fat/skin/detox

[sungoddess]

I have been avoiding all fat for the last 4 days in an attempt to somewhat clear up my skin. I know that my skin is bad (really horrendous) because of an intense detox going on, I used to be addicted to diet coke and was on a harsh medication that was horrible to the liver for over a year... so the bad skin makes some sort of sense (however upset it makes me). I know that doing an intense water fast or juice fast would be the fastest way to detoxify, but I am in school and really cannot take that kind of time to let my body totally rest.
Avoiding fat completely for the past four days was my attempt to see if that could lessen the acne, but it doesn't look like it is doing anything as of yet... And on top of this, I am craving fat so so badly, but I feel like if I give in I will not be giving this the necessary time...? So I guess I am going to organize my questions below to make them easier to identify:

1. Since fat slows down detoxing, if my current fat-free diet just increasing the detox, and therefore increasing the bad skin... and unhepful for what I am trying to do? ah.

2. Should I be giving this more time?

3. And... eating no fat, makes me so hungry, so I eat a lot of fruit (just because its appealing and eaier tan green smoothies all day long, though I do have green smoothies too) and this amount of fruit is not good for me weight-loss-wise. What to do?

I also was definitely not planning on living on a long-term fat-free diet. I know that fats are healthy and necessary, but I was trying to see if it was the culprit... which I am still not sure about.

My basic question is: what is the perfect thing for me to do for: a, skin and b, weightloss. And obviously no one is going to have the answer, however, I am hoping that someone may have insight to this fat/skin/detox debacle, or just hearing opinions could be nice as well!

I am open to any advice!

[Linda1970]

Sorry to hear about your acne. Acne is such a difficult challenge. I had cystic acne before I became raw. Is your acne a result of detox or did you have it prior to raw?

[musicalfruit]

my son is now dealing with this very thing, I have been researching it to find the answers and so far I have found that Omega-3 fats are very beneficial for acne! yeah fats! so you can get that in cold pressed oils and flax seeds,they will not slow down weight loss if taken in moderation and your brain needs the fats in order to function properly.
use a little on salads, it might just stop the cravings:o)
I have also seen that loading up on greens and alot, alot alot of pure water helps speed things up.
I have been eating alot of nuts and advacados and fatty things, while cutting out the grains and I have lost 10 lbs in just a month! hope this helps.

[eatyourbroccoli]

are you 100%?

[sungoddess]

yes, I have been 100% for two months

[sungoddess]

I had acne on and off throughout middle and high school, and now I am a freshman in college. It was never this horrible as it has been on raw though.

[rawbeliever]

I would say it was from the detox. I'd guess that how long it will take to clear up really varies from person to person. Maybe a few days to few weeks? Whenever I do anything to speed up detox, my face breaks out a little. Right now, I'm doing a no-fat raw diet also (I'm two days in). but I'm not doing it to speed up detox, but to lose weight. I actually lose weight a LOT faster without any fats, and I wasn't eating a ton of fat before (1/2 avo and a small handful of pumpkin seeds per day). I've never heard that eating a lot of fresh fruit is bad for weight loss; on the contrary, it's been good for me. :) check out these threads:

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19780&highlight=acne+skin+honey

And here's another one with a skin care regimen that worked for this person:

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12202&highlight=acne+skin+honey

[sungoddess]

thanks, I know it is somethign I don't have control over. The upsetting part is just that it has been this horrendous for 2 months already, though I have come to understand that there are people who go through many month long skin detoxes. argh.

[Linda1970]

I started getting acne about 2 years ago. During the first 1.5 years, I had painful itchy cysts that kept me awake at night. I tried more than 30 natural topical lotions & potions. I also tried various herbs, bowel cleansers, liver cleansers, etc...After 1.5 years of this torture, I started high raw. About a few months later, I stopped getting big cysts. I see a little improvement each month. It is very gradual, but I definitely see the improvement. Now, I just have whiteheads and maybe one medium-sized pimple 2 weeks/month. One month ago, I had 2 medium-sized pimples 3 weeks/month. The month before that, I had 2-3 medium-sized pimples 3 weeks/month. You can see how gradual the improvement is, but it's definitely better than no improvement. :)

[sungoddess]

Linda, that is very good to hear, I presume that I will just have to ride it out like that and let it take it's time. Do you eat mostly low-fat? Do you find that your fat intake has any correlation with skin? Thanks again!

[Linda1970]

Linda, that is very good to hear, I presume that I will just have to ride it out like that and let it take it's time. Do you eat mostly low-fat? Do you find that your fat intake has any correlation with skin? Thanks again!

You are so welcome, any time. I believe your acne will get better. I hear tons of success stories here. It's really very amazing how healing raw food is.

I eat mostly (80%) fruits since that's what I like the most. However, when I first started raw (first 3 months), my diet was very high in fat from coconut, olive oil & nuts. I don't see any correlation so far.

Please feel free to ask as many question as you like. I know how bad acne feels.