Success without drugs!! It's all in the food!

[Megan]

Getting rid of salicylates, amines and glutamates in my diet worked for me. I had Acne Rosacea for two and a half years, tried all the antibiotics and drugs, with no success. I friend recommended I see the 'Psoriasis and Skin Clinic', in Brisbane. It took six months and now I'm clear!! http://www.psoriasis.com.au

I've recently set up a fb page to raise awareness that Rosacea is not something you just 'have to put up with' for the rest of your life. I'm pretty annoyed that all you hear from the internet / doctors and dermatologists is that drugs are your only hope. On the group page I explain the foods I do and don't eat when I have a bad flare up. I've also got before and after photos that show my rapid progress.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... 899&ref=mf

I've cut and past a couple of paragraphs from the page:

Actually here is what I remember not to touch: citrus, strawberries, raspberries, gherkins, olives, anything from the deli shop, tomatoes, capsicums, eggplants, mushrooms, all oils except for olive, sesame oil too, all vinegars except for malt vinegar, all processed meats, hard cheeses, all dried fruit, all spreads, jams, Vegemite, honey, chocolate, full strength coffee, high amounts of preservatives, artificial flavouring (chips, noodles, MSG), Chinese sauces, tomato sauces, Indian, fermented things (so no tofu), all nuts except for cashews, seeds, wines, beers, all kinds of juice and they were mostly the things I had anyway. There is more. If you want a detailed list I can pull out the sheet I have at home and send it to you another time.

Things I do eat!! Liquid Zinc, Liquid Zinc, Liquid Zinc (according to Jacqui... the magic piece of the puzzle), broccoli, pumpkin, peas, celery, legumes, pulses, potato, beans, spinach, carrots, squash, garlic, lettuce, cucumber (any vege or salad that isn't on the list above), rice, quinoa, cous cous, pasta (not wheat.. you can get some good ones from Organ ? the Italian style one is great! Could have wheat pasta too though), not too much bread, pears, pears, apples (golden delicious, red delicious, royal gala), mango, banana, and pears, paw paw, plain chips, hot chips, carob, marshmallows, all meats, biscuits (especially the hundreds and thousands ones), rice milk, cottage cheese, eggs, yoghurt, soft cheese, I could have cows milk but don't, peaches, lychees, cherries in moderation when in season, rockmelon, watermelon, salt, pepper, nutalex (like butter), raw sugar, golden syrup and I can't think of any of the rest... ask me later for more.

Now the less I have of salicylates, amines, glutamates and excessively high levels of gluten, the more my skin forgets my intolerance.. so in the future I should have no problem with the foods in the high categories. This is nice to know. It means that I don't have to live with the bland diet for the rest of my life. I only have to do it now when I see a small problem. You can see how bad I was when I got to my first visit! Shocking! within three months, the second visit, I had seen an amazing improvement! Now at six months I still mostly keep to a bland diet but I have the other stuff in moderation. Six months!!

At the moment I let myself have something from the high categories at least once a week and I'm fine... They stay in my system for four days and then are gone. If I have something from the 'no' list once a day, I get too much in my system and have to deal with an allergic reaction (itch eyes, nose, ears). When this happens I just stop and go on bland and mild food for a week. Actually the shot from my third visit.. I've actually got an allergic reaction starting.. so I'm a bit pinky in places. Blame it on the 'bunnies and bacon' habit I developed over Easter. So, obviously even though it's amazingly better than the first two it's not as good as me a week ago.

I also use a cream, chemical free, that Jacqui gave me, specifically designed for the rosacea and the acne.

And don't forget the Zinc! Supposedly Australians are very low in it because our soils, and thus foods, are low. Zinc is great for healing the skin. Australia has more people dealing with skin problems than anywhere else!! Liquid zinc is the best choice.

[Lisamouries]

Hi Megan.
Thank you for taking time to write all this down. What an amazing improvement on your skin. I'm very pleased this is working so well for you.

