Question
Quote: 2 months is plenty of time to figure out what things are worth further exploration. I don't believe in accutane and the fact that you're so quick to rely on it instead of looking at your diet is disappointing. People rely way too much on drugs to treat their problems when the goal should be preventing them. If certain foods cause your skin to break out, then imagine what kind of damage they're doing inside of you. The only reality you need to accept is that you're wasting a lot of money on accutane when you could save yourself money by just changing your diet. Go to other parts of the world and you'll see populations that don't suffer ANY acne. Why? Because they don't eat the junk we eat.

not necessarily true...first of all, accutane is cheap and covered by insurance.

second of all, other parts of the world have smaller populations and dont have as much diversity/variation when it comes to their genetics.

if you were to mix those small populations in with a larger one, they would have acne. its something genetic, i think diet may play a role but its small.

people in other countries suffer from acne, acne is not something that recently popped around, its been around for a long time.

it was here before the western diet and its here to stay cause its genetic. i couldve been like you guys and ate crappy diets and live a miserable life and experiment for years on what work and what doesnt but i decided i want clear skin.

accutane did what nothing else ive tried in 5 months. and i had acne for 16 years so you better believe ive tried everything!

but to each his own. if you wanna do the diet thing, knock yourself out, but i think life is too short to deprive yourself like that. you should be able to eat what you want! and thats exactly what im doing now.

Answer
Accutane and other prescription acne treatments may be covered by insurance, but don't think it's free. It's precisely this kind of indulgence that's driving up health care costs for everyone. If people focused on prevention instead of treatment, our health care system would be a lot better off, not to mention cheaper.

The genetic argument is bogus. The genetic variation among western populations is the same as the variation among populations in other parts of the world. Genetics make you predisposed to certain diseases and conditions, but environment and lifestyle have a far greater impact. There have been studies that looked at people who immigrated from countries with a low incidence of acne. What they found is that these individuals developed acne after coming to the U.S. and adopting the western diet.

I don't know where you got the idea that acne has been around a long time. Acne is a relatively recent phenomenon that only came into prominence in the early 20th century. In fact, you'll find that most of today's biggest health problems were not major issues prior to the 20th century. And 100 years is hardly enough time to see a significant genetic change in the population so we can toss out the genetic argument.

The truth is one doesn't need to spends years, even months, experimenting to figure out what foods cause acne. I just did it to confirm what I had already suspected. And it's really just common sense. We're eating processed food that our bodies were not designed to handle and acne is just a reflection of all the internal damage that food is doing. I've had acne for nearly 20 years and all the pills and creams and other treatments may have helped treat the problem, but none ever cured it. Now it's so blatanly obvious what the problem was. The medical establishment won't admit the connection between diet and acne because it's not in their best interests to do so. Your dermatologist makes a ton of money by prescribing accutane as do drug companies. Imagine how much money would be lost if people could prevent acne just by eating healthy or any other disease for that matter.

Your attitude about being able to eat what you want and then running to the derm to get more accutane is what's wrong with America today. People are unwilling to live a healthy lifestyle cause it would mean having to give up their favorite foods and they feel like it's too much work to do so. And the health care industry feeds off of it. Why eat healthy when you can take a pill to lower your cholesterol or treat acne?

If you think acne is just a skin problem, you're kidding yourself. Acne is a reflection of what's going on inside you. Accutane may treat acne, but it doesn't address the root cause. And I guarantee you that the food you're eating that does cause acne is doing other damage as well that may take years to show up.

It is not a herculean effort to eat healthy, it doesn't require spending years figuring out what foods to eat and what to avoid, and it doesn't mean depriving yourself of the foods you enjoy. You can still eat those foods, just not as often. I feel very liberated cause I know how to eat to stay healthy, it doesn't require a lot of effort, and I'm not wasting time and money running to the doctor's office.

Answer
I'm going to have to agree w/ OutToLunch on this one. You made some great points and I have also been watching my diet for the past month. I've been on Minocycline for a few months now and trying to get off it. I started at 200mg a day and now down to 100mg. In a month, my next step is to reduce my intake to 50mg and hopefully to 0mg after 2 months. I have to say that I have not seen a difference w/ my skin, which is a good thing, from 200mg to 100mg and I believe it might have something to do with my eating habits. I've elimated a lot of my sugar intake and my dairy intake. Don't get me wrong, but I still give myself 1-2 cheat meals per week ... to avoid going crazy .

Overall, I agree that for some of us, our diet plays a major role when it comes to our skin. By changing your diet, I also don't believe you're going to cure acne, but you're definitely going to reduce the items that trigger your acne. Plus, you feel great!!

Answer
if diet is the cure to acne how come so many people on this board have tried these 'acne diets' only to have them fail. how come some people notice no difference when they eat junk and eat healthy?

ive seen some of these acne diets and they are totally ridiculous. no glueten, dairy, no this no that...whats left to eat? a tree branch? many people have taken acutane once and been cured for life. i dont know why people want to villianize this drug so much it has saved peoples LIVES. im willing to bet it has cleared up more people than any of those quack diets. enjoy your tree branches guys im going to eat a big bowl of cookies and cream ice cream lol.

Answer
Diet is not only the cure to acne, it's the cure to so many of today's leading health problems. I've met doctors who admitted that if people just ate right, exercised, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs, didn't drink too much, and got adequate rest every night, people like him would be out of business. Your problem is you have too much faith in modern medicine to cure your acne when the cause is rooted in your own behavior. I know it's politically incorrect to blame someone for their health problems, but the sad fact is that we're a culture who's made ourselves ill through our own behavior.

You don't need to embark on any quack diet. The only diet you should follow is one based on common sense. A diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, fish, lean meat, and nuts is what millions of years of evolution has conditioned our bodies to eat. We weren't designed to eat cookies and donuts or even dairy. Can you think of any animal that consumes the milk of another animal? I'm willing to bet you never stuck to such a diet. Most people will eliminate one or two bad foods while continuing to eat other bad foods, probably cause they don't realize what's bad. Their acne won't go away, they conclude that the diet failed, and off to the dermatologist they go. As for why some people can get away with eating more of the bad foods, it's like I said above. Some people are more genetically predisposed to certain health conditions. But that's no reason to not eat healthy. I could be more genetically predisposed to develop heart disease than you. But if I eat healthy and exercise, I won't have to worry.

Now you can go and eat your bowl of cookies and ice cream, then take accutane to contain your acne. Too bad all the refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and trans fat will increase your chances of developing heart disease and Type II diabetes. But hey, at least down the road when you have a heart attack, you'll have clear skin.

A healthy diet leaves plenty to eat and you can still indulge in the occasional treat. It doesn't require eating nothing but twigs the rest of your life. I'm still able to eat all the foods I enjoy. I just use moderation when it comes to the foods that I know are bad for me. This approach has not only allowed to cure my acne, it's also improved my overall health. I never get more than the occasional cold, never got the flu or felt the need to get a flu shot, have never needed to see a doctor, don't take any prescription drugs, and I'm in better health than most people my age. People comment that I look healthy too. Skin problems are just a reflection of what's going on inside you. Accutane just covers up the problem. The bad foods may no longer give you acne, but they're doing plenty of other things that are slowly killing you.

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