I have always had acne prone skin. It’s not the end of the world but it’s always frustrated me, and I probably let it get to me more than I should.

It is however, one of the main reasons that I became interested in natural skincare and make up. Everything happens for a reason, right?

I had heard lots of hype around cutting out gluten and dairy to decrease acne. I found a little bit of research that supported the idea that dairy could contribute to acne and found a little bit of research that concluded that gluten could cause acne for people who were gluten intolerant.  I’m sure that it is quite possible that there is more research out there proving a stronger link between gluten and/or dairy and acne. Most of what I found other than the two pieces or research that I mentioned above, were studies suggesting that gluten and dairy may cause acne but that over all most of the evidence was inconclusive.

Although I didn’t find heaps of research concluding that gluten and dairy caused acne, and that I don’t consider myself to be gluten intolerant; I had also heard several testimonies of people saying that their acne decreased when they stopped consuming gluten and dairy, so, I thought that I would give it a shot.

Here’s what I noticed when I didn’t consume gluten or dairy for 1 month:

• I did experience less acne almost instantly. I still had a few minor breakouts, but generally, the breakouts were much smaller.
• Every time I consumed alcohol I experienced a small breakout the next day.
• WAY less inflammation in my skin. My skin was much more even in tone, had less redness, and looked less puffy overall. (Sidenote: I also noticed that my skin was way less puffy when I quite working at Olive Garden; which decreased my salt intake quite a bit)
• A lot less bloating and a lot less of feeling “too full”.
• I lost 10 pounds without trying; and trust me, I was eating any gluten and dairy free junk food that I could get my hands on. While I wasn’t overweight before, I did feel like losing these 10 pounds got me down to the weight that I feel my best at.

I had planned on cutting out gluten and dairy for 3 months, however I only made it 1 month before I indulged in some pizza. I do think that it is possible that I would have seen even more dramatic improvement in my skin if I had steered clear of gluten and dairy for the full 3 months.

I wanted to share my experience because I felt like I still saw quite a bit of positive changes in my body even though I really didn’t eliminate gluten and dairy for that long.

Feel free to leave any comments sharing your experience with cutting out gluten or dairy, or any other elimination diets you have tried!

While I am sure that elimination diets are the best thing for many people, I’m not sure that eliminating anything from my diet is the most beneficial or necessary thing for me, but I still love hearing other people’s experiences ♥

As of right now, I am working on just consuming dairy, gluten, and sugar in moderation, drinking plenty of water, and eating lots of fruits and vegetables; all things that I have noticed improve my skin in the past.

Thanks for reading♦