PSMF; Day 10

Alas! Finally there is some improvement. My giants have deflated, my scars are starting to fade, and new breakouts are far, far less frequent! Hallelujah! What can I really contribute to this success? Well, I tried to eat more leafy vegetables and salads, I washed my face 2x a day (morning with Clearisal face wash, nighttime with Clearasil Nighttime Wash) and applied benzoyl peroxide nightly (Clean & Clear 10%). I totally ditched the Tea Tree Oil. Too stinky and ineffective. I still have a long ways to go though…need to up those veggies, down the water and cross my fingers that working from the inside out will help improve my skin even further! (I still look like crap, but hey, not breaking out is a good start!)

PSMF; Day 3

So far PSMF has been going rather fair. Fair defined as that I’m on the way there, but getting there very slowly. Given that it’s day 3, I know that I shouldn’t have expected miracles yet but I do wish I was seeing some sort of difference. The only large changes I’ve accomplished so far is washing my face twice a day, applying the Tea Tree Oil, and not wearing makeup. Of course these are just the changes I’ve been making from the outside. Inside, I haven’t incorporated too many vegetables or fruits yet. For a vegetarian, I am a very poor veggie/fruit eater. On the other hand, I never miss a chance of consuming a carb; Which is probably my biggest problem thus far. According to information I had already found out weeks before, dairy and carbs (high glycemic index foods) are very bad for your skin and cause acne. I know this, and yet I still cannot put that piece of bread down! I need help people.

Many sources, including researchers in Australia have shown that there are “tremendous results in reducing moderate to severe acne by administrating a low carb, low glycemic index diet to patients” so I need to cut the crap, I mean carbs. Damn. I made it sound so easy to quit caffeine and pop, yet I don’t even know where to begin with carbs. I think my biggest challenge in decreasing carbs is that I need to increase fruits and veggies. Pooey. So that’s my next challenge; Finding fruits and veggies I like in order to stop eating all these carbs! (Hopefully I’ll lose some weight in the process too, no?)

So far my opinion on the Tea Tree Oil is that (1) it just smells and (2) it’s too soon to know.  I have a fear that the Tea Tree Oil has done nothing for me but make me sick from the odor. Given that it’s only day 3, I don’t truly feel that I should give up on the Tree Tea Oil just yet…but I am going to incorporate the aide of benzoyl peroxide. I understand that my face may peel a bit but you now what? Peel away! Peel away the top layer too while you’re at it! More later! Here are pictures of my “progress” (or lack there of).

PSMF; Day 1

I enjoyed a stroll through Target’s beauty section today, looking for the topical and face wash of my dreams. I’m starting to think I should have gone to Ulta. Anyways, I settled on Clearasil’s new Overnight Face Wash. I have no idea why it’s different than any other face wash since it’s active ingredient (like everything else) is salicylic acid-10%. But after looking over the label it does look like it carries other ingredients, and it also promises to reduce redness and size overnight. Hmm. Sounds good, if it works that is. So I put it in my basket. Next on the list, a daytime face wash. Well since I’m not really into mix and matching products I stuck with Clearasil’s acne face wash. Nothing exciting for this boring lassie. Alright, so far so good. I’ll give these things a try and if it doesn’t do anything, or worse, makes things more unbearable I will stop being so cheap and go to the freaking makeup counter at Macy’s.

Next, a topical. I didn’t like Target’s selection, since nothing really seemed natural enough to put on my face so I headed over to my fave place, Trader Joe’s. Here I found all natural tea tree oil. I had read online that this essential oil can kill propionibacterium acnes (big words for skin dwelling bacteria that causes zits). Compared to benzoyl peroxide (which is in dermatologist’s fave-Differin), tea tree oil has fewer side effects since it’s all natural. I shouldn’t experience itching, burning, stinging or dryness. Nice. I was even more sure of my decision when my teenage cashier said “Oh! This stuff is sweeeeeeeet!” Score! A puberty stricken teenager applauding tea tree oil!? This stuff has to work.

