Skin problem, what's the gap in my diet?

[Ralph]

I live a healthy life, I meditate, exercise, think very positively and avoid junk foods. I assume the skin problem is caused by the defficiency. So, here's what I eat:

Lots of sesame seeds and soya products
Low fat milk with breakfast cereals for breakfast every day (they are supposed to have B1, B2, B6, B12, calcium and iron)
A few bananas every now and then
Sometimes I have some soup for dinner, sometimes it's a soy meat substitute with potatoes and some salad. Generally I heat (nearly all cooked) carrots, cucumers, potatoes, tomatoes, celery. Maybe some more are in the soup, I'm not the one cooking it
I often eawt sandwitches with cheese, peanut butter or tomatoes or radishes

Could be that I forgot something, I hope you'd catch a gap at the first glance though

[Cran]

Imho you could include a bit more variety in your diet... fruits, especially.

But keep in mind that just because you ASSUME that your skin problems are a result of poor diet doesn't mean that has to be so.

You could have an intolerance to a certain type of food, using the wrong skin-care-products, have a hormonal imbalance or ol' plain oily skin.

[Jennihul]

What kind of skin problem? They are all caused by different things.

Acne: Hereditary. Incurable. Only controllable.

Psoriasis: Vitamin D deficiency from diet vs genetics.

Ecxema: Allergies.

Dermatitis: Sensitivities to foods or products.

The thing missing is meat. Fish. Shellfish. Zinc is critical for skin and is most easily found in meat and shellfish.


Jennifer

[Vantage72]

In my opinion your diet lacks protein and fat.

I've had cracking skin when I was vegetarian. Steve had skin problems when he was doing his 80% carbs/10% fat/10% protein diet.

Oh yeah, and where do you get your Omega 3's from?

[Ralph]

I somehow forgot to mention the skin problem itself
I got dried skin on my wrist and in kidney area.

I was assuming that I get enough fat from seeds and enough protein from milk and cheese

According to Wikipedia, Kiwifruit is a source of Omega 3 so I'll give it a shot.

[Jennihul]

You should be tested for gluten intolerance. Gluten is a protein in wheat that many people cannot tolerate. Sometimes called celiac sprue. It doesn't always show up as the proverbial intestinal distress. It's becoming more common. It affects close to 1 in 33 people, up from 1 in 1000, now that hybridizers have upped wheat's protein content compared to older, non hybridized, non-gmo varieties.

It often manifests as neurological issues and skin issues.

Jennifer

[Rose of Cairo]

You could also live a few months without dairy and see how you're doing. I had awful problems with my skin, till the day a physician told me to cut off all milk, cheese and dairy products completely for three months. I was outraged - turned out he was right, my skin problems disappeared after about a month.

Also, I'd eat more raw fruit, veggies and especially greens.

Good luck!

[Jennihul]

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

You could also live a few months without dairy and see how you're doing. I had awful problems with my skin, till the day a physician told me to cut off all milk, cheese and dairy products completely for three months. I was outraged - turned out he was right, my skin problems disappeared after about a month.

I agree.

Jennifer

[Vantage72]

Originally Posted by Ralph

I was assuming that I get enough fat from seeds and enough protein from milk and cheese

Suggestion: stop assuming and start counting. You could be right, I don't know how much you eat.

Originally Posted by Ralph

According to Wikipedia, Kiwifruit is a source of Omega 3 so I'll give it a shot.

Kiwi's are not a good resource for Omega 3. There is only some ALA in the seeds, not in the fruit. The amount you get from eating the seeds is way too low, unless you plan on eating huge amounts of Kiwi's daily.

Here read what the American Heart Society says, and they are on the LOW side:

We recommend eating fish (particularly fatty fish) at least two times a week. Fish is a good source of protein and doesn’t have the high saturated fat that fatty meat products do. Fatty fish like mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are high in two kinds of omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

To learn about omega-3 levels for different types of fish — as well as mercury levels, which can be a concern — see our Encyclopedia entry on Fish, Levels of Mercury and Omega-3 Fatty Acids.

We also recommend eating tofu and other forms of soybeans, canola, walnut and flaxseed, and their oils. These contain alpha-linolenic acid (LNA), which can become omega-3 fatty acid in the body. The extent of this modification is modest and controversial, however. More studies are needed to show a cause-and-effect relationship between alpha-linolenic acid and heart disease.

