Acne and food

When I eat some food I get acne right away. Non-organic meat and dairy are the main culprits - within 12 hours after eating them, I'm guaranteed get a few white puss pimples. In contrast, my grandparents come from a village and sometimes when I visit I get to eat 100% traditionally home grown animals, dairy and eggs and never get any acne even after days of stuffing myself.

It's not limited to animal products, I've noticed a significant difference between organic and non-organic cashew for example. Also, organic products seem to have a wide bearing with some products being much better than others despite having the same or similar certification - some affect me very little while others are as bad as non-organic. I checked various certification requirements and they seem to be a marketing gimmick in reality rather than any guarantee for quality. The certifications seem to restrict some substances but there are some many loopholes and backdoors that there is a difference between the earth and the sky between certified organic and truly home-grown/raised as was done hundreds of years ago.

With Thrive, the nutrition planning looks great but I'm concerned that to eat well (and this is valid in general too, outside of Thrive) I have to incorporate a lot of acne causing food. Fortunately I rarely get it on the face, it's on the chest, front and back and the upper arms mainly, but regardless it is annoying and I'd rather not have it. I haven't been able to find any other factor that affects it - not showers, showering products, types of clothes, etc - the only influencing factor I've found is the food I eat. But maybe some of you have had a similar experience and found other solution so I'd like to ask if anyone has experience with acne problems and if you know of ways to alleviate them that would allow the food diversity required by Thrive and good eating in general.

The only correlation I've noticed with food and my skin (in a completely unscientific method) is excess sugar in my diet seeming to lead to more facial acne/red tones. I think this makes sense because sugar causes inflammation.

I'm curious, what Thrive-prescribed foods do you think will give you acne?

Hello Stanislav,

I was wondering something similar. I am allergic to milk protein - it is not intolerance to lactose or dairy products, is straight out tested allergies to milk protein. I bought Thrive two weeks ago and so far I only have unlocked lesson 2 (fats at breakfast), but by reading the forums I get the impression that dairy is quite an important part of Thrive. I was planning on opening a thread when - if - I had got to that point, but I guess I'll hop on yours in the meantime if you do not mind :-)

This also is my first post. Hello everybody.
Fabio

2 hours ago, Fabio Pinna said:

I bought Thrive two weeks ago and so far I only have unlocked lesson 2 (fats at breakfast), but by reading the forums I get the impression that dairy is quite an important part of Thrive.

First of all, hello @Fabio Pinna! Welcome :-)

It hasn't been my perception that dairy is an important part of Thrive. In fact, I read a post from Jeff the other day (can't remember which one or I'd link it) saying that he stance on dairy is something like if you tolerate it, great; if you don't tolerate it, then don't eat it. 

A lot of forum members enjoy their fats in the form of dairy (yogurt, whole milk, butter, cheese, etc.), but you have plenty of other options for incorporating healthy fats! 

Hello @Julia Quigley, and thanks :-)

I think I just read the post by Jeff that you mention, and it talks specifically about milk. It is indeed a sensible stance. I hope it applies to all other dairy products as well! I tend to shy away from derivates of dairy in general, except for butter, which I need to buy in specialized stores because industrial butter has often leftover traces of milk protein, and it is enough to make me quite miserable.

And to think that I loved cheese so, so much...

On a sidenote, are you a circus artist? I am one as well!

Hi Julia and welcome Fabio

My testing hasn't been completely scientific either, just good enough to determine correlations and keep experimenting. Unfortunately haven't been able to find a diet that isn't a compromise, and it seems that the main reason for this is the pesticides, hormones and all other methods for producing food industrially because home grown food has never affected me.

It was dairy mainly that got me thinking, I'm on step 2 as well. Had some organic kefir and cheese yesterday to test and today there are a few small pimples on my back just as expected, so I guess I'll go the non-diary route too. Jeff says in the second lesson that if you can eat it great, if not it's not a problem.

Other people have mentioned sugar too, but I haven't noticed any effects even after eating what was certainly unreasonable amounts of sugar. Everyone's body is different it appears.