A lot of your 'no no' food would break my heart in two if I stopped being able to eat them, I must say. You're being very brave sticking with it but are having fantastic results.

What dosage of Liquid Zinc are you taking? Did you take it progressively? Would be very interested to hear more.

Take care.

BTW. I hope you don't mind but I've removed your duplicated messages 'I got rid of salicylates, amines and Glutamates in my diet' and have transferred this message to the 'food and diet' section as the duplication of exactly the same message was confusing for people who wished to answer.

[Megan]

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your compliment. I've been thinking about how and why I've been able to stick with the diet.

I believe the first reason is that my face is a really big motivation. I had to look at it, I was so self conscious of it at first (got over that during the second year, realised my friends liked me anyway and my lover saw through it too (yeah! I was amazed too). I'd moan about it to someone new and they'd say they hadn't noticed. I learnt that personality and eye contact keeps their attention on me, not my face), I also had to feel it (the heat, sting, itch of the first two years).

The second reason was that I was sick of feeling in the dark, at a loss and doubting everything around me (shampoo, all food, detergents, the dog, the sun, dust, dirt, stress, hormones etc). I wanted to be able to take control of it and know what I was doing.

And third, during the second year I had already begun to change my diet. For a year I was getting acupuncture treatments and taking Chinese herbs. The focus there was to reduce heat and cleanse my liver. So, I boiled up a stinky brew every couple of days over the year and began to take heat foods out of my diet (heat… in relation to cold, cool, and warm foods of Chinese Medicine). Coincidently a lot of the heat foods coincide with the 'no' foods I listed (some clash too). Hence I was already familiar with adjusting my diet. The acupuncture was pretty good at reducing the heat, redness, pain and red lines but it wasn't consistent and constant.

The next motivator was that within two weeks seeing Jacquie I was seeing improvements in my skin. So, I obviously had to continue!

In relation to the zinc… I've been writing about this on another forum, I hope it's not a problem, but I'm going to cut and past some of it onto here. Sorry to anyone who reads both

To start with I took a cap full of zinc in water every day. Now that my skin has significantly settled I go though phases of taking it when I see the bottle.

I don't think there are any problems with taking it over a long period of time.
Jacquie explained that it is good for anyone, any time, no matter what their skin type.. remember that Australian soils are pretty deficient too, so our chances of acquiring it through food is reduced. She explained that she keeps a bottle in her own fridge constantly and checks her levels every couple of weeks.

The advantage of liquid zinc, I think, is that it is absorbed into your system quicker. Also, there is the advantage of managing your levels through taste test. The rule of thumb is that if you put a cap full in half a glass of water and taste it and don't notice anything except a slight furry metallic taste then you're deficient. If you sip it and want to spit it out straight away because it's too strong flavoured then your levels are fine. Jacquie also gave me an extra strong amount to support the large amount of healing going on in my skin.

The reason it is an ongoing process is because zinc doesn't store in our body over time. So deficiency happens often. Zinc is great for us because it supports skin and wound healing as well as immune function.

Here is a web site I just found that may be useful...

http://ods.od.nih.gov/FactSheets/Zinc.asp

[Megan]

Someone, somewhere else asked me; how I think my own particular experience started; why I've been advised to pull out the salicylates, amines, glutamates etc; and what is the whole allergic reaction thing means. Here is my reply.. I think it will explain where I'm coming from....

As I understand it from the graph drawn by Jacquie there was an initial external element that triggered my immune response. I've spent a while thinking back to what may have been the potential triggers and I can remember: having continuous red cheeks which I thought were from the cold UK weather, I began to treat it with a micro-dermabrasion product which I used more than recommended because I could see it began to be less affective (I put it down to vanity and ignorance, oh well J ); I was continually dying my hair (fashion); I was living in an old home that had it's share of dust and mould; stressed in a tough job; I was 29 (hence near that classic 30, possibly hormonal, never had an allergy of any kind in my life); and I am of German, English and Scottish heritage (and I've seen photos of relatives, there are plenty of red cheeks). Upon returning not much changed, I even moved into another old house equally as mouldy and dusty. So, to be honest I really can't pin it down to anyone one thing/event.

