Natural Acne Treatment Guide

If your acne problem does not resolve after using modern medicine, you may try alternative treatment such as this Natural Acne Treatment Guide. Abstract from http://www.absoluteacneinfo.com/guide.html

This acne guide is the definitive guide to clear skin with no harsh chemicals, no over the counter medications, and definitely no prescription medications. If you are serious about clear skin, then this plan will be very powerful. If you haven't made the shift from acne being an external disease to acne actually being an internal disease, you might need some other information before you decide to proceed with this plan. The focus is on overall health, not masking a symptom.

Note 1: I am not a doctor and do not pretend to be one. Please consult your licensed health care practitioner before making any changes to your health regimen.
Note 2: If you are on prescription medicines the first step is to get off them. Please see our section on the risks and side effects of prescription medicines if you are taking any of them. I personally would not do any internal cleansing while on them. It would be like doing an oil change and replacing the dirty oil with more dirty oil. You can certainly make dietary changes and prepare while you are on prescription medicines.


Acne Guide

There are 4 main sections to this acne guide:
1. Preparation
2. Diet
3. Internal Cleansing
4. Rebuilding

Step 1: Preparation

Preparation? What do we need to prepare for?

The goal of this step is to get your body in a state which makes internal cleansing possible. There are 3 steps:

1. Getting the bowels moving.
2. Parasite cleansing.

Getting the bowels moving

It is absolutely critical that you have multiple bowel movements in a day. Most people go only once every day or two. You are constipated. This is due to the Western diet being very filled with hard to digest, slow moving, acidic foods. The item that slows down the bowel the most is red meat. One bowel movement per meal is ideal. This can take a while to accomplish and it is not necessary at this point.

Also, if it takes you more than 30 seconds to have a full bowel movement and be done, then you are certainly constipated. The natural way is the same way as urinating - it comes out quickly and is done. There should be no 15 minute bathroom visits.

Why is it so important so get the bowels moving? What is not being digested or quickly eliminated is being continually absorbed by the intestines. This means the foods continue to poison your system for days. The colon should be freely moving, not a cesspool for storage of waste.

In addition, it is critical to have quick bowels when you do any internal cleansing. When you cleanse internally, much toxic waste is released. This waste must be removed, and any stagnation in the bowels means these toxins get reabsorbed, defeating the purpose of the cleanse.

Doctors in the past have said, "All disease starts in the colon." This is very accurate. The first way to begin improving health is to improve the colon. And that means getting it moving.

So how exactly do we get the bowels to move faster? Cutting out all refined foods and red meat would do it nicely. Unfortunately, most take quite a while to make this change and many are unwilling to do so at all. That is where herbs come in.

There are numerous herbal remedies, laxatives, prescription medications and all sorts of things intended to cure constipation. However, the goal is to improve bowel function, not to make you have diarrhea every time you need to go to the bathroom.

Parasite Cleansing

Parasites are a very overlooked aspect of health. Parasites are really quite simple though. Just as your dog or a sheep can get infested with a fluke (parasite), so can you. In fact everyone has parasites to some degree or another. In general, the older you are the more likely you are to have a significant amount. Still, young people also need to understand how critical it is to be free of parasites.

There is an easy solution to parasite problems: a herbal formulation intended to remove them. Like bowel products, there are many herbal parasite cleanse formulations available. The one from Dr. Clark is pretty good, and I would certainly recommend it if it wasn't for a superior product available.

There is a Master Herbalist who has his own forum over at Curezone.com. Here is a link to his forum: http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=626&t=50898.2 He makes a herbal parasite cleanse that is by far the best product available. He is the only source for this product. Dr. Clark's product you can find online from many websites.

Step 2: Diet

"Clean up your diet. Your skin is your body's largest organ. As such, it needs proper nutrition to function properly. Just as your heart can get clogged up with too much fat, your skin can get polluted with too much animal and saturated fats. Healthy skin requires large amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables, filled with vitamins C, A and E. Healthy skin means limiting meats, sugars and artificial substances that can toxify your skin and clog pores."
American Medical Publishing, Proven Health Tips Encyclopedia
American publishing Company, 1995 Page 164

The word diet brings up countless images of people fasting, eating nothing but salads, and other unpleasant situations. That isn't what you will be asked to do here. The goal of this step is just to eliminate the foods that are most harmful to overall health, and as a result cause most of the acne. There are two things that need to be eliminated from your diet, and two items added to replace what you lost. Where most people go wrong with diets is that they only eliminate. They never replace what is eliminated with something better. This is a major reason for diets not working. When you remove a ton of calories, the body struggles hard to bring them back. This results in the big binge a couple weeks after a diet starts. The bad must be replaced with the good. There should be no void.

