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Simply Sarena

Simply Sarena

Home | Blog | How I Cleared My Acne (when nothing else worked)

How I Cleared My Acne (when nothing else worked)

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How I cleared my acne when nothing else worked by making diet and lifestyle changes. I sought out natural methods to clear my acne.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, dermatologist, esthetician, or professional in any way. This post is not in place of medical/professional advice. It’s my experience and opinion.

*I’ve tried to find photos that show how bad my acne used to be, however I REFUSED to be photographed without makeup on. I’ve found some old pictures that show the texture of my skin but in all of them, I have pretty thick makeup on to try and cover how bad my acne was, but I don’t have any pictures of me without makeup when my skin was really bad. I was too embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to somehow find them. Hopefully you can somewhat tell the extent of my acne with the pictures I do provide in this post.

I just realized, it’s been about 2 years since I stopped suffering from TERRIBLE cystic acne! It’s been 2 years since I’ve woken up in the morning and counted the new zits on my face. It’s been 2 years since I stood in front of the mirror struggling to cover my face without my makeup looking too thick and cakey.

Not having acne anymore has been so freeing! I have more time in the morning because I’m not obsessing over my face and my wallet is fuller. I’m not spending all my money on the latest full coverage makeup and acne treatments and devices (a lot of those treatments and devices are expensive!)

I feel so much more confident and comfortable everyday. Everyone used to think I was rude and shy because I was so uncomfortable around people. I thought everyone was looking at my acne and thinking how gross it was. (I have no idea if they were, that’s just how I felt.)

If you have suffered from terrible, debilitating acne, just know you’re not alone. I was there for 11 years! I hope my story and solution gives you hope and helps you figure out what is causing your acne.

How I cleared my acne when nothing else worked by making diet and lifestyle changes. I sought out natural methods to clear my acne.
This was my skin in high school before I started seeing the dermatologist WITH foundation on.
How I cleared my acne when nothing else worked by making diet and lifestyle changes. I sought out natural methods to clear my acne.
This is before I started going to the dermatologist. I had a face full of foundation on in this picture. I was 17 here.

 

Journey to Clear, Acne Free Skin! 

When you suffer from acne, you’ll try anything! I tried about every cleanser and treatment from the drugstore. I also tried all those 3 step systems like proactiv. When none of that worked, I started seeing the dermatologist.

Acne Treatments from the Dermatologist 

The first treatment from the dermatologist I tried was an antibiotic called Ampicillin. Ampicillin worked for a little while but I eventually stopped seeing results. When Ampicillin stopped working, my dermatologist prescribed me a different antibiotic called Tetracycline. I did NOT have a good reaction to Tetracycline. It made me so lethargic and it was exhausting to even breathe! All I wanted to do was sleep! So after about 2 days of that, I refused to take anymore antibiotics.

I went back to the dermatologist and he prescribed me a topical antibiotic called Clindamycin for the morning and Retin A and Cortisone for the evening. He told me if I break out at all, to call him and he would adjust my dose. Well within a few days, my skin was breaking out so bad! So my dermatologist adjusted my dose of each. When I tried that, my skin got worse. He then suggested I try birth control and accutane. I’ve never liked the idea of birth control and messing with my hormones. And after researching accutane, I realized it was not for me and I wasn’t comfortable taking it. I didn’t want to put my body through that because it’s a harsh treatment. When nothing I was comfortable taking from the dermatologist worked, I thought I was completely out of options. At this point I was 22 years old.

So I started researching everything about acne. Causes of acne, common ingredients that clog pores, and foods that cause inflammation in the body and trigger acne. From all this research, I started cleaning up my skincare routine and using more natural products. Click here for my current natural skincare routine. Plus, I started cleaning up my diet by eating more fruits and vegetables and eating less refined sugar. I also tried eliminating dairy and gluten.

How I cleared my acne when nothing else worked by making diet and lifestyle changes. I sought out natural methods to clear my acne.
This was for a photoshoot. I had really thick makeup on and you can still see how bad my skin was. This is also my skin after 3 years of the dermatologist
How I cleared my acne when nothing else worked by making diet and lifestyle changes. I sought out natural methods to clear my acne.
This is another picture from that same photoshoot. I was 23 here.

 

The Cure for My Acne!

Come to find out, gluten is the culprit of my terrible cystic acne! Eliminating dairy from my diet was easy. I didn’t eat it that much in the first place and there are sooo many dairy substitutions out there so it wasn’t a problem at all. But gluten took me a lot longer to eliminate. My diet consisted of a lot of bread and pasta. I didn’t know what I would eat if I didn’t eat gluten!

In October 2015, I realized I had gone 2 days without eating gluten. I hadn’t even thought about not eating it. It just happened. So I thought, if I can go 2 days so easily, I’ll try 2 weeks without gluten. If it works, great! If not, back to the drawing board. Within the next 3 days, I had no new breakouts and by the end of the first week, my skin was clear! Now, 2 years later, I have not had a bad breakout since I stopped eating gluten!

Diet Has EVERYTHING to do with ACNE! 

