Road to Skin Recovery - Part II

During a recent bikram yoga class, I was looking in the mirror when it dawned on me just how dramatically my skin has improved since I first began attending the classes. My latest struggle with acne runs inversely parallel to my passion for bikram –  in fact, bikram was a concrete part of the skin recovery plan I made for myself back in December of last year. At that time, I saw a very different mirror image when I first started practicing  – my skin was raw and red from constant medication, there were large cystic mounds all over, it was uncomfortable to look at and even more painful to suffer through. Since then, I’ve established a lifestyle makeover with changes to my skincare routine, diet and exercise.  It's been 8+ months from my darkest days, and I'm happy to say I've emerged with clearer skin and a much healthier body. In this entry, I shared what skincare products I've been using, but never followed through with part 2 so here we go!

Diet / Water

These yellow cherries and peaches were SO delicious

Diet is the #1 factor toward my skin recovery; I really cannot emphasize how significant a role my diet played. After combing through extensive forum threads at acne.org, I learned that there are a few common ingredients that trigger acne – the biggest offenders being 1) dairy, 2) coffee and other caffeinated drinks, 3) meat, and 4) sugar. Well, no wonder. Last fall, I became obsessed with Laughing Cow cheese rounds (the ones in the cheery red wax packaging), and was eating 1-2 a day. They were so yummy and looked small and harmless in their cute red packaging, so I thought I could get away with it. But with all that curdling cheese in my system along with daily cups of coffee (and what’s coffee without milk/cream and sugar? Again, terrible for acne), it really shouldn’t have surprised me that my skin blew up the way it did (I'm talking 15+ active pustules at a time!). Other factors also contributed to my breakouts, but the cheese and coffee I’ve pinpointed as the major malefactors.

So I imposed a strict diet overhaul. For three months, I cut out all cheese, red meat, milk, sugar, coffee and soda products from my life. No ice cream, butter, yogurt, lattes, steak, etc. I also experimented with a vegetarian diet, nixing all meats and instead eating a ton of tofu, eggs and nuts for my protein intake. The most extreme period was when I further cut out fruits and wheat products (as part of the anti-candida diet), and instead snacked on green veggies, eggs, and rice alternatives like quinoa. It was a very boring and cold eating existence, especially during the cold winter months when all I wanted was some sodium-filled shrimp tempura udon. But I stuck to my guns and chose salad daily for lunch. With time, it became more habitual and natural to choose salad and I looked forward to lunch time. The key is to change up ingredients everyday and trick your stomach into thinking that it’s consuming different things. My favorite toss-ins are cucumber, tomato, beets, avocado, eggs, mandarin oranges, sunflower seeds, artichoke, and olives.

The most important lesson I learned during my diet phase was that the link between all the acne irritants is HORMONAL IMBALANCE. Dairy products are produced by cows, most of which are fed antibiotics and the milk goes through further chemical procedures to be pasteurized. Meats are processed similarly where animals are fed hormones and passes those along to the end consumer - you and me. It made sense that once I restored my body to its natural balance, my skin would clear up. Now that my skin is more under control, I've reintroduced meats and some dairy into my palate but I am still cautious.

Water was also a key component. The general rule of thumb that our moms tell us when we’re little – drink 8 glasses a day – holds true for acne sufferers, but to an even greater degree. A glass is typically 8-ounces, so using the Starbucks grande cup (which is 16-ounces) as my benchmark, I drank 4 grande cups worth of water on a daily basis. Before this resolution, I barely had 3 glasses of liquid a day, and most of it was coffee and soda! When I first started drinking more water, I thought I’d get water poisoning from so much liquids, but it got easier. Every morning at 9AM, I would start with a full cup of my caffeine-free Get Gorgeous tea, and refill throughout the day at 12PM, 4PM and 7PM. For dinner, I’d either fill up another cup or down a large water bottle along with my meal. It was actually pretty easy to get my daily water intake.