[Joeschmoe]

All fruits and vegetables have a significant amount if omega 3 fatty acids and omega 6. To the point where if you ate only fruits and vegetables (and enough calories) you would get enough of each. And close to the proper balance to 1:1- 1:4. Refined oils and animal fat are all (except fish) are all highly skewed toward omega 6 to the point that most Americans have a ratio of 1:20 or more. You actually do better getting sufficient calories from plant sources.

But i tend to think people jump on the "your not getting enough fat" thing really quickly. There are other possibilities that you should look into first. I find that on a low fat diet, I can't wash my face and hands constantly or my skin will dry out. But if I only wash once a day and after using the rest room it seems fine, I also don't have to use shampoo (because my hair doesn't get oily anymore). And when i use soap I use natural stuff.

[Vantage72]

Good vegetarian sources of Omega 3 are flaxseed and flaxseed oil, canola oil, soybean oil, soybeans, walnuts, walnut oil, and purslane.

The fat in dark green, leafy vegetables is 80% omega-3; but due to the low overall fat content these foods usually don’t end up contributing a significant amount of omega-3’s to our diets
Vegetarian Journal September / October 2001 American Heart Association Calls for Eating Fish Twice Per Week - What’s a Vegetarian To Do?

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

All fruits and vegetables have a significant amount if omega 3 fatty acids

Can you give some sources for what you are saying?

[Joeschmoe]

You are correct that you would have to eat a lot of those things to get enough, however, you should eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Here is an example:

8 Cups Sweet Potato
1 Cup Cooked Collard
1 Cup Cooked Kale
1 Cup Adzuki Beans
1/2 Cup Blueberries
1/2 Cup Mango
1 oz Nut/Seeds (4 tsp flax/1 tsp brazil/1tsp sunflower)

At 2000 calories it surpasses every single vitamin, mineral, carotenoid, etc known that we have a DRI/RDA for except for B12. It is 8% fat.

(all numbers based on the USDA SR20 as accessed thru the CRON-O-Meter, version 0.9.3)

The Omega 6 is 5.7
The Omega 3 is 2.8

This is a 2:1 ratio

But lets say you ate 1800kCal of mango and 200kCal of Kale.
Here is the EFA breakdown.

Omega 3 -1754mgs
omega 6 - 943mgs

Ratio ~ 2:1

Here is 1800kCal of bananas and 200kCal of spinach

omega 3 - 1720
omega 6 - 1123

Ratio ~ 1.5:1

These are obviously not balanced diets but it's just an example. I just want to try it with one more combo. Broccoli and pineapple.

omega 3 - 1528
omega 6 - 1098

ratio ~ 1.5:1

[Vantage72]

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

But lets say you ate 1800kCal of mango and 200kCal of Kale.

1800 Kcal Mango would be over 13000 mango's

I assume you mean 1800 calories which would be 13 mangos.
Nutrition Facts and Information for Mangos, raw

13 mangos will deliver 1 gram of ALA.

The recommended adequate intake of ALA in the diet is 2,200 mg/day. If you want to get that from mango's you'll need to eat 29 mangos daily.

At an average conversionrate of 10% for men, 29 mangos would deliver 220mg of EPA/DHA. The recommended daily intake for EPA + DHA is approximately 500 mg.

interesting info maybe for the topicstarter:

Clinically recognizable ALA deficiency symptoms usually take the form of "scaly skin (much like dandruff) together with skin atrophy" (very thin skin). Other symptoms can be scaly dermatitis and/or small rips or abrasions (excoriations) in the skin. In one case, a "thickened, crusty, and scaly skin" was reported.

These symptoms can probably occur anywhere on the body, but have been reported particularly on hands, forearms, shoulders, and face. (In my own case, the skin on the backs of my hands becomes dry and rough. This clears up in less than two days when I take the recommended amounts of the EFAs.)

EFA Deficiency

[Joeschmoe]

Kcal is one Calorie. It is a 1000 calories. In other words people need 2,000,000 calories a day, but only 2000 Kcal or Calories. Sorry for the confustion.

From wikipedia

The calorie is a unit of energy, in particular heat.[1] In most fields, its use is archaic, and the SI unit of energy, the joule, has become accepted. However, it remains in common use as a unit of food energy. It was first defined by Professor Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a kilogram-calorie, and this definition entered French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. Etymology: French calorie, from Latin calor (heat).

