My Health Journey: Part 1

For those of you who have had Cystic Acne, you know it is life altering, not only physically, but also psychologically. Some (or most) of you may not have heard of it before. Most of you, however, have dealt with "normal" acne in varying severity. 60 million people in the United States struggle with acne, and 20% of that 60 million have acne that leaves permanent scarring . Additionally, 96% of acne sufferers say they have experienced depression because of their condition, and 46% acquire problems with self esteem. 31% feel so embarrassed about their acne that they avoid social situations, while 14% have felt suicidal because of their acne.

For those of you who have acne, I completely get it. I've had Cystic Acne for seven years. I first started having acne when I was eleven years old, and then it turned into Cystic acne when I was thirteen. At the time I was eating a regular American diet. Meat, fish, dairy, eggs, processed food, tons of oil, and lots of sugar. I became very self conscious. I started to avoid seeing people when possible, and started imagining what thoughts other people had whenever they looked at me. I wore makeup all the time because I was so concerned about how my face looked. My parents took me to several dermatologists, and all of them tried the same things. They would give me one prescription topical face cream after another. None of them worked, and most of them made my skin so dry that it would crack and caused more harm than they were worth. I even asked the dermatologists if changing my diet would help my acne, but all of them said that diet has no affect on acne. Then they would all ask the dreaded question: "Would you be willing to try Accutane?"

Accutane is a strong drug, that has a high concentration of vitamin A, and can cause severe, often permanent, side affects such as kidney damage. I talked to some of my friends who tried taking it, and most said if given the choice again that they would not take it. I have many allergies and my body is really sensitive to medications, so I feared that if I took it I would get the worst of the side effects. I knew something else must be wrong inside my body since my face was breaking out. I wanted to heal myself instead of just masking the problem with a drug that could do further damage to my body.

I changed my diet to what I considered to be a "healthy" American diet. It consisted of meat, veggies, gluten-free grains, dairy-free products, and "healthy" fats. That didn't help either. When nothing the doctors suggested worked, my mom and I started to pray that God would give us a solution to my problem. I began going to homeopathic doctors, acupuncturists, and facialists. These treatments would help for a few weeks, and then a new cyst would form and I would have to repeat the cycle. I started getting a facial almost every week, which is not only incredibly expensive and unrealistic to continue long term, but also extremely painful. Sometimes I would cry because of how painful they were, and I normally had a high pain tolerance. But that was the only way I could keep my skin manageable enough that I could have a semi normal life. Every morning I would wake up and go straight to the bathroom mirror to see if any new cysts had formed. Sometimes I would even look at myself and wish I could transplant the skin from my forearm to my face.

When I was sixteen, I moved to Florida with my mom so I could attend a tennis academy. When we moved there my mom began teaching at a Bible study. My mom asked her co-leader to pray that we find a solution for our health, but instead of offering to pray she said she could pray, but said she already knew how we could be healed. She told my mom about the Hallelujah diet (a version of WFPB) that reversed and completely healed her mother's cancer. The diet claimed to reduce other inflammation as well, so I decided to give it a try. It is a version of the WFPB lifestyle, specifically created to treat cancer. Before this time I never really thought about becoming anything close to a vegetarian or vegan, and did not even understand what those terms meant. My family had always eaten meat, normally at least three times per day. My mom and I were skeptical, but decided to try it because 1. we were desperate, 2. it seemed like a God-thing.

It actually wasn't too hard. My mom froze a few burgers in the fridge just in case, but we never used them. My mom's cholesterol dropped to normal within a few weeks of eating this way (she had been told she would have to take cholesterol medication), and I started feeling less groggy and tired even while I was playing four hours of tennis and an hour of fitness every day. My acne even improved a bit, although I still had some cysts. Two years later my dad even began the diet, and after doing tons of research, became a firm believer and advocate of the WFPB lifestyle.

