If you don’t get your insulin levels under control, then you will never cure your acne. It is as simple as that.
When most people think about acne and hormones, they usually believe that testosterone and DHT are important, and they are. However they are nothing compared to the acne-causing monstrosity that is insulin.
High levels of insulin will both massively increase your sebum production, and enhance the ability of DHT to do the same.
Insulin is not an evil hormone; it is vital for human health. However it can destroy your health when you have chronically elevated levels of it.
The majority of Western citizens have high insulin levels and it’s extremely likely that you do too. That therefore means that elevated insulin is almost certain to be a huge cause of your acne.
Read on and find out why insulin is so bad for acne and how you can deal with the problem…
How elevated insulin begins
Insulin’s basic role in the human body is to shuttle nutrients into cells, and by far the most important nutrient it controls is the carbohydrate. You’ll have been told at a young age that the human body needs carbohydrates for energy, but it also needs insulin to extract that energy and allow it be used.
Here’s how it works:
Every single carbohydrate you eat will eventually get converted into glucose – the form of sugar in your blood. A plate of potatoes breaks down into glucose, and a slice of sugary cake will become glucose as well.
Read Annihilate Your Acne – get the ultimate diet and clear your acne permanently!
Therefore, eating any carbohydrate causes an increase in blood sugar and this is what gets insulin involved. Insulin is required for converting this excess glucose into energy and it does just that; it first converts the blood sugar into glycogen, an easily usable form of energy, and then it shuttles this glycogen off into your glycogen stores.
There, it is ready to be used by you when you walk, cycle, lift weights, or exercisema in any way.
Therefore insulin is an absolutely vital hormone for health. It is vital for engaging in any form of physical activity, and it is vital for enjoying life full stop. Without it you would have no energy and you would be dead.
However the big problem for almost everybody is not that we don’t have enough insulin in our bodies; it’s that we have too much.
The proper function of insulin depends on you actually using up the energy it produces through exercise. If you consume more energy in the form of carbohydrates than you expend though this exercise, then your glycogen stores will become full and unable to accept more glycogen.
To stop insulin from pushing more glycogen in, the stores become insulin resistant, meaning that they become less responsive when stimulated by insulin.
However it’s also not healthy to have excessive levels of glucose in your bloodstream. Your body has to come up with some solution to deal with it. Therefore it responds by pumping out higher levels of insulin, in order to cram as much glucose into the stores as possible.
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The cycle continues and continues; your stores get more insulin resistant, and your pancreas has to pump out ever higher amounts of insulin.
How insulin causes acne
The basic result of the cycle above is that your average insulin levels are far higher than a healthy person’s. The result of that is that your sebum production will head through the roof.
Sebum is the oil that is responsible for blocking your skin pores. It is produced by the sebaceous glands in your skin, and insulin stimulates them to be active. The more insulin you have, the more sebum production there will be.
This makes it inevitable that your pores will get blocked and then it’s only a matter of time before acne starts. P.acnes bacteria will flood into the blocked pores, they will be attacked with an inflammatory response, and the surrounding pore will swell up and go red.
In other words, acne will be born, and it will be born in droves. It is very hard to have high insulin levels and work your way around the problem. Insulin leads to the creation of IGF-1, which stimulates a massive increase in sebum, and it also enhances the ability of androgens to cause acne.
You could get away with it if you had an immune system that was absolutely perfect. The problems that the attack on bacteria creates are caused by chronic inflammation, when your immune system is too active and sends out too many inflammatory chemicals.
Why bread and pasta are a massive cause of acne
However if you control your insulin, your pores will never even get blocked in the first place. You will still have to place some effort into controlling inflammation. However with no bacteria lodged in pores to attack, an overactive immune system will have less chance to create acne anyway. PS: you can read more about chronic inflammation and how it affects acne here.
The simple solution
If this description of insulin’s acne-causing power has scared you, then don’t worry. The problem is fairly simple to resolve, and when you do you will notice good improvements.
