Acne has been at its worst

[Ashley_R]

Hello!
so a bit of background I used to be on the extreme of keto, carnivore, primal omad, everything raw.
At that point, I would say my skin was the best it could be baby soft( got lots of compliments).
Now, with a few months (eating trash beginning of covid due to stress and worry about food crash to slowly transitioning on an actual focus of health lol) into ray peat and where I would say I have a stable mood, sleep, mental clarity, temperature and I am getting to a point where I am eating a lot more and frequently that I am also losing weight. Although one of the most difficult things have been dealing with a lot more acne than I have had over my lifetime, chin acne, going down my neck, my forehead, temple area, chest, and back I will see if I can include pictures as I think reference could be helpful.
It's something I want to push through as many of the pros outweigh the short terms cons and so on. Although I wonder if it seems to be an issue with low pufa, I haven't had too much time to try to deep dive but the overall factor I conclude is gut issues and needing vitamin A, so currently I am experimenting with 1 oz of liver every other day, carrot salad every day and 8 oz of oysters weekly and seeing how well that will improve things, as well as consistently having mag bicarb since I have not been consistent.
I personally, think one of the main things is that I used to consume HIGH amounts of the liver as my initial belief was I could live off the liver and raw milk, so to help with the cost-efficiency as well as it would overall be more filling in relativity to beef when I used to do omad and such.
Outside of that my concern is a disbalance with milk, I have no personal vendetta against milk although I did go from raw milk (grass-fed and finished) to store-bought skim( big shocker) as I generally consumed 2 gallons a week which is about 25 per week 100 per month strictly for milk, as much as health is talked from a financial standpoint it is pretty treacherous to spend that amount on milk alone as a 20-year old, it's 13 per gallon.
What is it that I generally consume now is
2 cups of when I wake up w/aspirin
than coffee w/ 4 tbsp sugar and 2 cups milk
and then more coffee, of the same ratio
2 eggs pasture-raised
carrot salad (although trying to be recently more consistent, so I can see that being an issue
and it has been a variance of
Strawberry milkshake
2 cup frozen strawberries and 2 cups skim w/4 tbsp sugar
coca-cola/ real sugar rootbeer
chicken breast cooking in butter/coconut oil made into tacos w/ hot sauce
orange gelatin
occasional rice
cubed beef
dried fruits homemade (pineapple, bananas, apples)
apple juice
I have made cheese quesadillas with corn tortillas and cheese
chicken sausages, yogurt, and homemade jam.
now also trying to incorporate Tuesdays and Thursdays making an oyster soup based on Danny roddy's recipe
I generally consume from a range of 1900-2400 as a 5'10 197lbs.
I've seen many people discuss vitamin e to help with pufa detoxification as I have been eating very low pufa overall, although the cost is a concern( id like to stick with high-quality supps if any at all)
I am kind of hoping through the routine I am working on implementing daily mag bicarb, aspirin, 8 oz oysters a week, and 1 oz liver every other day to see improvements. although, I was curious to see if from the outside looking in what you'd guys recommend.

Overall issues I am struggling with now
dandruff, acne and dry skin in areas of face

if any further details are needed please ask, I'm willing to be open to getting more accurate answers and results ty

Also, i think a lot has changed in the sense of attractiveness to my face due to weight gain, this has been one of the most difficult things in regards to health that I have ever had to deal with, although despite the positives of looks previous do not let it discern you as well, as despite being thinner more attractive I was more aggravated, combative, closed-minded, had mental issues, despite being a low weight was not happy with myself. As well as this was maintained by omad, fasting working out nearly every day by college sports, weights, working 3 jobs and full-time student. The mental stress, hassle, obsession, and more masculine personality and issues with food regarding binging and fasting are wayyy outweighed by waking up every morning refreshed feeling calm energy, being able to listen and be more proactive and thoughtful regarding life and my actions have so much more value.

My ultimate goal is to take what I have now and find a healthy, maintainable, and proper way to be at a lower weight with great skin, without the sacrifice.
much thanks to those from the previous post I really appreciate the help and information

 

[Ashley_R]

to give some further details my meals was previous
at least 200g of a sort of fat which would be grass-fed butter, raw suet/ beef fat/lamb fat
100g ground beef
2 raw eggs
a glass of raw milk
liver
raw cheese here and there
raw salmon
raw heart
I ate a lot of odd stuff I swear lmao
and different variances of cuts of meat all raw btw but 100% grass-fed finished

 

[souperhuman]

