skin bumps upon starting McDougall program

[shar_63]

Hello everyone,

I first discovered the McDougall program in the early 90s when I went to the bookstore in search of a vegetarian "diet" book. What a fabulous program, for so many reasons!

Over the past few years I had migrated toward a higher protein diet featuring soy products and dairy products, even egg products. Although I'm discovering this approach is difficult to maintain as a vegetarian, one thing I did notice was that my skin improved.

I resumed the McDougall approach two weeks ago and I am delighted to have more energy again, and I've lost 4 pounds as well. But I'm noticing something that used to be an issue for me in the past, which is that my legs are covered in tiny, small red bumps. I've lived with this as a cosmetic issue my entire life, but the issue did go away when I followed a higher protein diet.

Has anyone experienced this? I'm not sure what to attribute this to, and to be sure it is a relatively minor issue...merely cosmetic, as far as I know. But a nutritionist had once told me elevated triglycerides could cause a similar skin issue.

I appreciate any input, and I'm glad to be joining all of you!

[JulieS]

It means that every cell and particle in your body is excited to be eating vegetables, grains, legumes, fruit, nuts, and seeds! Goose bumpies! Nah, I really don't know why, but humor never hurts! Hope it clears up for you! I had some on my face like that recently and it turned out to be a sensitivity to my "all natural" face wash! Go figure. I stopped using it and went back to my old standby and it cleared up.

[baardmk]

haha, Julie. funny! :-)

It sounds like it could be a lot of different things. Have you searched the internet for typical skin conditions? It would be a lot easier for people who have a similar problem if you have some sort of name for it.

I have folliculitis and I've found that histamines are a very reliable predictor for it. See this site: http://www.allergynutrition.com/faqs-fact-sheets/ under Histamine Intolerance for more info. In short I've found that legumes, tomatoes, soy and oats, onions (and quite a few other things as well) exacerbates it.

You know that the program advices to use soy as a condiment, right?, and to stay away from the heavily processed soy-products out there with isolated soy protein.

Good luck. :)

[shar_63]

Julie, love it!

[shar_63]

Yes, I've consulted Dr. Google. It may be some type of allergy. It isn't itchy like a rash, and honestly my whole family seems to have this issue. I just noticed that it disappeared when I followed eating programs such as The Zone or other higher protein plans.

I did read about avoiding the soy protein isolate...yikes, because I used to use that a LOT! (It seemed to help the hot flashes...not that I ever had more than a warm glow, probably because of my vegetarian diet.) I won't be using it any more.

I appreciate the input!