The first and most important thing you have to do is eat less carbohydrates, and get more exercise. It’s vital that you do this by the right amount. If you were to prevent insulin resistance, then you would simply need to strike a balance between carbohydrate intake and energy output. Your glycogen stores would not fill up at all and your level of insulin sensitivity would remain roughly the same.
However most acne patients need to improve their insulin sensitivity. You need to use up your glycogen stores and to do this, you need to consume less energy from carbs than you expend through exercise. You need to cut back your intake of sugar, of grains, of potatoes, and any other source of carbohydrates.
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You need to get more exercise such as walking, cycling, or anything else. This exercise doesn’t have to be particularly intense; walking will suffice because anything that uses up energy will do.
As you keep going with this strategy your glycogen stores will gradually empty. They will then become more sensitive to the effects of insulin. Your body will then detect this and in response it will decrease its insulin output, because it won’t be needed anymore. Your fasting insulin levels will then be lower and your acne should improve tremendously.
It’s really very simple. Elevated insulin is a very damaging condition for your skin but fortunately it is fairly easy to resolve.
The reason why so many people reach this state in the first place is because the average citizen eats far too many carbohydrates. He wolfs down tons of bread, cake, biscuits, endless amounts of potatoes in their various forms, and plenty of rice and oats too.
Some of those foods are unhealthy on their own, whereas some are great; sweet potatoes are full of vitamin A, whereas bread and pasta are two of the worst foods for acne ever. But it’s certain that eating enormous amounts of them is always bad news.
The problem is that governments around the world recommend that carbohydrates form the main part of your diet. This wouldn’t be a problem if everyone was up and about and extremely active…
…but given the way jobs have shifted towards the office, and the way that home media has grown, people get less exercise than ever before. The majority of people are now at least mildly insulin resistant, and that’s why acne is so common.
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Interestingly it’s also the reason why type 2 diabetes is so common, since that disease is little more than a super-advanced form of insulin resistance.
Don’t forget the insulin-lowering bonus factors
The carbohydrate-energy axis is the most important factor determining your insulin levels, but other strategies can provide an even further improvement. The basic reason why insulin gets high is that your cells don’t respond to it properly.
There are several foods, nutrients and lifestyle hacks that can enhance the ability of insulin to do its job regardless of your glycogen status. You can…
Increase vitamin D – it’s widely known in the acne community that the so-called sunshine vitamin can be a miracle for your skin. However most people don’t realise that this is partly due to its effects on insulin resistance. Vitamin D has been shown in studies to decrease insulin resistance, regardless of the glycogen status of the individual.
It’s likely that it enhances the functioning of insulin in the human body. Another possibility is that it makes glycogen stores more sensitive to insulin. Regardless, we know that supplementing with vitamin D or getting plenty of sunshine is a good way to reduce your insulin levels.
In fact I’d go as far to say that supplementing with vitamin D is one of the best strategies for clearing acne full-stop. Personally, I take 2500-5000IU per day in the winter, and it causes not just an outstanding drop in acne, but also a radiant and glowing skin tone.
The best pure vitamin D supplement money can buy is this NatureWise Vitamin D3 (amazon link), which is encapsulated in extra virgin olive oil.
If that fantastic supplement is too expensive then you can buy this Fertile Moon Liquid Vitamin D3 (amazon link), which is extraordinarily good value for money as its only $19.95 and contains a 900 day supply.
Both supplements are free from dodgy fillers and binders and are in the highly absorbed vitamin D3 form (unlike your standard grocery store pill).
Eat dark chocolate – cocoa has been shown in several studies to combat insulin resistance. Cocoa is an extremely complicated substance with a variety of natural compounds, so it’s likely that at least one of them enhances insulin’s power. This is an extremely enjoyable way to reduce insulin in your body. PS: if you’re terrified of chocolate and its mystical acne causing powers, then read this article right now.
