I had tried everything, and was exhausting all my skin care options. Then, I found what was triggering my skin woes. Then tried to put me on Accutane, but I’d once heard a dermatologist refer to the drug as a nuclear bomb for acne: It destroyed the acne-causing bacteria, but everything else went with it. I wanted clear skin, but I decided it it was not the right choice for me. I was desperate for clear skin and losing patience (and confidence) that I’d ever get it, but I was tired of all the treatments, and using products that showed no signs of working. It took a year, but I finally decided to make a change. I started doing some research of my own. Over the years, I’d asked dermatologist after dermatologist whether my diet could be contributing to my acne, and they all said “no” emphatically. (For a long time, the majority of the dermatological community denied the food-skin connection, but that has started to change in the last few years.) But I was beginning to doubt them. If decades of experimenting with different topical treatments weren’t working, what could possibly be left? There’s research that explains this, too. Foods that rank high on the glycemic index, or anything that spikes your blood sugar after eating, have been shown to trigger acne in individuals predisposed to the skin condition1. This happens because when your blood sugar spikes, it triggers an inflammatory response in the body, and that can show up in your skin. This is especially true if you are already genetically prone to inflammatory skin conditions—acne being one of them. After a few weeks, I noticed a difference. My skin was less red and much clearer. The acne I had was healing nicely, and nothing new was popping up. For the first time in years, my face—dare I say it—looked good. I even went out for dinner without makeup, something that was a HUGE deal as I tended to get depressed whenever I looked at my bare face in a the mirror.