So tonight after washing my face I opened up the bottle of (expensive) tea tree oil. Holy crap. It smells. And not like flowers. It’s like opening up a cheap bottle of vodka  and inhaling it deep into your nostrils. Gagging will ensure. I dabbed the stuff on my face while complaining to my husband that I was going to vomit, and exited the bathroom, which now reeked of the stuff, as fast as possible. I didn’t know how I was going to go to bed tonight folks. No joke. My face smells. WIth every turn, every whiff, I smell a strange, strong, potent, mixture of cheap vodka and strong tequila. This stinks. Literally. But now that I have sat here and blogged for a while, the smell is (A) either gone or (B) I can no longer smell it.

So sweet dreams ladies and gents, lets see if there’s improvement in the morning! This smell better be worth it! Good night!

Day 1 of PSMF

Project Save My Face

When I was in the fourth grade I was already embarrassingly hideous. I wore big coke can glasses, had blunt bangs, a perm and was still wearing what my mother picked out for me. I didn’t really need anything else to contribute to my ugliness. However, mother nature had other plans for me. I awoke one day to find myself with a zit. Okay. No biggie. Then I found another. Then another. Soon I looked like a walking pepperoni pizza. This was a really traumatic experience for me, and apparently my mother. So fast forward years from that tragic stage of life…I’ve been blemish free and have found bliss. Well until now.

At my age I didn’t think I would ever have to think about acne again. Seriously, there’s a time and place for everything, and the zit ship should have sailed off a long ass time ago. Again, mother nature has other plans for me. While my husband has to consider creams to prevent wrinkles, I get to enjoy looking like a teenager going through puberty all over again! Joy. Wasn’t once enough? Ah, cruel world.

This all started in the last year…what could have done this to me? Oh, well gee, let’s see. I changed jobs. Then we moved. Then I got a new job. Then I was stressed from my job. Then I was depressed. Then I got on medication. Then I quit my job. Then I was unemployed. Then I gave up meat. Then I gave up milk. Then I gave up soy. Then I reentered milk. Then I started a new job. Then I went back to school. Oh gee. What could have stirred up my acne? Oh, yes, everything.

Now I am happy, stress free and still have a full face of acne to show for it. Super! At first I thought my face would slowly regenerate on it’s own since the stress of my mind and also my diet were finally settling down. I was optimistic and certain that I would stop breaking out. I was also positive that my skin regime was the best I could do. Time will heal my skin. Patience will be rewarded. Um, yeah, great optimistic thoughts, but no my wishes weren’t granted. I am still siting here wondering how I can peel the top layer of my skin off without access to chemical acid. I have decided not going to Target in fear of someone gawking at my pizza face is no way to live. I need to get my face back. Enter, Project Save My Face.

Goals of this project:
1. To stop waking up each morning to find that once again I am breaking out to a new batch of humiliation.
2. To control and shrink the monsters already residing on my face.
3. To treat and rid of the scars my blemishes want to leave behind to haunt me for the rest of my life.
Changes that must be made:
1. I will stop being a lazy mofo. I will strive to wash my face 2x a day.
2. I will stop touching my face unnecessarily and stop picking at it.
3. I will make it a habit to change my pillowcases regularly.
4. If my hair has any residue in it, it needs to be washed before it can reach my skin.
5. I need to up my water intake.
6. I need to up my fruit/veggie intake and lower my carb/dairy intake.
7. I will forgo makeup to let my skin ‘breathe.’
8. I will try to always get 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
Expectations: To once again allow pictures of me to be taken.

Here I go on Project Save My Face. Let’s see if I can do it myself before I need to enlist the help of a dermatologist! And, damn, here’s to embarrassing truths! Cheers!

Got Milk? = Got Acne?