The unit calorie has historically been used in two major alternate definitions that differ by a factor of 1000:

The small calorie, gram calorie, or calorie (symbol: cal) is the amount of heat (energy) required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 °C.
The large calorie, kilogram calorie, kilocalorie (symbol: kcal), or Calorie (capital C) is the amount of heat (energy) needed to increase the temperature of one kg of water by 1 °C, exactly 1000 small calories, or about 4.184 kJ.

emphasis added

Where is that reccomentdation? Is there any research to back it up? And as far as defeciancy goes, i don't think I'll be taking my information from Anderson A Anonymous.

Edited to say oops i didn't realize that i had accidentaly capitalized teh c in the Kcal. My bad. However kcal is always one Calorie, even if the wrong leter is capitalized.

[Vantage72]

I just went with Convert kcal to cal - Conversion of Measurement Units
1 kcal = 1000 cal.

The story about the skin problems is just a story i found on the web, nothing more than that. I did not take any of his recommendations.

There is many different advice on daily dosage of EPA and DHA. The concensus seems to be around 500mg per day as a minimum. Here's one example of Americanheart.org
" Evidence from prospective secondary prevention studies suggests that taking EPA+DHA ranging from 0.5 to 1.8 grams per day (either as fatty fish or supplements) significantly reduces deaths from heart disease and all causes. For alpha-linolenic acid, a total intake of 1.5–3 grams per day seems beneficial."
Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Recommendations for ALA intake, University of Maryland:
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)

[Ree]

Are you getting enough water so that you're well-hydrated? An increase in water consumption made a huge difference in a dry skin condition for me.

[Ralph]

First of all, thanks for all the wonderful feedback I just can't appreciate users of this forum enough.

I'll replace cheese with fish on my sandwitches and lets see what happens.

[Jennihul]

OMG, y'all with the K-cals....

Life and eating should not be that complicated. Vast variety, whole unprocessed foods, fresh natural meats, organic dairy if you choose dairy, 2/3rds raw if possible, saves a lot of calculating.

Jennifer

[Revolution]

You want answers from a quick glance?
Its obvious: dairy and soy.
Forget about milk its not healthy anyway regardless of weather it gives you pimples or not.
And you may be surprised and dissapointed by this but people who have an allergy to dairy also often have an allergy to soy.
Soy gives pimples to some people like nobodys business.
As for omega 3's you don't need to eat contaminated fish. A good alternative is flaxseed oil.

[Vantage72]

Originally Posted by Revolution

As for omega 3's you don't need to eat contaminated fish. A good alternative is flaxseed oil.

Flaxseed oil is not such a good alternative to fishoil because flaxseed oil contains ALA, a precursor to EPA and DHA. ALA needs to be converted into EPA and DHA by the body. In some people this conversionrate is as low as 1%.

Fishoil contains EPA and DHA directly, and is not contaminated like some fish can be.

Besides that Flaxseed oil has some controversy around it:
Flax Seed Oil Actually Increases Prostate Cancer While Fish Oil Decreases It - Articles

[Joeschmoe]

Eh, I don't worry about it. Not all early humans had access to fish and they did fine.

[Christian223]

Most people dont drink enough water, how many glasses of water you have per day?, drink a lot of water!.

[Vantage72]

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

Not all early humans had access to fish and they did fine.

Well I'd like to see some scientific data about that.

Sofar scientific research has linked low fish consumption to higher rates of depression and higher rates of heart disease.

Three new studies add strongly to the growing evidence that consumption of fish and fish oil supplements can reduce death from heart disease.
Fish oil and the heart
Omega 3 fatty acids from fish has been shown in epidemiological and clinical trials to reduce the incidence of heart disease by lowering cholesterol. Large-scale epidemiological studies suggest that individuals at risk for coronary heart disease benefit from the consumption of fish oil, as it is high in omega 3 fatty acids.
Fish, Fish Oils, Omega 3 fatty acids and Heart Disease
ABC News: Fish Oil Helps Treat Depression
A 1998 study published in The Lancet compared this data with fish consumption, finding the higher consuming populations experienced less depression.
A 2003 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry compared similar cross-national epidemiological data - this time involving bipolar disorder - and seafood consumption, again finding a strong correlation.
Omerga-3 for Depression and Bipolar