The first thing to remember when you are seeking out foods to prevent acne, is that particular foods do not have superpowers. The healthiest foods are good for us, not because they target disease and conquer it, but because they provide the building blocks that the body needs to produce and let loose its own disease-fighting forces. At the same time, unhealthy foods introduce toxins that the body has to deal with, using up its resources and adding to its problems.
So left to itself, in ideal conditions, the body operates what is called homeostasis, where it prevents and cures its own diseases. It does this via the immune response, which identifies and deals with viruses, bacteria, toxins or foreign substances.
Imagine that you eat something like the worst kind of snack food made almost entirely of chemical additives and refined starches and fats. When that hits the stomach, the digestive system hits the panic button because there are a ton of things there that it does not recognize as food. The immune response rushes in and identifies a few nasty additives that might need neutralizing, and pulls them out for the liver to detoxify before they are passed out through the kidneys. The digestive system deals with the rest of the stuff as best it can, trying to extract any traces of vitamins and minerals that might be in the food, storing excess fat by filling the body’s fat cells or creating new ones so that the fat can be used for energy later if there is a famine, and excreting anything that is useless through the rear passage.
Now imagine that you eat a fresh apple. It’s even an organic apple so there are no pesticides. When that hits the stomach it is instantly recognized. No need for the immune system to rush to the rescue. Foods to prevent acne are foods like that apple.
So when you eat fresh food that is not refined or processed, and some of it preferably raw, the immune system can get on with its real job of ridding the body of infections and toxins that come in through the skin. So the body will become something closer to the natural self healing organism that it was designed to be. And one of the things that it will heal, of course, is acne.
That is why you will often be told that it is important to eat a healthy diet to prevent acne, but without naming any particular foods. Food should be as close to its natural state as possible but you can eat a wide range of whole, healthy foods.
Dairy foods can be included if they are organic, so that they do not contain the sex hormones that are fed to most cows. Sex hormones are the reason that the body starts producing excess sebum in puberty, causing acne, so we have enough of our own without adding to them by drinking them in our milk.
So the best foods to prevent acne include fresh fruit and vegetables, meat that is not blackened or fried (frying meats and fat can produce toxins), whole grains like corn, brown rice and whole grain pasta, nuts, seeds, beans etc.
