Kicking the Coke Habit: Hello, Clear Skin

[PrettySquareGal]

Grrrrr darn adult acne - must be hormones!

I like to think of it as "youthful skin."

 

[Starius]

Hope you ladies don't mind a gent popping in this thread, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents since I've had acne since the 5th grade and it's never really gone away.

It may well be hormonally different for males, I'm sure. But I think it is largely a genetic predisposition as well. My father had bad acne, too. And do you know how they treated his back in the 50s? With Radiation!!! I'm glad methods have changed.

Anyways, a year or two ago, I finally decided to see a dermatologist regularly. The local dermatology place only treats skin cancer patients these days, but since I had visited them a couple times back when I was 13 years old, I was still grandfathered into their service, luckily.

I was prescribed with 3 products to use. A topical medicine called Differin, Brevoxyl-8 (a benzol peroxide wash), and... most importantly, Doxycycline which I take twice a day in pill form.

The doxycycline in particular made a huge difference, I started seeing results 3 days after I started taking it. I'm not 100% acne free these days but it is a HUGE improvement over how my skin used to be. In particular, the acne that does appear these days very rarely gets to that "puss" stage where as before I could certainly look forward to that with every affected spot.

I do love my RC Cola (Great taste since 1905!) , but this thread has me wondering if I should try carbonated abstinence for awhile to see if my skin does make a further change. Unfortunately, my "healthier choice" in lieu of the cola has been Kool-Aid... which still has the sugar, so perhaps it isn't all that much better than I previously thought.

Maybe I should try just water, juice and gatoraide for awhile.

 

[gluegungeisha]

So, Gluegungeisha (have I mentioned how much I LOVE that name?), do you drink coffee? Try giving it up and see what happens.

Nope, no coffee for me...ever. I used to drink it sometimes, but then I was diagnosed with a type of cardiac arrythmia, which is intensified by stress (sometimes inevitable...) and caffeine consumption (completely preventable). For comfort's sake, I'm skipping the coffee.

 

[Paisley]

How did you do it?!?! I've been doing my best to quit drinking pop too but I'm sorry to say I'm not doing very well. Maybe I'm just weak. [huh] It was easier for me to quit smoking than it's been for me to give up Pepsi.

I went cold turkey. After a few days of cold turkey, I got a stomach ache, a headache, I was tired, and couldn't concentrate. Therefore, I recommend weaning yourself off of it gradually.

Lately, I've been reading on stock investing, and products that have a franchise value (meaning, there's something special about the product) have an advantage over stocks of products that are pretty interchangable with their competitors. Coke is one stock with a franchise value. Coke drinkers are very loyal to Coke...perhaps even addicted?

 

[Girl Friday]

You mean high fructose corn syrup. Theres no sugar in Coke.

I found cutting back on processed foods helps my skin too. Yay to you Paisley!

LD

Thanks LD, I was just about to say that.

I was watching something the other night that was saying sugar has gotten a bad rap, that it is actually the high fructose corn syrup that is causing all the problems.

And is makes a good scrub! So it is still good for your skin.

 

[Antje]

I know for sure that our diet has something to do with skin,
I have been on a diet and began to drink much more water and eating fruits and vegatables (is this the right spelling?????:eusa_doh: )

I have a really fast irritating skin and I used to have a lot of acne,
and now after changing my diet I have to say that I'm quit happy with how my skin looks.

I'm not a coke drinker at all but a lot of coffee and I can't stop it.

I read something about tea trea oil, BE CAREFULL my college used it ones and she was allergic to it and I hear it from more people, you could use geranium oil instead, it stinks horrible but it works

Antje

 

[Paisley]

Corn syrup, fructose, glucose, honey, cane sugar, etc., it's all sugar.

