Why Do I Have Acne After Introducing Butter, Milk And Cheese?

[welshwing]

Hello,

I have a very simple problem but I'm worried it might be a sign of further issues. I made a thread questioning the Ray Peat diet, I got a lot of useful responses but some were against green/leafy vegetables which I used to consume a lot. On that advice I started eating butter, milk, eggs, cheese and fruits daily. Butter was put on everything. I've been doing this for about a week and I have two pimples, and scattered acne on my face.

Aren't these foods supposed to be anti-inflammatory? I also notice my face is oilier... Ray Peat claims vegetables are bad but I never had any (noticeable) problems eating a high vegetable, high fiber diet. Now I have acne which is a disease suggesting I have other problems.

I don't know what to eat anymore. I think I'm going to go back to a high vegetable diet, they're really the only food that hasn't had some side effect. The only flaw in my diet is not enough calories due to the fiber filling me up, adding butter solved this problem, so it seemed.

Is there any food that's just good and has no side effects for anybody? Butter, milk and cheese that are natural seemed good but gave me acne, who knows what else. It's very easy to overeat as well.

 

[welshwing]

Please tell me what you think is best. I'm desperately in need of the truth. For me It's not a matter of not wanting to eat something, It's just not knowing what is healthiest. I am tired of experimenting with foods and just want to know what's really good.

 

[Amazoniac]

I would consider what you removed instead of what you added.
Reintroduce your vegetables properly prepared and report back. Mineral deficiencies are very common behind acne..

 

[Amazoniac]

And I highly doubt that there's a problem with butter. The most problematic parts of the foods are usually the proteins. Butter has a tiny fraction of them. Milk has a lot, and it can cause problems for some.

 

[welshwing]

Milk is likely the problem, I don't have access to milk that is raw, organic, grass fed etc... I bought store brand "pasteurized" milk. Maybe I shouldn't drink any because I have no access to proper milk.

Is it okay to eat butter with vegetables? I've been getting the bulk of my calories from butter, I am wondering if this is safe. In this past week I've eaten two sticks of "Kerrygold" butter.

 

[Amazoniac]

Well, it is better to aim for balanced meals. If your food looks extremely greasy is an obvious sign of excess fat.
I don't think that is an issue with the purity of the milk that you were getting. Rather a reaction to the proteins in it, even though pasteurization can indeed damage some compounds, but so does frying, etc.
Vegetables, with the exception of starchy ones, won't provide you with enough glucose for your basal needs. Be careful with that because digestion on its own consumes more glucose than what you ingest with non-starchy vegetables.

 

[welshwing]

Glucose seems to be in sugary foods. Do I need so much of it?

Is it enough to consume a tiny cup of orange juice with every meal? I eat squash as well, I think that's the best food for glucose.

 

[Amazoniac]

The organism seems to compensate the deviations of fats and carbohydrates.
A great way to find a certain balance is when it tastes good.

Those that you mentioned probably won't be enough. Perhaps a bit more options, there are plenty of them..

 

[tara]

I don't know if there are any foods that are unreservedly good for everybody - name a food and there's probably someone with an allergy or intolerance to it. I don't think you can get to what is healthiest for your body without some experimenting.

That said, have you tried gradually moving towards a diet that has more fruit/juice as a major energy source, and less (not zero) butter and high-fibre veges? Are you getting all your protein and micronutrient needs met (cronometer's good for checking)? Peat has suggested a diet based largely on milk and fruit, with occasional eggs, liver, oysters, etc. No guaranteeing that will work for you, but if you haven't tried it, it might be worth a go. You can adapt it if there are parts of this that give you trouble.
Well-cooked veges can sometimes contribute useful minerals, especially if you are not getting them elsewhere.
Butter doesn't give you much in the way of minerals - fruits and vegetables tend to give more of these. No protein in butter either.
Deficiencies in zinc and vit-A are two of the micronutrients that seem to come up from time to time in relation to acne. Oysters have good amounts of zinc.

I have not read that Peat says vegetables are bad. He has cautioned about various downsides to some of them, about not overdoing the ones that have significant goitrogens, PUFAs, and other defensive toxins, about cooking them well, about not overdoing the fermentable fibres.

Glucose comes more from starchy veges than from sweet fruits, which generally have both glucose and fructose.

If I were you I'd consider gradually shifting to getting your calories more from fruit than from fat. The fructose in sweet foods may be helpful. Large amounts of fats can sometimes slow things down for some people.

Personally, I like to eat a little butter on a small portion of veges from time to time, but I don't make them my staples.

 

[welshwing]

I know fruits aren't bad, Tara. Thanks for the advice. But how do you prevent the mass tooth decay from eating so much sugar? Primitives as they're shown in Weston A. Price's book all ate diets without fruits and they lived in good health. I'm dieting by a mix of Price's and Peat's recommendations, one user of this site has made a thread describing his receding gumline after "living a Peat lifestyle".

I see Peat's suggestions as good advice because he did research on everything edible and fruits apparently have the least drawbacks. I still see many different diets that have kept people healthy until they died. The one thing I take from both diets is butter, milk, cheese and meats are good in moderation. The diets differ in where you should get the bulk of your calories, Peat says fruit and the other is high fat.

