Foods To Avoid When You Have Hormonal Acne Along With The Reasons Why
Lets jump on.
Cows milk dairy products contain A1 Casein, a protein known to interact with our hormones by increasing insulin growth factor 1 . This is a problem for your skin because it can increase the levels of the acne-causing male hormone testosterone.
Some people can also be very reactive to dairy proteins like casein and the inflammation thats triggered makes the testosterone receptors in the skin hypersensitive.
This causes normal testosterone levels to have an excessive effect on the skin, just as if there was too much testosterone and hormonal acne results.
Dairy is found in most ice creams, cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream and yogurt unless otherwise stated.
To pinpoint if dairy is an acne trigger for you, stop eating it as much as possible for about 6-8 weeks. This is a long enough time to notice a difference.
Some people find that goats or sheeps milk and cheese doesnt have the same effect, but they still contain lactose, another tricky molecule for some peoples digestion!
Gluten is a protein found in the grains wheat, rye, barley and spelt and foods made from the flours of these grains. For some people, gluten causes an increase in inflammation in the body when its eaten because it causes what we refer to as a leaky gut.
The most common gluten foods are bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, take-out hot chips, baked goods and pastries.
Some great ideas for gluten-free grain swaps include quinoa, brown rice, and buckwheat to name a few!
- Processed sugar
Foods For Hormonal Balance: Get Help With Acne
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Whitney Weingarten is a certified family nurse practitioner and a registered nurse. She is believes wellness comes from truly healing the whole patient, rather than provide a simple band-aid solution. She thrives on making her patients feel their most optimal self, and will not give up until they achieve their personal wellness goal.
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Hormonal imbalances can be one of the many culprits to skin eruptions such as acne. Learning about foods for hormonal balance can help curb acne breakouts. Androgens play a big role in the development of acne through the increase of sebum production, which is an oil released from the skin.
Androgens, more commonly known as male sex hormones such as testosterone, are usually present in smaller quantities in females. They can become an issue when women have an increased amount of testosterone circulating through the blood. High estrogen levels can also lead to acne breakouts .
Dried Fruit And Fruit Juice
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Fruit is a great source of vitamins and nutrients and should be incorporated into our dietswith the right portion controlbut not all states of fruit are created equal. While whole fruit contains natural sugars, dried fruit and fruit juice are sources of concentrated sugar content. Known to promote oil production and inflammation, consuming too much dried fruit and juice would result in high sugar intake, which has been linked to acne.
What to eat instead: Trail Mix. Shapiro recommends, “Instead of energy bars, eat trail mix. Energy bars are often glorified candy bars filled with sugar and fillers to help them taste good. Trail mix contains a mix of nuts full of protein, heart-healthy fats, and fiber along with some dried fruit for natural sweetness and energyand it’s a whole food snack.”
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How Does My Diet Trigger Acne Flareups
Food impacts all the bodys organs, including skin, the bodys largest organ. People with acne are often told to stay away from foods with high fat and sugar content. These foods can have a negative impact externally on the body. These foods can cause inflammation and heightened insulin levels which leads to chronic conditions like diabetes and acne.
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Other Supplements That May Help
Aside from vitamin D and green tea extract, the following supplements may help reduce acne symptoms:
- Fish oil. Some evidence suggests that supplementing with omega-3-rich fish oil may reduce acne severity in some people. However, the results are mixed, with some people experiencing worsened symptoms (
Summary
Vitamin D, green tea extract, B vitamins, and zinc are just some of the supplements that may benefit people with acne.
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Load Up Your Food With Spices
Life is nothing without a little spice. And this is doubly true when you’re trying to figure out how to treat your hormonal acne. Not only do spices like turmeric and cayenne taste good, but they also have a surprisingly potent function when it comes to skin health, according to Healthline. The anti-inflammatory properties of these spices could soothe your skin when it’s red and inflamed from an acne flare-up.
It’s the bioactive element curcumin in spices like turmeric that makes it so powerful when it comes to your skin . Turmeric specifically may have a notable impact on the reduction of acne scars, which may be even more obvious when you’re combining the oral intake of the spice with a topical facemask containing it. The bright yellow spice may also help reduce the impact of a range of other skin health conditions including psoriasis and scabies, and can facilitate more robust healing of wounds. And aside from that? It tastes pretty darn good.
