The Clear Skin Diet
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While acne has long been a problem for adolescents, in recent decades–the last fifty years specifically–acne has been on the rise among adults as well, particularly among women. Many scientists have traced this upsurge to changes in the dietary habits of North Americans. The Clear Skin Diet is designed to help those who suffer from acne to understand what it is, why they have it, what it has to do with their eating habits, and what they can do to prevent it or lessen its impact.
The Clear Skin Diet introduces the acne diet and lifestyle. Dietary requirements for protecting the skin are also listed–along with suggested food supplements when they cannot be easily met–and summarized, as well as mind-body medical interventions that can influence acne hormones and lessen their impact.
Most interesting are the 50 acne-preventive recipes that are provided, along with information on how one can locate the ingredients that are no readily available in most grocery stores. more info
A good starting point to change your way of thinking
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The book was extremely detailed and provided research to back their claims – occassionally some of the descriptions of the research findings were a bit too detailed for me to keep my attention but I definitely appreciated the writers providing the research and also the obvious lack of research into the relationship between diet & acne which also has led to lack of education in dermatologists regarding diet (in all my years of acne and multiple doctors I have not had a single one ask me about my diet – it was been through the internet and this book I discovered this finding). I was making changes very early on in the book – before hitting the chapter telling you what to do and I definitely saw improvement. I didn’t make any dramatic changes but I definitely agree with 2 main points they make – the affect of dairy increasing acne and the use of high omega 3 fatty acid foods to help decrease acne. I don’t stay on a “strict” diet because of this book but it has made me more aware of the foods I put into my body so that I make better choices – and I have clear skin right now to prove it
Good sense for good skin..
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Clear Skin Diet has helpful hints along with suggested food choices. Really is much more than a diet book, it is a health promoting, good sensible choices kind of book. Easy to read, not overly preachy.
People who suffer from adult acne should buy this book!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m in my late 20s and have tried so many beauty products with no success. I always thought my acne was caused by stress but now I realize it was also my poor diet. I’ve been taking the vitamins and eating the foods recommended by the authors for a couple of weeks and I can definetely see the improvement in my skin.
“Pizza Face” is more than just a pejorative
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Since I discovered this book in my mid-20′s, my biggest complaint is that Logan and Treloar didn’t publish a decade earlier. The money they could have saved me on dermatologist visits and Proactiv Solution Renewing Cleanser! Not to mention the social anxiety and lingering scars of breakouts I could have prevented.
Tell me if my routine sounds familiar to you: I would feel a breakout coming on, get out an arsenal of irritating topical products, dry my skin out so much I couldn’t help but touch it, shellac heavy concealers and moisturizers on, stress that I wasn’t fooling anyone with the cover up, and hunker down with my favorite sugary comfort food to wait it out. Every well-intentioned step of the way, I was compounding the problem. This book will give you more constructive ways to channel that anxiety.
The authors are serious when they describe this as a “lifestyle plan.” They say it may take up to 90 days to see results and form healthy eating habits. Don’t let this discourage you. Some of the studies they cite were able to show statistically significant results in under 6 weeks. I began incorporating their plan in the middle of an epic breakout and found the advice halved my healing time.
The results of the lifestyle are not superficial. The steps you take to clear your skin will change your hormones, gut flora, and brain chemistry. Side effects of the program may include weight loss, lowered risk for diabetes and heart conditions, higher energy, more stable moods, relief of some symptoms of depression/anxiety, thicker hair on your head and ladies, finer hair on waxing zones. Of course, none of this is guaranteed, so you’ll have to see how the results manifest for yourself.
This book is structured to be a teaser. The first 6 chapters are a cross between Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (P.S.) and Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me (Don’t Go to the Cosmetic Counter Without Me). The authors are offering you the biological mechanics which confirm your suspicions about the contribution of excessive dairy, sugar, etc. on your skin. This can be a long slog, but equips you to make educated decisions about which portions of the diet are easy to incorporate into your lifestyle and which you can skip for now. Chapter 7 read like The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, examining the health ramifications of a western diet on the cultures that adopt it. Chapter 8 is what you came for, the diet itself. If you’ve read the preceding chapters, or any of Dr. Weil’s books like 8 Weeks to Optimum Health: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body’s Natural Healing Power, the takeaway points will look like familiar common sense: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” (Pollan). However, it’s great to have it pulled together coherently with the lit review. Finally, Chapter 9 gets Julia Child on you and moves into suggesting some simple recipes.
I bought this book on Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6″ Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) for immediate gratification and so I could read it covertly in public places. Unfortunately, the Kindle is such a curiosity to by-passers, it’s blowing my cover! If you have any suggestions for an “intellectual beard” I can download for my Kindle bookshelf, let me know! If you’re waiting for a physical copy to ship, definitely go to the author’s website ([...])and download the diary to get you on your way to establishing a baseline.
Extraordinary book!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Drs Logan and Treloar do a wonderful job covering research that will never be discussed in a dermatologist’s office. After reading this book I have a appreciation for how the skin can be influenced by a diet and stress. Although it was deep in science, the authors did a fine job in making it simple enough to understand.
