Have you ever awoken to an unsightly pimple? We’ve always been in that situation. Acne will strike at any level, causing a lot of embarrassment. In a lot of cases, acne can strike anytime, even on a special day.
Despite years of controversy, new findings show that what you consume has a huge impact on your skin’s health and appearance, with some diets increasing the risk of acne breakouts by as much as 10%. Fortunately, there are acne treatments available in the market to help wipe out these blemishes. One of the most recommended treatments is an Agnes acne treatment as it is able to treat chronic and stubborn acne with only minimal downtime.
While there are several excellent acne treatments available, it’s still crucial to be mindful of some of the more common acne-causing foods that we should avoid or, as much as possible, limit the intake.
Chocolate
As we all know, chocolate has been told to contribute to the development of acne. The positive news for chocolate fans is that raw cacao has been shown to have little effect on acne breakouts. Raw cacao is rich in zinc and vitamins A, C, E, all of which are excellent for your skin. Chocolate has been attributed to a serious case of acne because of the butter and sugar used in most candy bars and desserts.
Next time you crave and try to eat a chocolate bar, try opting for high percentage dark chocolate or snackable cacao nibs as a treat. Avoid milk or white chocolate, which are mostly made up of all the ingredients that will lead to inflammation and agitate your acne.
Fast Food
Fast food is one of the first things to blame for acne development, and it can be avoided for the same reasons as mentioned above when it comes to your skin. The high saturated fats and processed additives in grease-filled finger foods like burgers, fries, pizza, and other greasy finger foods can completely disrupt your hormonal balance and blood sugar levels. If you’re hungry, make your own version of your favourite fast food. Replace baked potatoes with fried potatoes and white meat in your sandwich instead of red meat.
Alcoholic Beverages
Excessive alcohol intake can induce hormonal imbalances. But what if you’re on a special occasion where wine is present? What you can do is only consume a glass or two of wine. Make sure to not consume it too quickly to allow the body some time to process and flush it out of the system. Although it has not been shown that alcohol induces acne, it can cause an imbalance of testosterone and estrogen levels, which can affect the frequency and length of breakouts.
When our hormone levels increase, our skin produces sebum, a fluid that clogs our pores with oil and bacteria, causing breakouts. Of course, you should never drink in excess, so people who are more prone to breakouts should restrict their alcohol intake.
Dairy Products
Because of the bovine hormones that remain bioavailable after consumption, dairy products, especially milk, are thought to lead to the seriousness of your acne symptoms. In particular, milk proteins like whey and casein, which are added to skim milk to make it taste less watery, have been linked to causing more inflammation. It’s often assumed that bodybuilders who use whey protein drinks as a fitness supplement suffer from acne.
Milk is almost present in every food that we consume on a daily, especially the desserts that we just can’t avoid! Most stores carry a variety of options, such as almond or cashew milk. There are several choices available; all you have to do is choose one that you like.
Sugary Foods
Unfortunately, sugar and carbohydrates heavy on the glycemic index are a huge contributor to acne breakouts. In other words, high-sugar foods cause the body’s insulin levels to rise. This intense insulin overdose causes the skin to produce further oils, which clogs the follicles and pores with sebum, as previously stated. This provides the perfect condition for P. Acnes bacteria to thrive, resulting in a nasty breakout, in addition to the inflammatory symptoms triggered by an increase in insulin.
If you can’t give up dessert, the only solution is to limit the intake of high-sugar foods. We can satisfy our sweet tooth by having a bite or two on that sweet snack we have been eyeing for. Once you learn how to control yourself from eating too much sweet, you’ll eventually cut out 60% to 70% of sugar intake in your diet.
Being aware of what we consume every day is enough to keep our skin and overall health on point. For the above-mentioned foods, you don’t necessarily need to avoid them, but we should at least limit the consumption. Eating a chocolate or two a week should be enough to satisfy our cravings.