Vitamin C Foods For Hormonal Acne
Vitamin C has great benefits toward immune function and it has antioxidant properties, which is why it is one of the foods for hormonal acne. Oxidative stress creates nuclear transcription factor kappa B which contributes to a pro-inflammatory response as well as skin aging. Vitamin C is able to inhibit NFkB, creating an anti-inflammatory response. Foods for hormonal acne with vitamin C include, citrus fruits, broccoli, cantaloupe, kiwi, sweet potato, tomatoes, and berries.
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Low Dose Birth Control Pills
These tablets and devices are low in Estrogen and, therefore, tend to increase the bodies Androgen levels as the Estrogen drop. Think of a teeter-totteras one goes down the other goes up.
As a general rule of thumb, those with the potential for higher androgenic symptoms should be avoided for people prone to acne because they promote breakouts. As an acne sufferer, it is critical to speak with your doctor about selecting a form of birth control that is higher in estrogen and lower in androgen potency.
SOLUTION: Take out the IUD or come off the low-dose birth control pill and switch to a safe tablet if you are on birth control for a said reason. Here at Natural Acne Clinic, we are not proponents of using birth control pills or devices to balance hormone levels or to clear acne. With that said, it is ok to be on certain types of birth control to prevent pregnancy and keep your skin clear.
Best Foods To Eat To Get Rid Of And Prevent Hormonal Acne
There are few things in life as persistent as acne. The skin condition is experienced by countless people around the world every year, with almost seven out of eight people having a bout of acne between 12 and 24 years old, and a frankly wild amount of dollars spent on acne treatment every year in the United States . And of all the types of acne you can experience, hormonal acne can be one of the hardest to treat. Hormonal acne , while commonly thought to only happen when you’re a teenager, can happen at any stage in your life, with hormonal fluctuations as you age potentially prompting further bouts .
But while it’s all too easy to throw our money at flashy acne treatments that promise the world, a large factor in keeping the skin condition managed is what we eat. Certain foods out there have the potential to set our skin back — but the good news is that other foods can be seriously beneficial for hormonal acne. And we’ve got them all right here.
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Foods That Can Cause Acne
One common myth about food and acne is that eating oily food causes acne. That all depends on how you define oily. There are many foods that are high in healthy oils that dont cause acne to worsen or break out. The main action of foods that cause acne is that they cause your blood sugar to elevate quickly. While fast food and fried foods do of course raise blood sugar, its not the oil in them that contributes to acne specifically. Many of these high-glycemic foods dont contain any oils at all. High sugar foods and drinks like pastries, desserts, and sodas are all foods that can greatly contribute to acne. While eating foods like this every once in a while wont impact your skin much, frequently eating unhealthy fast food and high-sugar desserts and drinks can wreak havoc on your complexion. This probably wont be very surprising to most people. Unhealthy foods and acne are often linked, but the reasons behind why junk food causes acne are not often explored. More research is needed, and the results of studies on blood sugars role in acne is debated. The leading theory is that this spike in blood sugar contributes to inflammation throughout the body and can even cause sebum production to increase.
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Inflammatory Fats And Oils
The link between acne and fats is linked to omega-6 fatty acids, which increase inflammation in your body. Foods highest in omega-6 fatty acids include refined vegetable oils like:
Since these oils are used in so many packaged and processed foods, they can sneak into your diet even if you aren’t using these oils for cooking. Fried foods are also usually cooked in these oils.
Omega-6 fatty acids are essential for your body, but they need to be balanced with omega-3 fatty acids, which reduces inflammation. If omega-6 is too high , it can throw off the fatty acid balance and increase inflammation that exacerbates acne.
Take Better Care Of Yourselfseriously
This always feels like the most frustrating piece of health advice, right? Oh, youre stressed? Just work harder at being less stressed! Just try squeezing in some meditation, yoga, exercise, therapy, baths, nature walks, sleep, etc.! How easy! No pressure! Just breathe! Yeah. F*ck that.
First, Ill say that yes, its all true: stress and lack of sleep can worsen hormonal acne. When youre freaking out, your stress-related hormones spike and send your oil glands into overdrive, Dr. Zeichner has said. These spikes then lead to inflammation, pimples, dryness, extra oiliness, and even rashes. Similarly, when you dont get enough sleep, your body is exposed to continuously high levels of cortisol, which can trigger breakouts, he added.
But what are you going to do about it, if youre dealing with final exams, or a global pandemic, or political turmoil, or personal traumas and stresses in your life? Youre going to do the best you can, whether that means going to a dermatologist , downloading a meditation app, or just being aware of your stress levels throughout the day. Hormonal acne is stressful enough without you feeling like its somehow your fault or in your control, okay?
