No Carbs = No Acne, I'm 100% Clear

[SweetJade1]

Originally Posted by chi33

Everyone's body is different. Some eat very healthy and still get acne and vice versa. For me, I have high testosterone levels even though on a healthy, low-glycemic diet. And fructose is just as bad as glucose in raising insulin levels.
I'm glad that this has worked for you but do not assume that just because you see someone with acne, it is because they are sugar junkies. Many factors contribute. There is no easy "cure".

LOL, you don't have to be a sugar junkie to have insulin levels mess with your hormones. What type of Low Glycemic diet do you follow? I will say though, that added fructose (without the accompanying fiber) is just as bad if not worse than glucose..as it causes you to produce more cholesterol (which steriod hormones are made from) & possibly inflammatory fatty acids. Consuming foods that contain corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup give me cystic acne, where as consuming foods that contain glucose or sucrose give me only tiny pimples/pustules.

Anyway, I have to follow a diet that is lower glycemic overall, but in general isn't a low glycemic diet. While I do avoid misc. items in order to be 99% clear, what got me 95% clear was eliminating the bulk of my carbohydrate consumption by dropping gluten. Oh and I also had to eliminate Trans Fats as those are what made my pores large (now they are sooo small). I too have very high DHEA & Free Testosterone levels and this worked faaaaar better for me than Birth Control, Spironolactone, and/or Avandia (Insulin Sensitizer) ever did...go figure ;-)

[jojo64]

Some of you appear to be misinformed about carbs, insulin, etc..

All carbohydrates are made up of sugars, not insulin. The body is going to break carbohydrates down into simple sugars whether the carbohydrate is refined, processed grains such as white rice or white bread or a more complex carbohydrate like high fiber vegetables or whole grains. The end product will always be the same - glucose. The difference is the carbohydrate in starches like white breads is 100% available for conversion into glucose. Whereas other sources of carbohydrate like veges are not as easily available and/or take longer to digest and break down. Therefore, some carbohydrates have a higher "glycemic" effect on blood sugar than others.

Anyhow, digestible carbohydrates are broken down in the intestine into their simplest form, sugar, which then enters the blood. As blood sugar levels rise, special cells in the pancreas churn out more and more insulin, a hormone produced in the body that signals cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage. As cells sponge up blood sugar, its levels in the bloodstream fall back to a preset minimum. So do insulin levels. This is why some diabetics (which I am) have to take insulin - because their body either is unable to make enough insulin or the insulin is unable to do it's job properly (insulin resistance). If carbs turned into insulin then diabetics would simply eat alot of carbs to get more insulin, which is exactly NOT what a diabetic is supposed to do.

There may very well be a correlation of higher carbs and acne - I am not arguing that point, although I haven't really nopticed that diet has affected my acne very much. I am just trying to clear up the misinformation about how carbs are broken down, how insulin is produced, etc. because some of the things I read in this thread were just plain wrong.

[SweetJade1]

LOL, that's very true. Cubsfan should have said that Bad Carbs raise Insulin Levels (more so).

Either way, too high of an insulin level in those that are Insulin Resistant (me) or Type II Diabetics can cause Hyperandrogenism for some us. This of course, contributes to acne production.

Thanks for pointing that out =)