Reduce stress – the stress hormone cortisol is a big cause of insulin resistance. When you are stressed it tells your body to increase glucose in your bloodstream, in order to give you energy to fight off the threat you face. To do this it makes you insulin resistant, and if cortisol doesn’t decrease then the familiar cycle will kick off. Therefore, you need to use all the mental hacks you know of to reduce your stress levels. You also need to eat foods which can inhibit its production; the pomegranate is one such food. Vitamin C is another excellent way to crush your cortisol.
Get plenty of antioxidants – studies have shown that eating plenty of antioxidants has a beneficial effect on insulin resistance. The explanation is that antioxidants protect your insulin molecules from free radical damage; therefore what insulin you have works well and your body doesn’t have to produce massive amounts of it. Good sources of antioxidants include fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, dark chocolate and coffee. Read more about antioxidants and how they cure acne in this article.
Get more sleep – in my eBook Annihilate Your Acne we covered how poor sleep is one of the biggest causes of acne ever. Sleeping is so important for your health and bodily functions (you spend a third of your life doing it) that it can wind up causing acne in a huge amount of indirect ways. Insulin resistance is just one of them.
Eat sweet potatoes – just look at the red colour of sweet potatoes and you can see that they’re bursting with antioxidants and healthy compounds; apparently some unknown ones have the power to increase insulin sensitivity. This study compared sweet potato starch to white potato starch and concluded that the sweet potato was superior for controlling insulin resistance. We can thus label sweet potatoes the ultimate carb source within your limited carb budget.
Add ginger to foods – ginger powder has been demonstrated in studies to directly increase the responsiveness of glycogen stores to insulin. For that reason (and others like improving brain performance) I add 5 grams of ginger powder to my bowl of natural yoghurt each day, and sometimes to meat, and it’s smart for you to do the same. This 1 pound bulk bag of Anthony’s Goods Organic Ground Ginger (amazon link) is excellent value for money. Use 5 grams per day and you’ll have a 3 month supply.
Avoid trans-fats – the trans-fat, a chemically altered mutant fat not found naturally in nature, is the real villain behind the heart disease explosion of the early 20th century. It has also been demonstrated in numerous studies to worsen insulin sensitivity, so avoid hydrogenated (or partially hydrogenated) fats or oils on food labels, or follow the simplest option which is simply eliminating processed foods.
Take a magnesium supplement – there are numerous nutrients that can affect insulin sensitivity via indirect methods, but it’s magnesium alongside vitamin D that has the tightest relationship to optimal insulin levels in studies. Magnesium seems to work virtually identically to vitamin D; by bringing energy store insulin receptors up to optimal function.
My recommendation is to use the superbly absorbed Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil (amazon link). In fact, magnesium is the only nutrient which I believe everybody should take a supplement of, because soils and thus almost all foods have grown massively depleted of it.
I also find this supplement better for sleep quality than anything I’ve ever taken. I sleep like I’ve just summited Mount Everest after three consecutive nights of using this supplement. Apply 16 squirts equal to 400mg magnesium, and leave to absorb for 15 minutes (directly into the bloodstream, which is why it works so well). A well absorbed bottle of capsules is this Pure Encapsulations Magnesium Glycinate.
If you follow those strategies, and sort your glycogen levels out, then you should be able to achieve a good reduction in the oiliness of your skin. Complications are possible, but almost everyone can generate at least a good improvement.
Judging by all the factors, we can conclude that your acne is likely to be due to insulin resistance, at least in part, if the following conditions apply to you:
- Your diet is mostly based around carbohydrates; if you eat tons of grain-based foods like bread, cake, cookies, pizza, pasta, oats, rice, breakfast cereals, pies and the rest. Also if you eat lots of fries, crisps and other foods made with potatoes.
- If you do not get much sunlight. This is the main source of vitamin D.
- If you eat very few fruits and vegetables. They are the main sources of antioxidants.
- If you are very inactive. If you have an office job or drive to most places then this is highly likely to apply to you. In reality you will almost certainly know whether you get enough exercise or not.