@Fabio Pinna, yes! I am! I do flying trapeze, though I've done a little static trapeze and partner acro (I'd like to do a lot more of both, once time & money allow for it!)

Whats your apparatus/speciality? And where do you train?

@Stanislav Nikolov, good luck figuring out what works and what doesn't while in this program. Sounds like you'd benefit from shopping more at a local farmer's market so you can make food more like you're used to from home.

So are you guys just talking to talk or is there a point to any of this? Julia is spot on with her answer that I liked above. If dairy doest do well will with you then don't eat it.

Lets now shift this conversation to something important. I already know the answer but how is your consistency with completing your current Thrive steps? Are you making progress as fast as possible? Are you focusing all of your energy on getting a 100% completion and not missing a day? If you are anywhere below 100% your only questions and comments should be on how to bump that percentage up. 

Stanislav, sounds like you've already determined the major culprit foods for you. Luckily it's not entire food groups but the source and quality of certain foods (except dairy, which you already know is fine). You already know what to avoid. I really doubt that Thrive is going to force you to buy low quality meat and dairy, etc. Quite the opposite, high quality is the consistent ideal. Of course it is. The real question is can you find or afford the organic/high quality/well-sourced food you need to avoid acne?

2 hours ago, Jeff Serven said:

So are you guys just talking to talk or is there a point to any of this? Julia is spot on with her answer that I liked above. If dairy doest do well will with you then don't eat it.

Lets now shift this conversation to something important. I already know the answer but how is your consistency with completing your current Thrive steps? Are you making progress as fast as possible? Are you focusing all of your energy on getting a 100% completion and not missing a day? If you are anywhere below 100% your only questions and comments should be on how to bump that percentage up. 

Jeff is correct.  Too many distractions and too much discussing minutiae for the sake of discussing minutiae.  

This is not to say that these items cannot be discussed.  They can and will be.  Later.  As in Level 2 later.

For now, your primary focus should be on achieving 100% compliance with your assigned daily tasks.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I had a hope for an insight but there is no point to discuss the original question, so we can close it.

On Jeff's question, yes, keeping 100% compliance, not missing a day, and very happy so far, but a couple of things to clarify:

Regarding fat - you don't give an indication of how much to shoot for. For example does it make a difference if we eat one egg, or two or three if that's the breakfast fat of choice for the day? I've been eating a variety so far - some coconut oil, cheese, mackerel, cashew and walnuts, so if anything have been overdoing it.

Also, if liver and omega 3 enriched eggs are not available (in the shops here I can find organic eggs but non-enriched and they don't list the nutritional contents, and I did manage to find a local farm today from which I can get natural eggs, but that also means base omega 3 content whatever that is) is two servings of fish a week enough to balance omega 3 vs 6 fats or shall I aim for more? All the other fat options I checked seem to be more heavy on the 6 than the 3 than the optimal balance.

2 hours ago, Stanislav Nikolov said:

Regarding fat - you don't give an indication of how much to shoot for.

I can't answer the rest of your post, but from what I understand, measurements come later. you just do exactly what each task says--no more, no less. 

Good question about the eggs. Maybe Jeff has a quick word about enriched vs. non-enriched.

Keep in mind though that you're only on Step 2. Don't get too wrapped up in the small stuff beyond the step you're on. You haven't even gotten to the other meals of the day yet and you're already asking about your weekly omega-3 to -6 balance. It's a valid question but not worth worrying about until the broad strokes have been taken care of. After you've rounded out all your meals is when you can worry about the minutiae, if it hasn't already resolved itself.

Travis is spot on. 

To answer the question in brief. regarding fat and any other inclusion to a meal. I'll eat enough of it until I'm full. So for breakfast, in addition to whatever else I'm having (which will be clarified for you in later steps), I'll add some serving of fat that'll help fill me up. Sometimes it's half an avocado, other days it's three eggs or an entire bowl of full-fat greek yogurt. It often depends on how much I ate the day before as well as my amount of training/activity. Don't overthink it. Just do what is expected of you and worry about nothing else, regarding food, supplementation or what have you. K.I.S.S.