Acne and Me
I never had acne as a teenager, guess I should be grateful for that. Acne troubles were stored and saved up for much later for me. Specifically, the past 3 years. I think I tried everything known to man- Proactive (sucked), Murad (the sulphur worked to an extent), Neutrogena etc etc. It didn't take much WebMd-ing to figure out that no external medicine was going to solve an internal problem. Once I self-diagnosed my Acne as hormonal- I had to figure out the next step. There was of course the most popular option, but I didn't want to go down that route. Instead I decided to try the drastic option of cutting out Dairy and adding Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) to my diet. I must have read it over and over again on different forums.
I had no idea how much dairy is in everything or rather how much CHEESE is in everything I love. My breakfast sandwiches, my lunch sandwiches, pizza, burgers (I am one of those who never understood the point of HAMBURGER on a menu- who orders that? ME that's who). Even harder, I LOVE cereal, I don't think there's anyone besides Seinfeld who LOVES cereal as much as I do. I also love cupcakes and yogurt and ice-cream and butter and cookies and did I mention cheese? Yup, I had to quit all of those. I wasn't bothered at first, it was after all just another experiment that was bound to fail.
But guess what happened, not even a full 30 days after I cut out all dairy (had to add Calcium supplement), my skin was the clearest, smoothest it had been in over 3 years. Not even remotely exaggerating. I couldn't believe that all my struggles, wasted money, all that time it had been dairy. I told anyone who would listen about my discovery. Apparently my sister already discovered this a few years back but decided she loved dairy too much to bother and quit without sharing the news.
So, happy ending? Not quite. I too missed dairy way too much and first I had a few bites of pizza, then half a cheeseburger, then cupcakes, then something else and who even knows. Just as quickly as they went away, my acne was back. To be more accurate, it's back.
I don't know what's more important to me, eating my fav foods, or clear skin. I'm planning on giving it another go, but I'll be prepared this time. I already use EarthBalance as butter substitute. I will be trying tons of vegan cheese like Daiya and theres a great vegan bakery by my job. I think they also sell dairy free frozen yoghurt. This time I'll be better prepared- I hope.
Oh and if you want to say you've seen my pics and never noticed, I'll just say concealer and knowing your good side does wonders. But seriously did anyone else know about this dairy thing? And what no dairy products would you recommend?