Can Food Freedom Help Your Acne? The Surprising Answer!
Diets can be very stressful for some people, and stress triggers three different biochemical pathways in the body that lead to acne.
So if going on an Elimination Diet or making huge diet shifts causes stress, it is not a great strategy.
In some cases, food freedom can actually be more beneficial for some than jumping into a therapeutic diet.
But, based on tons of research and my own clinical experience, certain foods do aggravate acne, which is why food freedom is unlikely to get rid of your acne. This is because certain foods aggravate the gut and cause inflammation in the body, which can lead to acne.
So how do you manage it when diets stress you out, but certain foods are aggravating your body?
1. Make small diet changes
2. Incorporate key supplements into your routine
3. Reduce stress
4. Change your mindset around diets.
1. Small changes:
a. Eliminate one food at a time (I usually recommend cow dairy as the first one), take your time and get used to the changes OR make-over meal at a time (ie. breakfast)
b. Explore food substitutes (for dairy, there are great nut milk, coconut yougurts, goat/sheep cheeses)
c. Once you are comfortable with eliminating one food, you can move on and eliminate the next food.
2. Explore incorporating key supplements into your regime:
Increasing detoxification support, helping balance insulin levels, healing the gut and the adrenal glands in an excellent way to help support your body and reduce acne.
3. Reduce stress.
Obviously, reduce your exposure to things that causes you stress, but also increase your physical and mental resilience to stress.
Physical – This includes getting enough sleep, exercise, relaxation, and nutrients.
Mental – have strategy to manage stressful events, shift your perspective on life events.
4. Shift your mindset around diets.
Diets are not meant to deprive you of foods you love, but to empower you to understand which foods nourishes your body and uplevel your health, and which foods are actually making you sick and miserable. The Acne Elimination Diet is a short-term diet designed to help you find out which foods are going to help your body. The idea is to heal your gut, balance your body so that you can tolerate more and more foods.
Bottom Line:
IF diets stress you out, food freedom may be your initial strategy to keep your stress levels under control. But if you have an imbalance in your body that is contributing to your acne, chances are that you need to shift your diet. But – do this slowly. One thing at a time and work on the other systems in your body at the same time.
