When a client first starts our program and we review the 4 potential food triggers, it’s not uncommon for them to say, “I’ve already tried cutting out cheese or tofu and it didn’t work”. One of the first things I ask is, “How long did you cut it out before judging whether or not it was working”, and, inevitably, they will say they tried for a few weeks at most. Well, let me just tell you right now that it usually takes AT LEAST one month for the food we eat to manifest as visible acne on the surface of the skin but what we see in our clinic is that it typically takes 1-3 months on average. As we discuss in our e-course, The 8 Steps To Clear Skin, different acne triggers have different delayed reaction times and ingestible triggers like food take the longest. So next time you decide to test a potential dietary trigger, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Food takes time to process

Just think about how long it would take for you to eat something to show up as visible weight on a scale. It would probably take at least a few weeks and more likely some months. For example, you don’t eat a giant meal on Thanksgiving then see 5 extra pounds on the scale on Black Friday, do you? No, of course not. You know logically that you probably won’t see the effects of what you ate during the holidays until January or even later and it’s the same concept when it comes to your skin. It takes time for food to get broken down, take effect in the body, contribute to the formation of an acne seed (microcomedone) then for that seed to travel from the bottom of the follicle to the surface of the skin.

How long it takes depends on a number of factors

Exactly how long it takes for the effects of dietary triggers to show up as visible acne on the surface of the skin depends on a number of factors and varies person to person. Just like different people would take different lengths of time to see visible weight gain depending on what they ate, how much they ate, their metabolism, body type, and how much physical activity they do, it takes different lengths of time for food to manifest as acne depending on what type of food and how much was consumed, someone’s acne type, their skin type, and how much exfoliation they are receiving through their product plan and peels.

Exfoliation speeds up the process

Exfoliation helps speed up the purging of acne “seeds” called microcomedones in the skin so the more exfoliation you are using, the quicker congestion purges up through your follicles and out the surface of your skin. If you eat dairy (or anything else) and it is a trigger for you, it can contribute to the formation of seeds inside of your skin but we can speed up the process of getting those seeds out by strengthening the level of exfoliation. Stronger is not always better though when it comes to exfoliation and the type and level of exfoliation has to be appropriate for your skin. Your skin is like a muscle and you can condition it to be able to tolerate really strong products without getting dry or irritated and a good acne program will teach you how to slowly level up your product plan so active products are integrated slowly.