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Western Diet Stimulates All Major Mtorc1 Activation Pathways
The Western diet stimulates all three major pathways important for mTORC1 activation . The Western diet provides abundant energy, glucose, and fat to suppress AMPK activity increasing mTORC1 signaling . The high glycemic load increases glucose availability and stimulates increased glucose-dependent insulin signaling. High intake of insulinotropic food has been a matter of concern for more than a decade.99 Despite of all efforts in prevention the total yearly consumption of sugar still increases worldwide. Highly glycemic and insulinemic foods are ubiquitous elements of the Western diet and comprised 47.7% of the per capita energy intake in the United States in the year 2002.100,101 Today, the proportion of insulinotropic food will be much higher and is further driven by expanding activities of multiple fast food distributors.
Table 2. Mechanisms of mTORC1 activation by Western diet
| Compound of Western diet | |
|---|---|
| High total calories | Reduced activity of AMPK |
| High glycemic load | Reduced activity of AMPK |
| High fat intake | Reduced activity of AMPK |
| High alcohol intake | Reduced activity of AMPK |
| Increased insulin/IGF-1 signaling and leucine-mediated mTORC1 activation | |
| High meat intake | Leucine- and IGF-1-mediated mTORC1 activation |
Table 3. Leucine-enriched animal-derived foods
| Food |
|---|
Table 4. Plant-derived foods with low leucine content
| Food |
|---|
Drinking Green Tea May Soothe Your Acne
There are few things more relaxing than a steaming cup of green tea. And if you have hormonal acne, you might find green tea relaxing for your skin, too. This is all down to the presence of compounds called catechins, which have a range of powerful health benefits, including anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory functions . When these catechins are consumed, they can assist in calming skin that has acne.
The drink is also particularly helpful for hormonal acne as it has a strong effect on androgens, hormones that in higher quantities may cause your body to produce more sebum, the oily substance that gets stuck in your pores and results in acne breakouts. And while drinking green tea out of the cup may be helpful for your skin, adding a green tea extract into your daily supplement regimen might be even more effective. A study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that after taking a decaffeinated green tea extract for four weeks, participants saw a big reduction in acne spots across their chin and nose, and around their mouth.
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How Can I Reduce My Risk Of Hormonal Acne
Though hormonal acne can be unavoidable, there are several things you can do to reduce your risk of getting breakouts:
- Make lifestyle changes to reduce stress, get better sleep and eat a healthy diet.
- Use skincare products that wont clog pores.
- Discuss treatment options with your healthcare provider for persistent acne.
My 30 Day Reset And Transformation
Two years ago, I learned about The Whole30, a diet where you only eat whole, unprocessed foods. The goal is to help you discover food sensitivities and improve health. I originally decided to take on this diet to get to the bottom of some stomach aches that plagued me. I was eating mostly what I thought of as healthy foods , but they were still affecting me.
Magic happened during this month of eating whole, unprocessed foods. I made another fascinating discovery as I reintroduced the foods Id eliminated. A day after having some cream in my coffee and cheese with my dinner, I could feel a deep infection beginning to form around my chin and decided to do some research. Over the next few hours, I pored over articles and studies, first about the relationship between acne and dairy, and then the relationship between acne and food.
I found largest studies , researchers asked 47,355 women to recall their dietary habits and the severity of their acne in high school. Those who reported drinking two or more glasses of milk per day were 44 percent more likely to have suffered from acne. Suddenly everything made perfect sense.
Of course my skin reflects the quality of the things I put in my body. It may have taken far longer than 30 days for my skin to clear up completely, but those 30 days gave me the freedom to understand the relationship between my diet and body.
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Why Do We Get Hormonal Acne In The First Place
Hormonal acne is pretty much what it says on the tin, folks. As you go through life, your hormone levels change, particularly when you’re going through periods of bodily adaptation like puberty, pregnancy, menopause, or having treatment with testosterone . When this happens, our skin can start to create more oil, which can then mingle with bacteria on our skin and clog our pores up. These clogged pores then disrupt the texture of our skin, resulting in the itchy, painful spots that we also know as acne.
It’s worth bearing in mind that, aside from diet, there are a few lifestyle factors that can affect both your likelihood of generating hormonal acne and your ability to treat it successfully. Not getting enough sleep and high levels of stress may cause fluctuations that can affect your skin health, as can certain medications you might be taking and the environment you’re living in. Skincare is also, naturally, very important, and it’s advisable to use skincare products that don’t have oil in them, which may clog your pores further. Looking for products that are labeled “non-comedogenic” or “non-acnegenic” can be a good clue for whether or not they will be healthy for your skin.