Ever since this experience, I’ve realized diet has everything to do with acne, especially cystic acne. Doctors and dermatologists told me time and time again that diet has nothing to do with acne. From my own experience, I will NEVER believe that. Cystic acne starts at the deepest layer of the skin and you can feel cystic acne coming on days before you ever see it. So how can they sit there and tell me diet has nothing to do with it and something I’m putting on my skin, or excess oil (when my skin was dry as a bone after the harsh prescription treatments) was causing my cystic acne. It makes no sense!

How I cleared my acne when nothing else worked by making diet and lifestyle changes. I sought out natural methods to clear my acne.
The left is me today without makeup. The right is me today with makeup.

 

Have Hope! You WILL Find A Solution To Your Acne

If you’ve tried everything and nothing works, try looking at what you’re eating and chemicals in your environment. Do you have trouble digesting certain foods? Do you break out more after eating something specific? Or is your everyday routine loaded with hormone disrupting chemicals and you have some sort of hormone imbalance? Dairy and gluten are the 2 most common sensitivities that people don’t realize they have.

There IS a solution to your acne! I really hope my experience helps you in some way and gives you hope that you WILL find a solution! If you’ve found changing your diet has cleared your skin or helped cure other ailments, leave a comment below! I’d LOVE to hear your stories! It’s always encouraging to hear others’ similar stories!

*Also, check your face cleanser. Sodium laurel sulfate is superrr clogging and it’s in almost every face cleanser. SLS is fancy term for SOAP. I’ll get more in to ingredients in a different post.

 

How I cleared my acne when nothing else worked by making diet and lifestyle changes. I sought out natural methods to clear my acne.

October 15, 2017 · Leave a Comment

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Hey! It is nice to meet you!

I’m a Northern Virginia based Integrative Nutrition Coach, a Toxin Free Lifestyle enthusiast, and a dog mom to my sweet girl, Miss Cammie. I’m also a dancer who’s obsessed with Lilly Pulitzer, and I’m a dark chocolate lover!

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When you think of a snack, what kind of food do yo When you think of a snack, what kind of food do you think of? One of my girlfriends asked me this morning what some healthy snack options are besides protein bars and I realized, so many people associate snacks with packaged food...quick grab and go things like a bag of potato chips, granola bars (loaded with sugar), snack cakes, fruit snacks, popcorn, etc. 

Snacks don’t have to be junk and snacks can be quick, easy, and made with REAL FOOD! 

Swipe through for some of my favorite snacks!

🥑 Avocado Toast: I use @foodforlifebaking sprouted grains gluten free bread, spread a ripe avocado on it, and top it with some everything bagel seasoning. To pack for work, I pack the avocado separately then spread it over the toast when I’m ready to eat it.

🥜 Rice Cake & Nut Butter: I use @lundbergfarms rice cakes and top it with some peanut butter or almond butter. Sometimes, I even add cacao nibs on top. 

🍇 Yogurt & Fruit: I like the @foragerproject plain cashew yogurt and I add blueberries to it! 

🍌 Banana (or other fruit) & Nut Butter: One of the quickest, go-to snacks for me is peanut butter and banana. It’s sweet, salty, and filling! I use organic, natural peanut butter (the only ingredient should be peanuts). 

🥕 Hummus and Veggies or Crackers (or both): I love the Wegmans red pepper hummus (check the ingredients...the one I like is made with olive oil, the others are made with canola oil 🤢) paired with @marysgonecrackers or organic veggies! 

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Regenerative Agriculture can pretty much save the Regenerative Agriculture can pretty much save the planet 🌎 

Me and a few of my girlfriends went to a pumpkin patch with a corn maze and the clues through the corn maze were all about regenerative agriculture! 

Regenerative agriculture doesn’t use pesticides or herbicides like roundup which add loads of toxic chemicals into the environment and our food. They don’t till the land which depletes the soil. The soil then turns to dirt which you can’t grow anything in. Dirt also doesn’t absorb water the way soil does which can lead to natural disasters like floods and fires. No monocropping...diversifying your crops produces more food and if you plan accordingly, crops can help other crops grow by protecting them from pests or even too much sunlight! 

Random post for a Sunday night, but visiting a farm that uses regenerative agriculture was inspiring and reminded me why it’s so important and how much work we need to do to fix our food system! 🌾🌽🥦🍅🥕

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🌱Having a good skincare routine as well as diet 🌱Having a good skincare routine as well as diet and lifestyle play a big part in the condition of your skin! My latest blog post goes into detail on my skincare routine and the ingredients in the products I use, as well as diet and lifestyle tips to get nice skin! 

✨Click the link in my bio for this blog post! ✨

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🌱Today is Health Coach Day!!!🌱 My journey s 🌱Today is Health Coach Day!!!🌱

My journey started about 10 years ago with my skin issues, which turned out to be gut issues manifesting in my skin. 

The gut issues I was having was due to a poor, gluten heavy diet. My body was struggling to properly digest gluten which was causing me sinus issues and headaches on top of my skin problems. 

I cut out gluten, healed my gut, and cured my acne, headaches, sinus problems, and allergies! These problems are all caused by inflammation! Most chronic illnesses are caused my inflammation and if you don’t address the source and just take a pill to mask the symptoms, you will never be cured. 

I’m so thankful for my journey, because it led me to @nutritionschool where I learned how to help others heal themselves and reach their health and wellness goals! 

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