First item of elimination: Sugar

"Refined sugar and dietary saturated fats seem to promote acne outbreaks. Eliminating these culprits to as great a degree as is possible from your diet will help decrease acne formation. "
Mary D Eades MD, The Doctors Complete Guide to Vitamins and Minerals
Dell Publishing, 2000
Page 160

Eliminating sugar is critical. (Realize that when I say sugar, I mean the refined sugar that is in nearly every food product, NOT the sugar in actual, real fruit) Most people realize that sugar is not a "health" food. Still, it is consumed in vast quantities by the vast majority of Americans and Westerners. I would suggest looking up the statistics on the amount people consume per year, you will be shocked. A quick Google search will find you the answer.

What most people don't realize is that there are serious health consequences associated with consuming sugar. For 76 ways sugar can ruin your health, check out Dr. Mercola's site, with an article contributed by Nancy Appleton, P.h.D, author of Lick the Sugar Habit. Here is the link: http://www.mercola.com/article/sugar/dangers_of_sugar.htm

The second problem with sugar is that it is in everything. There is almost no product at the grocery store that does not contain it. Eliminating sugar completely takes an extensive and concerted effort which you probably are not up to undertaking yet. If you want to and can, then yes, I recommend eliminating refined sugar 100%. Still, cutting back 80% is very easy and still lets you eat the foods you are used to, and it is good enough for now.

How do you eliminate 80% of the sugar in your diet? Here is how.

1. Stop drinking all sodas, fruit juice, and other drinks filled with sugar. These contain astronomical levels of sugar. Just eliminating these completely would be a big drop in sugar intake for most people. This is an absolutely critical step in treating acne. The old line, "Acne is not caused by sugar!" pronounced all over by dermatologists and websites is a myth. I love the irony of the situation. Most of these websites state something along the following lines, "Myth #1: Acne is not caused by sugar (or diet)!" When in actuality the real myth is acne is not caused by diet. By the way, you'll notice all websites which state this common "Myth" all have a product to promote. In other words, they have a financial interest in making sure no one believes acne is caused by diet. Because if acne was caused by poor diet, then they wouldn't be able to sell any products now would they? For a fantastic article on the Politics of Sugar, click here.

This means no orange juice, apple juice, grapefruit juice, or any other "healthy" juices. These are pasteurized (And usually homogenized) products that eliminate all nutritious value from the juice. The only juice worth drinking is juice directly squeezed from the fruit. I suggest you take a look at the sugar contents of these drinks. A glass of orange juice in the morning and a soda for lunch puts you at over 100 grams of sugar for the day - and that isn't even counting food!

2. The second way to eliminate sugar is stop eating candy, candy bars, etc. The traditional "junk foods" With this and soda you will have eliminated a huge amount of sugar.


Replacing Sugar

So the question is, what do we replace sugar with? The answer is what is known as Superfoods or sometimes they are called Greens Drinks. What are these superfoods? They are nutritional supplements that come in powdered form and have a distinct green color. This is due to their contents. Most superfoods have a mix of ingredients. Here are some common ones: Chlorella, Spirulina, Barley Grass, Wheat Grass. For a great report on the health benefits of Chlorella and Spirulina click here.

Fats - Oils

The next topic of diet I want to discuss with you is fats and oils. Lately there has been a vast amount of attention placed on "good fats" and "bad fats" as well as Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega-9 balancing. Some people say to eliminate fat completely, others say to eat it in abundance as long as it is "good fat."

However, the problem with all this discussion is that it does not address the core problem that Western peoples are having with fats. Before we can even talk about the proper Omega ratios, we have to talk about hydrogenated oils. Sugar and hydrogenated oils compete for the top spot in the extremely toxic ingredients that are in almost all foods.


"Acne, a common problem in teenagers, results from a combination of hormone stimulation, production of irritating fatty acids by certain bacteria, stress, and poor diet. acne vulgaris (the medical name) is tied to an overproduction of the oil in the sebaceous glands of the skin. More water intake, eliminating fried foods and hydrogenated fats from the diet, and taking extra vitamin A and zinc will often reduce acne outbreaks."
Elson M Haas MD, Staying Healthy With Nutrition
Canterbury books, 1992
Page 749


What exactly are hydrogenated oils? Hydrogenated oils are made (as how the name might suggest) by bubbling hydrogen through a cheap vegetable oil, often soybean. This changes the nature of the oil so that it is no longer liquid at room temperature, but solid. It gives a creamy consistency to foods. What is so bad about hydrogenated oils? I could discuss the health effects for pages, but I will only focus on two.

