Acute as well as chronic inflammations are the body's own responses of our immune system to harmful stimuli and foreign substances. Impure skin, large-scale pimples and acne in adulthood are mostly the effects of chronic inflammation in the body. Eating the right diet can help heal inflammation and improve skin texture. Skin diseases such as rosacea, neurodermatitis or psoriasis can also be alleviated with an anti-inflammatory diet. In particular, sugar, wheat flour and milk products have a negative impact on the complexion. These and other foods can trigger and aggravate pimples, pustules and flare-ups as the disease progresses.
Eat less sugar
High sugar foods and drinks make us fat and sick. They have a high glycemic index. This means that they cause blood sugar levels to rise rapidly. They only create a short-term feeling of satiety. This means that sugar is unhealthier than foods that cause blood sugar levels to rise only slowly.
A high sugar consumption acidifies the organism. Sugar promotes inflammation in the body, which in turn causes pimples and other skin problems. Sugar is also responsible for breaking down collagen fibers that keep connective tissue youthful and firm. Increased sugar consumption reduces the elasticity of the skin and accelerates skin aging.
In order to reduce your sugar consumption, you should eat fewer processed products. These are consistently high in sugar without you realizing it. This applies to pizza, snacks and nibbles as well as marinades and salad dressings. Finished products are generally over-seasoned, too greasy and contain hardly any vital substances. If you cook yourself instead, you can gradually reduce the sugar content of your sweet dishes and refine the natural taste with spices such as pure cocoa powder, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom or grated lemon zest from organic lemons.
Spelled & whole grain instead of wheat flour
The usual wheat extract flour causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. Modern wheat varieties with their targeted resistance breeds and pesticides such as glyphosate are considered to be pro-inflammatory and can be responsible for intolerance. Wheat is suspected of aggravating acne and skin problems.
The multiple crossed, back-crossed and selected wheat varieties lead to increased flatulence. Last but not least, the industrial dough processing in large bakeries makes wheat ready baked goods difficult to digest. While the dough in traditionally made yeast and sourdough breads rises for several days and thus ensures good digestibility, the dough rising times in a modern large-scale bakery are usually only 1 hour for reasons of time, so that the natural aromas cannot develop. The approximately 200 permitted additives in conventional bread, such as preservatives, aromas, consistency enhancers and emulsifiers, can also lead to rumbling in the stomach, a feeling of fullness or diarrhea. There is a direct link between gut health and healthy skin as part of our detoxifying immune system. This explains why your skin's appearance deteriorates when healthy bowel function is disrupted.
Instead of refined wheat flour, you should try whole wheat or spelled flour - unless you suffer from gluten intolerance and have to switch to gluten-free pseudocereals anyway. Spelled is less denatured by breeding. It contains more and higher-quality protein, more vitamins and minerals. Spelled also has a higher proportion of fiber and unsaturated fatty acids. Instead of conventional white flour ready baked goods from large bakeries, I prefer baked goods and pasta made from organically grown spelled or whole wheat. Above all, try to make your own bread and cakes yourself as often as possible - not least to avoid additives.
Replace milk with plant-based alternatives
Especially for athletes, milk is an easy choice to provide the body with enough protein after training. However, the consumption of milk has come under increasing criticism in recent years. The physician and nutrition pioneer Dr. More than 40 years ago, Max Otto Bruker warned of the harmful effects of milk consumption. After all, the hormonal components in cow's milk are intended for the rapid growth of the calf and not for feeding adults.
Scientists assume that the hormones contained in cow's milk worsen the complexion and play a role in the development of acne. Studies have found increased estrogen levels in men who consume excess milk, which also appears to be linked to reduced sperm production. Pure cow's milk in particular can stimulate excessive activity of the sebaceous glands. The acne-triggering components are not so much in the fat content, but rather in the milk protein. Acidified milk products such as yoghurt, protein-rich quark, whey or cheese are usually better tolerated. They keep you full for a long time, but should not be eaten too often in an anti-acne diet.
For a clearer complexion, you should rely more on vegetable protein from oatmeal, lentils, chickpeas, chia seeds, hemp seeds and soybeans. Combine different protein sources in your meal to increase bioavailability for your body.
The best way to find out whether dairy products are actually responsible for your skin problems is to temporarily omit all dairy-containing foods and replace them with vegan alternatives made from oat, almond or soy milk. However, it can take up to 3 months for your skin to actually respond to the change.
Choosing the right fats
Animal fat
The right choice of healthy fats plays a central role in finally getting rid of your annoying pimples. A diet high in animal fats from meat, butter, cheese, and eggs will acidify and waste your body. In addition, the foreign animal hormones throw your hormone system out of balance. Medicines and antibiotics from modern factory farming promote resistance and weaken your immune system. Therefore, eat little animal fats or even prefer a purely vegan lifestyle.
Vegetable fats
An anti-inflammatory diet should be rich in vegetable fats. However, refined, highly heated and hardened oils such as the palm oil used in large quantities are harmful to health. Industrially processed palm oil is mainly found in finished products from pizza to chips to biscuits, snacks and also in most cosmetic products.
