I never thought I would say that acne changed my life for the better…..but believe me it did.

On a day-to-day basis acne is the absolute worst. I get that, if you have acne you probably get that too. I’m not talking about a few zits here and there, I am talking about painful cystic acne all over your face. It hurts, it diminishes your confidence, it makes you want to hide inside and it takes up so much of your mental space. 

You think about it, you talk about it, you google about it, you spend a million $ trying new products to try and combat it. You irritate your friends talking about it, you irritate yourself talking about it and you all over feel helpless as everything you try either doesn’t work, or works for a bit before you find yourself weeping in the mirror as acne returns to it’s favourite residence-your face. 

Shortly after developing acne I scoured the internet in hopes of finding a cure. In my quest I ended up learning that acne is a sign that something is not right in your body. I started to view it as a picture of my inner health. I mean, I already knew that something was not right in my body because I had struggled with many health issues but none of them sparked me forward in my health journey like acne did.  Call me vain but acne was the final kick-in the pants I needed to get my health in order. 

 It’s not really pictured here but on top of this I constantly had cystic acne on my forehead and cheeks and chin. You can’t ignore those ones- they hurt like a bitch

So low and be-hold here are the reasons I am thankful for acne:

#1 – Grateful it Came Before Something Worse

The way I see it, our body has different ways of telling us what’s wrong. Before I had acne, I struggled with chronic fatigue, severe stomach discomfort, gas, bloating, constipation, blood sugar problems, candida, sinus infections, yeast infections, allergies, hives, and brain fog. These are all very uncomfortable issues that ruin your overall quality of life and were a way for my body to tell me something was wrong. But I wasn’t listening. Then I got acne and I started to listen. 

I am grateful I got acne and started my health journey when I did because who knows how much longer I would go on for trying to ‘live with’ my other issues and push my body past its tipping point until I developed something worse. 

Some people seem fine and then all of a sudden develop an autoimmune disorder, diabetes, cancer or a body full of psoriasis without warning signs (my father has them so I was scared of this)! So I’m lucky that my warning signs were there! 

#2 – Driving Force behind My Health Journey

At 22 I stopped taking birth control pills. This was the beginning of my acne journey. I reckon I would have acne all through high school if I hadn’t started taking these magic pills around 13. You see birth control pills tend to keep acne at bay. 

I went to a naturopath to help figure out how to balance my hormones naturally and get rid of my acne. Upon arrival, she realized that my gut was way out of balance. Acne and hormonal problems had brought me into the naturopath but I also dealt with chronic fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, brain fog, blood sugar problems, allergies, sinus infections and skin infections for so long I just thought I had to live like that forever. It didn’t even occur to me that she could help me with those issues.  

I will always remember that day at the naturopaths. Among a lot of other questions, she asked me what I had eaten that day. I had french fries, frozen yogurt, and banana bread for my meals that day- in retrospect, it’s no wonder I felt so shitty. My diet was severely unhealthy but I wasn’t putting the two together.

She sent me on my way with some supplements and some eating guidelines to get my guts back in order. This appointment was the beginning of me realizing that what I ate really impacted my overall health.  

You can grab my free guide below where I outline the 10 crucial steps to take to really begin healing your body which will ultimately help your skin too 🙂 

#3 – Accelerated my Ability to Stick to a New Lifestyle/Diet 

It took me years of trying various health diets to start to get my acne in check. I had a hard time sticking with them when I wasn’t seeing any results on my skin.

But one day, a few months after starting my plant-based lifestyle I came across an article on eating High Carb Low-Fat meals from two vegan acne sufferers- you can check it out here. (They now have a book!). They basically cured their acne by keeping their fat intake low while on a plant-based diet. At this point all the diets I had tried basically kept the fat content high and carbs low. My diet was super high in fats from nuts, raw desserts, coconuts products and oils. 

I made the flip and upped my carbs and lowered my fat and 75% of my acne cleared up in days. Fast forward three years later and I still live by these principles. I didn’t yo-yo off this diet like every other diet I had tried. The fact that I could see the change in my skin immediately kept me going at the beginning but it’s the other health improvements that followed kept me going for the long haul.

#4- Had a Domino Effect on my Health

Acne led me to my low-fat high-carb plant-based lifestyle but the effects it had on my overall health were beyond what I could have imagined. This diet change went beyond my skin -it stopped my chronic yeast infections, candida, allergies, sinus infections and most notably my chronic brain fog and fatigue! It has left me with more energy than I have ever experienced, the clearest mind I have ever had and also put me in the best shape I have ever been in!

#5 – Acne Continues to Keep Me In Line & Continue on My Health Journey

Acne was like the last little piece of my health puzzle. Although it cleared up significantly after my diet change, 8 months later I went through an emotionally taxing relationship and break-up, a lot of partying, a round of vaccinations and four months of travelling (where it was hard to eat my usual low-fat diet)  that left me with the worst case of acne I have had. It brought me back to the naturopath where I learned my liver was overtaxed. I dedicated that year to getting back on track and healing my liver and it shows in my skin! 

Had I not broken out, I would have been unlikely to check in with the naturopath. I spent the next year focusing on being kind to my liver and started to incorporate things like meditation and exercise to keep my body less stressed.

Once I got back on track my skin cleared up for the most part but I still couldn’t kick the last few. Then I discovered this awesome wholefood nutraceutical that I take daily that has done wonders for clearing up the last little bit – message me if you want to learn more about it! 

Since taking the nutraceutical my skin has been doing well, but every time I get way too glutinous with the treats, processed foods, eating out or other bad habits like not sleeping, or drinking enough water, a few zits pop up and remind me to get back in line with my good habits 🙂 . 

So acne, I would like to say thank you to you, because without you, I would not have realized how big a role my bad diet and bad habits played in my overall health. Cheers to you and cheers to health and cheers to anyone who wants to join the plant-based life and say hello to the best versions of themselves!  

If you want to start eating some more plant-based meals grab our FREE guide below to learn how to make an epic smoothie bowl! They’re my favourite food 🙂