My 20 year old self wouldn't believe I am writing this post today. In college, I would literally go eat queso and tortillas at the Mexican restaurant next door as a snack. I think I ate about 3,000 cals a day and it was either cheese or a heavily carb loaded meal of sorts. I want to say those were the good ole days (they were) but I also remember feeling a little like I wanted to die after every meal. My feelings on queso haven't changed and I still think it is quite possibly the best thing since sliced bread, but my views on how much I intake have changed.
As I have gotten older I've noticed how much my skin is affected by food. About 3 years ago I noticed that every morning when I woke up, I would have tons of white bumps all over my face. I experienced these white bumps for about a year and the two dermatologists I went to see both gave me a topical cream that didn't work at all. Not to say these derms didn't know what they were doing, but the only way I found relief was working from the inside out. No amount of topical creams could cure what was happening under my skin.
When I turned 30 I started really caring about what I was topically putting on my skin, which is why I slowly have become very interested in clean beauty. As of right now, I won't say that everything I use is clean....because that will just take me some time to get there! However, working my way through my beauty cabinet and noticing the small changes I could make got me thinking: If I am caring this much about what I am putting on my skin, why am I not caring about what food goes into my body? It's like this thought never even registered in my brain... seriously. I never put the two together. Or never wanted to. Bc to be honest, I loved going out and eating nachos, pizza, drinking margs and absolutely, absolutely not working out.
After years (yes years) of dealing with this chaos on my face, I started to journal my daily food intake. That way when I had a big breakout I could check the prior day's post and see what I ate. To my greatest disbelief, I noticed my biggest culprit was dairy. The day I found out cheese was giving me literal pizza face, I was devastated. How could my one true love really back stab me like that? So you're all thinking, "K, so you gave up cheese?". Nah girl, I did not. I really thought I could keep eating cheese and living life like a dairy farmer and my weird acne would clear up. Poof, vanished. But like, it didn't. Finally after some pep talks with myself, I realized it was time to cut ties. But not forever. I FINALLY got my weird face zits under control and now I'll go for some cheese every once in awhile. Sure, I'll get a flare up (worth it), but now that my skin is managed I can factor in the once ( or twice) a week cheese/dairy splurge!
**Please know that I am not a Doctor and my advice is simply me sharing what has been my experience.
Since this wild discovery, I've also looked into types of food that my body craves and needs to be the better version of myself! It is so satisfying to think that without medication (in my case) I could clear up some potential damage to my skin just by changing how I eat. Next post I'll discuss the foods/drinks that I feel have helped me the most in being a better version of Bailee. + I've been working out (I know, I know I'm crazy) and I have decided that I actually love working out! In fact, I CRAVE working out. And I'll go into detail about this...next. Stay tuned.
XX, bailee
The Snob Edit