Acne is kind of tough to figure out because it seemingly is caused by so many different things (sugar, milk, coffee, bread, meat, fat, you name it). The conclusion I have come to and others have as well (skin breakouts broken down with Georgi Dinkov | The Nutrition Coach) is that it is largely caused by endotoxin. If you have too much of those bacteria anything you eat will cause acne. The carrot salad is good maintenance but it might not be enough. I would recommend switching it up with well cooked mushrooms, activated charcoal, or bamboo shoots. I found drinking chaga mushroom tea every day helps my digestion and seems to combat endotoxin problems. If you are having serious problems with endotoxin though, then its probably best to take some antibiotics (I took doxycycline and Flagyl for an unrelated condition and noticed my skin and digestion immediately improved. While I was taking them I could eat anything, even starches that would have previously given me breakouts. This is ultimately what helped me and lead me to view this as an endotoxin problem.
I think one of the most important things for acne sufferers is to get enough vitamin D, (also vit k and calcium/magnesium). I supplement D at around 10k iu per day but sometimes I increase that to 20 or 30. This should prevent the endotoxin buildup, and eventually lead to better skin. Also very important, vitamin K. I like to get this from cooked leafy greens, although I know people here like to supplement k2 instead. I have tried supplementing mk7 and mk4 but I have found the most benefit from just eating the greens and broth. Vitamin A can be tricky, especially since you're ability to utilize it is determined by how good your metabolism is. I have noticed that eating to much liver will actually cause me to break out. For a period of several months I would eat it almost every other day, and it lead to me having horrible breakouts (I didn't supplement D here). Cutting it out for about a month and supplementing vit D lead to vast improvements. I have since added it back in around once a week, and have not experienced severe breakouts.
Vitamin E can be very helpful, also aspirin. I don't like that most vitamin E comes in PUFA oil, so I try not to use it. However, it does seem to reduce the redness from scarring, and so it might be beneficial. Aspirin is the most recent thing I have implemented and so far I am liking it, it seems to have many of the same effects as vitamin E without the PUFA.

 

[ursidae]

to give some further details my meals was previous
at least 200g of a sort of fat which would be grass-fed butter, raw suet/ beef fat/lamb fat
100g ground beef
2 raw eggs
a glass of raw milk
liver
raw cheese here and there
raw salmon
raw heart
I ate a lot of odd stuff I swear lmao
and different variances of cuts of meat all raw btw but 100% grass-fed finished

As I understand it you introduced a number of items to this diet. I would go back to the diet that cleared your skin and add one food at a time. It’s good that you have a safe baseline diet that works for you because it makes it easier to assess the triggers this way. Ripe fruits are considered to be safe, so I’d start with that. And even with fruits, there is variation and need for experimentation: is the fiber the problem (can be tested with juice), or the oxalate/lectin content, or the shelf ripening, or the pesticide use, or an intolerance/allergy, or the glucose to fructose ratio. Any one of these things could be a problem and it may take several days to produce a reaction in your body

And for starches I’d pick tubers over white rice.

I wouldn’t mix the fruits or the starch with dairy. In fact I’d try to have dairy and starch several hours apart, except for adding some butter to it. I’d eat the new foods on their own as to exclude food combining from the “why is this food problematic for me” equation

 

[Zigzag]

I wanted to tell you to cut out starches completely, but you're already eating very low amounts. This made a massive difference in my forehead acne breakouts. Keto diet also cleared my skin, but I felt terrible, running permanently on stress hormones.

 

[Tim Lundeen]

Gallico has an excellent book:

The Hidden Cause of Acne: How Toxic Water Is Affecting Your Health and What You Can Do about It​

For her and many people, the driver is high levels of fluoride.

BTW, gelatin is almost always very high fluoride. Other food may be also, depending on how it is grown, prepared and the pesticides used, some of which leave high fluoride residues.

 

[Ashley_R]

Gallico has an excellent book:

The Hidden Cause of Acne: How Toxic Water Is Affecting Your Health and What You Can Do about It​

For her and many people, the driver is high levels of fluoride.

BTW, gelatin is almost always very high fluoride. Other food may be also, depending on how it is grown, prepared and the pesticides used, some of which leave high fluoride residues.

interesting this might be a very likely factor, since having coffee has lead to higher amounts of water, literally before did not consume any water ill see if i can find a way to manage, my only concern would then be intake of protein and many people rave regarding gelatin as a necessary food is there a particular brand that is safe? if you were to know

 

[TheCalciumCad]

https://www.thenutritioncoach.com.au/tnc/assets/acne-diagram1.jpg

Via skin breakouts broken down with Georgi Dinkov | The Nutrition Coach

 

[Tim Lundeen]

many people rave regarding gelatin as a necessary food is there a particular brand that is safe?

I haven't found any gelatin brand that reports fluoride levels. Used to use it, got better when we stopped. If people become aware of the problem it will get fixed, but right now it doesn't seem to be a safe supplement.

 

[laleto12]

I had the perfect skin of my life on the carnivore diet however i really crashed bad on it at one point.
Ray peat diet I suffer from acne too, tried lots of things but cant still find a solution

 

[Ashley_R]

