I've been searching for ways to reduce the acne on my face and I came across this article, promoting no breakfast:

Breakfast and Acne: What Foods Should you Eat?

I was very sceptic when I saw it because the opposite is drilled into my head 24/7. However, then I read this:

A classmate of mine once asked me what I had for breakfast as we had to go to school extra early (special event) doing pretty hard physical routines and I was just bursting with energy before, during and after the routines while he and the rest of the people were pretty.. Dead. Also, I'm pretty ripped. So we had this convo about breakfast. I told him I ate a lot of breakfast (8 slices of bread, or brinta wake-up with some bread or whatever) and he told me that he usually only eats some fruit.

Now his face is 100% acne free, it is amazing. There isn't a single spot on his face what-so-ever nor are there scars or imbalances. And I have pretty heavy acne (then again, he is normal in size and I'm pretty ripped). This intrigued me, can a no breakfast plan really work? I realize this is no acne forum or skin care forum, that is why I am asking for the cons about bodybuilding and my body as a whole.

Thanks in advance.

Never heard of that before. Don't know why that would work. Diet does affect it, but missing food !? More likely what you are eating than not eating.

The tricks I know to work are:
-Shower before and after bed
- Don't use hair gel etc..
-Don't touch you face
- Wash your face regularly

The acne has a lot more to do with testosterone than him not eating as big a breakfast as you.

from what i read, acne is dominated by your genes and there are some that just wont be able to get rid of it until their genes say so

acne is more genetics than anything else. not eating breakfast is not good for your overall health period

Do you consume a lot of dairy in your diet - milk ? yogurt ?

Eating breakfast is a must, skipping that meal is a good way to get a 'skinny-fat' body. However your breakfast needs a bit of work, bread should be eaten in moderation. Why not try eating some Eggs instead of half a loaf of bread?

With regards to acne, I'm afraid it has little to do with diet, that's an old myth that's been de-bunked many times in recent years. Sweets and fatty foods make you fat and unhealthy, not spotty (unless you rub the fat over your face )

The best thing you can do is try speciallist creams like Oxy 10 or Clearasil for a while. Avoid washing your face all the time as that aggrivates it. If the situation is severe ask to see a dermatologist; that's what I did and I got given Accutain (severe drug, not advisable for manageable acne) which cleared up the problem pretty well

I just took a look at that site, the reason it's telling lies is because it's trying to sell an e-book priced at $40 when the truth is available for free from medical websites.

I went on Bupa Acne - treatment and causes of pimples and blackheads and got this;

What causes acne?
Acne is caused by the overactivity of the sebaceous glands that secrete oily substances onto the skin.

The sebaceous glands of people with acne are especially sensitive to normal blood levels of a hormone called testosterone, found naturally in both men and women.

Testosterone in people prone to acne triggers the sebaceous glands to produce an excess of sebum. At the same time, the dead skin cells lining the openings of the hair follicles (the tubes that hold the hair) are not shed properly and clog up the follicles.

These two effects combined cause a build-up of oil in the hair follicles. This causes blackheads and whiteheads to form.

For some people, their acne does not progress beyond this stage.

However in other people, the build-up of oil in the hair follicles creates an ideal environment for a bacterium called Propionibacterium acnes to grow.



Acne myths
Contrary to popular belief acne is not caused by:

eating fatty food or chocolate1
dirt - blackheads get their dark colour through excess skin pigment - not dirt so washing more does not help, although if you do not wash your skin at all, bacteria will be able to multiply1,5

i remember in high school my bio teacher was trying to act smart and clever and told the class that acne is caused by not washing your face

at the time my acne was worst than many so i sensed everyone looking at me when he said that as if i dont wash my face
i wanted to slap him so bad

1: LOL

2: I'm sure there are better ways to combat acne.

How old are you? I remember acne being brought up in biology at school and by then it was common knowledge that washing has nothing to do with acne and can even make it worse if you wash too often. We were taught it was a chemical imbalance and nothing more and that was about 10-15 years ago.
If you're under 40 then you should go back to your old school, find that teacher and hand him any post-WW2 biology text book and ask him to read it

CCR is correct, acne is caused by the sebaceous glands creating too much oil, this is why your skin will most probably feel greasy. I have acne, my skin gets greasy at the bottom of my forehead just above my nose and at the sides of my nose towards the bottom.

A few months ago i went to a skin doctor, sorry the technical name for them isnt coming to me at the moment. He gave me roaccutane which does have side effects, although i experienced very few of them. It slows the sebaceous glands down and while on it i stopped producing new spots, but obviously it takes a while for scarring from old ones to heal. My skin looked a lot better, although i have just had to come off it and i can feel that my skin is starting to get greasy again and it was hoped that it wouldn't which is worrying me so i'm not sure what my next step should be.

So basically my advice is to go to the doctors about it and see what they say, i had to try a lot of things that did nothing before i got to see this doctor but it was worth it. Hope this has been some hope to you or someone.

One last thing about a point CCR raised in his last post, im not sure of the effects of washing your face a lot. Personally i washed mine a lot before when it got really greasy because i knew the grease was helping cause spots, i think if your face feels greasy wash it. But i have also heard that washing it can take away other things from your skin. Personally i would reccomend washing it when it feels greasy, but not just for the sake of washing it.

Someone else said dont use hair gel, personally im not sure on that. I was once told that i had spots because i used gel, and there was someone with very short hair with no gel, spots just as bad as me less than 10 meters away from us which blew that guys theory out the water. Having greasy hair im sure does not help, but it is not the cause, and neither do i think using products on your hair has that big of a negative effect on it as long as you are washing your hair regularly. Someone may come up with something to prove me wrong, after all im only a 16 year old kid, im just talking from my experience of having gone/going through it and giving you my ideas about it.

Go back to your Dermatologist, mine told me that an Accutane course needs to be at least 6 months to be effective, I know someone who was on the stuff for almost 2 years.

Glad you didn't have any side effects though, I doubled up on my dose once by mistake and I was suicidal by the evening. Not to mention the contantly peeling lips

I was on it for 5 months, i came off a few weeks ago. I went to see him a month before i came off and he said he was happy for me to come off then, but i was entitled to 2 more months of treatment. I opted to take one month, so that it would all be out my system by the time i go to america for a holiday as it makes you more likely to get sun burn apparently. I'm thinking perhaps i should have taken the extra month, perhaps i should go back. My mum is going to phone today and see what he says.

Yeah i was lucky with the side effects i guess, i started using moisturiser cream before my skin got dry and the dryness never really got to be an issue, it was there but it was manageable. Lips the same really, its a nusiance but they never got to be very bad for me. I was also warned about nose bleeds, hair thinning, aches after exercising and suicidal thoughts. It sounded daunting at the beginning but it really wasn't for me when i started.

Quick update, i have an appointment tomorrow so it was lucky i decided to do something today, i'll let you know what happens.

bottom line: it is not worth the nutritional sacrifice even if IT DID clear up acne. i would eat breakfast even if it meant having tons of acne. nothing should stand between you and a great breakfast, and ultimately your goals. whether they be educational or physical.