The summer before my freshman year of college, after being WFPB for two years, my acne finally completely cleared! On top of the WFPB diet, I was still having weekly/bi-weekly facials, along with occasional laser treatments. After it was cleared, I only got facials about once a month, and eventually stopped them completely while continuing the WFPB lifestyle.

First semester of my freshman year of college was amazing. I finally felt normal, and no one had to know about how terrible my skin had been throughout high school. But during the last few months of school, my acne started coming back because I started eating more unhealthy vegan foods with lots of oil and sugar. It was hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle while all of my friends ate normal American foods. It did not make sense to me that I was eating healthier than most of my peers and yet still had terrible health issues. Most of my friends tried to be supportive, but I could tell they didn't understand why I had to eat the way I did. It was especially hard finding things to eat when I traveled for tennis tournaments (I am on my college's tennis team). I would often have to pack a lot of my meals so I could eat the way I needed to. I ate out more as well, and definitely consumed more fat and oil than I should have had in my diet. My acne started to come back, and I started eating closer to WFPB again when I went home for Christmas break. I felt terrible during the entirety of Christmas break, and I got the flu as well. I thought my body was just detoxifying from all the stress and junk food I ate during the semester.

Come to find out, the basement where I had slept during Christmas break had mold inside of the drywall. I'm very allergic to mold, and unfortunately sleeping with it for two weeks weakened my immune system. When I went back to school for second semester, I got a cold. It quickly turned into the flu, and I had a 104 degree fever for a few days (thankfully my friends were amazing and helped take care of me during this time). I had to take medication to get rid of the flu, and shortly after I finished taking the medication my Cystic Acne came back full force. Actually, it was worse than it was during high school. For the rest of the semester I felt dead. I studied, slept, and played tennis. That was all I could physically do. Tennis season is during second semester, and I had to miss a few weeks of practice. Needless to say my game definitely wasn't the best that semester. On top of that I was really stressed because of some hard classes that I was taking, besides having to worry about my face again.

After that semester I studied abroad in Ireland during part of summer break. It was hard to find food I could eat there (as it is anywhere) and I started eating badly again. Once I returned to the U.S. I decided to start eating fully WFPB again. My acne gradually lessened, but my face still had inflammation.

Sophomore year, first semester, was better. My acne was slightly more manageable and I felt much better than I did during freshman year. I continued eating strictly WFPB, although still having high-fat plant based foods such as peanut butter, nuts, some oils (although much more minimal than before). I also eliminated all sugar which helped. It was hard, especially when I was living in a dorm room, but I managed. Thankfully our cafeteria had some decent options and a good salad bar so that was helpful. I also kept my mini fridge stocked at all times with healthy food I could grab in a hurry.

Sophomore year, second semester, I moved into a townhouse on campus that had a nice kitchen. That made things so much easier! I also figured out better ways to bring food on tennis road trips. For most of the semester my acne didn't cause as much of a problem as before. But towards the end of the semester, I ate a few meals that were outside of my regular WFPB diet. My acne worsened, and I even started to get boils on my back, chest, and legs. My skin scarred badly in some areas, especially on my cheeks, even once the cysts/boils disappeared.

Once I got home for this summer break, I found out about the Clear Skin Diet. It is WFPB, but also removes all oil and high-fat plant foods such as nuts and avocado. I decided to try it, and I saw an improvement within a few days!

My face has continued to improve (I've been on the diet for about 8 weeks). The scarring will take much longer to go away (I might have to have treatments done to remove them) but hopefully all will be well within this or next year! I just wanted to share my story with you all, and I hope it helps those of you who also suffer from severe acne. If any of you have acne or have friends with acne, I highly recommend reading The Clear Skin Diet book by Nina and Randa Nelson. Below are some photos of my acne at its best and worst over the years. Below are my before and after pictures.

My acne at its worst: 07/17 06/09/18; 2nd day CS Diet 07/29/18; 52nd day CS Diet