Now the next thing is that once faced with the initial cause, what ever it was, my body went on the defence and began to develop histamine. This is what all bodies do but what makes the case different for rosacea is that my body didn't know when to stop.

Aside: Before it was explained to me by Jacquie I remember reading the following research.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Dermatology ... ology/6348

quote: "Acne rosacea appears to be caused by an overly zealous innate immune response and not by bacteria, investigators here said"

The histamine continues to be developed in my body and I help it along by continuing to eat all of the salicylate, amine and glutamate foods. From the study above I understand that my body, like other people with rosacea, is 'overly zealous', it doesn't know when to quit. It continues to fight even though the cause is gone.

Then, what happens in the body, when there is chronic inflammation, it switches from histamine to cytokines. These things are persistent and really don't know when to quit. (I saw there is a post on this forum about them too). My body develops a tolerance threshold and as I continue to not know what's going on, I fluctuate above and below the threshold, flaring sometimes and then settling down a bit at other times.

Her solution was to go on the low-reactive diet, the one I explained in the first post and zinc.

Another interesting fact is that when my body eats reactive foods, the sal's, am' and gluta's stay in the system for four days. That’s why now when I know I've over done it I can see how my body reacts and it often takes four/five days to pass. When I didn't have a clue about all of this I can see that I never went a day in the whole two and a half years without having something from the 'no' list.

I hope this is informative for you. I'm not sure that it's just a singular case of solution for me, as I mentioned before I have a friend, very bad psoriasis, follows the same process as me and she's looking excellent now as well.

[Megan]

Sorry, more from me :0

I forgot to add, in relation to the findings and quote I use, where the cause for acne rosacea may be related to immune response not bacteria. Bacteria is the target when you take antibiotics (as a pill or cream).

[RedDan]

ummm.... what can I say, but "copy, paste". put this into a word doc to sort through everything.

Found this (http://www.cs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/re ... ylates.cfm):
---
AMINES come from protein breakdown or fermentation. Large amounts are present in cheese, chocolate, wines, beer, yeast extracts and fish products.

SALICYLATES are a family of plant chemicals found naturally in many fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs and spices, jams, honey, yeast extracts, tea and coffee, juices, beer and wines.

---

AH-HA! Yes, I can attest that wine and beer are problems and Amines/Salicylates are likely to be the problem. I couldn't figure out exactly why before, but the fermentation process itself produces the amines. Interesting. With beer, you ferment it in a vat, drain the yeast, pour into a keg or bottle and serve. But with alcohol there is a final step, DISTILLATION!

The distillation process boils the mash, vaporizes the alcohol and then recondenses it WHERE IT IS COMPLETELY DISTINCT FROM THE MASH IT CAME FROM!!! This is why Scotch doesn't cause probelms for me and probably why vodka/gin don't give you problems.

---------

Step #1: -Milling--In the milling step, the grain is ground into a coarse grain meal. The milling process breaks down the protective hull covering the grain kernels and frees the grain starch. At the end of this step, the process results in GRAIN STARCH.

Step #2: -Mashing--In the mashing step, the grain starch is converted to grain sugar. The grain meal is mixed with pure water and cooked. This produces a mash. Barley malt, which is barley that has been allowed to sprout, is added to the mash. At the end of this step, the process results in GRAIN SUGAR.

Step #3: -Fermenting--In the fermenting step, the grain sugar is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide by the addition of yeast. With the addition of yeast to the grain sugar, the yeast multiplies producing carbon dioxide which bubbles away and a mixture of alcohol, grain particles and congeners. The congeners are the flavor constituents. This process results in GRAIN ALCOHOL.

