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dairy is the devil
Feb. 23rd, 2006 02:04 pmFor the last couple of years, I've been struggling with my skin during the winter. It's really been upsetting the last month because my cheeks have been all red and inflamed and broken out. I chalked it up to the dry weather, so I was doing some extra moisturizing, which helped with the dryness, but not with the breakouts. I'm pretty sure it's a form of acne rosacea, because I know there are certain things that trigger it...drinking red wine or beer for instance, or going out into the hellish cold we had the last week. Anything that makes me flush really. But I haven't had wine or beer in a long time and I didn't think it was any of the products I was using causing the breakouts because I've been keeping it simple. Then last week I overheard one of the estheticians saying that eating dairy can cause rosacea flare ups. At the time I was eating a cheese and mushroom sandwich from Potbellies. Crap!
I wasn't entirely sure if that was the problem, because that particular esthetician always tells people to give up dairy, and I'd never read anything about cheese causing rosacea, it's always alcohol, spicy foods, and extreme temperature changes. But I gave it a shot and gave up all dairy for a week, which in my case just means no cheesey sandwiches or parmesan on my pasta.
My skin cleared up in less than two days.
Good for my skin, bad for my cheese loving ways!
I really should have come to this conclusion before, because in the summertime (when my skin is much less dry), Shawn and I will make frequent runs for Ben & Jerry's ice cream and eat the whole pint. The next day my skin will be sure to break out and I'm all, "What happened?!" I thought it was a reaction to the sugar though. Apparently not. Vegans-1, Jess-0.
So I'm going to take a little break from dairy for now. I recently gave up eating meat, which really wasn't that hard since I didn't eat that much of it to begin with. (I still eat fish, so I don't really consider myself vegetarian...more of a flexitarian ;) Cheese is harder, but hell, I did it before and I can do it again. Hopefully I can balance myself out so that if I occasionally have some cheese in my sandwich or some ice cream this summer (they just put in a Cold Stone Creamery right by us), it won't be that big a deal. But I'll take clear skin over a grilled cheese any day!
I wasn't entirely sure if that was the problem, because that particular esthetician always tells people to give up dairy, and I'd never read anything about cheese causing rosacea, it's always alcohol, spicy foods, and extreme temperature changes. But I gave it a shot and gave up all dairy for a week, which in my case just means no cheesey sandwiches or parmesan on my pasta.
My skin cleared up in less than two days.
Good for my skin, bad for my cheese loving ways!
I really should have come to this conclusion before, because in the summertime (when my skin is much less dry), Shawn and I will make frequent runs for Ben & Jerry's ice cream and eat the whole pint. The next day my skin will be sure to break out and I'm all, "What happened?!" I thought it was a reaction to the sugar though. Apparently not. Vegans-1, Jess-0.
So I'm going to take a little break from dairy for now. I recently gave up eating meat, which really wasn't that hard since I didn't eat that much of it to begin with. (I still eat fish, so I don't really consider myself vegetarian...more of a flexitarian ;) Cheese is harder, but hell, I did it before and I can do it again. Hopefully I can balance myself out so that if I occasionally have some cheese in my sandwich or some ice cream this summer (they just put in a Cold Stone Creamery right by us), it won't be that big a deal. But I'll take clear skin over a grilled cheese any day!
