Nutrition and Acne Problems

When I was thirteen years old, I had what could be described as “acne problems.” That's the understatement of the year! I was a “pizza face”, I looked like the surface of the moon. I felt insecure all the time about my appearance. I was practically afraid to leave the house.

Of course, these feelings of insecurity are a common part of adolescence and growing up. It's a difficult period of one's life. The body is changing and different hormones are racing through the blood stream.

Suddenly, the adult world, the real world, doesn't seem so far away. And of course, for the first time I was noticing the ladies.

It was that which made the acne problems so embarrassing. My friends, most of whom were also guys, didn't really care if I had acne or not. To them, all that mattered was that I still hung out to ride bikes and play video games and pickup football. But with the girls, it was another matter. It's just hard to feel confident at that age as it is, and even harder when you're not confident about your appearance.

At first, I used cleansers and exfoliants, but these only seemed to make the problem worse. I'd put on the cleanser and the skin would turn red and dry, and begin to peel. Now even the parts of my skin without acne looked puffy and irritated!

I begged my mom to take me to the doctor, but she insisted I was fine just the way I was. I sure didn't feel fine. Finally, she took me into the dermatologist. She barely looked at me, and handed me a prescription for my acne problem – a cream which I was supposed to put on my face. I took this to mean that it was a miracle cure-all, so effective in treating acne that it was obviously the right choice for everybody. And it did start working, almost immediately, but after a couple days, my skin problems were back, as bad as ever. I began to despair of ever finding a cure for my acne problem.

The strange thing is that, in all this time, no one had ever told me about the roll of nutrition in both causing and preventing acne. Fortunately, I had a friend who's mother was a nutritionist. Almost overnight when she was thirteen, she developed terrible acne – even worse than mine. Then, a week later, as if by magic, it was almost completely gone. I asked her what was her secret, and she told me – it was as simple as avoiding greasy foods, and eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I was skeptical at first, but I figured it was worth trying.

I eliminated all unhealthy foods from my diet. It took longer than I would have thought, but I stuck with it. Within a month, my acne problems were mere acne inconveniences. And a few weeks after that, they were gone. I don't know if this solution will work for everyone. Probably, for some people, even with a healthy diet the cleansers and medications are necessary. But if acne is making your life miserable, eating balanced, nutritious meals is certainly worth a try!

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