How a low-glycemic diet can help you reduce acne and inflammation
Treat your gut to the good stuff and your skin will thank you
Welcome to the first issue of the CLEAR MY SKIN newsletter! Glad you made it to this one. đ€
This issue is dedicated to the topic of how a low-glycemic diet can positively influence your acne and reduce inflammation. đ
What Iâll cover:
Whatâs a low-glycemic diet
Whatâs the connection between a low-glycemic diet and acne (research)
Practical resources to help you with implementing a low-glycemic diet to help you reduce acne and inflammation
Before we move onâŠ
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Whatâs a low-glycemic diet
In short: a way of eating that doesnât spike your blood sugar. Thereâs been a lot of talk in recent years (as well as research) that eating foods that benefit your microbiome is related to your health overall (including your skin). Shocker, I know.
When it comes to the specifics, things get interesting and not necessarily so vegan. Thereâs quite some research out there that has linked a low-glycemic diet to improving acne symptoms.
The longer version of what a low-glycemic diet is?
đ Drop the triple moca-choca low-fat macchiatos, the Burger King curly fries, and the boiled potatoes. Step aside from the white rice.
Swap these foods for the foods we all âloveâ: the broccoli and the apples of the world.
Jokes aside, a low-glycemic diet is not that bad. Itâs just about eating more of the good stuff that donât get your insulin to perform its own version of a wild belly dance performance.
You have to eat low-glycemic index foods as well as an overall low-glycemic load.
The glycemic index refers to how drastically a food makes your blood sugar rise. The lower a food's glycemic index, the slower blood sugar rises after eating that food.
In other words? Processed foods are a total no-go.
And what about the glycemic load? Harvard Health explains:
âBut the glycemic index tells just part of the story. What it doesn't tell you is how high your blood sugar could go when you actually eat the food. To understand a food's complete effect on blood sugar, you need to know both how quickly it makes glucose enter the bloodstream and how much glucose per serving it can deliver.â
To simplify it: it matters how much you eat of something as well as what you eat. Large quantities of good foods can still be bad for the blood zucker.
And, you should aim to combine good healthy carbs, low on the GI with lean proteins and some good fats. That way your meals will be absorbed better by the body and your blood sugar will not spike as much.
Some useful resources if you want to read up more:
Whatâs the connection between a low-glycemic diet and acne
I guess I spoiled it a bit already with the title but in its essence, the connection is that a low-glycemic diet can help you reduce acne symptoms and overall inflammation.
đ High-glycemic diets spike peopleâs blood sugar - as a result, the body produces more sebum. The body immediately reacts with an inflammatory response from within which as a result, affects your outside too - influencing inflammation and acne on your face/body negatively.
Hereâs a quick rundown of how it all works:
âEating lots of high glycemic index foods can also elevate hormones that increase the activity of oil glands in the skin (excess sebum is produced), which ultimately contributes to the formation of acne. Acne is not seen in populations that eat diets with very low glycemic index values.â
Some useful resources if you want to read up more:
How to use a low-glycemic diet to improve your acne
Iâve been doing a low-glycemic diet off and on again for a while, up until recently without even realizing it. đ„ My normal eating routine doesnât include a lot of high-carb, processed foods (except when Iâm hyper stressed and a little bit depressed - no wonder itâs Pimplesville then). In general, Iâve seen positive outcomes from that over the years without even realizing it.
When I switched to a conscious low-glycemic way of eating about 2 months ago, (right when I was having a terrible breakout - I was on vacation and eating whatever I wanted, all the junk food, for about 2-3 weeks) the results were almost immediate. Within the first two weeks, my face cleared up from pimples substantially (especially the forehead and chin/jaw - I rarely get pimples there). Within 4 weeks the inflammation started to slowly decline and after that, my face overall calmed down a little bit.
Over the holidays I broke my strict diet a bit and still didnât get a harsh response. One of the biggest perks is that I lost 2-3 kilos on this diet in no time, without even trying.
The bottom line is that this diet might probably not cure your acne altogether, but it can be great for your health. And it all starts with the mindset.
In my latest article, I go over the 5 steps you can take to introduce and really stick to a low-glycemic diet in your daily life. Check it out here!
Some useful resources if you want to read up more:
8 principles of low-glycemic eating (Harvard Health)
Low GI recipes (BBC Food)
Thatâs it for today, folks! Drink your water, eat the good foods and Iâll see you next time so we can continue to try to clear our skin more naturally đ
VessyG