A must read!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
As a reader of The Brain Diet, I just had to pick up The Skin Diet and it too is a very informatative book. I’ve been following the recommendations and I can already see a difference in my complexion. I would recommend this book to anyone who suffers from acne.
Very good
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is a well-written, organized, and thoroughly researched book. The authors make clear distinctions between good and bad foods to eat, with a clear presentation style and discussion of the pertinent scientific studies. It is not new information, but an intelligent and comprehensive big picture analysis that made this book really worth reading. The value added here is in their connection of the many studies that have occurred through the last several decades. They’re also clear to emphasize the very best nutrients and separate them from the group.
It is noteworthy that after dealing unsuccessfully with this condition for years, from one dermatologist to another, one prescription to the next, the feeling of despair is likely to set in. The correlation of stress and acne is covered in Clear Skin Diet with the same aplomb as nutrition, although some recommendations can be less convincing. It may be that stress, diet, and skin health are a Bermuda Triangle of cause-and-effect – we can’t clearly locate what is causing what. It follows that the totality of the science presented in Clear Skin Diet cannot help with one’s despair: Do you really want to live a completely different life in the name of clear skin? Can you afford to change your work, diet, and leisure preferences? It is one matter to eliminate fast food and subscribe to a course of vitamins, but another to re-organize one’s life around the prevention of acne via stress management; this book manages to fit in some suggestions like air purification, yoga, and spending one hour per night preparing dinner. But don’t the best complected among us also want to reduce stress? Don’t we all basically spend our lives trying to be happy and balanced? So for me, there is quite a bridge unbuilt from stress reduction to acne cure. Stress is a part of life, and a wayside of accomplishment. The goal of clear skin is not really an end to a happy life; one wants clear skin as a means to confidence, an aid in achievement, and part and parcel of gaining respect.
So that is one potential philosophical difference between the authors and the MD’s of dermatology. I do have one minor direct criticism that there is no disclosure of whether any compensation was received for the product endorsements in the book. I think it’s appropriate to weigh in on commercially available products, and they’ve made recommendations so varied as to remove most doubt about the validity thereof. Yet the money spent to buy a book should always earn full confidence about the objectivity of the authors.
Alas, I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in this topic or afflicted by this disease. I have even gained a slight appreciation for acne as an early warning of more serious potential problems caused by inflammation and poor nutrition.
Changed my life!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve never written a review, but I feel I must because this book was amazing! I’m a 29 yr old woman who’s always had acne but it was getting worse, esp around that time of the month. I’ve tried every product and nothing worked except for birth control, so I knew it was hormonal. I decided to try natural holistic path. So I started accupuncture for hormones and bought this book. Coincidentally my accupuncturist gave me many of the same food recommendations in this book, cut sugar and dairy, limit carbs and red meat. Focus on fiber, whole grains, fish,healthy oils and lean meat. I always believed what you eat doesn’t affect acne, but IT DOES! After 3 months I noticed a big improvement in my skin and I believe it was the acupuncture AND diet. Now 6mo. later I’m the clearest I’ve been in a long time. I’ve cut down on acupuncture and am hoping to wean off completely. I am sticking to the diet though because it works. It goes into depth on how everything you eat can affect your acne. And the information backed up by proven studies. It’s gets scientific, but it’s broken down so you can understand. It’s honestly one of the most powerful books I’ve read.
Book suffers from too much conflicting information
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I bought this book when it first came out. My issue with this book is that it is so jam-packed with studies that provide such confusing information. At different points in the book, every kind of food and calorie type is butchered. By the end, I am scared of every kind of food. He then gives dietary recommendations that includes nuts, dairy and breads after he shows studies that these cause acne. The dietary recommendations ends up being the exact same as every other diet book that doesn’t work and extremely low in calories. He criticizes dairy with a study than includes it in his recipes??? To me, the problem is that this author didn’t do any studies himself besides drinking tomato juice and is merely picking and choosing studies to include to support his argument. He provides a study at one point saying 1 hour of exercise a day lowered IGF-1 levels. Then there is another study saying excessive exercise actually worsens acne. Makes no sense to me! You can find studies to support any argument.. and there are very convenient plugs for a product called “Greens+” throughout the book.. the same company released a supplement alongside this book….
This book also seems to get ideas heavily from The Dietary Cure for Acne from Lauren Cordain and The Clear Skin Prescription from Dr Perricone that were released several years earlier. Those really are the only books you’ll need. Unfortunately I read them after this one so I could have saved money.
Very solid book.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book provides extremely useful scientific based knowledge regarding general health and specifically skin health as it relates to nutrition. Many references are provided and no “too good to be true” gimmicks are thrown at you. Very refreshing in a time where many books are linked to a money grab of some sort, or false information. I am not completely done the book yet but have already gained much useful information.
Fascinating, well-researched book…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book recommends adding anti-inflammatory foods such as Ginger and Turmeric. But what I personally found so fascinating was a look at the embarrassingly flawed research design of the two “acne-diet” studies to which so many dermatologists appeal.
