Dairy Gives Me Acne
6th Feb 2018 2 min read
— Tags: acne, DAIRY FREE, dairy free acne, does dairy give you spots, gemma bray
Lots of you ask me why I don’t eat dairy. You want to know whether it is an ethical choice or an allergy. So here it is … (the title is a bit of a spoiler!! ?)
I started with bad skin when I was still in primary school, year 5 to be exact so that would have made me about 10!
I spent the next 21 years battling acne, I tried everything and I mean EVERYTHING out there. But it was always there. I must have spent a small fortune on make-up and I became an absolute pro in finding the right light in a room so it wouldn’t highlight my acne. When I was in restaurants for lunch I would never want a window seat (that daylight reveals everything!) and candlelight was my friend!
I was in the habit of waking up every morning and checking my face straight away for new spots. I would never let anyone see me without makeup (even my parents) and I was so jealous of my friends’ beautiful skin. The ONLY advantage of going to an all-girls school was that I wasn’t subjected to showing my spots to boys every day.
When I hit 30 I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be plagued forever and I kind of got used to it! I was now battling spots AND wrinkles!
But then one day I came across an interview with Woody Harrelson (the randomness of this is not lost on me ?) and in it, he said that he was an acne sufferer but that when he gave up dairy it disappeared.
That was it I didn’t need telling twice .. I had nothing to lose (well apart from CHEESE …. ?)
I cut out milk, cheese and ice cream, cream, chocolate etc and within 1 week my skin was almost clear. But it wasn’t perfect, so then I started to read the ingredient list of all the packaged food I ate … mainly crisps ? and found that some food has milk in it when you wouldn’t think it would!
PICKLED ONION MONSTER MUNCH I AM LOOKING AT YOU!!!!
I then was very strict and consumed no dairy at all. 2 weeks later my skin was clear.
I have been dairy free ever since and I have spoken to lots of you who are the same and have the same reaction to dairy. If I have dairy I will have a breakout 2/3 days later.
Apparently, from my very limited research on Google it is something to do with the hormones in the milk which send my skin all wonky.
So that is why there are loads of dairy free recipes on the blog and why I only ever have Chinese food as a takeaway as it is nearly always dairy free. ?
There are lots of other greats sources of calcium. For more info visit the Vegan Society website Calcium-Rich Foods
(IF YOU PLAN TO MAKE A MAJOR CHANGE TO YOUR DIET PLEASE SPEAK TO A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL …. I AM NOT A DOCTOR AND THIS IS JUST MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE)
