ne vpliva na nič. Bahaha, mislim japajade :D.
DeleteHvala! **
I had the same experience. I've had bad acne my whole life (and the scars to prove it). When I gave up milk and dairy, my skin got much better.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I didn't know this was such a common (and bad) problem. I'm so happy that your skin cleared up tho!
DeleteJe možen ta post v slovenščini? Lažje je razumen, moja angleščina je pozabljena, pa tudi naše najstnice bi lažje zastople to zadevo z aknami.
ReplyDeleteSe bom potrudila in objavila še članek v SLO jeziku, enkrat te dni. Hvala za idejo!
DeleteHvala
Deletebravo, Tamara ful se ti je lepo koža sčistila ! drugače a super post, ful uporaben za punce, ki imajo enake probleme ! (Y)
ReplyDeleteHvala! upam, da kateri pomaga ta objava. :)
DeleteJaz sem tudi začela omejevat vnos mlečnih izdelkov v telo, po tem ko sem govorila s teboj na Aussie dogodku, in se že kar pozna razlika :) Tako, da hvala za nasvet takrat ;) Bi te pa vprašala kje se lahko kupi to kremo Sebamed Matt? Je nisem nikjer opazila, je pa res da sem običajno takoj k Afroditi šla, ampak zdaj itak nimajo več moje kreme. Tako da iščem spet eno dobro :)
ReplyDeleteHej, to Sebamed kremo priporočam samo, če imaš mastno kožo oz mastne predele. Za druge dele zna hitro izsušiti povrhnjico. Sicer je kremica res super in lepo poenoti ten :).
DeleteJaz sem jo kupila v Mullerju.
Ja žal imam mastno kožo. Sem pa zato spraševala, ker sem imela tester od Bioderme Sebium Global in mi je bil super, sem ga pa uporabljala samo na problematičnih predelih. Hvala :) Takoj, ko bom kaj v Ljubljani zavijem v Muller :D
DeleteRes super objava. Sama imam tudi od lanskega poletja težave z mozolji in to ravno na enakih predelih. Verjetno bi res morala poskusiti kaj podobnega.
ReplyDeleteVčasih je takšna "malenkost", ki lahko spremeni en večji problem. Ni pa nujno, da za vse enako velja, žal. :/
Delete