Don’t worry about insulin spikes
It’s very important to understand that temporary increases in insulin are not a problem. Your body generates an increase in insulin after every single meal you eat; its job is to shuttle nutrients into cells after all. Your body NEEDS this to happen in order to use the nutrition in foods.
It’s not a process you want to try and stop, and it’s not a problem for your skin. The typical-post prandial (post-meal) insulin response lasts for up to two hours, depending on what kinds of food you eat, and that is nowhere near enough time for it to cause massive oil production.
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The scenario of insulin resistance described above will cause your insulin levels to be elevated all the time. That’s what you need to avoid because that allows insulin to cause higher sebum production all day, every day.
An increase for about two hours, more likely one hour, after a meal will not damage you. It is completely necessary for health anyway, so my advice is to not worry about it.
The basic piece of information you need to remember is that temporary increases in insulin are perfectly safe; the real killer is CHRONICALLY elevated insulin.
Conclusion
Dealing with high insulin has to be one of your top priorities when reducing acne. If you have elevated levels and don’t address them, then it will be very difficult for you to reduce your sebum production, and thus it will be almost impossible to prevent blocked pores.
The good news is that doing so is dead easy as long as you have no complications. Eat less carbohydrates, get more exercise and follow the other strategies above and you should see excellent improvements in your acne. It won’t be instantaneous but they will arrive and you’ll be pleased with them when they do.
Finally, dealing with insulin resistance will massively reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes as well, because the two conditions are intricately linked. In fact the healthiest diet for acne is, quite luckily, almost always fantastic for your health as well.
Therefore, that’s an added bonus reason to make tackling insulin one of your main acne strategies.
NEXT: get the complete strategy for clearing acne naturally
Thanks for reading!
What a fantastic article. You described in perfect detail the problems I was experiencing before I started watching my carbohydrate intake. It’s been a life-saver for me. As a cyclist I was at a loss to explain how I could possibly be riding 1000’s of km in the summer and be developing this horrible cystic acne AND be gaining weight. I started limiting the carbohydrate in my diet…keeping it under 100 grams per day. Gone are the skin problems I had (both cystic acne & over-oily skin) and the extra weight I was carrying. This has turned my life around!!!
Good work W.N.!
Is the issue with all carbs or just those with a high glycemic index? As someone who lifts heavy 5 days a week My diet needs most of its calories from carbs.
The issue is with carbs themselves, not how fast they spike your blood sugar, BUT in your case eating more carbs is safer, because you’re expending the energy through heavy lifting most days. The real problem is normal people who follow the carb-heavy standard western diet with tons of grains and sugar but never expend the energy they build up in the glycogen stores.
Thank you :) this was very informative
Maligning potatoes.. sigh. Look, carbs from cake and cookies are obviously not good, but whole plant food sources of carbohydrate are extremely beneficial for human health. Kitavans eat sweet potatoes primarily. That is their staple food. And they have no acne. Zilch. Not a single instance. Asians, Okinawans especially, before westernization rarely had acne and generally enjoyed extremely good health. They lived off potatoes, rice and vegetables, with a tiny portion of fish. South American indigenous peoples (living off corn or maize) experienced the same phenomenon before westernization.
I do not not buy the idea that potatoes and other grains belong in the same category as red velvet cake.
I did not say that potatoes and sweet potatoes were bad for acne. The problem is too many dietary carbohydrates for the amount of energy a person expends. The Kitavans mostly live a fisherman’s lifestyle and hence their high intake of sweet potatoes, cassavas, mangoes, etc, is expended through exercise. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are actually excellent foods for acne as they contain lot of minerals and antioxidants, but only if the rest of your diet isn’t drenched with carbohydrates.
Great article, extremely informative and helpful! I’ve always consumed many carbohydrates (predominately low GI grains, oats, beans, sweet potatoes) to satisfy my athletic requirements, however since substituting a large portion of these carbs with more vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats a couple weeks ago I’m seeing great results for not only my acne, but athletic performance!
Looking forward to the progress after a month or two, thanks again for the brilliant article.
