 |
| Chicken & Veggie soup, avocados |
Goal: Be egg free for 3 weeks
Reason: To see if eggs, egg whites, or egg yolks might be causing a little bit of acne. Nothing like the cystic acne that wheat, processed sugar, and dairy caused. I would call it mild acne.
What motivated me: A chat with the PaleoCare nurse about "dose response". I had noted the more egg yolks, the more I might be having acne. Katy cautioned me about dose response.... Yeah. That makes good sense to me.
Health background: I'm post Auto-Immune thyroid since 1997. I've NOT done an Auto-Immune Protocol but I had good results with a Whole30 in Jan 2013. My last hs-CRP was 0.4, so if eggs are inflammatory, it's mostly showing up as acne at this point.
 |
| Ground turkey ginger bowl |
What I'm eating for breakfast: PFC = Protein, Fat, Carbs-from veggies ( many thanks to Dietitian Cassie for this concept). This keeps me balanced out with little hunger between breakfast and lunch.
Most frequent choices listed first:
Protein: (pick one) Ground turkey, organic chicken in bone broth, grass fed ground beef, lamb in stew
Fat: (pick one) Avocados, coconut oil- veggie sauteing, olive oil, natural fat in the protein
Veggies: Celery, onion, tomatoes, shredded cabbage, broccoli slaw, raw kale salad, bell peppers
Spices: Sea Salt- pink and Mediterranean, Garlic Sea salt, ginger, balsamic vinegar (on kale salad & tomatoes), cinnamon in my coffee
 |
| Photo bombing cat |
Process changes:
1. Mind and habit changes (more on this soon)
2. More batch cooking
3. Spending a little more money on protein (eggs are cheap)
4. More left overs in the morning.
5. Replacing my broken, smaller crock pot with a bigger crock pot for bigger batches of food.
Results so far: Yeah, acne is better. May or may not be related to eggs.I'll check back at the end of March 2014 with more info.
What's working now:
1. Elimination diets or single foods to lower inflammation, including acne
2. Taking time and commitment to experiment
3. Keeping open to new use of spices
What didn't work in the past:
1. Believing that food and acne are not related ( for me, they are!)
2. Eating so much inflammatory food I couldn't sort it out.
3. Eating so much processed foods I couldn't use spices to bring out natural flavors in foods.
You wrote -
ReplyDeleteWhat didn't work in the past:
1. Believing that food and acne are not related ( for me, they are!)
2. Eating so much inflammatory food I couldn't sort it out.
3. Eating so much processed foods I couldn't use spices to bring out natural flavors in foods.
Ditto for me also. As I cleaned up my food, secondary condition after secondary condition started to go away. I could not believe it.
I see people's blog posts talking about how they could not clean up their food as much as we all have to lose weight, and every time I tell them that we keep our food clean and make it clearer to get rid of our secondary conditions and maintaining our weight is a side benefit.
It is amazing what we can SEE because our food is clean. And life is so much simpler and easier.
Vickie, yes! I hear you. I know Dr Berkeley says to "look around" once you reach weight maintenance island. It is easier to see the behavior and habits that kept me stuck. It's so, so worth not having the weight, as much of the acne, and no headaches. I think for me half of it was wanting to believe that food was not part of it so I would not have the pain of change and half of it buying what conventional medicine told me- that food doesn't cause those things. I STILL have people telling me food doesn't cause acne. Oh. Yes. It . Does. for me. Glad the spell has been broken.
DeleteAfter an elimination diet, I found that eggs were an inflammatory food for me....and I had to eliminate them. It has not been fun but I have been mostly egg free for the last year or more. I still miss them though....and miss the easy protein source.
ReplyDeleteHi Lynn. I'm mentally preparing myself for having to give them up. Eggs are a standby for traveling and yes, easy. But inflammation is inflammation. Good for you for the elimination.
DeleteThe meals you've listed sound delicious! It also sounds like a lot of work, but no more than you've successfully done in the past. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cheri. In the end, it's less work because I can cook lots of meals together, then clean up one time. That's what I tell myself, anyway. Still cook the kid her eggs some mornings...
DeleteInteresting! I've never heard of a correlation between acne and eggs.
ReplyDeleteIn all my own experimenting, I've realized with acne that there really is no one thing that can cause or cure it. Researching different birth control pills that can control acne lead me to believe that every single person will have a different reaction to everything and you just have to experiment!
Hi Lisa, it's true, it does take experimenting. If I had gone to a functional medicine doc or a DO, that person would have likely told me that post auto-immune people often have acne as a symptom of inflammation. There's a full AIP = auto-immune protocol that I could choose to do, but I'm doing a one food at a time trial to see if I can zero in on one common suspect. Really hoping I can bring eggs back in, cheap protein! :)
DeleteI hope it works for you and helps you get rid of the acne completely. I agree with Lisa though - every person's acne is different and responds to different things. Or sometimes it doesn't respond at all and meds are needed.
ReplyDeleteDiane, time will tell. My acne is often an inflammatory marker, so I take note and take action. You are right, everyone is different.
Delete