Time and time again I hear that food doesn’t cause acne, then I’ll hear it actually does. Then it doesn’t. Then it does. So does it or not?! My face needs to know. Well, I found interesting, if not wonderful, information today on the very subject. It looks like a study (of 27 people) at George Washington University Medical Center in D.C discovered that there is a major link between dairy foods and foods high in glycemic index (white bread, pasta, white potatoes) and acne. Poo. I love pasta and I love potatoes. Oh well. I do love my face a little bit more.

The study shows that the more frequent and more severe acne was found among those who consumed the most milk (in this case 3+ servings a day). “Overall, acne was more common in those who drank the most skim milk, suggesting that hormones in milk are the problem rather than fat.” That’s totally another reason for me to nix dairy, since when I had it, all I had was the skim anyways!

So conclusion for you and I? We gotta cut down on the milk and high-glycemic foods. Cheers!

Leggo my Eggo!

A battle I have with myself is over the consumption of dairy and eggs. When I stopped eating meat initially, I stopped having dairy and eggs as well. To substitute I had a lot of soy. I am a huge fan of soy based products, including their cheese, meats, sauces, spreads, etc. However I was eating lots and lots of soy. I think for the average person this would not matter, but for me, I started to break out enormously and frequently. I couldn’t pinpoint the culprit at first, but when I thought of what I had changed in my diet I realized how much soy I was having. I was probably having soy at least at every meal, if not every meal and every snack. So to put the theory to test I cut out soy for a full week. And voila, the breakouts stopped. As I realized I had to decrease the amount of soy I was taking in I started to feel the huge lack of dairy/eggs in my life (fake or not-I was missing them). I slowly, and full of guilt, started consuming little bits of dairy and eggs here and there. Now months later, I am a full blown dairy and egg consumer once again. And I feel guilty.

A lot of people ask me why I feel so bad and I always start off with “I feel bad for the dairy cows!” Because I do. I love the dairy cows. My first blog, Holy Cow!! has a whole section devoted to the dairy cows and explains their suffering and short lived lives. But it doesn’t end at the cows. I feel bad for the chickens too. People don’t understand this since the eggs aren’t really chickens yet. Well here’s the lowdown on eggs…

More than 95% of the eggs that are sold here in the states come from birds that are confined in wire battery cages and cannot move. They are usually starved and only there for the sole purpose of laying eggs. After they get overly tired and beat up from laying as many eggs as we can get from them, their bodies are so weak and poor that we don’t even eat them. They eventually end up being meat in pet food. If these hens are even too poor for that they are simply beaten to death, gassed or thrown into wood chippers while they are still alive. This is no exaggeration. This is almost common practice.

When these chickens are born, the ones that are not planned to be used as meat, are put into two groups. The first group, the males are not needed, so when we have too many we let them die or grind them through meat grinders while they are alive to be fed to other livestock (the cows). The second group, the female chicks are then selected and have their beaks ground off with a hot blade within the first 2 days of birth so that they cannot use their beaks.

Seriously it is so hard for me to let myself eat eggs but at the same time it’s so hard to accept a lifestyle where I need to watch out for eggs…which like to appear everywhere…in breads, soups, dressings, cakes, etc. I applaud the folks out there who do this each and every day. I want to be one of them someday. Baby steps. Until then I will try to always consume organic eggs. A little FYI on organic eggs people, the term does not really apply unless it is labeled “Certified Organic.” Another thing to look out for is “free-range eggs” which actually has no legal definition in the States at all. “Cage-free” also doesn’t mean that they were humanly treated or that they even ever stepped outside. Many cage-free chickens are still crammed into dark, dirty barns and almost all cage-free chickens are still clipped (this means beaks, wings and feet). Another way to find eggs that came from non mistreated chickens is by looking for the terms “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” on the label, which I have yet to see. “Certified Organic” is more common.

Until I can find the strength and willpower in me to finally kick dairy and eggs, organic is my best bet.

Wish me luck!