The Clear Skin Diet
by Alan C. Logan, Valori Treloar
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Book Reviews of The Clear Skin Diet
Book Review: Good, but overpromising
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a well-written, organized, and thoroughly researched book. The authors make clear distinctions between good and bad foods to eat, with a clear presentation style and discussion of the pertinent scientific studies. It is not new information, but a comprehensive big picture analysis that made this book really worth reading. The value added is in their connection of the various studies that have occurred through the last several decades. They're also clear to emphasize the very best nutrients and separate them from the group.
It is noteworthy that after dealing unsuccessfully with this condition for years, from one dermatologist to another, one prescription to the next, the feeling of despair is likely to set in. The correlation of stress and acne is covered in Clear Skin Diet with the same aplomb as nutrition, although some recommendations can be less convincing. It may be that stress, diet, and skin health are a Bermuda Triangle of cause-and-effect - we can't clearly locate what is causing what. It follows that the totality of the science presented in Clear Skin Diet cannot help with one's despair: Do you really want to live a completely different life in the name of clear skin? Can you afford to change your work, diet, and leisure preferences? Is it even possible? It is one matter to eliminate fast food and subscribe to a course of vitamins, but another to re-organize one's life around the prevention of acne via stress management; this book manages to fit in some suggestions like air purification, yoga, and spending one hour per night preparing dinner. But don't the best complected among us also want to reduce stress? Don't we all basically spend our lives trying to be happy and balanced? There is quite a bridge unbuilt from stress reduction to acne cure. Stress is a part of life, and a wayside of accomplishment. The goal of clear skin is not really an end to a happy life; one wants clear skin as a means to confidence, an aid in achievement, and part and parcel of gaining respect.
I do have one more direct criticism that there is no disclosure of whether any compensation was received for the product endorsements in the book. I think it's appropriate to weigh in on commercially available products, and they've made recommendations so varied as to remove most doubt about the validity thereof. Yet the money spent to buy a book should always earn full confidence about the objectivity of the authors.
Does the diet work? No. But the authors would probably have a suggestion to cover themselves for those uncured by their diet - your organics aren't highest quality, your vitamins aren't the right brand, your air isn't clean, you have an allergy that doctors can't detect, you should try yoga, or you just have too severe of a case. So, as fascinating as it is to see so much of the medical science and current approach to acne treatment taken apart, the Clear Skin Diet has no approach more effective to suggest. Compelling criticisms; no new solutions.
Book Review: Highly Recommended - dermatologist's perspective
Summary: 5 Stars
Every acne patient should read this book. I find it very unfortunate that the American Academy of Dermatology has continued to perpetuate the myth that diet is not linked to acne. As someone who has made the choice to lead a healthier lifestyle, I was essentially following this diet for the past several months before I even read the book. I could see wonderful changes in my skin in addition to other changes (lost 30 lbs, was no longer tired and achy). I no longer had monthly flare-ups of the female adult acne, no longer had a drab complexion. People told me my skin seemed to "glow" and that my skin looked like an ad for an Oil of Olay commercial. I was no longer dependent on the latest and greatest topical treatment from the big pharma.
This textbook explains very clearly, and with excellent scientific background, exactly how diet and lifestyle influence the inflammatory and hormonal systems in our bodies to aggravate acne. The Western diet and lifestyle that predisposes to acne is also linked to obesity, diabetes and hormone dependent cancers down the road. For the past year, I have been recommending that acne patients avoid sugar and dairy. More recently, I have been recommending this book to all patients and/or their parents who see me about their acne. The endless antibiotics prescribed for acne lead to unfavorable to changes to bacterial flora, increase antibiotic resistant organisms, and may lead to other changes. I have seen firsthand how acne has now become a problem in much earlier and later ages than before. I see children whose acne starts at 9, adults who have acne well into their 50's. Many of these changes are not a result of genetics but of diet and lifestyle, particularly diets that are high in sugar, dairy, and unhealthy fats.
The diet in this book is not restrictive. The recommendations in this text are also appropriate for anyone trying to lose weight or improve their cardiac risk factors. I strongly believe it is only a matter of time before there is more proof that other inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis would benefit from similar dietary and lifestyle modifications. The only fault I can find with this book is that it is a little textbook-like. The authors explain every study that supports their points - very good for those who are skeptical, but it can make it a bit of a slow read.
I do realize that many of my patients will not pick up this book - they come to me to get a pill, a quick fix, and move on with their lives. I now take the time to explain the dietary and lifestyle contributors to acne and recommend this book, even though it really slows down the clinic. If even a small proportion of patients will make positive lifestyle changes as a result of my recommendations and this book, I will be quite pleased! Recently one of my patients left me a message - her skin improved within weeks of following the dietary changes. I was absolutely delighted to hear it.
Book Review: Apparently well-researched, yet confusing.