One study was conducted by a “scientist” with a well-documented bias against any diet connection, which involved only 26 research subjects. He did not bother to use a control group, did not bother to find their baseline diet, and divided this paltry group of 26 into 4 subgroups–dairy, sugar, chocolate, peanuts. Without giving the scientific community the number of subjects in each group, he concluded after only one month that there was no difference in acne. Granted, this was in 1970, when we didn’t know as much about nutrition, but how can you forgive a study design with so many holes?
Truth, at last!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
From a woman who has had adult acne for over 30 years…bravo! This book contains the remedy…and it’s in our hands as they go from our plates to our mouths!
I tried everything to cure this pesky ailment, except accutane. I had always noticed dietary influences, but everytime I tried to talk with a doctor about diet and nutrition they acted like I was insane. This book provides the real deal truth and science about all the influences that create this dibilitating condition.
Since applying the information in this book, my condition has been reduced by 95%…this is manageable! Many thanks to the authors!
good place to start
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I am plagued with adult acne and I have tried most of the stuff out there with little luck so decided to start from the inside out! I took some info from this book along with a few other sources and have had success. I began ingesting the following(see below) and by week 3 of this new intake my skin looked amazing! really amazing, glowing I would dare say! Acne is a bummer and is emotional and as a woman I know how awful it really can be! I slowly built up my intake of the following and now consume each thing on this list each day and I swear to you my skin is 95% clear!!
1) vitamins: Pantothenic acid, alpha liopic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, acidophilus.
2) I ingest tablespoon of organic fish oil (liquid) and flaxseed oil
3) I ingest 1 tablespoon of pure organic cacao powder(not coco powder w/ sugar..the real deal)
4) 4 cups of organic green tea
5) 1 glass of blueberry juice
6) topically I use BP each night on my skin and use not a moisturizer but a hydration cream and I cleanse with an over the counter sensitive cleansing liquid.
7) for scaring I use topical vitamin c serum each morning
I decided on this mix based on several different resources and this combo works wonders for me. I am not sure if one thing is more powerful than another to be honest but I can say that 3 months into this “test” my skin is still looking amazing. I had to share because I know that so many suffer with this horrible condition.
Rich in History & Science – Worth a Look!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Most dermatologists will blow off any suggestion that diet and acne are connected. Authors Logan (naturopathic physician) & Treloar (dermatologist) methodically dismantle the bogus “research” behind this dismissal of a nutrition connection. If you think dermatologists have a strong background in nutrition education think again – some of the stats in MD nutrition training listed in this book are alarming.
Overall the book draws on lots of historical diet-acne work and links them with new studies from Australia and Harvard. I also thought the gut-skin chapter was very interesting. This is way more than a “diet” book. The recommendations are not really rocket science but I like to know reasons why I should expect changes, and the authors explain the pathways in detail.
Highly Recommended – dermatologist’s perspective
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Every acne patient should read this book. I find it very unfortunate that the American Academy of Dermatology has continued to perpetuate the myth that diet is not linked to acne. As someone who has made the choice to lead a healthier lifestyle, I was essentially following this diet for the past several months before I even read the book. I could see wonderful changes in my skin in addition to other changes (lost 30 lbs, was no longer tired and achy). I no longer had monthly flare-ups of the female adult acne, no longer had a drab complexion. People told me my skin seemed to “glow” and that my skin looked like an ad for an Oil of Olay commercial. I was no longer dependent on the latest and greatest topical treatment from the big pharma.
This textbook explains very clearly, and with excellent scientific background, exactly how diet and lifestyle influence the inflammatory and hormonal systems in our bodies to aggravate acne. The Western diet and lifestyle that predisposes to acne is also linked to obesity, diabetes and hormone dependent cancers down the road. For the past year, I have been recommending that acne patients avoid sugar and dairy. More recently, I have been recommending this book to all patients and/or their parents who see me about their acne. The endless antibiotics prescribed for acne lead to unfavorable to changes to bacterial flora, increase antibiotic resistant organisms, and may lead to other changes. I have seen firsthand how acne has now become a problem in much earlier and later ages than before. I see children whose acne starts at 9, adults who have acne well into their 50′s. Many of these changes are not a result of genetics but of diet and lifestyle, particularly diets that are high in sugar, dairy, and unhealthy fats.
The diet in this book is not restrictive. The recommendations in this text are also appropriate for anyone trying to lose weight or improve their cardiac risk factors. I strongly believe it is only a matter of time before there is more proof that other inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis would benefit from similar dietary and lifestyle modifications. The only fault I can find with this book is that it is a little textbook-like. The authors explain every study that supports their points – very good for those who are skeptical, but it can make it a bit of a slow read.
I do realize that many of my patients will not pick up this book – they come to me to get a pill, a quick fix, and move on with their lives. I now take the time to explain the dietary and lifestyle contributors to acne and recommend this book, even though it really slows down the clinic. If even a small proportion of patients will make positive lifestyle changes as a result of my recommendations and this book, I will be quite pleased! Recently one of my patients left me a message – her skin improved within weeks of following the dietary changes. I was absolutely delighted to hear it.