One of the major dietary components of our acne program is to have all of our clients eliminate dairy.  When most of my clients start our program, they have usually already heard at some point that acne can trigger breakouts but they rarely know why.  In my e-course, 8 Steps To Clear Skin, I talk about how everyone’s acne triggers are different so not everyone with acne is triggered by dairy which is why we call everything a potential trigger, not a for-sure trigger.  Also, everyone is triggered by different amounts so one person might break out by consuming milk only once a week while another might break out by consuming milk 6 times a week. Just a few things to keep in mind while you read :)

Milk comes from pregnant mammals
Dairy comes from the mammary glands of pregnant mammals and why do mammals produce milk? To grow babies.   And how does milk grow babies? Hormones! Milk is essentially a liquid hormone y’all. So when us humans consume the milk of another mammal, it can mimic hormones in our own bodies which then sets off a chain reaction that can eventually lead to an increase in breakouts.  

Just because it didn’t used to break you out doesn’t mean it won’t now
Just because you might have consumed dairy at a time in your life when your skin was clear doesn’t mean that it won’t trigger a breakout for you now.  For those of us who are born with Retention Hyperkeratosis, the gene that causes acne, we will have times in our life when our acne is dormant and times in our life when it is active.  When our acne is dormant, our follicles are able to function properly so even if our hormones fluctuate they won’t cause a breakout. When our acne is in it’s active phase, even just a little bit of a trigger that we were able to tolerate in the dormant phase can trigger a breakout.

Which milk products should I avoid and what if it’s organic or low fat?
If you are still in the purging phase of the clearing process, you should stay away from all milk products except for butter because butter is so processed that the hormonal compounds are broken down and it’s also eaten in such small quantities that it’s unlikely to cause a breakout.  This includes cheese, creamer, cream cheese, and ice cream. Even if a milk product is made with organic milk that doesn’t contain any added hormones, it can still trigger acne because it naturally contains a cocktail of hormones. Low fat or not fat milk also doesn’t mean it is better for acne and neither does goat’s milk or sheep's milk because they are still mammals.  

What can I have instead?
There are SO many acne-friendly milk alternatives now so you should be able to find some favorites as long as you are willing to put some time into finding the ones that your palette likes. This includes anything that is made with almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, oat milk, and cashew milk as long as it doesn’t contain any of the other potential acne triggers.  To learn more about potential acne triggers, check out our 8 Steps To Clear Skin e-course.

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