I cannot stand when skincare professionals tell people with acne that in order to get clear skin, they need to eat clean and avoid sugar, caffeine, fried food, alcohol, and gluten. I have even heard that some “specialists” recommend avoiding certain vegetables like tomato and eggplant! During my acne struggle, I got so much advice about what I shouldn’t eat from the internet, Doctors, Estheticians, and even “Acne Specialists” that at one point, my diet was reduced to nearly nothing. I had a client once who was basically living off of boiled chicken and greens because she read so much bullshit online that she was convinced that everything else made acne worse. I actually made her eat a cookie before she left my office because advice like this is unnecessary, irresponsible, and just cruel! Acne is such a difficult condition to live with to begin with so telling someone with acne that they also need to severely restrict their diets and abstain from things that they might find great pleasure in like their morning cup of coffee or a bar of chocolate can compromise their mental health. People with acne are also desperate and will pretty much do anything they are told will improve their condition so I consider it my responsibility to only recommend the guidelines that are absolutely necessary to get clear and no more so that their lives aren’t taken over even more by acne.

Acne research is flawed and unreliable
I am not saying that “unhealthy” foods are good for acne or your body and that there is no connection to breakouts. I am saying that there is no reliable research that proves there is and over the many years I have been closely monitoring acne sufferers as they get clear and stay clear using our method, I have never once had to make someone eliminate or even reduce their “unhealthy” food or beverage intake.

Inflammation is a very manageable symptom
Most of the professionals that recommend avoiding unhealthy food and beverages cite an increase in inflammation that can occur. But even if certain foods increase inflammation, inflammation isn’t the cause of acne and it’s not even a trigger: it’s a symptom. And it’s a symptom that can easily and very effectively be managed through icing and the proper use of an acne-friendly product with the right amount of benzoyl peroxide like our Clearing Treatment.

IF eating unhealthy makes your acne worse, you have bigger fish to fry
I have had a few clients swear that sugar or greasy foods or caffeine makes their acne worse before they start our program and I still don’t bother making them avoid those things because IF that is actually the case, I know it’s merely a symptom of a whole lot of other underlying issues that need to be managed. I even had one client get upset with me because she truly thought the reason she had acne was because she ate too many sweets and I wouldn’t agree with her. But I gave her this analogy: imagine you had a broken back that you weren’t getting professional help for or properly taking care of. So every time you bent down to grab your purse, your injury flared up and you got a shooting pain that went down your leg. You wouldn’t then blame your purse or bending down or your leg for giving you pain, would you? No. You would blame your back because your back is the underlying issue, bending down is a trigger, and shooting pain down your leg is a symptom. So if someone told you they wanted to avoid their purse because it was causing them pain down their leg, you would think they are silly because you know logically that once they fixed the underlying issue (your back), bending down to get their purse wouldn’t trigger pain. Well think of the connection between unhealthy food and acne the same way: acne is caused by a genetic condition that is triggered by a number of different factors including oil and hormonal fluctuations and inflammation is merely a symptom that appears as a result of those triggers flaring up an underlying condition. So if unhealthy food is causing an increase in inflammation, it’s just a sign that there are a myriad of underlying issues that need to be dealt with.

A sustainable acne program balances enjoyment and mental health with stress
You know what increases inflammation levels? Stress. And you know what’s stressful? Living with acne. And you know what’s also stressful? Living without chocolate. Or chips. Or cake. So even if eating something unhealthy raises inflammation levels, so does significantly restricting your diet and a sustainable acne-friendly lifestyle balances our quality of life with what we need to do to get and stay clear.

There are foods and drinks that you should avoid if you have acne
There are certain foods and drinks that should be avoided if you have acne-at least until you are clear and can test which things actually are a trigger for you. Dairy, soy, excess iodine, and high androgen foods can all trigger acne but not just because they are “unhealthy” or inflammatory but because they have a direct link to some part of the hair follicle where acne takes place.