Hi
A female friend of mine (she's 24), has developed acne for the first time in her life in the last 9 months, since April 2013. It seemed to get worse towards middle/end of 2013.
She's been pescetarian since 15, but went vegan from Jan to Dec 2013, although ate SOME fish in the year. She's now back eating fish as before.
She also took ayahuasca a fair amount in 2013, but mainly after the acne kicked in. I think this had an impact on the acne staying, as I saw her in October after she'd done a number of consecutive weekends taking ayahuasca and her skin was at its worst. Aya is a poison on the liver I believe.
She says the acne started at the time of her first major university exams for her new degree, so she thinks it's related. But also it's about 3-4 months after having gone full vegan.
She says her periods have become more painful, although they are still regular.
Her hands and feet are cold a lot, but she says "they've been cold since I was a child".
All of her health "knowledge" comes from having been a model when younger and now from having lots of vegan friends now, so it's hard to talk to her about this stuff. She says things like "I don't believe in calories", "I'm sure it's not what I eat".
She says her breasts have got a bit smaller in 2013, but this also matches her having dropped 5-6 pounds from 2012.
I've never thought from a woman's perspective on the hormonal issues, so it's harder for me to talk to her about it. She says her ability to deal with various stresses, worries etc has gone down - so it's all linked. She's getting upset that the acne is affecting her confidence, so stuck in that cycle. It seems the stress hormones are affecting her physically and psychologically.
She messaged me her normal diet:
Porridge in the morning (with almond or rice milk), or some fruit.
Soup for lunch with lentils or quinoa
Egg, avacado, salad for dinner or salmon with veg
So I'm guessing this is around 1200 calories per day. Maybe not even that.
She does gym + yoga, 5 times per week (2 or 3 gym, 2 or 3 yoga).
My thinking is the vegetarianism + modelling has always been a stress on her body but she's been able to take it, even though the cold hands and feet have shown some signs of issues. Now the effect of uni stress, plus veganism, plus ayahuasca, plus a distance relationship means that she's broken over her threshold for maintaining the stress, so it's coming out in various ways. Plus exercise 5 times a week and hugely insufficient calories means her stress hormones are going nuts. It's more the effect on progesterone etc that I'd like to be able to explain to her.
Any particular suggestions for supplements to take to help the acne?
And general recommendations particularly from women who have gone through the same things and come out the other side?
And any specific diet recommendations for her.
Any summary I can copy and paste to her would be great. THANKS!
A female friend of mine (she's 24), has developed acne for the first time in her life in the last 9 months, since April 2013. It seemed to get worse towards middle/end of 2013.
She's been pescetarian since 15, but went vegan from Jan to Dec 2013, although ate SOME fish in the year. She's now back eating fish as before.
She also took ayahuasca a fair amount in 2013, but mainly after the acne kicked in. I think this had an impact on the acne staying, as I saw her in October after she'd done a number of consecutive weekends taking ayahuasca and her skin was at its worst. Aya is a poison on the liver I believe.
She says the acne started at the time of her first major university exams for her new degree, so she thinks it's related. But also it's about 3-4 months after having gone full vegan.
She says her periods have become more painful, although they are still regular.
Her hands and feet are cold a lot, but she says "they've been cold since I was a child".
All of her health "knowledge" comes from having been a model when younger and now from having lots of vegan friends now, so it's hard to talk to her about this stuff. She says things like "I don't believe in calories", "I'm sure it's not what I eat".
She says her breasts have got a bit smaller in 2013, but this also matches her having dropped 5-6 pounds from 2012.
I've never thought from a woman's perspective on the hormonal issues, so it's harder for me to talk to her about it. She says her ability to deal with various stresses, worries etc has gone down - so it's all linked. She's getting upset that the acne is affecting her confidence, so stuck in that cycle. It seems the stress hormones are affecting her physically and psychologically.
She messaged me her normal diet:
Porridge in the morning (with almond or rice milk), or some fruit.
Soup for lunch with lentils or quinoa
Egg, avacado, salad for dinner or salmon with veg
So I'm guessing this is around 1200 calories per day. Maybe not even that.
She does gym + yoga, 5 times per week (2 or 3 gym, 2 or 3 yoga).
My thinking is the vegetarianism + modelling has always been a stress on her body but she's been able to take it, even though the cold hands and feet have shown some signs of issues. Now the effect of uni stress, plus veganism, plus ayahuasca, plus a distance relationship means that she's broken over her threshold for maintaining the stress, so it's coming out in various ways. Plus exercise 5 times a week and hugely insufficient calories means her stress hormones are going nuts. It's more the effect on progesterone etc that I'd like to be able to explain to her.
Any particular suggestions for supplements to take to help the acne?
And general recommendations particularly from women who have gone through the same things and come out the other side?
And any specific diet recommendations for her.
Any summary I can copy and paste to her would be great. THANKS!