1. Hydrogenated oils are brain poison. Studies are showing that after eating hydrogenated oils, brain activity decreases.
2. Hydrogenated oils inhibit the absorption of good, healthy oils.

What exactly does this mean? It means that a diet high in hydrogenated oils prevents your body from absorbing healthy oils. Let's say for breakfast you have some of those "tarts that pop" (You know, the ones that go in the toaster and all kids love?) Then, for lunch you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with crackers or chips. There is 3 sources of hydrogenated oils (tarts, peanut butter, and crackers). Then for dinner you have something healthy - fish and vegetables. So you end the day thinking you ate so healthy. Wrong. The good oils in the fish were not absorbed. The hydrogenated oils had filled up your body's capacity for storing fats, and so the good fats of the hydrogenated oils are wasted. What happens is the body tries to use the hydrogenated oils. It thinks they are real fats and it tries to make do with what it is given. When you eat good fats, the hydrogenated oils are not immediately replaced with the good fats. It takes a few days of not eating hydrogenated oils to get a single serving out of your system. I think at this point a single serving of hydrogenated oils takes about 24 hours for my body to remove. How do I know this? When you get to a certain level of health you will really start feeling the detrimental effects of toxins in your diet. I get a headache right after eating hydrogenated oils and by the next morning it is gone.

Replacing Hydrogenated Oils

Now that we have eliminated hydrogenated oils, we of course have to replace them with something!

The main sources of hydrogenated oils are any snack crackers, trail mixes, cookies (which you already eliminated due to the sugar, right?), peanut butter, and many breakfast foods.

Breakfast is an easy replacement, have a greens drink mentioned above. For lunch you need to avoid the hydrogenated oil peanut butters, most crackers and other similar items.

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts have been a part of diets for a very long time. They have a wide range of essential nutrients, and have fantastic fat content. Nuts should be added to your diet immediately. You need to get raw, non-roasted or spiced nuts. The nuts with spices added often have MSG in them, and many packaged roasted nuts contain hydrogenated oils. Just because it is a nut does not mean it is healthy! It needs to be the natural nut, not something that has had all nutrients roasted out of it.

Try raw organic cashews, almonds, macadamias, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts. Remember - raw only!

Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Coconut Oil

A person who eats lots of vegetable oils will have less MCFA in their oil glands and thus dilute the germ-fighting capacity of the oil. Frequent washings will also remove this oil, exposing the skin to infectious organisms. This may be one of the reasons why acne is common among those in the Western countries, but rare in cultures that eat traditional diets void of processed vegetable oils. Eating less vegetable oil and more coconut oil will help replenish the body's MCFA reserves and help fight acne.
Bruce Fife ND, Saturated Fat May Save Your Life
Healthwise Publications, 1999
Page 114


These are two fantastic sources of quality fats. Extra Virgin Olive Oil often has a disagreeable taste, and so I usually recommend extra virgin coconut oil. You may have heard bad things about coconut oil. Check out this interview of Dr. Mercola by Mike Adams over at NewsTarget.com

Cod Liver Oil

Cod liver oil is the premier source of Omega-3 fats, which can be lacking in a nut dominated diet. The way to take this is as a supplement in capsule form (liquid is also available). This is a very important supplement which gives a vital nutrient lacking in most diets. It is extremely important to take a supplement that is getting the oil from quality fish that are mercury free.

With these three sources of fats you will have a wide range of high quality fats.

Other Items of Elimination

There are a few other ingredients that need to be completely eliminated. Here is a list:

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) - An incredibly toxic ingredient. You are probably aware of this. It needs to be eliminated 100%. When you get to a good enough level of health you'll know if you happen to eat a food with this ingredient almost immediately. In the meantime, watch out for it on labels of foods. Also be very aware of the ingredients "autolyzed yeast extract" and "hydrolzed vegetable protein." These two ingredients contain MSG! Watch out for these ingredients especially in vegetarian alternatives such as vegan hamburgers etc.

Aspartame - If you are still drinking diet soda, it is likely that you are doing far more damage to your body than a regular soda that contains sugar because of this ingredient. Aspartame is a neurotoxin. As noted, the major source is diet soft drinks. You have almost no chance of healing if you continue to ingest this ingredient.