Good work! Sounds like you’re on the right track. For the remaining carbohydrates I’d advise retaining the sweet potatoes as they contains lots of vitamin A and antioxidants.
I like how you explained everything in this article.
I know that with regards to insulin resistance, building muscle is one way to combat the issue, as it would allow for greater glycogen storage.
I am quite slender with some muscle mass but fairly low body fat (no excess fat), so (to my knowledge) gaining more muscle mass would be most efficient by lifting and eating at a slight calorie surplus. I would think though this could be an issue since this will fill up my glycogen stores initially. If this sounds like an appropriate way of doing things for my case, do you think the issue would be mitigated by making sure I’m lifting heavy enough to really stimulate muscle growth?
IF you’re working out hard enough to stack on muscle then you’re almost certainly burning enough glycogen to prevent insulin resistance. The real secret with acne and insulin is to balance your energy intake and expenditure, not necessarily to be low-carb all the time. So I’d say you’re good to go.
Good Read!
Interesting article. I would suggest that North Americans eat too many carbohydrates but even worse than that, they eat too often. Even protein will cause an insulin spike. If people do address how often they eat, the advice to eat less carbohydrates is not likely to be as successful. Also, people who have very high insulin resistance and obesity are very unlikely to drop their insulin levels until their liver is free of fat. The only way to do this is by fasting, either intermittently or full fasting with just water. I have lived in Africa where people subsisted on mostly carbohydrates and were far less active than many overweight exercisers here in North America. The people were all slim unless they had enough money to start eating several meals per day. The poor ate one large meal daily, as did all the children. Intermittent fasting is far easier than people often think and the health benefits are incredible.
Ok. But my problem is, that when i dont eat carbs but instead meat, Salad and sauce, i get acne in the chin-area. When i excercise i get it too, and often in places i normally dont get acne … Im superconfused right now
This is one major cause of acne but not the only cause. Meat can be inflammatory if it’s the wrong type (mass produced, fed the wrong animal feed, etc).
I’m facing a huge dilemma: the only thing that gets rid of my acne is green tea supplement. I’ve read that the main reason it’s effective is because it lowers insulin levels. But when I take it (AM or PM) I feel really tired and completely unproductive. I tried cutting the dosage in half and it didn’t help reducing the fatigue (I will try an even lower dose). I’m very fit and I’m bulking up so I eat lots of potatoes, So I’m wondering if there’s something else I can take instead or if I should take it in combination with something else.
Fatigue from green tea might be due to its DHT-lowering effects (androgens such as DHT and testosterone are great for motivation). For alternatives simply read the article. Green tea probably is almost certainly not necessary. Reducing carbohydrates and increasing exercise is the key strategy and then you can adopt the other strategies if that fails (though it most likely won’t).
Thanks for the reply, Richard. I cannot reduce carbs because I’m trying to gain weight. I do exercise (lift weights) regularly.
If that’s the case then as long as you aren’t eating massive amounts you should be OK, since you’ll be expending much of the glycogen through exercise. What’s important to understand is that elevated insulin is not the only cause of acne. You said that the green tea helped, and you thought it mainly worked via controlling insulin levels, but green tea is also an excellent source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, and lowers androgen levels (though I don’t recommend that strategy, even though it does improve acne). Therefore, there are other areas you can focus on first. I’d follow the extra steps for insulin sensitivity outlined in this article such as optimising your vitamin D levels and eating plenty of antioxidant rich foods, and then read the rest of this website to understand the remainder of the science behind acne. Start with this article…
https://supernaturalacnetreatment.com/real-causes-of-acne/
…and this article.
https://supernaturalacnetreatment.com/how-inflammation-causes-acne/
Ưwhy do some fat (or very fat) people have no acnes? I see a lot of them in Europe.
One reason is probably because fat cells are where aromatisation happens. Aromatisation is when testosterone gets converted to estrogen, more estrogen equals less testosterone/less DHT, and thus less oily skin.
Thank you for your short and concise reply. I think it is true because the fat people who I saw look quite “feminine”.
