The best diet for skin with acne and rosacea?
What food should you eat if you have acne or rosacea problems? Complete vegetarian? Should you, for instance, revert back to a primal diet or simply go gluten free? I’ve even heard that people with rosacea saw a significant improvement with a carnivore diet, meaning a meat only diet. Personally, I see a lot of benefits in the Mediterranean diet.
There is no perfect diet
The simple answer to this is tough; there is no perfect diet. What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. In my experience, nutrition depends on the person. Your tolerance for certain foods is also connected to your genes, your gut flora, possible allergies or sensitivities and much more…
Healthy food may still cause problems
Healthy food is also a very broad term. There are many products that fit into a healthy diet. But even food that is considered generally healthy for everyone can still give you problems such as tiredness, stomach ache, facial flushes, spots or a rash.
So, listen very closely to your own body. And keep a daily diet diary with the symptoms that you experience. In this way you may discover which foods you can tolerate well and which products less well. Have you got a feeling that a certain food type isn’t suitable for you? Then you could temporarily (6-8 weeks) exclude it.
Make sure you don’t have a shortage of vitamins and minerals
Be aware that by cutting out certain foods you may not be getting enough nutrients. Don’t worry about cutting out chocolate, alcohol, fast acting carbohydrates (sweets, biscuits, soft drinks) and fried food. Those won’t cause a shortage of vitamins and minerals. So when then? I have put together a useful summary below.
Products to replace certain foods which have been omitted
| You exclude | You consume less of the following vitamins and minerals | Food and drink that can provide the necessary nutrients* |
| Dairy | Vitamin B12 and calcium | Almond milk and oat milk fortified with B12 and calcium. A vegetarian burger is often fortified with vitamin B12. A handful of almonds together with a couple of dried figs will provide extra calcium. |
| Pork | If you don’t eat any meat you will consume less vitamin B1, B12 and iron. | If you cut out pork then you can eat chicken and beef. Vegetarian alternatives are eggs, fish or vegetarian balls and burgers fortified with B1, B12 and iron. |
| Bread and other gluten derived cereals | Vitamin B1, B11, iron and iodine. | A variety of meat, eggs, fish, (green) vegetables and pulses will provide vitamin B1, B11 and iron. For iodine intake you can eat gluten free wholemeal bread provided it contains iodized (iodine) salt. You can also get iodine from cod or seaweed products such as seaweed pasta and dried kelp. |
| Tomatoes, white potatoes, chilli peppers, okra, bell peppers and aubergine (nightshade family) | These vegetables contain many different vitamins and minerals | Eat plenty of other vegetables such as broccoli, sweet potato, courgette, pumpkin, lettuce, green beans, carrots, white or red onion, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, sweetcorn and asparagus. |
| Broccoli, spruitjes, paksoi, waterkers, boerenkool, witte kool en andere koolsoorten (kruisbloemige groenten) | Deze groenten bevatten veel verschillende vitamines en mineralen | Eet veel andere groenten zoals sperziebonen, spinazie, courgette, pompoen, wortelen, snijbiet, andijvie, ijsbergsla, rode biet, witte of rode ui, doperwten, mais, en asperges. |
| Lemon, lime, oranges, mandarine, grapefruit and pomelo (citrus fruit) | These fruits contain many different vitamins and minerals | Eat other vegetables or fruit such as red pepper, mango, carrots, peach, apricot, kiwis, pineapple, melon and pumpkin. |
* Always check the label (if the product has one) to see which nutrients are present in the food.
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