Food Combination

Proper food combination has been coming back more into the mainstream of natural health practices lately, and for good reason. The reason for this is that improper food combination results in a large acid buildup in the body. This forces the body to divert critical minerals (such as calcium) from various parts of the body to bring the system back into the proper pH balance. The body must maintain the proper acid/alkaline balance or it will die very quickly. The body is meant to be slightly alkaline, but if you have acne it is guaranteed that you have an acid system. This needs to be shifted back more towards the alkaline state.

To do this, you need to eat the right foods, and you need to eat them properly combined with the other foods. The above listed suggestions will help significantly. However, if you don't combine correctly it won't do you much good. There are numerous websites that get into all the specifics of proper food combination. I will list here a few that are most critical. If you actually follow these, you will notice improved digestion and should not feel any tiredness after any meal.

• Eat fruits by themselves. Don't combine them with anything else. Especially do not have them after a big meal.
• Combine vegetables with oils OR meats, but not both. So salad with all kinds of vegetables with an olive oil dressing is just fine. But don't add meat at the same meal! If you want meat, leave out the dressing.
• Avoid eating starches with meats. This means no bread or potatoes with steak or chicken or any other meat. This one is very important. Meat is hard enough to digest - don't make it impossible by adding bread to it as well!

Those 3 rules will take you a long way, and are the main offenses in the Western diet. Once you are eating the right foods in the right combinations, you can't go wrong. Still, for quicker results you will need the next step.

Step 3: Internal Cleansing

Internal cleansing is where the big leap in recovery from acne comes. If you jump to this step without some basic diet modifications you will not have much success. After getting your bowels moving through the cleansers mentioned in the preparation stage, the first internal cleansing stage is to do a kidney cleanse.

Kidney Cleanse

The kidneys are the first internal organs to get clogged, and so they must be the first to be cleaned. There is 1 formula that is really fantastic. It is called, quite simply, Kidney Cleanse Formula. It is made by the Master Herbalist over at curezone.com. You can order directly from him or buy it online from RestoreBody.com.

The Liver Flush

The liver flush is an extraordinarily powerful procedure. It is estimated that 90% or more of people have gallbladder and liver stones. These stones clog up the liver and do not allow it to properly deal with the toxins of food ingredients. If you had a 100% properly functioning liver you could essentially eat whatever you wanted for a time, until it clogged up. (Otherwise known as being a child!) Then you hit the stage of the liver and the entire system becoming clogged. ("Puberty") Your body is forced to remove waste and so it uses your skin to do this. These stones are caused by incorrect eating, toxic air, and toxic water.

It stands to reason that if we remove that stones, the liver will function better and so be able to remove toxins and heal your skin.

Heavy Metal Detox

After flushing your liver a few times you will want to start a heavy metal detox. The first step requires you to have any amalgam fillings completely removed by a professional trained to do this so you do not inhale the mercury as it is removed. The fact of the matter is that every amalgam filling leaks mercury with every bite of food into your system. You can never live fully well until all mercury poisoning is removed from your body. You should do a heavy metal detox to get rid of the metal buildup in your body.

Conclusion

If you actually did the bowel, kidney, liver, and heavy metal flushes, your body should be in a vastly more healthy state. Note that it is possible to get these same results simply from a change in diet. Diet is really the only one solution. However, most people can't change their diets sufficiently to see results for a long time. The flushing speeds up the process. What it might take diet 6 months to do, can be done in a week with flushing. Again, be thankful that 20+ years of terrible diets and terrible living can be undone in 6 months!


Step 4: Rebuilding

There are some incredibly important points in this section.

• If you go back to your regular diet of pizza, french fries, and soda, your results WILL NOT LAST!

Don't kid yourself. There is no magic solution. Not prescription medicine, not over the counter medicine, not flushing. Only proper diet can keep you healthy.

This does not mean you can't eat something unhealthy now and then. Some chocolate won't kill you. Neither will pizza. But milk and chocolate cereal for breakfast, processed bread and meats for lunch, and fried foods for dinner will. You have to find substitutes that can work for you.

Rebuilding essentially consists of eating the right foods. The biggest culprits are dairy, refined sugar, hydrogenated oils, and toxic ingredients like MSG or aspartame. The rest you need to test yourself. With your new cleaned up body, you will be able to easily tell what you can handle and what you can't. You might find breads really make you tired. Or that you can't handle some types of fruits.

Make sure you stay up with proper food combining. If you go back to terrible food combinations (ex. meat with potatoes, bread, and salad with heavy dressing) then you are going to have problems staying clear. The body just cannot handle this massive acid overload.