Acne Purge Period?

[jessicajane11]

Hello!
I started this WOE about 5 weeks ago, and while I've lost plenty of weight I've noticed an uptick in my acne. At first my skin looked better, but for about two weeks I've noticed more whiteheads, clogged pores, and underneath the surface bumps popping up. I've been wondering if my skin is purging - I didn't get whiteheads much before this and I know that can mean the junk is finding it's way out - but I haven't seen anyone else here discuss a purge period after switching to this WOE. I've also been having some digestive "back up" issues so I added a MegaFlora probiotic to try to see if that might help! Has anyone else experienced this?

[baardmk]

What's the biggest changes to your diet?

My best guess is that a lot of it could be caused soy or oats if you eat substantially either of them.

From what I've read and my own experiences there's generally little merit to the notion of detox reactions. I've experienced it's all about the last foods I ate, coupled with the food intake from the last 3-4 days.

McDougall has a video about acne, he recommends going lower fat or very low fat.

[MINNIE]

I am also sceptical about the detoxification. My own experience has been that my skin got healthier when I improved my eating habits. ( But that's just an anecdote, not proof of anything).

Could it be something other than food? Has anything changed in the way of products used on your skin, or something in your environment? Are you using any medications that could affect you?

[jessicajane11]

Thanks so much for your ideas! I've always had trouble figuring out my issues with acne because I've been dairy and gluten free for years and still not seen improvement. Since going plant based I've noticed my acne is mostly on my chin (as opposed to all over before), and I've heard that can be related to stress. I'm going to pick up my old daily habit of yoga and meditation, keep my fats super low (not eating nuts or avocados now for weight loss, anyway, but did have some tahini the other day), and avoiding soy and oats like you suggested! Mostly eating veggies, fruit, corn, rice, and potatoes anyway and I love it, so it shouldn't be hard to nix the tempeh.

I also took a look at some of my skincare and haircare products and decided to switch to all natural products with simple ingredients.

Again, thanks so much for the advice!