Christian Jessen from Embarrassing Bodies visited teens at school and asked them what type of foods they think cause or exacerbate their breakouts.  The teens were saying things like: pizza, chocolate, junk food, fish n chips, etc.  Chris showed them a carton of milk and explained that, out of all the foods we eat dairy is the worst for affecting breakouts.

There are a number of things that can affect your breakout.  Hormones, that time of the month, stress, dirty/neglected skin… the foods/drinks you consume.

A dairy breakout is the breakout you have when you’re having dairy.  It is caused by the hormones in cows milk playing havoc with your own hormones and skin.  This is especially problematic for hormonal teens.

Maybe you notice an increase in breakouts when you consume more dairy.  Or maybe you’ve thought about it but not really put two and two together.  Or maybe it’s never occurred to you.

The easiest way to know if your breakout is caused by dairy is to STOP having dairy – for at least 7-14 days.  Notice what happens to your skin.  Do your pimples start to subside?  Do your breakouts become less frequent or severe?

If your skin starts to clear up when you stop having dairy, then you start having dairy again and your skin gets worse, then you can pretty much see that dairy is playing a part in your breakout.

With dairy being such a big part of our lives –  from the milk we drink to the many cheeses we consume – it can be so hard to break up with dairy!

I went dairy free (and wheat free) for three years after a nutritionist told me my body has difficulty breaking down the proteins in dairy (and issues with wheat), which caused me to be tired all the time.

At the start it was SO hard!  For the first three months I felt like I was starving myself as I struggled to find alternatives.  And I really missed Parmesan cheese!

These days there are many alternatives to dairy which makes it’s a little easier not to have it as part of your food intake.

If constant breakouts are part of your daily life try the ‘dairy test’.  Stop having dairy and see what happens.  If your skin improves then your body is trying to tell you something.

P.S. follow a good daily skin cleansing routine as well because clean skin leads to clear skin.  Quitting dairy may help from the inside out, while looking after your skin helps from the outside in.