When in doubt I think of the children that grow up eating like primitives and they develop very normative... Vs. the modern people who ate refined sugars (all sugar is sugar, even from fruits) and did not grow well.

 

[welshwing]

If I were to get most calories from fruit I'd have to blend and drink them fast, then brush my teeth immediately after to prevent tooth decay.

 

[tara]

Where have you found evidence of healthy long-lived high-fat low-carb eaters?
I think Peat says he rinses his mouth with water or baking soda after drinking juice for his teeth's sake.
I can't really speak to keeping teeth healthy - mine are crumbling, but that happened as much on a low sugar diet as on my current high sugar diet.

 

[YuraCZ]

Maybe histamine is a part of the problem? I have issues with all kinds of cheeses.. I began to realise that histamine is bigger problem now on "Peating" cheese, chocolate, dried fruits and even milk or citrus fruits (OJ) lol...

 

[Stilgar]

How about potatoes/potato protein soup and gelatin? Can you tolerate those?

Dairy isn't necessarily essential - it is just has a good calcium to phosphorus ratio, is a good protein source and has other pro-metabolic qualities.

I get pimples when I don't eat enough protein, because I think I just start to get very inflamed. My face becomes sore and itchy. And my whole body feels histamine crazy. I eat 50g of gelatin in a day and a bunch of potato protein with fruit juice and I improve immediately.

 

[sugar daddy]

I think you need more vitamin A from eggs and liver that's what worked for me.

 

[Peata]

Teeth won't necessarily decay eating the Peat foods. After two years of high refined sugar, fruit, etc., I have no cavities. And I don't even rinse after eating/drinking them much. When I brush, I use a soft toothbrush and either baking soda to brush (gently) or a natural toothpaste. I'm just giving my experience to show that it's not as simple as sugar = decay.

 

[welshwing]

Peata, I'm interested in knowing what foods you ate during your teeth's developmental years. Maybe you ate a different diet that made your enamel and dentin form very strong. I've had a cavity, I used to eat plenty of grains starting the day with oatmeal and fruit, not flossing at all... I'm aware diet plays a big part on teeth health, Peat's diet seems nutritionally complete so maybe that alone is preventing cavities.

Tara, Weston Price was able to reverse minor cavities in children by feeding them 4 ounces of tomato or orange juice, high vitamin cod liver oil and butter, vegetable/meat and bone marrow soup, carrots, fresh whole milk, cooked fruits (low sugar), fish chowder and animal organs.

Feeding them one meal a day with these varying ingredients reversed their tooth decay. Vit D and K2 are synergistic in promoting tooth and skeletal health. Vit A and calcium are also important.

I don't think low carb high fat is necessarily good, but for me It's very hard to find good grains (no phytic acid, freshly made with no unnecessary additives...) and I figure since Price was all about teeth health (and how it is a sign of overall health) that high fat is best. But potatoes are definitely great and they're very high carb, I think fruits are great as long as you wash your mouth soon or eat something else after to get it off your teeth.

I think I'll eat more potatoes and fruit that Ray Peat recommends, washing my mouth with vinegar later. Also cutting out milk for now... Thanks for the advice all.

 

[Peata]

I had cavities growing up and have had some in my adult years as well.

My foods during development were a mix of healthy and junk. Eggs, whole milk, fatty meat, sugar, fruit, vegetables, bread (lots of sandwiches) cold cereals, peanut butter & jelly, potatoes, (not as much pasta, beans, soda, or rice), hot dogs, hamburgers, chocolate, candy, cookies, ice cream, juice, canned and processed foods (spaghetti-O's, Spam, ha). Oh, and school lunches during school year.

 

[Peata]

It could be I've avoided cavities lately due to the Vitamin K. I also supplement B's, D, E as needed (with a pufa meal), magnesium...

 

[tara]

Tara, Weston Price was able to reverse minor cavities in children by feeding them 4 ounces of tomato or orange juice, high vitamin cod liver oil and butter, vegetable/meat and bone marrow soup, carrots, fresh whole milk, cooked fruits (low sugar), fish chowder and animal organs.

Feeding them one meal a day with these varying ingredients reversed their tooth decay. Vit D and K2 are synergistic in promoting tooth and skeletal health. Vit A and calcium are also important.

I don't think low carb high fat is necessarily good, but for me It's very hard to find good grains (no phytic acid, freshly made with no unnecessary additives...) and I figure since Price was all about teeth health (and how it is a sign of overall health) that high fat is best. But potatoes are definitely great and they're very high carb, I think fruits are great as long as you wash your mouth soon or eat something else after to get it off your teeth.

I think I'll eat more potatoes and fruit that Ray Peat recommends, washing my mouth with vinegar later. Also cutting out milk for now... Thanks for the advice all.

I agree that teeth health can be an indicator of general health.
It could be that it was the fat soluble vitamins, rather than large amounts of fat, that was helpful in Price's work. After all, he gave them a little butter oil, likely to have concentrated vits, rather than large quantities of butter, and relied on other foods for most calories.

I've been supplementing vit K2, Ca, and Mg for at least a year, E intermittently, and ADEK in estroban and occasional extra D3 more recently. I eat eggs, liver, gelatinous broth, OJ, some well-cooked veges and a little butter regularly, and fis and shell fish and other organ meats occasionally.

If you decide to cut back on milk, it might be worth doing the egg or oyster shells for Ca.