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Sunday 23 September 2012

Healthy Diet for Acne Treatment...

Well, we all know I'm slightly obsessed about my skin these days (damn that Vanilla Soufle Scrub!)... 

Last week a friend of mine introduced me to YouTube sensation Cassandra Bankson,  an inspiring young person who vlogs and does makeup tutorials on how to cover up acne, besides giving really useful info. You can Google her name, she's all over the web! 

As I was video-hopping her YouTube channel that night, I came across a video where she mentioned the relationship between diet and healthy skin. Being the studious person that I am *ahem*, it made me do some research on what food IS good for the skin.

There were lots and lots of websites and answers. This is a very short summary of my research; the nutrients which you should take to help with your acne/for healthy skin:
  • Chromium
  • Green tea
  • Omega-3
  • Milk Thistle
  • Selenium
  • Tomatoes and cucumbers
  • Vitamin A, C and E
  • Vitamin B complex 
  • Zinc
I'll list down the good sources I found at the end of this post so you can read it in detail if you wish. Perhaps when it's not 3am, I could put it all together in a more comprehensive post ;)

Well, you may be wondering wth is the point of telling me what nutrients i need without telling me where I can get it from? Aha! That's where the second part of my research comes in...

I took a walk to a nearby pharmacy and checked out all their multi-vit selection. Granted, there may have been more choices if I had gone to a bigger store but it's ok.. there's always Google and the internet for Plan B, lol.

This is not for advertising purposes but I'm still a bit wary of naming brands -_-" Please bear in mind that these are only supplements and cannot replace prescribed medication

1. A friend of mine says that Surbex Zinc is good for the skin. 
    Content: Vit B Complex, Zinc 15mg, Folic acid 400mcg, Vit C 750mg, Vit E

2. Blackmores Teen Multi for Girls. Yes, I do realise that I'm so not a teen anymore but the contents were good! This supplement contains all that I listed above. I have no idea if it's effective or not, but I'm giving it a shot since I doubt my daily diet is providing me with all the goodies my body needs (no fruit, minimal veg, lots of fast food... you bad, bad girl!)


3. Blackmores Women's Vitality. This is probably the adult version of the Teen Multi with the addition of Milk Thistle (for liver detox) but it's not available in Malaysia, unfortunately. 

4. Blackmores Bio Zinc was suggested by their naturopath as a good source of Vit A and Zinc (of all the products I've come across recently, I think this has the highest Zinc & Vit A content).


Zinc (from Zinc amino acid chelate) 14.9 mg
Magnesium phosphate 90 mg
Manganese (from Manganese amino acid chelate) 2 mg
Vitamin A2500 IU
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine hydrochloride)50 mg


Something a naturopath told me:
"Acne can be associated with hormonal imbalance and aggravated by ineffective elimination from the body, which may be related to a build up of toxins in the system due to an inability of the liver to effectively break down circulatory toxins. It can also be initiated by food sensitivities, poor diet and stress."
This takes me to...

5. Milk Thistle. From my searches today, it would appear that Milk Thistle is a good supplement for detox of the liver. In short, when your liver function is not up to par, it's unable to completely remove all the toxins from your body which would then cause some of these toxins to be eliminated through the skin. By improving liver function, these toxins wouldn't have to be removed from the body through the skin which would reduce skin irritation, etc. Some forums/blogs say that it's good for eczema too so I think I'm gonna get some tomorrow :D 

You should also eat a diet of low glycaemic index food. Basically, 
  • high glycaemic index = food which quickly releases a lot of sugar/glucose when broken down (i.e. white bread, refined rice) 

vs 

  • low glycaemic index = food which break down and release small amounts of sugar but over a longer period of time 
At least, that's what I can remember from my A-Level days, lol. Here's the linky: http://www.glycemicindex.com


Think low in simple carbohydrates, higher in protein.

There may be other products or diet good for the skin which I didn't get to look at... I'm merely sharing the results of my quick 'research' on that, hoping that perhaps it'll make your search a bit easier. Please do share if you've found out anything interesting... arigato! :)

Way past time for me to hit the sack...
Love & hugs,
nad xoxo~

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