What is your opinion about DCI supplements, to increase insuline sensitivity? It’s linked to PCOS.
I’ve never heard of it before. A quick search reveals that it’s some kind of magic supplement, so first and foremost, my advice is to cover the basics outlined in this article, namely reducing carbohydrate intake and covering the optimal vitamins and minerals. Then you can focus on the magic pills and herbs, but the advice in this article will be enough to normalise the vast majority of people’s elevated insulin.
Hi Richard! I normally don’t leave comments online but I have to this time to thank you for this article. It covers all my theories of why I have very bad cystic acne all these years like how I only have bad acne in the winter and how dairy worsens my skin so drastically. I am making a change to my diet and will update with you whether it helps.
Have a good day!
In the past 3 years I’ve been dealing with major cystic acne. I’m into fitness and was walking 5-10 miles daily. But at about the time my skin went nuts, I also started having a hard time keeping my weight down. It had been two years since having my second child and I was looking forward to getting back to the old slender me. But it wasn’t happening. I noticed extreme fatigue and depression and extreme irritability or even spontaneous crying for not reason. I gained 45 lbs in a year and a half and that was with daily exercise, a ketogenic diet with good carbs under 100/day. And even an 8 week session of Bootcamp (where I gained 7lbs and 3% body fat, reported by the water submersion fat test)
I did lots of research and have come to the conclusion that I either have an insulinoma or nesidioblastosis. I’ve done lots of blood tests. 2 glucose tolerance years where my sugar started at 83. Never went up in response to glucose but went down every hour till it hit 52 by the 3 hour. This year glucose started at 90, went up to 143 and then dropped to 75 within a couple of hours. So still all in normal range. But the kicker was that my insulin, proinsulin and cpeptide spike. Insulin was over 500. A month later I did the 72 hour fast at the hospital. The whole fast my sugar stayed normal. Between 72-109. We did a mixed meal test at the end of the fast and even though my sugar went up in response to the heavily carby meal, it stayed within normal range. My insulin on the other hand, spiked to 780. I was told normal levels after eating is between 40-180. So mine was crazy high.
Have you heard of any of these kind of situations? For both insulinomas and nesidioblastosis, my sugar should have dropped down to at least 55 to confirm diagnosis. But it didn’t drop this time. So the doctors are confused and in the process of sending me to a Neuroendocrine specialist out of town.
Ps. For about 6 months, I saw a dermatologist for my skin condition and was prescribed amoxicillin. Which worked wonders and kept my skin much clearer. I was still extremely oily. But at least the breakouts stopped. But after 6 months, they stopped my prescription cause they were not comfortable with me being on antibiotics for so long. Now, all that cystic acne is back with a vengeance. And it’s ruining my life. It makes sense that it’s all connected to the insulin levels.
The doctor has me on acarbose. Trial for 3 weeks. I don’t eat very many carbs so I feel like it’s a waste of time. Next trial should be diazoxide. Cause it works directly on actual insulin production and tells beta cells to slow down or stop production.
So there’s my story. Got anything you can share with me?
Good website. On insulin and carbs which speed up insulin release due to glucose spikes….it also relates to alpha5 reductase and DHT production. 5AR speeds up with insulin stimulation….a lot.
Also, people should know that SSRI”s significantly increase insulin release (because they increase the length of time serotonin is active by blocking reputake). Serotonin stimulates insulin release. Which is why people readily gain weight on SSRI’s. One study on Zoloft showed it raised fasting basal insulin from 9 to 20.
Hi, great article!
How many grams of carbs do you recomment for somebody who can’t move a lot due to a disease?
Less than 100 definitely, unless you start feeling cranky, then you can up them again. Observe your skin to see whether the oil production decreases at below 100. If it doesn’t then you can eat even less than 100 grams.
Thanks for the article! Even though I realize it’s somewhat speculative, I feel this explains my situation better than anything else I’ve come across.
