How long for clear skin?

[hllry]

Hello! I have been 100% raw now for 11 days and I am feeling great. I was a high raw and doing a lot of cleansing for months before going 100%. I have been dealing with breakouts, clogged pores and oily skin for years and just wanted some advice from people that have had good results. How long until you see some changes? Any special products that you use? Any foods to stay away from or eat more of? I can tell already that my skin is more radiant. Thanks!

[VeggieMel]

Raw food does incredible things for the skin. I had break outs all my life, and even still, now that I'm in my 40's, I still break out if I eat SAD. People started noticing changes in my skin in about a month. I get nice comments about my skin all the time now. If I were you, I'd make sure to drink lots of water, like half your body weight in ounces. In other words, if you weigh 150 pounds, drink 75 ounces of water per day. That makes a huge difference in the skin.

[Eva]

My skin's still not perfect, but the cycle has definitely been broken. I had this horrible pimple patches that sort of bred on each other. Now I have a scar patch that is going away pretty quickly, and I get a pimple/blemish here and there that lasts for a day or two and then goes away.

I have an oceanic clay mask from the body shop that is supposed to pull out all the toxins in your skin. I feel like I may still be getting rid of less but a lot of junk in my body. Any natural clay mask should help to move the process along on your face, I would think.

I have been 100%ish for about a month and a half (or maybe longer? I stopped counting), and high raw before that. Nothing changed until I was 100%. I think when you eat other food, even just a touch here and there, your body's not able to really get rid of the bad stuff.

You're on the right start doing the 100%. I'm sure it's just a matter of time!

[Lisalee2]

I don't have any advice for you but just wanted to let you know that I'm in the same boat. I've battled acne since I was a teen and it's only gotten worse as an adult. I'm 27 now and still have pretty bad acne and some mild scarring. I know going raw is going to help my skin, I can't wait!

I'm just over a week raw and already my skin looks better. I haven't had any new breakouts since cutting out all the horrible foods/drinks I used to consume. I really want to get David Wolfe's book The Sunfood Diet - I heard he has a whole section about candida which I think is causing a lot of my skin problems.

So...like I said, no great advice, haha...but you're not alone. :p

[Alba]

Hi guys - I've one of those who have battled acne - even while raw - I am now 100% clear!
You might wan't to read through this thread - it truly explains it ALL!
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=22686&highlight=clear+worse+again

Love alba

[Alba]

No wait; I'll just post what I posted then:) :

Hi Sungoddess!

This is my story and it's going to be quite long - and I am not sure it will work for you, since everyone's body is different. But here it is - you really ought to give it a try. at least consider it.
Trust me I know how you feel. Really do. When I read the part about the bathroom lights...I could have written it. When my skin is good; I feel good, less stressed, overall happier - almost a different person. I wear nicer clothes etc. and...I turn on the harsh bathroom lights which I normally leave switched off (talk about self desception)....anyway.

Acne started when I was about 15 years old. I tried everything, topicals, facials and antibiotics...nothing really helped, or maybe it helped and it would come back worse...hm. well, I started looking in to candida since I have been taking antibiotics and penicilin since I was a baby - and my stomach has ALWAYS been out of wack - It actually started when I was in France over the summer and only ate salads at the restaurants - because they were cheap and I saved my money for...you guessed it´...shopping
My skin cleared 80 % up and when I came home I started researching and went on a candida diet - which meant (and this was tremendously hard for me) NO FRUIT!! I already gave up sugar (pops,cake,candy) the year before and after that I upped my fruit intake to 8 pieces/day. My favorite was Pink Lady Apple - which is very high in sugar.
At that time I ate:

lots and lots of lean meat - (esp. canned tuna - which I now know is high in mercury)
Vegetables
legumes
soymilk and tofu (HUGE amounts - like almost 1 ltr/day and 200 g. tofu/day)
oils and spices
nuts
sometimes carrots and sour apples.
some grains (very few and quickly stopped)
Coconut oil

And this - cleared up my skin 100% - and I mean 100%!
It lasted for about a year (I think I started slacking off - ate a banana here and there - but somehow it just happened gradually and my skin did not suffer. still perfectly clear.

Anyway, this summer - I once again went to france - and when I arrived there was sweet, ripe, juicy fruit everywhere...I gave in, and started eating fruit again...my skin stayed almost clear - but then...after a while, I started noticing some problems around my nose, temples and back (the places I used to break out) - However, I didn't connect it to the fruit consumption...don'r know why actually...maybe I didn't want to give up fruit...
Anyway, I came back home and straightened up a little - ordered some Threelac (powerful anti-candida supplement) and my skin cleared up yet again.