 

[Miss Brill]

I had a major break-up a few years ago & was so sick I couldn't eat. I was eating maybe one meal (or one item) a day & lost about 20lbs in a month & my skin looked incredible. Your body will not spend energy making pimples if you don't have excess calories. IIRC, my one meal a day was usually a corn dog or chicken sandwich from the corner store, it wasn't anything healthy at all, but I had good skin anyway.

 

[Miss 1929]

Been there, done that!

I had a major break-up a few years ago & was so sick I couldn't eat. I was eating maybe one meal (or one item) a day & lost about 20lbs in a month & my skin looked incredible. Your body will not spend energy making pimples if you don't have excess calories. IIRC, my one meal a day was usually a corn dog or chicken sandwich from the corner store, it wasn't anything healthy at all, but I had good skin anyway.

The heartbreak diet!
Makes sense, if you are not taking in more than the proper amount of oil/fat/sugar you body gets a chance to burn it off.

 

[Paisley]

My heartbreak diet was a daily bagel and a Coke. I don't remember what state my skin was in, but everybody told me how great I looked since I lost weight. Gee, I hadn't thought I looked that bad before.

 

[Confectionaerie]

Well, supposedly sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, or anything with a high glycemic index, really) renders your body more susceptible to inflammatory reactions, the most--painfully!--obvious of which is acne. I think it also breaks collagen bonds, too, or some such, contributing to aging. And caffeine dehydrates. So, bravo!
That said, I never drink soda, but broke out something awful until going on Accutane. Go figure, right?

 

[SarahLouise]

I used to work with someone who was addicted to diet coke. She used to go through about 8 cans a day and needed one as soon as she woke up in the morning! Paisley - good for you, fizzy drinks don't have any benefits which is why I hardly ever drink them.

Regarding skin, I've had mild acne since I was a teenager and it gradually got worse as I got older. I was never put on anti-biotics since it was only a mild case (I didn't have cysts or bad scarring) but I just always had spots. I used the combination of Zineryt (horrible stuff that smells like vinegar!) and Panoxyl cream throughout my teens but it didn't really work, the spots just kept on coming. I wanted a prevention, not a cure. The only thing that cleared up my skin was the Dianette pill - when I was using this I hardly ever got a spot, let alone several at once. It was seriously amazing and I was so happy with my skin. Unfortunately doctors do not recommend being on Dianette for longer than a few years.

I've been using the Clinique 3-step programme for about 10 months now and I noticed an improvement from the very beginning. My skin texture is softer, my uneven skin tone is less blotchy and the spots went away. I still get the odd spot (I don't think I'll ever have completely clear skin) but it's made such a difference that I won't be going back to other brands which have been useless. Sure, it's expensive but the most important thing is that it works for me. By the way - for anybody interested in trying Clinique I would recommend buying the products specifically for your skin type, not the blemish solutions range. I tried this for a few months and my spots actually came back so I've switched to the oily range and my skin cleared up.

 

[hepkitten]

I started breaking out several years ago and my nose and cheeks became persistently red. The breakouts weren't bad but I got tired of looking like Rudolph and diet changes weren't helping. Turned out to be rosacea. Metrogel worked like a charm. Still does, and I don't have to use it nearly as often...maybe a couple of times a week, instead of twice a day.

 

[anabolina]

I'm also trying to reduce my soda consumption, but slowly. So far I've just taken to drinking it only after work, hopefully in a couple of weeks, I'll be so used to drinking more water that I can move to drinking it only for special occaisons.

That said, I'm currently on a couple of prescriptions that I love, retin a and benzaclin and my skin is clear, my skin is more even toned, and just looks better. I could almost go out without concealer if not for my dark under eye circles.

 

[Paisley]

I've noticed that my skin is a lot less flaky since going off Coke. Can't chalk it up to the weather; it's been very dry lately.

 

[shooshoobaby1]

Not only does kicking coke improve your skin, but according to the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine increased soda consumption leads to osteoporosis! So keep up the good work ladies, so we can stay in our high heels and dresses for years to come.