I’ve been suffering from body acne for many many years (I am over 40 now and the acne never quite stopped since I was 16) and pretty much gave up on dermatologists by now. But I knew from lots and lots of breakout episodes that there were some foods triggering my acne. The problem, however, was I did not understand what can make so many different foods (above all, baked products) have the same horrible effect on my skin. For a while I thought it was the “sugar” in them, but that didn’t quite explain everything either. I now realize that the common property was probably that they were all high GI foods. I feel kind of silly since for SO many years I’ve enjoyed eating a large plate of millet porridge in the morning for breakfast. It sort of woke me up and gave me lots of energy. I now realize it was also flooding my system with insulin.
R.W pls reply me
Hello i’m 19 old asian boy. I have acne since 4 years ago. My face become clear sometimes and become full of acne sometimes. I hear my body through 4 years and i breakout when i eat at night espically sugary and foods that contains grain. i can’t find my root reason what do you think. I think its chronic inflammation or insulin resistance. i used to sit all day long but now i’d exercise my face got more cleaner but still breaking out. :*(
It could be anything – how many fruits and vegetables do you eat, for example?
I wish I found this article several years ago. I’ve come to the same conclusions after years of experiments and reading articles on PubMed. This is an amazing article which describes the very reason of 95% problems with acne. While companies try to sell us useless and expensive medications that treats symptoms, this is the only right way to go if you want your body to function normally. I hope it will help someone, you did a great job on this!
Thanks Alex. Everyone thinks the same thing when they finally find real advice, but now that you know the truth, take full advantage!
Great article Richard. I spent a few months in Mexico and Colombia eating mostly meat, corn, eggs and beans, and noticed that my acne flared back up when I came back to the states a few weeks ago and started eating bread and pasta again. I never put too much thought into how my diet might be affecting my skin as I usually avoid eating fast food, soda and sweet things, but I never considered that my intake of simple carbs like bread, rice and pasta (which I love to eat a lot of) might be causing problems. I love to eat a huge plate of rice or pasta and then food-coma in bed after a long day. I’m going to start eating less simple carbs and I’m also going to try to get my hands on a magnesium supplements. Thanks for your tips.
Ive reduced my intake to just a sweet potatoe split between breakfast and lunch, and Brown rice at dinner. I got supplements for both vitamin e and c, as well as magnesium and zinc supplements. I weight lift 5 days a week. I still am having trouble with acne on my cheeks and forehead.. I’m 23 year old male, and I think it has to do with increased testosterone levels and insulin sensitivity. What can you suggest?
Hello. Thank you for all your advice. I hope you could offer me a bit. I’m 23 year old male and I am still having trouble with acne which I think stem from increased testosterone levels and insulin sensitivity. I weightlift 5 days a week. I eat salmon, half a sweet potatoe and kale for breakfast. Then I have garden of life sport protein in unsweet almond milk after workout. Lunch I have chicken breast cooked in ghee, broccoli and cauliflower as well as th other half of the sweet potatoe. Dinner I have brown rice and chicken or tuna with broccoli, cauliflower and kale. Throughout the day I have smoothie with mango razzberries and gelatin. Also have almonds throughout the day. I supplement vitamin c, e, and d. Supplement magnesium and zinc. I cut out dairy altogether. Where could I be going wrong?
Stress, perhaps? Your diet sounds very healthy. There’s also numerous topical treatments and supplements to experiment with, some of which like grapeseed oil are very easy to apply.
Should fruits be avoided?
Not because of insulin. Avoid combining too many high sugar varieties and if you have a FODMAP sensitivity you might need to avoid apples, watermelons, apricots, and a few others.
Why is it that I always feel slightly sick when my blood sugar gets too low? I usually feel much better after eating a huge pile of fruits. I hope it isn’t anything serious.
There’s no need to avoid all carbs or anything. Just don’t follow a McDonald’s hungry processed food diet. We’re definitely not advocates for ultra low carb diets here (such as the carnivore diet). It’s just that in today’s processed food environment, it’s extremely easy to unwittingly eat over 300 carbs per day and have that be fuelling oily skin and acne.