Then I learned about raw - and how you could eat everything and still get perfect perfect perfect skin - so I thought I'd give that a go...
I threw myself at it - ate fruits, nuts, veggies etc. And my skin looked AMAZING for the first 2 weeks - I thougt: Hey this diet really DOES clear up skin, and I forgot ALL about avoiding fruits - because, well, they taste good.

THEN ( ) detox came...and never really went - or so it seemed.
Everywhere I was reading how detox takes tops a couple of moths and after that slin will be better than ever. In fact it just seemed to get worse. And I mean really worse.
I tried 8-1-1 and it worked for a while - skin cleared up - maybe 40% better. Nothing major...then it became EVEN worse. I was desperate - it almost ruined my relationship - I became SO self-conscious and emotional because I felt ugly compared to everyone else...On top of this - I WAS EATING SO MUCH HEALTHIER THAN ANYONE I KNEW - talk about frustration
SO - 5 moths after going raw my skin was at its worse - I kept saying to myself - it is a detox, let it pass - it'll pass. But it just didn't---I ordered THreelac once again, thinking it might clear me up as it did before (little did I know that Threelac only finished up what the candida-DIET had started - clear skin). For I while I was in heaven. My skin went from CRAPPY CRAP to almost 90% clear - I could eat what I wanted and feel great about myself - I had found my natural, healthy saviour - or so I thought...
In that period - I think I started upping my fruit intake - eating more and more bananas...and then. Threelac stopped working. It just stopped working. So six days ago I was so frustrated I could cry (which I did) - I was ready to quit raw...although something told me that I overlooked something... so

I started searching my mental acne-archive for valuable information...looking back at my acne-story..and I just had to slap my head. FRUIT. avoiding it cleared me up 2 years ago...and now I was consuming atleast 4 bananas, 4 apples, mangoes, 5 oranges, pineapple and all other fruits I could lay my hands on every single day.

I googled away for a whole day and found out that while some people don't react to sugars at all, other people can only handle fruitsugars and at last some people - cannot tolerate even that (skin-wise)
I read testemonies by raw vegans saying how 8-1-1 first seemed to work, then made it all worse, and testemonies about how 8-1-1 cleared up skin for good...I was still confused. I Read about Low Glycemic Raw vegan had helped a lot of people who had suffered from never ending skin-"detox" on raw, getting clear.
LOW GL RAW IS BASICALLY

ALL vegetables (carrots,parsnips,yams and beets in moderation)
Some low gl. fruits (berries,kiwi,sour apple,grapefruit,etc)
seeds
oils
sprouts
some nuts (in moderation - since they are harsh on digestion)
Sweet fruits in moderation (oranges, melons etc)
ALMOST never the really sweet fruit (pineapple, sharon, banana, mango etc)

I figured the best thing to do was to try it. I had one last banana green smoothie (still miss you guys - although I have found my way to work around it - now making one with raspberries). At this point 5 days ago the acne had spread to my back, my breast and I had all these weird bumps under my chin and behind my ears. I am sure that, if this hadn't worked - I would have quit raw in desperation and tried accutane or something...SO THANKFUL I DID NOT!

INSTANTLY, after not starting the day with a banana-loaded green smoothie I felt I was on the right track. Less acne on back already first day.
Second day: acne on chest "drying up" no new bumps.
Third day: same happens with face
fourth day: over all softer skin (thighs, butt and upper arms)
Today: I am - and I am NOT lying: 95% clear - after being in acne ****, crying in frustration I am just so happy that I found this out.

I have now ordered Gabriel Cousens Rainbow GREEN live food cuisine - he is a Low gl raw vegan and says the same thing that I have found out during my research - while high fruit works for some - it will NOT work for others.
We are different. I have read a theory that made sense somewhere - something about liver-capability. If you have a weak liver - it will have a hard time processing the excess sugar in your body allowing for the brain to pump out hormones which will cause for sebum production to increase an cause acne. I will post it - if anyone is interested.

Additional to this new diet I started taking
2 Evening primrose oil capsules/2 times a day
1 multivitamin
probiotics
zinc (if I remember it)
and I drink ACV dilluted in water 3 times/day - it is said to prevent blood sugar from spiking - and thus help the liver control hormone production.
I take maca too.

I really think you should try this, since I think the results will be immediate if this really is your problem.

If not, if it's hormones - it might help as well since a lot of sugar can "confuse" the hormone system as well. Anyway - try researching.

I wish you all the best. Because you know what - everyone deserves clear skin. Especially a person who is doing his/her best.

