Acne and Eating: Is There A Correlation?
It’s the age old question - is it your diet that’s causing you to break out? While acne is one of the most common dermatological conditions, affecting millions of young adults worldwide, its major factors that generally cause it are hormones and bacteria. But what if it’s more than just your diet? It’s typical for a poor diet and acne to go hand in hand, but not any more typical than a poor diet and stress to go hand in hand. So while it could be your diet that’s causing you to breakout, it could also be stress that’s causing you to turn your diet into emotional eating. It’s first important to recognize if your diet has turned into emotional eating before you can decide if it’s your diet that’s breaking you out.
Emotional eating and stress
Emotional eating is using food to make yourself feel better by filling emotional needs, rather than your stomach. Many turn to food for comfort or stress relief, and when we do we tend to reach for junk food, sweets, and other unhealthy foods in general. Emotional hunger can be powerful, so it’s easy to mistake it for physical hunger. However there are ways to tell physical and emotional hunger apart:
Emotional hunger comes on suddenly
Emotional hunger craves specific comfort foods
Emotional hunger isn’t satisfied once you’re full
One of the most common causes of emotional eating is stress. When stressed, our bodies produce high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol triggers cravings for salty, sweet, and fried foods, that give you a short burst of energy and pleasure. That short burst of energy and pleasure then leads to an unsatisfied feeling, which in turn leads to more emotional eating and the vicious cycle begins. But it doesn’t have to.
So one way you might be able to cut down on emotional eating is to practice mindful eating. Eating more mindfully can help focus your mind on your food and the pleasure of a meal, and curb overeating and emotional eating.
Once you’re able to recognize whether or not your diet has turned into emotional eating, is when it becomes time to evaluate what elements within your diet could be the cause of your acne.
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What to avoid!
While there’s no way to know for certain if what you’re eating is 100% the cause for your acne, there are definitely some foods that tend to aggravate acne in some more than others. So if you find yourself constantly breaking out, here’s what you should steer clear of.
Refined sugars and carbohydrates
People who consume more refined carbohydrates are more likely to be prone to acne than those who don’t. One reason could be because refined carbohydrates are so quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, which rapidly raises blood sugar levels, and when blood sugars rise, insulin levels will also rise to help shuttle the blood sugars out of the bloodstream and into your cells. Insulin is known to make androgen hormones more active and this makes skin cells grow more quickly, which in turn contributes to more acne development.
Foods rich in refined carbohydrates include:
Bread, crackers, cereal or desserts made with white flour
Pasta made with white flour
White rice and rice noodles
Sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages
Sweeteners like cane sugar, maple syrup, honey or agave
Milk
While it is not 100% clear how milk may contribute to the formation of acne, there are theories based on studies of the two. Milk is known to increase insulin levels, independent of its effects on blood sugar, which may worsen acne severity. Milk may be hard to cut out entirely, seeing as it’s in a significant amount of the foods we eat daily, however cutting down might be a great start. If you find yourself breaking out when eating dairy products, try to isolate a single product each week and see what aggravates your acne more.
Fast food
Regularly eating fast food items, which are mainstays of a typical Western diet, may increase acne risk. A Western-style diet is rich in calories, fat and refined carbohydrates, which is why there is a strong correlation between it and acne. So while every once and a while might seem okay, if you find yourself breaking out from even just a little bit of fast food it might be best to steer clear.
Western-style diet foods include:
Burgers
Nuggets
Hot dogs
French fries
Sodas
Milkshakes
Chocolate
Exactly why chocolate might increase acne is unclear. However one study found that eating chocolate increased the reactivity of the immune system to acne-causing bacteria, which could explain why. Emerging research supports a link between eating chocolate and developing acne, but the reasons why and strength of the relationship remain unclear. Studies also suggest that males are more like to be acne prone when consuming chocolate, compared to women, and that dark chocolate causes more breakouts than milk chocolate. It could even be that chocolate is a dairy product. So if you’re avoiding milk and dairy, it might be best to avoid chocolate as well.
What to eat more of!
It may seem like all of these ‘good’ foods are on the avoid list, but there are healthier, skin-friendly options out there. Research has shown that low-glycemic, high-protein foods play a significant role in improving acne. So here are some clean, wholesome, fruit and veggie diet rich options that might just make your acne a thing of the past.
Kale
Not only is kale high in fiber, but the antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals found in kale work to reduce hyperpigmentation, which is the key to evening out your skin tone.
Sweet potatoes
After eating sweet potatoes, your body will convert beta-carotene, from the potato, into vitamin A. Vitamin A has properties that will act as a skin barrier against discoloration, inflammation, and clogged pores.
Lemon
Lemons are known to help with:
Increasing collagen production
Blocking free radicals
Lightening acne scars
Berries
This could be blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc. Some health benefits of berries may include:
Improved brain health
Lower cholesterol
Healthy blood sugar levels
Reduced risk for heart disease and diabetes
Regular bowel movements
Salmon
Salmon is a great source of:
Antioxidants
Protein
B vitamins
Potassium
Selenium
Our skin is how our bodies talk to us and if we don’t pay close attention to what we put into our bodies, the message we get might be written in acne. Also, if you have a food that makes your skin breakout or calms your flair ups, just because it’s not in one of the above categories doesn’t mean it can’t be a trigger or a solution. All of our bodies are different, and that means sometimes our hormones interact with certain foods differently.
