When Dairy Free Isn’t Helping Your Skin

Today’s blog post and video is for you if you’ve gone dairy free for clearer skin, and it’s really not doing much to help clear up blemishes and breakouts.

In last week’s blog post, When Your Diet Not Clearing Up Breakouts, I talked about how I was a vegetarian for a little over 25 years, and during most of that time, my skin was terrible. At points I went dairy free and even vegan, but it did nothing to improve my skin. As my friends got flawless complexions from eliminating dairy, my skin only got worse. When I eventually went on a raw vegan diet and my skin cleared up, I realized that there was two additional steps I needed to follow along with being dairy free to really get the results I wanted.

In today’s blog post and video I’m sharing the 3 step protocol to try along with going dairy free to see if it will help improve your skin.

This could possibly make more of a difference if you are already eating a healthy diet.

Best to follow all 3 steps that I outline in the video and blog post below for at least one month.

And try to follow the guidelines perfectly (no detours or exceptions).

After a month, I want you to come back and let me know how your skin is (and you’re certainly welcome to come back anytime before that to give me updates on your progress!).

How To Get Clear Skin From Going Dairy Free

3 Step Protocol For Clearer Skin Going Dairy Free

Be 100% Dairy Free (not 99%)

For A LOT of people, eliminating milk and dairy products is the only thing they need to do to get clear skin.

I don’t know a single acne sufferer who hasn’t seen some sort of improvement in their skin from going dairy free.

But, you must do it correctly. You must eliminate ALL dairy. Every trace of it, every drop.

You can’t make exceptions, like going dairy free “most” of the time, but still have things like milk in your coffee or the “occasional” ice cream here and there.

For most people with active acne, that won’t work.

You’ve got to commit to doing it perfectly and consistently, and you’ve got to do it for a while. It’s not overnight magic, but you should start seeing changes in your skin and get results within 2-4 weeks.

The trick is to make sure to read ALL the labels of the foods and drinks you are consuming, because you’d be surprised just how easily dairy products creeps into unsuspecting foods like salad dressings, drinks, sauces, dips, breads, and almost all processed and pre-made food.

I remember I used to go to this one place to get fresh juice. That is until I started developing tiny raised bumps all over my face. At first I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. None of the food I was making contained dairy or other acne trigger foods. I also always made sure to ask for no added sugar in drinks I would buy. That is until one day I saw a girl pouring milk syrup (canned condensed milk) into the blender of my fruit juice! I realized most of the fresh fruit juices I was buying from this one place was sweetened with condensed milk. And that’s one of the worst things for your skin (and health). Oi!!

So be diligent. Put the care and attention into being 100% dairy free – it’s worth the results you will get.

Don’t substitute with non-dairy alternatives

If you’re reading this blog post, and you’re thinking, “I’ve tried it already! I’ve been 100% dairy free for ages (like months and years), and I’m still not getting any results,” I want you to try this:

Don’t substitute dairy products with “non-dairy alternatives” like soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, hemp seed milk, coconut milk, coconut cream, soy cheese, coconut ice cream, and all those other milky/creamy vegan products.

Even if you make fresh almond milk yourself – take a break from ALL non-dairy milk alternatives (store bought and homemade).

Because, for some of you, those dairy free milk alternatives are just as difficult to digest as milk itself (if not worse), and could actually be giving you breakouts!

I learned this when I was on a raw vegan diet. As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, I was a vegetarian most of my life and I had terrible skin. It was only until I went on a super strict raw vegan diet could I clear up my skin while remaining a vegetarian. But, even after I completely cleared up acne, whenever I ate certain foods, even health foods, I would still get breakouts and painful cystic pimples. Over time I was able to track what those foods were, and one of the big culprits was anything that was creamy or milky, even if it didn’t have dairy in it.

I also noticed that whenever I had smoothies or foods containing non dairy milks, not only would I get big zits on my face, but something like a smoothie made with homemade almond milk would make my stomach ballon out like I was 8 months pregnant. In all honesty, those smoothies were so delicious, but they made me so uncomfortably bloated and gassy. Even to this day (almost 10 years later), I won’t drink smoothies made with dairy or non dairy milks, it’s like a bomb in my stomach and shows in my skin.

And yes, this is my experience. And not everyone has the same reaction to non dairy “mylks.”

If you are reading this and you have cleared up your skin, and you are eating and drinking things with dairy and non dairy milk products, that’s great, please continue. You don’t need to follow this protocol. These steps are for those of you who have cut dairy out of your diet, you’re eating super healthy, and your skin is still not good.

If you are wondering if you cut the almond milk, hemp seed milk, rice milk, etc., out of your diet; should you also cut out almonds, hemp seeds, rice, etc? The answer is no. Don’t cut the whole food out, just take a break from all the dairy and non dairy milks and milk products.

The reason why is because those milks are not easy to digest, either on their own or mixed with other foods. And if you have adult acne, that means something in your body is off balance, and you don’t want to strain your body more by burdening your digestive system with foods and drinks that are really hard to digest.

Once you’ve taken a break from them, and the acne and breakouts have completely healed, and your skin has been healthy for a while; then you can certainly start having small amounts of those milk products again if you wish. This is not forever. Your skin (and probably your digestive track) need to heal and get healthy again, and in this case, it needs a break from those stressing foods.

Double Up Green Vegetables

This step is the MOST IMPORTANT, so you must promise me you will follow it.

If you want clear skin, and glowing skin – this is a must.

Starting today, I want you to double the amount of green vegetables in your diet. Every day.

Examples of green vegetables are: salad greens, sprouts, leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, celery, brussel sprouts, spinach, kale, collard greens, fresh herbs, seaweed, algae, etc.

If it’s green, I want you to eat more of it.

Doubling the amount of green vegetables in your diet means you can double the serving, or eat green vegetables more frequently (like at every meal instead of just once a day).

Get creative, there’s so many ways of getting more green vegetables in your diet, like having:

• Green salad (with homemade dressing)
• Raw vegetables with guacamole or homemade dip
• Steamed vegetables
• Stir fry
• Freshly pressed green vegetable juices
• Green smoothie
• Poached or boiled vegetables
• Roasted vegetables
• Homemade salsas (with fresh green herbs!)
• Homemade Soups

If you double up the vegetables you are eating, you will see it in your skin.

Green vegetables in particular contain an abundance of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids – all of which are the building blocks for clear healthy skin.

When you flood your body with nutrition, you will see it in your skin. Plus, all these nutrients found in green vegetables are anti-inflammatory and help with tissue repair – which means they’ll help your skin heal a lot faster.

For best results…

I want you to follow this 3 step protocol for a minimum of one month, starting right now.

And do your best to do it perfectly.

Don’t worry about making other clear skin diet changes (unless you really want to). I always find it’s better to be consistent with one thing and do it well, rather than attempting 50,000 things and stopping half way through.