What's the problem with that? During industrial refining, the palm oil is heated to over 200 degrees and then hardened. This creates large amounts of fat pollutants. So-called trans fats are made from the unsaturated fatty acids. They increase the cholesterol level and promote chronic inflammation such as that found in acne, rosacea, neurodermatitis or psoriasis. Therefore, generally avoid ready-made products and instead prepare your own meals freshly, even if it is much more time-consuming.
Cold-pressed vegetable oils
Give preference to cold-pressed vegetable oils in your diet, if possible in organic quality. Due to the gentle cold pressing, these oils naturally contain anti-inflammatory antioxidants and essential monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Olive oil and rapeseed oil in particular have a high proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids (omega 9). Walnut oil, hemp oil and linseed oil are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega 3), which have a positive effect on the complexion and alleviate some skin problems. Animal meat, butter, cheese and eggs as well as sunflower, soybean and corn oil contain a high proportion of omega-6 fatty acids.
Our body needs omega 3 as well as omega 6 and 9 fatty acids, and they should be present in an optimal ratio in your diet. Most people in Europe consume too much omega-6 and too little omega-3 fatty acids due to their high meat consumption.
Even if cold-pressed vegetable oils with polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids are particularly valuable because of their antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effect, only use them sparingly in your diet: around 1-2 tablespoons per day, for example in a vitamin-rich green salad or raw vegetables, are completely sufficient. You should especially not heat these oils.
Micronutrients
Micronutrients are essential for healthy cell metabolism and your body's defense system. These include the antioxidant vitamins, trace elements and minerals. Since your body cannot produce these vital nutrients itself, you have to get them from your diet.
Antioxidants serve as defensive and protective substances for the plant. They inhibit inflammation, have an antibacterial and antiviral effect. They protect the cells from oxidative damage. These include, for example, anthocyanins in berries, carotenoids such as beta-carotene in carrots, peppers and green vegetables or cell-protecting flavonoids in apples, pears or herbs.
Like vitamins and minerals, trace elements are also vital for a healthy metabolism. Trace elements include all minerals that your body only needs in very small amounts: iron, iodine, zinc, fluoride, selenium and manganese.
Seasonal vegetables, whole grain cereals, legumes such as lentils, beans and chickpeas as well as black tea, mineral water, nuts, seeds and oilseeds are particularly rich in micronutrients with an antioxidant effect.
Food diary: How to filter out inflammatory foods
A food diary is a great help to finally get rid of constant redness, stubborn pimples or acne caused by chronic inflammation in your body. There you document for at least a few weeks which critical foods you have tried to avoid and how this has affected your skin. This is the best way to track down problematic foods that keep causing you symptoms, intolerances and unhealthy eating habits that damage your body. Long-term, try replacing potentially inflammatory foods with anti-inflammatory alternatives.
Conclusion
- In order to get rid of your pimples and improve your complexion over the long term, you should change your diet to include anti-inflammatory, plant-based and unprocessed foods wherever possible.
- Avoid cow's milk and largely acidified milk products.
- Try replacing wheat flour with whole grain or spelled flour.
- Cook as much as possible and avoid ready meals. Your diet should contain plenty of fresh and fiber-rich vegetables such as carrots, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, peas or kohlrabi.
- Reduce animal fats in your diet and instead prefer natural vegetable fats with mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega 9 and omega 3) such as olive oil, rapeseed oil and hemp oil.
- For a snack between meals, instead of unhealthy sweets with refined sugar, it is better to snack on seasonal fresh berries, filling and high-fat nuts and seeds, vitamin-rich organically grown apples, pears and citrus fruits. Dried fruit is also a good alternative because it contains valuable micronutrients in addition to the high proportion of natural fructose.
Is an anti-inflammatory diet enough to get rid of your pimples and skin problems?
A diet rich in vital substances, a lot of exercise in the fresh air and less mental stress are not enough when it comes to recurring redness, deposits and stubborn pimples.
The right skin care routine, which is tailored to your individual skin needs, is also essential. Your cosmetics should be free from additives such as preservatives, alcohol, fragrances and emulsifiers. The ingredients must not be comedogenic, so do not clog the pores.
A particularly high-quality, anti-comedogenic vegetable oil for improved sebum flow and against cornification of the sebum glands is cold-pressed grape seed oil, which is contained in all our myrto facial care products for sensitive combination skin. Argan oil, jojoba oil, tamanu oil, black cumin oil and hemp oil also have healing properties and are recommended for impure and problematic skin.
Particularly effective active ingredients against constant redness, pimples and acne are:
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Copaiba Balsam - considered the most powerful herbal antibiotic against bacterial skin diseases and acne, contained in Copaiba Blemish Serum;
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Niacinamide – soothes redness and inflammation, refines the complexion, contained in Vitamin Serum and Anti-Pollution Serum M;
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Vitamin C – relieves micro-inflammation in the skin, stimulates collagen production, reduces pores, contained in Vitamin Serum and Anti-Pollution Serum T;
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Bakuchiol – fades pimple marks, counteracts inflammation and skin impurities, tightens the skin, contained in the Bakuchiol Oil Serum and the Vitamin Serum;
Willow bark extract – has a sebum-dissolving effect, calms redness and inflammation, contained in the Anti-Pollution Serum M.