Acne is kind of tough to figure out because it seemingly is caused by so many different things (sugar, milk, coffee, bread, meat, fat, you name it). The conclusion I have come to and others have as well (skin breakouts broken down with Georgi Dinkov | The Nutrition Coach) is that it is largely caused by endotoxin. If you have too much of those bacteria anything you eat will cause acne. The carrot salad is good maintenance but it might not be enough. I would recommend switching it up with well cooked mushrooms, activated charcoal, or bamboo shoots. I found drinking chaga mushroom tea every day helps my digestion and seems to combat endotoxin problems. If you are having serious problems with endotoxin though, then its probably best to take some antibiotics (I took doxycycline and Flagyl for an unrelated condition and noticed my skin and digestion immediately improved. While I was taking them I could eat anything, even starches that would have previously given me breakouts. This is ultimately what helped me and lead me to view this as an endotoxin problem.
I think one of the most important things for acne sufferers is to get enough vitamin D, (also vit k and calcium/magnesium). I supplement D at around 10k iu per day but sometimes I increase that to 20 or 30. This should prevent the endotoxin buildup, and eventually lead to better skin. Also very important, vitamin K. I like to get this from cooked leafy greens, although I know people here like to supplement k2 instead. I have tried supplementing mk7 and mk4 but I have found the most benefit from just eating the greens and broth. Vitamin A can be tricky, especially since you're ability to utilize it is determined by how good your metabolism is. I have noticed that eating to much liver will actually cause me to break out. For a period of several months I would eat it almost every other day, and it lead to me having horrible breakouts (I didn't supplement D here). Cutting it out for about a month and supplementing vit D lead to vast improvements. I have since added it back in around once a week, and have not experienced severe breakouts.
Vitamin E can be very helpful, also aspirin. I don't like that most vitamin E comes in PUFA oil, so I try not to use it. However, it does seem to reduce the redness from scarring, and so it might be beneficial. Aspirin is the most recent thing I have implemented and so far I am liking it, it seems to have many of the same effects as vitamin E without the PUFA.

been definitely doing this my face is going through loops of good and bad the biggest reduction has been texture wise on my back, so hopefully with more time and trial and error i believe endotoxin is a large reason but someone mentioned floruide as well which i would assume would be similiar as well as I drank no water at all besides the occasional sparkling water so i wonder

https://www.thenutritioncoach.com.au/tnc/assets/acne-diagram1.jpg

Via skin breakouts broken down with Georgi Dinkov | The Nutrition Coach

thank you! Ill be sure to check it out

 

[Ashley_R]

I haven't found any gelatin brand that reports fluoride levels. Used to use it, got better when we stopped. If people become aware of the problem it will get fixed, but right now it doesn't seem to be a safe supplement.

i'll try voiding it as well, as personally outside of it being said to balance aminos I honestly do not care much for jello lolol, ill see within the next month or so how it goes

 

[MrGilbert]

Tried giving the dairy a rest? Also my skin has radically improved since getting a portable steam sauna, something like that should help unclog you in the meantime.

 

[Ashley_R]

I had the perfect skin of my life on the carnivore diet however i really crashed bad on it at one point.
Ray peat diet I suffer from acne too, tried lots of things but cant still find a solution

yeah its super frustrating as well, since carnivore I was super head strong and argumentative its frustrating to go from clear skin to how it is now its a weird thing to explain I feel a lot better despite weight gain and acne kind of counterintuitive to people who don't understand so riperoni

 

[Ashley_R]

Tried giving the dairy a rest? Also my skin has radically improved since getting a portable steam sauna, something like that should help unclog you in the meantime.

interesting, I've also looking into something mentioning how sweating leads to get out toxins out used to play college level sports and sweat like a madmen...too many factors that have changed at once to pin point ill put it on my list thank you

 

[Ashley_R]

As I understand it you introduced a number of items to this diet. I would go back to the diet that cleared your skin and add one food at a time. It’s good that you have a safe baseline diet that works for you because it makes it easier to assess the triggers this way. Ripe fruits are considered to be safe, so I’d start with that. And even with fruits, there is variation and need for experimentation: is the fiber the problem (can be tested with juice), or the oxalate/lectin content, or the shelf ripening, or the pesticide use, or an intolerance/allergy, or the glucose to fructose ratio. Any one of these things could be a problem and it may take several days to produce a reaction in your body

And for starches I’d pick tubers over white rice.

I wouldn’t mix the fruits or the starch with dairy. In fact I’d try to have dairy and starch several hours apart, except for adding some butter to it. I’d eat the new foods on their own as to exclude food combining from the “why is this food problematic for me” equation

I'll probably plan some kind of variance to do so the issue is I am definitely not going to eat 200g of fat per day maybe replace it with an equivalent of a fruit juice instead and see, is there any particular reason for not having starch/fruit with dairy or is it particularly to initially pin point?

 

[ursidae]

I'll probably plan some kind of variance to do so the issue is I am definitely not going to eat 200g of fat per day maybe replace it with an equivalent of a fruit juice instead and see, is there any particular reason for not having starch/fruit with dairy or is it particularly to initially pin point?

The combination does not digest well in most people but you could have no issues eating them separately

 

[Cooper]

So you really think you have acne in those pictures?

Damn... You should see me, especially my younger self. Please chill out a little bit your face is fine.

I wouldn't even call them acnes. They are so little and light.

 

[TopGun1911]

Have you gotten a full thyroid panel? Insufficient thyroid can slow digestion and cause the food to ferment which releases endotoxin, and acne is one of the major visible consequences

 

[ruz]

Hi! Have you been able to figure out what was causing your acne? I'm having the same issue. I started peating a couple week ago and began breaking out. I was also keto/carnivore before and had much clearer skin.