High Fat Diet

Can a high fat diet cause acne? For the last few weeks I have switched over to a high fat, low carb diet and have gotten a few pimples. Most of my extra fat comes from coconut milk and oil. I have researched and some have stated that they can because they raise testosterone levels but, it seems there is no definitive answer in the studies I have read.

Eating any dairy?

No dairy. I eat paleo, High fat, low-carb (10%).

My guess would be the additional hormonal support you are getting from the fats aka higher testosterone levels.

have you try fish oils? Everyone has different skin conditions so this might or might not work for you. My skin is acne prone. I was on a pretty serious weight cutting phase last year with most of my fats coming from either fish or flax. my acne cleared up during my diet. I had a little bit of acne when I cut back on the fish oils because they are expensive haha. I’m slowly trying to work fish oils back into my diet. I would stay away from the fish oil pills because you never know if they’re stale or not. Hope this helps.

perhaps your 6:3 ratio is sky high. Eating much salmon? Fish oil? Flax?

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
perhaps your 6:3 ratio is sky high. Eating much salmon? Fish oil? Flax? [/quote]

My ratios for the last few days have been

omega 3: a little over a gram
omega 6 : a little over or under 6 grams

Most of my fat intake is from coconut milk and oil. Always has been.

You might be developing a low grade allergy to coconut products. I would try and rotate the source of fat at least once every couple of weeks. I’ve had the same when relying completely on diary as my protein source (buckets of cottage cheese, ricotta, yoghurt etc).

[quote]Luka24 wrote:

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
perhaps your 6:3 ratio is sky high. Eating much salmon? Fish oil? Flax? [/quote]

My ratios for the last few days have been

omega 3: a little over a gram
omega 6 : a little over or under 6 grams

Most of my fat intake is from coconut milk and oil. Always has been. [/quote]

I have no idea what those numbers you just gave me mean.

What percentage of your macros are you using? I just started a similar diet 2 weeks ago and I love it.

[quote]Luka24 wrote:
My ratios for the last few days have been
omega 3: a little over a gram
omega 6 : a little over or under 6 grams[/quote]

I would try to bring the ratio closer to 1:1 by switching some of the omega 6 dense sources out for omega 3 rich sources (probably fish oil). Note that that is not necessarily 1g each, just equal total quantities. 1:1 is the ratio recommended as a target by paleo guru Mark Sisson, and I tend to be much better with high fish oil intake. Obviously you can increase the omega 3 intake with minimal changes if you use a concentrated formula like Flameout, otherwise you may need to take a lot of standard concentration to get the levels up, and significantly reduce the other fats.

The first clue is what is coming out the other end. If you notice a change in bowel habits (regularity, size, sink vs. float, loose stools, gas, etc) then your GI tract might not be able to handle the rapid change in diet.

In my experience, the health of the skin reflects the health of the gut. And I agree with Spetz, rotate your sources of fat frequently.

[quote]grrrsauce wrote:
The first clue is what is coming out the other end. If you notice a change in bowel habits (regularity, size, sink vs. float, loose stools, gas, etc) then your GI tract might not be able to handle the rapid change in diet.

In my experience, the health of the skin reflects the health of the gut. And I agree with Spetz, rotate your sources of fat frequently.[/quote]

Your blood type tells you a lot about how you digest certin things such as fats carbs and proteins. Considering i have Type A negative digesting fats is a total bowel explosion most of the time.

Too much omega 6 in his diet.

[quote]grrrsauce wrote:
The first clue is what is coming out the other end. If you notice a change in bowel habits (regularity, size, sink vs. float, loose stools, gas, etc) then your GI tract might not be able to handle the rapid change in diet.

In my experience, the health of the skin reflects the health of the gut. And I agree with Spetz, rotate your sources of fat frequently.[/quote]

This is correct. However, as a solution, I’d highly suggest looking into some probiotics to help balance the gut ecology.

[quote]hungryone wrote:

This is correct. However, as a solution, I’d highly suggest looking into some probiotics to help balance the gut ecology. [/quote]

I would highly suggest actually getting his gut tested (yes you can test for specific strains through DNA technology). You can throw seeds down all day long, but if the soil isn’t prepped, nothing will grow. Same thing with the gut. If there aren’t the right types of short chain fatty acids there is no food for probiotics to grow. In a gut repair protocol the introduction of probiotics is not the first step. Also, you don’t want to just throw down probiotics if there is a dysbiosis, as it is survival of the fittest down there and the ensuing battle can stimulate the immune system.

accutane deficiency (dead serious)

lot of people probably have very low Vitamin A levels from their diet, which makes you more acne prone

[quote]Jaycuts wrote:
Your blood type tells you a lot about how you digest certin things such as fats carbs and proteins.[/quote]

Unless you are a Type O with extensive H. pylori-induced gastric/duodenal ulcers resulting in malabsorption… no, it doesn’t.

[quote]marshaldteach wrote:
accutane deficiency (dead serious)

lot of people probably have very low Vitamin A levels from their diet, which makes you more acne prone[/quote]

Vitamin A deficiency after a “few weeks” on a new diet?

Any reason why everyone here thinks food allergies, dysbiosis and hypovitaminosis are more plausible explanations for “a few pimples” than coincidence?