Summary: 3 Stars
Basically, this book attempts to confirm most people's suspicions about certain types of food causing acne (ex. milk and cheese). As expected, the book immediately launched into various theories about how milk, dairy, and generally inflammatory foods all can cause acne through hormonal changes, insulin reactions, and sebum modulation. It's all very logically sound in the way it is presented.
The book then goes into foods that prevent acne, mostly centering around those with omega-3 fatty acids. The basis for the argument is omega-3's anti-inflammatory effect.
However, up to this point, it is still information pieced together from various credible sources and made into a sort of "acne theory."
The book then goes into a dietary plan and list of foods for avoiding acne.
To my great dismay and confusion, the book confirmed my worst expectation: this is a general "eat organic, exercise, widen your diet to more exotic food" plan, based on health fads and feelings more than science.
After condemning milk and dairy for half the book, the author then recommends CHEESE as an anti-acne food! He then goes to list all kinds of flavors, with a caveat of "May worsen acne in some people" at the end!
"May worsen acne in some people?" For God's sake, you just spent half the book convincing us that dairy was the Devil's own conspiracy to create acne!
Then, he recommends Olive, Sesame, and Canola oil, all of which are Omega-6 dense, omega-3 scarce oils, which he just spent the last 100 pages trying to convince you were the Devil's second conspiracy!
The rest of the list is made up of common sense fruit and vegetables, with exotic carbohydrates such as hummus and quinoa thrown in for good measure.
Now I agree that avoiding dairy helps avoid acne, and also that eating large amounts of Omega-3 fats provide many health benefits, as did both before I read this book. I'm just disappointed in the consistency of the author.
The recipes at the end are great templates to make exotic meals one might not normally think of, but are just generally healthy foods, not some kind of special anti-acne food concoction. In fact, many of them use milk and omega-6 dense fats!
If one is a complete novice to health issues, I would recommend this book, however most people who have spent some time researching on the internet will not find anything new, and may actually find contradictory information.
Perhaps a version 2 is in order?
Book Review: Didn't work a bit for me
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm sure the information in this book works for many people which is why I was so discouraged after following the advice for 4 months with no improvement in my skin. I was extremely careful to avoid all the bad fats, sugars and dairy on the black list and fill up on Omega 3 supplements, fish, green tea, veggies and fruits of all shades and colors but still had bad acne as I have for years. I did however lose a bunch of weight which is something I really didn't need as I was a healthy weight to begin with and was becoming underweight. I also found it hard to follow the diet as every recipe requires a lot of shopping, chopping, cooking, and time in meal preparation, something a busy mom of 4 just doesn't have time for. The book also recommends boiling or poaching everything rather than roasting, grilling, broiling, or other forms of cooking making the recipes not so tasty in my opinion. I eat pretty healthy as a rule, never fast food, or deep fried foods, or processed foods and lots of fruits, veggies and whole grains, even so I found the recommended diet to be a huge and difficult change and made eating out or eating at friends houses or ANYWHERE other than home impossible as pretty much EVERY food Americans make contains SOMETHING not allowed on the diet (white flower, sugar, anything dairy, any type of oil other than olive or canola oil, white rice, potatoes, etc) I found myself turning down invitations for get-togethers with friends simply because I knew there would be nothing I could eat and didn't want to face a bunch of questions as to why I was sitting around conspicuously starving myself. Maybe all the effort and sacrifice would have been worth it if the diet had actually cleared up my skin, but after 4 months with no results I decided it wasn't. I do believe the overall principles are sound and that eating healthy as recommended should decrease inflammation as well as decrease the risk of a hoard of diseases like heart disease, cancer, depression, and Alzheimer. I was just very disappointed in the lack of results I had personally. Good luck to anyone else who tries it! Just be forewarned, you can't eat ANYTHING that you don't make yourself! Also, my husband and kids didn't care for the recommended recipes and my son has a fish allergy so I was making TWO menus every evening, one for me and one for them which was a HUGE pain.Book Review: Book suffers from too much conflicting information
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this book when it first came out. My issue with this book is that it is so jam-packed with studies that provide such confusing information. At different points in the book, every kind of food and calorie type is butchered. By the end, I am scared of every kind of food. He then gives dietary recommendations that includes nuts, dairy and breads after he shows studies that these cause acne. The dietary recommendations ends up being the exact same as every other diet book that doesn't work and extremely low in calories. He criticizes dairy with a study than includes it in his recipes??? To me, the problem is that this author didn't do any studies himself besides drinking tomato juice and is merely picking and choosing studies to include to support his argument. He provides a study at one point saying 1 hour of exercise a day lowered IGF-1 levels. Then there is another study saying excessive exercise actually worsens acne. Makes no sense to me! You can find studies to support any argument.. and there are very convenient plugs for a product called "Greens+" throughout the book.. the same company released a supplement alongside this book....
This book also seems to get ideas heavily from The Dietary Cure for Acne from Lauren Cordain and The Clear Skin Prescription from Dr Perricone that were released several years earlier. Those really are the only books you'll need. Unfortunately I read them after this one so I could have saved money.