Removing nasty chemicals from my skin had been great for my skin. I needed less products and used less of the natural products because they were so concentrated (my old ones were filled with chemical thickeners and made of mostly water). My skin wasn't stripped and dry, my fine lines faded, my perpetually pink cheeks neutralized. So why, at 43 years old, did I develop a face full of zits? Here I had a skin care store full of wonderful, natural products and could barely look people in the face due to a horrible bout of adult acne. I now sympathize with thousands of people that have to deal with this terrible skin affliction. Thank goodness, after some trials and tribulations, I was able to identify the culprit and, as they say, heal thyself.When your face is erupting more than Old Faithful, most of us will try anything and everything to get it under control. The idea that going chemical-free made my face break out is ridiculous. Out of desperation, I tried ProActive at one point. It does dry up blemishes but it also oxidizes your skin, adding to wrinkles and does nothing to keep new blemishes from forming under the skin (those enormous zits I like to call "undergrounders"). The worst suggestion of all was that the zits were the result of hormones gone crazy, which leaves you feeling helpless. Hormones can certainly play a role in occasional breakouts, but certainly couldn't be the cause of full blown acne. Furthermore nothing, nothing, I put on or left off my face made any difference.
It was this realization that led me to my personal cure. I knew it had to be something I was putting in my body or in my case not putting in. I looked at my eating habits of late. I was prone to the occasional chocolate craving, but after all these years I doubted that the sweet confection had turned against me. Besides, I was buying organic, dark chocolate now; nothing sinister there. In fact, I had improved my diet greatly over the years and recently had tried to go vegan.
Hum? Then I ran across an article by my favorite health advocate, Mike Adams of NaturalNews. He mentions in the article how a zinc deficiency may be a cause of acne. Maybe my feeble attempt at a new vegan lifestyle was leaving me a bit short in the zinc department? After reading up on the signs of zinc deficiency, I decided to pump up my intake of oysters and pumpkin seeds to see if it would help. Results? Enough of a difference in my skin to look deeper into zinc.
There are subtle signs to zinc deficiency. Acne can be just one of them. Other signs can be white spots on the fingernails, dry, brittle hair, slow wound healing and a decreased sense of taste and smell. I had all of these. Zinc plays an important role in our overall immune function and is important for our general health. Many people may be zinc deficient and not know it. Often a blood test or hair analysis misses the deficiency; many doctors working with AIDS patients use a simple taste test to check for zinc deficiency. A great explanation of the test exists at a UK website on multiple sclerosis research.
In addition to adding zinc-rich foods to my diet, I also added a lot of other vitamin and mineral rich foods to help my skin improve. I added purifying green tea (both the drink and a green tea mask) to detox the skin, vitamin A rich carrot juice (mixed with orange to make it taste better), lots of delicious, deep colored berries, foods rich in omega-3 and other great-for-the-skin goodies. A simple, all-natural cleanser (evanhealy's Tea Tree Gel Cleanser) and oil-free moisturizer (Karen's Botanicals' Refreshing Aloe Vera Lotion), both with tea tree oil, help keep blemishes at bay. And for the occasional, hormonal "undergrounder", I zap it with a two-day treatment of evanhealy's Blemish Stick and it never makes it to the surface!
I'm now happy to report my face is back to it's normal (combination) self. Now, I realize that my situation may not be the the same for other acne sufferers, but the story seems worth telling for the purpose of looking at our diet first in solving health issues of any kind. Not everyone who attempts a vegan diet will develop acne, but making certain our bodies are getting all the vitamins and minerals we need is crucial to any diet. Watching your health change in any way is a great time to look to your diet for the answers. In a current environment where we are told to take a Rx drug for anything and everything, the temptation can be great to just reach for a pill. There is also a lot of misinformation on the Internet and thousands of sites trying to sell acne "cures" in a bottle. But nature usually has the best and safest answer to our health issues. The next time your body starts to change in a way that is displeasing, steer clear of the quick chemical fixes and look to nature to solve all ill wills!
