Sometimes, maintaining a healthy diet and drinking plenty of water can still not stop acne flare-ups. Acne can be very frustrating, and no one ever wants to deal with it since it can cause disappointment, irritation, and discomfort. If you’re an adult suffering from frequent acne flare-ups, it may seem like you’re alone, but you’re not. Acne affects over 650 million people worldwide.
Acne often affects your skin and varies in severity depending on the individual. Naturally, some people have severe acne, while others have only mild acne. It’s common for teenagers to suffer from acne as they experience hormonal changes, but adults can suffer from it, too. The overproduction of sebum can clog follicles, causing the skin to be blocked and, hence, acne forming.
When doing a clean diet, you can easily notice that your acne clears up, especially if this diet doesn’t include items that cause you intolerance symptoms. The reason diet has a huge impact on skin health is because your diet quality will always affect the appearance of your skin.
How diet affects your skin
When you indulge in a diet that lacks a surplus of essential nutrients, it can cause you to have a range of skin conditions, which can range from dry skin to acne breakouts, among other types of skin conditions. Your diet also impacts your hormonal balance. When you have stress, it raises the cortisol hormone, which is linked to increased episodes of acne, psoriasis, erythema, and dermatitis.
When you consume a lot of alcohol, it also raises your cortisol levels in the body, which then damages your skin. Your diet can also impact your skin when you have food sensitivities. When you consume foods that you’re sensitive to, it causes an inflammatory response, resulting in chronic skin issues like eczema, psoriasis, and acne.
When it comes to reasons why you have acne, food sensitivities are the easiest to fix. However, you can only fix what you know, and most people go their entire lives without being aware of their food sensitivities. This then leads them to suffer in silence, not knowing what’s happening.
How does food sensitivity cause acne?
When you ingest a food that you’re sensitive to, it causes a delayed response, which leads to the increasing production of IgG antibodies throughout your system. This inflammatory process affects the walls of the digestive tract. These chemicals released don’t stay in the gut only, but they can also move to other parts of the body, causing symptoms like migraines, joint pain, and skin problems.
Skin problems caused by food sensitivities include acne, eczema, dermatitis, and psoriasis. The exact mechanism that causes food sensitivities to affect the skin is still being determined according to scientific terms. However, when one goes on an elimination diet to remove the trigger food from their diet, they’re able to retain clear skin and not suffer from other intolerance symptoms that include IBS.
What causes food sensitivities
Food sensitivities have various causes, and it’s hard to pin down the real cause of the food intolerance you’re suffering from. Some causes of food sensitivities include:
- Lack of sufficient enzyme to break down food: This is common in the case of lactose intolerance. When you lack sufficient lactase enzymes, you are unable to digest lactose, which is found in dairy products and milk. This then causes you to suffer from intolerance symptoms whenever you consume anything with lactose.
- Food preservatives and additives: Sometimes your reaction isn’t to the food you’ve consumed but to how it was prepared. Processed foods contain many preservatives and stabilizers, which can trigger digestive symptoms.
- Food enhancers: MSG is present in many processed foods, including chips, snacks, soy sauce, fast foods, and cookies, among other processed goods. You’ll often find it listed as “natural flavors” on ingredient labels. MSG can cause sensitivity symptoms, which can cause you to think you have an intolerance to that food when you only have a problem with MSG.
- Celiac disease: Gluten causes celiac disease, an autoimmune condition that’s majorly known for causing symptoms similar to those of food sensitivities. These include IBS symptoms like diarrhea, stomach pain, constipation, bloating, gassiness, and other digestive problems. Most people with celiac disease often overlook it, even though it can cause serious damage to one’s digestive tract walls.
Commonly, food intolerances can also be a result of underlying conditions like Crohn’s disease, leaky gut syndrome, and IBS, among other digestive conditions. A leaky gut often starts in the small intestines, which is vital to your health. In the small intestines, lots of minerals and nutrients are absorbed into the blood after digestion because the walls allow this to happen.
However, when you have leaky gut syndrome, your intestinal walls get damaged, and it allows toxins, undigested food, proteins, and bacteria to flow into your bloodstream. Since these items are foreign to the body, it fights them, causing systematic inflammation. When this happens over a period of time, your body starts identifying some foods as “toxic” and wil facilitate inflammation every time you consume that specific food.
When you have systemic inflammation in the body, it causes your body to inflame your acne. Often, the initial symptoms of leaky gut syndrome include acne, eczema, bloating, gas, and frequent colds and flu. So, when you have leaky gut syndrome, it can make your acne even worse. The leaky gut syndrome is the root of many food sensitivities, and once treated, it can relieve your symptoms.
How to manage acne and food sensitivities
Most people find relief from acne and food sensitivities once they know their sensitivities. You can do this by taking a Sensitivity Test. This test lets you know foods that are causing you sensitivity symptoms, which include ance. Once you’re aware of your trigger foods, you can go on an elimination diet and see if your symptoms improve.
Your doctor can advise you on how long to go on this elimination diet before reintroducing the trigger foods to see how they affect your system. However, if you still suffer from skin problems, you can consult your doctor on the way forward, especially if you want to eliminate the trigger food from your diet.
Eliminating foods from your diet requires you to exercise caution because it often results in deficiencies if not conducted correctly. You must replace that food with something similarly rich in nutrients and vitamins so that your health doesn’t suffer that loss.
Often, you’ll notice acne that’s caused by gut problems that will appear on your cheeks and the side of your face by the ears. Managing your diet by eliminating trigger foods and sticking to a healthy, balanced diet with proper hydration can highly improve your health and the appearance of your skin.
You can also take care of your gut by consuming foods and drinks that give you prebiotics and probiotics. These are good gut bacteria that support your gut health. They can help you rebuild your digestive system and bring it up to be less sensitive to various foods. Healing your gut is the best way to manage food sensitivities after elimination.
Final thoughts
Food sensitivity is a cause of acne, and it’s the easiest and most manageable cause of acne. By taking a Sensitivity Test, you get to know your trigger foods, and by indulging in an elimination diet, you also are removing these trigger foods from your diet. By knowing which foods you need to remove from your diet and which ones to add to help support good health, you’re helping your body thrive, and your skin becomes free from acne. However, not all acne is caused by food sensitivities. Some types of acne are caused by stress, unhealthy diet, or genes.
You must consult your doctor about what could be causing your acne. However, if yaou only notice that it flares up when you eat certain types of foods, then it’s time you look into food sensitivities and discover if you have any so you can manage your diet better and eventually your skin health. It is possible to have perfect skin, so you shouldn’t give up all hope.