From Kimberly Snyder's health blog, I also learned of Kombucha, a tea drink fermented with bacteria and yeast which has great cleansing powers. The taste is overwhelmingly vinegary, but I've loved vinegar since I was little so had no problem downing this stuff. I would try to drink 3 bottles of kombucha a week, but these things are freakin' pricey at $5-6 a pop (I bought the GT Synergy brand.. but there are probably cheaper alternatives on the market). Kombucha is touted to have many healthful benefits - detoxing the body by eliminating wastes, aiding digestion, boosting the immune system, etc. It all comes back to ridding the body of the harmful chemicals it's ingested over time. Drinking this sloshes out all the bad bacteria and clears up your system. The one footnote I must mention though is that, due to the fermentation process (not unlike how people make beer!), there is a teeny tiny trace of alcohol in kombucha - which can lead to some redness if you lack a certain enzyme haha. 

Supplements / Vitamin

To cover all my bases, I figured I should take supplements and vitamins in addition to my diet overhaul. I kept up my daily dose of probiotics, and added into the mix - fish oil, borage oil, evening primrose oil (the point of the trio was to load up on omega-3's), vitamin E, and a vitamin D / magnesium / calcium composite. I decided against a multivitamin since some of the included supplements (biotin, for example) can be aggravating to acne. I started out with high dosages of each and scaled back over a few months. It's hard to say what exactly was effective and what wasn't since I was working with so many variables at once, but I do think the omega-3's were helpful in plumping out my skin and making it less oily.

Exercise

[www.backadvisors.com]

Keeping active and fit goes hand in hand with diet when leading a healthy lifestyle. My activities of choice were bikram yoga, rock climbing and Bar Method (emphasis moreso on bikram). Sitting in a humid 100 degree room and feeling toxins ooze out through my pores felt FANTASTIC - I knew not only was I getting a great workout toning my muscles and increasing flexibility, but I was also expelling impurities from my skin. From January through March, I religiously went to yoga at least once a week and saw results in my energy level and also in the clearing of my skin. The best part was coming home after a sweat session, showering and staring at how much smaller my pores looked and how soft my skin became. After March, I wasn't as diligent about going weekly but I still try to make it to bikram whenever I can for a good cleanse.

Stress / Attitude

Probably the hardest aspect of having acne is the psychological tolls it takes. I've been there - completely depressed bout my appearance, refusing to go out and socialize, no treatment was working and I hit an all-time low. It was at this desperate point that I was willing to make drastic changes to my lifestyle, and hence, took on all of the above, in addition to an extremely strict skincare routine. I was still discouraged and not too hopeful, but at least I felt like I was taking control of the situation instead of letting acne dictate my life.

May 2010 - all clear!

Having a support group and the right mentality is equally as important as starting a new skincare routine or workout. For sure I still freaked out about my skin, but I was lucky to have friends accept me as I am and help me realize that the best way to cure my acne was to reduce my stress level and stay positive. A few reminders that really helped me during the most painful months:

1) be patient and give everything a fair chance - results will take time
2) be diligent and persistent when implementing something new - if I didn't keep up my skincare / diet / exercise religiously, I don't think I would've had as good results as I did
3) be courageous and dust off what others may think of your skin - truthfully, only you think your skin as worse than it really is. Try to go sans makeup some days, let your skin breathe
4) avoid stressful situations and try to maintain calm since we all know stress is a huge acne instigator. also, SLEEP MORE!

It's been 8 months since I was at my all-time low and I have come so far from there. I don't have any "before" pictures before I was grossed out by how my skin looked in pictures, but suffice to say that I am completely empathetic to severe acne sufferers. I am still dealing with hyper-inflammatory pigmentation (i.e. scars) and get a rare hormonal pimple, but nothing at all like it used to be. I visited my parents a month ago, and they chalked up my skin's improvements to being 24 and finally not a teenager anymore, but I know that there was no magic to it - it just took a diligent approach, combining some gentle skin products, a healthier diet, exercise, and a dedication to keeping my body more in balance.