Step #4: -Distilling--In the distilling step, the alcohol, grain particles,water and congeners are heated. Since alcohol boils before water, the alcohol will vaporize first leaving the water, the grain particles and some of the congeners in the boiling vessel. The vaporized alcohol is then cooled or condensed forming clear drops of beverage alcohol--distilled spirits. At the end of this step, the process results in BEVERAGE ALCOHOL which is also known as DISTILLED SPIRITS.

-----------
Also, compounding the problem is that my reaction to beer takes 3-4 days to develop, so its easy when with friends to say "sure, I'll have a beer" and with no reaction the next day, you think, "well it is Saturday, and nothing happened yesterday when I had one". Then on Monday ... ahhhh!!!


Ok, now to figure out what I can/can't eat. I need a list and a shopping trip. so much more to learn.

[Aurelia]

Thanks for the interesting posts ... and welcome to the group, Megan.

The links you have both provided are excellent, but I will add one to our RS Resource Pages, just in case there's anything you've not yet factored-in.

http://rosacea-research.org/wiki/index. ... _Influence

The page titled "Foods High in Salicylates" notes that "Many rosaceans also report varying degrees of sensitivity to salicylates, with salicylates seeming to worsen their flushing, burning and p&ps. The studies in asthma seem to suggest that those asthmatics with recurrent rhinitis and nasal polyps are the most likely to be sensitive to salicylates. It is possible that the same may be true of the rosacea population."

One of the links on that page leads to a low salicylate diet offered by the International Chronic Urticaria Society.

There are other links about the differences between food allergies, food intolerance and food sensitivities, the subtleties of which are often beyond most of us, I suspect.

Kind regards,

Aurelia

[RedDan]

The rule of thumb is that if you put a cap full in half a glass of water and taste it and don't notice anything except a slight furry metallic taste then you're deficient. If you sip it and want to spit it out straight away because it's too strong flavoured then your levels are fine. Jacquie also gave me an extra strong amount to support the large amount of healing going on in my skin.

Well, just got back from the store. Whole Foods said they are about to discontinue the liquid Zinc, so I got two bottles. Result: "Furry metallic taste" So I am likely deficient in Zinc. [I just took 1.25mg straight from the dropper into a tsp, no water mixing for me. Bottoms up!] It didn't make me want to spit it out, it was kinda neat actually.

So why would I/we be deficient in zinc? Now the interesting thing is that zinc and copper compete for absorption in the body. So if you take more of one you are getting less of the other. This is where the acne Bible I mentioned in my other thread that Leo developed comes in quite handy.

Listen to this:
"Because of the widespread use of copper pipes and birth control pills low levels of copper toxicity have shown to be more and more of a problem. If you live in most industrial countries that use copper piping then this applies to you. If you take birth control pills this applies to you.

The copper leaching into your drinking water from pipes and the copper found in birth control pills isn’t the same as copper found in foods. It’s inorganic copper, and therefore it can build up to toxic levels. ...

... A dead giveaway that you have copper toxicity is if your nipples are brown rather then pink (of course assuming you do not have dark toned skin). Don’t freak out about it…it’s just something you need to be aware of.

Lastly, excess sweating and exercise put an increased demand for zinc on your. If you are sweating a lot and exercising add a little extra zinc to your diet."



Also, Milk Thistle, which is great for liver support and regeneration is high in zinc. So if you have been taking a lot of MT and have been having good results it could be due to the combination of its general effect on liver health, but also because you are getting more zinc.

FYI "Herbs that contain zinc include alfalfa, burdock root, cayenne, chamomile, dandelion, eyebright, milk thistle, mullein, nettle, sarsaparilla, and wild yam." -- Leo

[Megan]

Also, most suncreams are zinc based so you may find suprise improvements from that too. In Australia we use zinc cream at the beach (often in fluro colours). I personally wouldn't rely on it because I find the cream clogs my skin too much. It's just interesting to know.

The part about sweating is good to know.. I do plenty of that

[RedDan]

yeah, I sweat quite a bit too.