You are all free to ask questions.

Love alba

[Alba]

One more important post:

Hi Svadhyaya - you are very welcome...When I read Sungoddess' message - I thought to myself...if I answer this thread - I better do it right!
I know that other people's testemonies have helped me before so I'm glad to share mine if it helps anyone

And EYB, I'm glad to see that you have simular experiences, I think we are on to something...I am not saying this is the best for everyone - some people thrive on fruit and no fat while others need fat.
Maybe some people (me..you?) are very sensitive towards sugar - and our skin reacts to that.

I'll just try to post what I found out about the liver-sugar-acne connection.
....*runs out to google away*

hm...I can't seem to find it?

Yay - here it is:


Your HORMONAL response to sugar
Just what happens after you eat sugar?

Well right of the bat your blood sugar levels rise rapidly. To bring blood sugar levels down your body excretes hormones...particularly insulin and other androgenic hormones.

These hormones signal your body's cells to upon up their "doors" and let the sugar in.

The primary places blood sugar goes is the cells of the liver and the cells that make up the muscles. They "fill up" just like inflating a tire or filling up a water balloon.

But what happens when they are all full to capacity?

Well, any excess blood sugar is then converted by your liver into long chain fats (basically LARD). This "lard" is then transported to your fat cells and stored as fat.



End effects of consuming EXCESS sugar
Sugar, unlike other more complex starches, raises blood sugars rapidly. It is metabolized ("burned") very quickly in your system.

It spikes blood sugar levels in direct proportion to how much you ingest at one time. The more you ingest the greater the spike in blood sugar levels.

This spike in blood sugar causes your body to excrete a SURGE of hormones all at one time.

It also causes a surge of high blood fats (LARD) all at one time.

So the end effect is it overwhelms your system with hormones and blood fats.

All these excess androgenic hormones cause your skin sebum glands to go into hyper drive...producing way too much skin oil. Add to that the excess blood fats floating around and the end results is aggravation of an already existing acne condition.

So if sugar aggravates acne then why can some people eat all the sugar in the world yet still have flawless skin?

Great question....now you're thinking grasshopper....




Why sugar aggravates acne in some and NOT in others
Here's the missing piece to the sugar acne relationship you've been looking for...

Ingesting too much sugar alone will not aggravate acne. It's only when you overwhelm the liver with excess hormones that acne will flare.

The liver is what "deactivates" and "clears" excess hormones from your system.

But it only has so much capacity to do that.

So the reason sugar aggravates your acne, while your friend can eat all the sugar they want and still not get acne is because there liver function is much stronger.

Their liver is able to quickly "deactivate" and "clear" any excess hormones. So they never sufferer hormonal imbalance. And they never sufferer from acne.

But you're liver capacity in this regard is significantly "shackled". That's why even a little bit of sugar can aggravate your acne.

so that's a possible scientific explanation.

Found some more on the Glycemic index vs. Sugar:


Hypoglycemic index and acne, the fatal flaw
The hypoglycemic index in theory seems like a useful indicator of your bodies blood sugar response to foods. However, in practice its pretty much useless.

Let me explain...

More important then how quickly a food is metabolized into simple sugars is whether or not at any one given time you eat so much of these type of foods that you overload your system with sugar.



Your "sugar reservoir"...the CRUCIAL missing piece to the hypoglycemic index and acne puzzle
Think of your system as a bathtub...

You have water running into the tub, and you have water running down the drain.

Well, the water running into the tub would be the sugar entering your system as a result of food metabolization. The pressure at which the water ran into the tub would be the value of that particular food on the hypoglycemic scale. The volume at which the water flowed into the tub would be the amount of that food or food combination you consumed. So you could have high pressure but not much volume.

The water running out would be the sugar being burnt as energy by your metabolic rate. Your muscular tissue burns most of the sugar, and the more active you are (exercise) the more sugar you burn.

If you fill the tub faster then the water runs out eventually the tub is going to overflow. And this overflow would be akin to overwhelming your system with too much sugar from food metabolization.

Well, the tub in this analogy would be your body's "sugar reservoir" which is primarily your muscles and your liver. The more muscle you have the larger your sugar reservoir. Your body will store most of the sugar to be used as energy in the muscle tissue and the liver.

But what happens once the muscles and liver are totally loaded to capacity with sugar?

Well your body deals with excess sugar in 2 ways...

1. It excretes it through the kidneys in the urine.

2. The liver converts it into long-chain triglycerides (lard) to be stored as fat.



"Overflowing" your "sugar reservoir"...the disastrous results
So if you "overflow the bath tub" what you're doing is overloading your blood stream with lard. The same blood and lymph that supplies your skin is also transporting lard to the fat cells where it is stored until you burn it off through physical exercise.

