Paleo diet/ very low carb

[Colwyn]

Hi,
I'm trying a new angle on my fight against acne now.
Inspired by the specific carb diet you recommended for those whose acne doesn't respond to anything, and from reading how any form of grain or sugar causes an insulin response, and in turn a hormone surge, I've decided to eliminate all grains and sugars from my diet as I've never given it a go before properly.
It's been 2 and a half weeks and now my fingers are starting to break out in eczema again! This happened when I tried a raw diet which was high in fruit sugar and sprouted beans and I figured it was because I wasn't getting enough fats from the diet. Then I went off the wagon, and ate crap for a few months, the eczema cleared up during this time, however acne persisted no matter what I did/ do.

Anyway, I'm wondering what could be making the eczema return now because I'm eating alot of fats to fill me up because I can't have carbs, most of them are healthy fats. Acne is so far pretty much the same, although, at the time of writing this I've just developed a nice few HUGE red spots. I only get spots around my mouth and chin, and they are ALWAYS really inflamed big red things that look un-sightly. Why can't I have forehead acne or cheek acne, alllllllll of those are far easier to cope with than right smack in the middle of my face.

Also my feet have also started cracking at the heels, they've always been a bit dry down there but now i got this nasty big crack on my right heel

Any ideas what's going on and what I can do to help the situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[shelley]

When your feet start cracking and developing huge callouses, that usually means a deficiency of EFAs, A and Zinc. Which fats are you eating a lot of? And are you taking zinc, digestive enzymes with your fatty meals?

[Colwyn]

Thanks for the reply,
The fats i am currently eating are coconuts or sometimes coconut oil, ghee (is ghee allowed? as i can get a nice amount of calories from this), flax oil, fat oil blends, as well as the obvious fat in meats and fish.

I've just bought some A and Zinc to supplement. The only other thing I'm taking is a Calcium/ magnesium supplements. Should I be taking these daily?

I'm going to do the pulse test whenever i remember to in the morning to make sure none of the meats I'm eating are actually an allergy. Because I'm thinking I might have a leaky gut as I have had dark circles under my eyes for years too, and I have a big and quite wide line down the centre of my tongue. I've also got teeth marks round the sides that won't go away.

I drink plenty of water too.

[shelley]

Ghee is perfectly fine, all the milk solids are gone from it so it's safe.

I don't recommend A supplements, just carrots, juiced or regular, with butter/oil and occasionally cod liver oil. Zinc you can take just about every day. Cal/Mag depends on the dose. 250mg to 500 mg of calcium can be taken safely every day for awhile, but if you overdose it will cause dry skin.

You're on the right track - leaky gut, liver/bowel cleansing, and consult with a good chiropractor too. A legitimate one, not one of those "everybody needs adjustment all the time" types.

Do you have trouble putting on weight? Because that can be due to low stomach acids, low probiotics, which is also a factor in not digesting fats/burping and acne.

[Colwyn]

Putting on weight for me is a piece of cake, obviously I need to be eating enough calories, but I can build muscle really easily, I lean heavily towards a mesomorphic body type when I train. But i've stopped training because acne is depressing me beyond belief and I don't see the point.

What does easily putting on weight suggest about the state of my digestion? I've ordered some digestive enzymes anyway to help me digest the meats and fats. I do find I burp a bit after eating lately.

How can I find out if I have leaky gut or candida. I think there must be something going wrong because even a 10 day juice fast bowel cleanse doesn't improve my skin, so surely something is poisoning me continuely even when the burden of digestion isn't there? Does that sound like candida or something else?

I've done numerous liver flushes before now, taken many fat dredgers and gotten many stones out, the last couple I did several months ago didn't produce any stones so I kinda lost hope doing them, but you suggested maybe I had dissolved them all with all preparation I did with stone disolvers and softeners. I drank loads of carrot juice before with fats too, but nothing has yet helped either my acne or the bags under my eyes.

I'm thinking of visiting a doctor soon to see if there's any tests they can do to find out what the hell is wrong with me, are there any tests you know of? Failing that i would at least like to find out my blood type.

I will arrange to find a chiropractor too, but I have no idea how I will know if he's good or not, I don't really know what to say either, do I just say I need aligning or something, because I don't suffer any aches or pains anywhere. Can spinal alignment effect acne significantly?

So basically my current plan of action is to keep eating no grains/ sugar/ fruit. Eat alot of fat and protein (is the protein a bad idea? I do take calcium), to try and save the remainder of my feeble body weight I have. I have a good few tablespoons of linseeds to act as fibre daily.
I've done this for about a month now, so will continue for a couple more months to see if there is any improvement. But other than that I'm really stumped where to go next because my body never lets me know, I get no cleansing reactions ever and I just have a a horrible spotty face no matter what I do.

Is there anything else you highly recommend I start incorporating into my regime or anything I really must get tested or something? I really do appreciate your help and I am so unbelievably dedicated now I won't stray an inch from any guidance any1 can give me. This is the final stance now!

PS. I don't know if a bit of background will help, but anyway, I'm 24 and male, 4th child of 5, me and my younger brother had eczema/ asthma growing up while my older siblings didn't, my younger brother had eczema even worse than me. Does that say something about my mum's ability to pass on healthy bacteria or something? Raised on a diet low in nutrition, high in refined carbs and sugars. Hit puberty later than most, suffered bad hormone problems, developing gynecomastia and then acne, the former I had removed with surgery but the acne still remains, both of these conditions are supposed to disappear after puberty, but mine never did so it's like I'm still stuck in puberty here and I don't know why!

Anyway, thanks for reading

[shelley]

Definitely get a complete physical, this is something everyone should do when they have chronic symptoms of any kind. When acne is an issue, I always recommend that you get a complete nutritional workup (some things they can check for, like iron, other things they can't) and check your thyroid. That means either a complete thyroid panel, or just the TSH. Some labs include TSH with the regular metabolic panel, some don't, so request it specifically.

Also ask them to check your progesterone levels, since you have a history with wonky pro/estrogen. And yep, that can have a lot to do with persistent acne.

The safest way to regulate your hormones naturally is to thoroughly cleanse the liver, make sure you don't overdose on potassium (juice medium to low-potassium veggies for the most part), and take Zinc. Again, since you have hormonal issues, just take the RDA of zinc, don't overdose or take therapeutic levels.

Wait and see what the lab tests say before making any other decisions about how to manage the issue.

Hope that helps!