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Natural Ways to Prevent Acne

There is nothing quite like seeing the relief and happiness that people experience as they recover from chronic acne. I will never forget one gentleman – a professor at a top naturopathic school – whose chronic acne completely disappeared within two weeks of following some of the suggestions below. Tears filled his eyes as he spoke about the many years he suffered with acne despite trying numerous natural and conventional remedies.

Many people in developed countries suffer with acne at some point in their lives. Rather than identify and address the root causes of acne, a good majority turn to creams, cleansers, and sometimes drugs to relieve their symptoms. While these approaches may produce temporary results for some, they rarely lead to lasting improvement because they do not take into account dietary and lifestyle factors that cause acne to begin with.

These symptom-based approaches remind me of a time when my kitchen faucet broke off and a powerful geyser of water exploded upward, taking a bite out of the ceiling. My first reaction was to cram the broken faucet in place. It took every last bit of my strength to hold this faucet down against the upward force of water. If I budged even a bit, water would shoot out in all directions with incredible force. Being the quick thinker that I am, I stood there for about five minutes, growing exhausted from holding this faucet down. It finally dawned on me that I had to reach down under the sink and turn off the water supply. During the few seconds it took for me to let go of the broken faucet and reach down to turn off the water supply, it was like being next to an open fire hydrant. The kitchen and I ended up soaked, but it sure felt great to know that no more water would come flying out of the broken faucet!

When I see people use creams, cleansers, and drugs to deal with acne, I can’t help but think that they are trying awfully hard to solve their problem, just as I struggled to hold the water down with the broken faucet, when a more effective and permanent solution exists. You can experience temporary and limited success using creams, cleansers, and drugs, but wouldn’t it be way better to keep acne from developing in the first place?

Here are several natural ways to help prevent acne:

  1. Avoid or reduce intake of common triggers of acne; pasteurized dairy products, fried and deep-fried foods, hydrogenated oils, sugar, salty snacks, preservatives like sulphates, and highly processed foods that contain gluten.

  2. Eat mainly whole, unprocessed foods, with vegetables making up at least 50% of the total volume of your diet. Specifics of your ideal diet depend on a variety of factors, including your body type, ethnic background, health history, and current health status.

  3. Ensure regular intake of healthy foods that contain vitamin A.

  4. Get enough sleep to feel refreshed when you wake up. It is during deep, restful sleep that your body is able to most efficiently repair damaged skin.

  5. Do not rub your acne with abrasive towels or loofahs. Aggressively rubbing your acne can cause the underlying infection to spread, which can result in new spots. Sometimes, abrasive rubbing can create enough irritation to cause an infection that leads to acne. Instead of rubbing your face dry after washing, make it a habit to pat dry or even air dry.

  6. Use as little soap and make-up as possible. Using soap on a daily basis is only necessary if you work with gas, coal, or oil. For most people who don’t wear make up, washing with cold water is enough to have clean and healthy skin. Washing with only cold water is what people have done through most of world history.

  7. If your weather allows, expose your skin to sunshine each day, even if it’s for a few minutes. Just be sure not to burn yourself. Natural sunlight has remarkable healing and recuperative powers for your skin.

  8. Consider taking a high quality probiotic. Having lots of good bacteria living in your intestines will provide protection against toxins that can contribute to acne formation. Lots of good bacteria in your intestines is also helpful for your immune system, which plays a significant role in maintaining healthy skin.

  9. If you are not seeing changes as quickly as you would like, consider doing a short water or juice fast, which can accelerate healing of your skin.

 
 

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Comments

i've suffered with acne since i was about 17 , i'm now 28 and i've tried everything under the sun to take care of the problem between diet , doctors and every cleanser and spot treatment available .the only thing that has worked for me is your dr.ben kim's greens . thank you so much . i'm so happy that after so many years i finally have the relief i've been searching for . thank you , thank you , thank you ! ~ shannon

Honestly, it is so hard to prevent acne. I mean, it's different for everybody, but preventing it from appearing, especially at my age (15) is just hard. It's not just as easy as using Proactive or Clean and Clear. Sometimes it takes doing a whole skin regimen, and it's actually not as hard as it sounds. Check out this site, it's full of awesome facts and tips about the best way to keep your skin clear: http://theclearskinproject.com/acne-article/prevent-vs-cure-acne. It really helped me!

I am 35 years old and have suffered from acne for the last 5 years - once stopping the pill.
I have seen wholistic doctors, naturopaths ect... and have improved but have not fought off acne.
The root cause has been found to be candida - and after 2 years of strict dieting, acupuncture, lymphatic drainage, colonics, supplement bombardment ect.. I am still suffering.
I don't see it going away - but am always trying to rid myself of it.

I have found that the most effective way at clearing up acne is to completely eliminate all grains and sugars. This can be very difficult but is absolutely neccessary. When we eat grains they process as sugars and release a surge of insulin in your body, thus inflammation. This can also lead to an excess of male hormones which cause pores in the skin to secrete sebum, which promotes acne-promoting bacteria. So trans fats, sugars, dried fruits, all dairy, and the most difficult for me is to avoid all grains. This list includes all breads, pastas, potatoes etc. You have to be very dilligent. And make sure to include lots of probiotics and fermented foods into your diet. Another often very over looked issue is your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is crucial in regulating your immune system and assists your body in virtually every metabololic function in your entire body. There are so many varying factors that determine how much you should take, but it's often much higher than what is often reccommended. You should aim to get approximently 5000 IU a day, sunshine being the best source but make sure to get your levels checked. I have also found help in taking a chromuium supplement, and a product called NSI Healthy Skin, which can be purchased through the website Vitacost. There are others things that I could mention that are helpful such as reducing stress levels, getting adequate sleep, and dry skin brushing. Leafy greans are so vitally important, veggies are really the trick and cutting out most if not all processed refined foods, even so called healthy versions. I hope this may help. But ultametly the only way to really find out what is going on inside of your body is the get extensive blood work done my an experienced practioner who can actually read and understand the results such as an ND. You want to look into going beyond checking just vitamin and other deficiency levels, but also hormone levels and so forth. I wish you all of the best of luck on your road to recovery.

Few years ago I had so many pimples on my face.. It was a tragedy, but then I started to use face masks with honey and cinnamon. You need to take 2 spoons of honey and a pinch of cinnamon, mix products together and then grease that mixture on your face. After 20 minutes wash with warm water. This procedure should be repeated at least twice a week, I used to do this every day for two weeks. By the way, in our country these things we call just - <a href="http://www.lazeriniscentras.lt/lt/paslaugos/spuogai">spuogai</a>, while in yours you call them "pimples", "acne", "zits". Are there any other synonyms of pimples? :o

I was just wondering if there is a certain kind of honey that should be used. Also another question, how quick does this process clear your face up?

I've had acne my whole life and it got worse as i became an adult. I have tried every diet and skin care product possible. I deleted all the photos i had taken with my children and wish i had discovered photoshop! I had fraxel laser treatment and my acne for the the first time in my life has cleared. Even the deepest clogged pores came to the surface and once all the clogged pores came to the surface i was left with beautiful skin for about 3 years. When i got pregnant again my skin started getting bad again and i am now considering getting another treatment. Be careful-as i got smoother skin my quest for nice skin extended to getting rid of my hyperpigmentation as well. I then tried the IPL laser and made my hyperpigmentation WORSE!! If you have darker skin tone/ethnicskin tone stay away from IPL (aka photo facial).

I just revisited this article. It filled me with so much hope the first time I read it, twelve years ago. I'm wondering if the suggestions in this article have helped anyone other than the naturopathy profesor and the first commenter to cure their acne.