Loading your blood and lymph with this excess lard is what causes that greasy forehead look. So you do not want to run high blood "fat" levels by ingesting too many carbohydrates and simple sugars at any one time.

In addition to that, to deal with all the blood sugars that overwhelmed your system your body has to excrete a surge of insulin and other androgens at one time. All these hormones in your blood at one time overwhelm your liver's ability to deactivate and expel them. So overflowing the "tub" upsets hormonal balance.

The key here is not "overflowing" the tub. If the water is running out of the tub quickly due to a high metabolic rate then you can ingest more sugars and starches. And in fact at times of high physical activity you need more sugars and starches.

It is not so much the rate at which foods turn to sugar (what the hypoglycemic index of a food reveals) that is important, but whether you overwhelm your system with too much sugar at any one time (the volume). So you can see why the hypoglycemic index is too simplistic a perspective when it comes to acne.

Hope it helps...

Love alba

[3kidsmommy]

There was a thread in another website about this. These group of ladies started washing their face with olive oil and moisturize with organic coconut oil. Even after a work out they would lather on the olive oil than gently rinse off. That helped a lot with people with acne. I tried it and it left my skin feeling refreshed. The whole concept was to nourish your skin with nutrients and good fats just like you would with your body. It is worth a try. I have to say that since I have been doing it I have not had any break outs. Hope this helps.

[eatyourbroccoli]

thats funny alba..i used to have flawless skin when i ate eggs and tuna everyday. i started breaking out about a week after going vegan. it was a slow progression, but the "detox" never ended and only got worse over the next 18 months. eggs and tuna = zinc and selenium and potassium. so i picked up a couple supplements a month or so ago for zinc/selenium (cant digest nuts for the life of me). and i really do feel better when i eat bananas (potassium?). its been helping quite a bit. im even back to fruit..low GI didnt work out for me in the end mainly because i cant digest fat well and wasnt doing well calorically. ive since switched over to all fruit/greens (not juice feasting anymore. 2 weeks was enough :p ), no fat (except 1 tblspoon of coconut oil a day) and im almost all clear again.

[Zuri]

Hello! I have been 100% raw now for 11 days and I am feeling great. I was a high raw and doing a lot of cleansing for months before going 100%. I have been dealing with breakouts, clogged pores and oily skin for years and just wanted some advice from people that have had good results. How long until you see some changes? Any special products that you use? Any foods to stay away from or eat more of? I can tell already that my skin is more radiant. Thanks!


I've had breakouts since puberty and I'm 32 now. It isn't cystic acne but mainly white heads and annoyance. So, it took a few months for me to see a real change. I don't get an many breakouts now, and if I do it isn't usually a white head. The thing though is that my mother suffered from pimples and hers dissipated when she was in her early 30s, so my skin is probably changing due to eating raw and cleansing and hormonal changes. Another thing, I've noticed that my skin is WAAAAAAY less oily. I love that!

People are commenting on my skin also, which leads me to believe it was probably looking more severe or noticeble that I originally thought. It takes skin challenges time to clear up, just from experience and my studies. I truly don't think I would be getting these changes as much if I didn't get colonics regularly either. Attention to balancing the liver and gallbladder/bile and having regular bowel movements are just a few of the many keys to having nice looking skin.

I find it quite interesting the link between genetics and acne too. I have a friend that eats SAD along with taking phen phen, using on the regular- chemical filled body products and perfumes, etc. and her skin absolutely GLOWS. I look at her and marvel and I tell her how beautiful her skin is. That's genetic for sure.

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi Hilry,

In my experience and from my knowledge - you may or may not experience small bouts with breakouts for a while off and on as your body cleanses, especially if your skin has always been a channel of elimination that your body has become accustomed to using. We are EVER-cleansing...many think that after a year or so on raw that it's over and you're all clean - but depending on your past eating habits/lifestyle habits and a host of other things, it may take longer.

As EvaRB said about her skin, my skin is not perfect, but if you were to compare my skin today to what it was like when I was a teenager, it's like night and day! I used to have very severe acne on my face, chest, back and shoulders from teenage years on into adulthood. After going raw, my skin cleared up tremendously! I would not be afraid to wear a backless dress now as I would have in the past ;)

So, basically what I'm saying is that it varies from person-to-person. Just as some people who aren't even raw have BEAUTIFULLY clear skin but their bodies may "act out" in other areas whereas some of us just have bodies that use the skin to indicate that something is going on within!