What Your Skin May Be Telling You About What You’re Eating

By Nina and Randa Nelson, twin sisters and co-authors of The Clear Skin Diet

Your skin is often treated like a surface problem.

When something changes, we reach for a cleanser, serum, medication, moisturizer, or concealer. Sometimes those things help. Good skin care matters, and some skin conditions absolutely require medical treatment.

But we learned the hard way that sometimes it is worth looking beyond the bathroom cabinet—and into the kitchen.

We had been vegan for most of our lives when, at age 20, we both developed severe cystic acne.

And when we say severe, we mean devastating.

Our faces became covered with painful, inflamed breakouts. We were young performers and content creators whose work frequently put us in front of cameras, and suddenly we didn't want anyone to look at us. We stopped wanting to go out. Auditions became agonizing. Social situations became something to avoid.

Severe acne can affect your confidence, your work, your relationships, and your willingness even to leave the house.

We tried dermatologists, medications, antibiotics, topical treatments, expensive facials, supplements, and nearly every promising skin-care treatment we could find. Eventually we were offered Accutane.

Meanwhile, we kept asking a question that wasn't getting much attention:

Could something we were eating be contributing to this?

We were already vegan, so initially that seemed unlikely. But "vegan" describes what you don't eat. It doesn't necessarily tell you what you do eat.

When we looked more closely, our diet had changed. We were eating considerably more processed vegan food and, especially, much more dietary fat.

So we decided to try something very simple.

The Diet That Changed Our Skin

We returned to the low-fat, starch-centered plant-based diet we had grown up eating.

Potatoes. Rice. Oatmeal. Beans. Corn. Whole grains. Vegetables. Fruit.

During the skin-clearing phase, we eliminated added oils and concentrated high-fat foods such as nuts, nut butters, seeds, avocado, coconut, and olives.

Within days, something encouraging happened: new breakouts began slowing down.

Our existing acne didn't disappear overnight. Skin takes time to heal. But over the following weeks, our skin improved dramatically.

That experience eventually became the foundation of our book, The Clear Skin Diet.

But we didn't want to write a book based only on what happened to two identical twins.

So we decided to see what happened when other people with acne tried the same approach.

Putting the Diet to a Real-World Test

We organized an Acne Intervention program in Los Angeles and asked Steve Lawenda, MD, a physician experienced in plant-based lifestyle interventions, to medically supervise our pilot program.

Our first in-person group included 15 people with acne. Dr. Lawenda examined participants at the beginning and again after 30 days and followed them during the intervention.

We supplied groceries, recipes, education, and support. Participants followed the same basic very-low-fat, whole-food, plant-based approach that had helped us.

We later expanded the intervention online to roughly 120 additional participants.

The results were encouraging.

Some people began seeing improvement within a couple of weeks. Others needed six, eight, twelve weeks or longer. Many of the changes were documented with before-and-after photographs, which we included in our book.

Among participants who closely followed the program, improvement was common and sometimes dramatic.

This was a pilot lifestyle intervention, not a randomized controlled clinical trial, and it cannot prove that this diet will clear acne in everyone. Acne has multiple causes, and no responsible person should promise that one diet will work for every person.

But it did tell us that our own experience was not unique.

The Six Pillars of the Clear Skin Diet

The program we used was deliberately simple.

1. Eat plant foods only

During the intervention, that means no meat, dairy, eggs, fish, or other animal products.

Dairy in particular has been investigated repeatedly in connection with acne, possibly through hormonal and growth-signaling pathways. Whatever the precise mechanism, dairy isn't part of the Clear Skin Diet.

2. Make unrefined starches the cornerstone of your diet

This is important because people sometimes hear "diet and acne" and conclude that carbohydrates are the enemy.

That is not our message.

We ate—and encouraged participants to eat—satisfying starches such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, oats, beans, lentils, corn, whole-grain pasta, and other grains.

These are the center of the meal, not a side dish.

Research has found associations between acne and high-glycemic Western dietary patterns, particularly patterns heavy in sugary drinks, sweets, and highly processed foods. But that is very different from saying potatoes, beans, oatmeal, or fruit should be feared.

Our own experience was that when we returned to simple starch-based meals and removed the rich, fatty, highly processed foods we had been eating, our skin began to recover.

3. Eliminate added oils during the skin-clearing phase

Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, canola oil—the intervention removed added oils.

This was one of the central principles of the program, not a minor detail.

4. Temporarily eliminate concentrated high-fat plant foods

During the active skin-clearing phase, we also eliminated nuts, nut butters, seeds, avocado, coconut, olives, and similar foods.

That does not mean we believe everyone with acne must avoid these foods forever.

The purpose was to conduct a clean intervention.

When you are suffering with severe acne and desperately want to know whether food can help, doing several things halfway doesn't teach you very much.

Get the skin under control first.

Then experiment.

That was the advice in our book, and it is what we eventually did ourselves.

Once our acne cleared, we were actually reluctant to experiment for a long time. Our acne had been so devastating that neither of us wanted to risk going backward.

After several years of clear skin, however, we gradually began trying some higher-fat foods again.

Today we can eat foods such as peanut butter and other higher-fat plant foods from time to time.

The strict Clear Skin Diet was never meant to mean that every person must avoid those foods for life.

It was an intervention designed to stop active acne and help identify what your own skin tolerates.

Once the skin is clear and stable, foods can be added back carefully, one at a time.

5. Focus on whole and minimally processed foods

A vegan label doesn't automatically make something health food.

A diet filled with vegan cheese, fried foods, oils, pastries, chips, imitation meats, and rich desserts is very different from one based on potatoes, rice, beans, vegetables, and fruit.

During the intervention, we kept food simple.

Think oatmeal with fruit, potatoes with vegetables, rice and beans, lentil soups, whole grains, oil-free pasta dishes, vegetables, and fresh or frozen fruit.

The goal isn't perfection.

The goal is to remove as many variables as practical and give your skin a chance to settle down.

6. Eat simply and repeat meals you enjoy

You don't need 30 different breakfasts.

If you love oatmeal and fruit, eat it frequently.

If rice, beans, and vegetables work for you, make a big batch.

If potatoes are your favorite food, build meals around potatoes.

Simple meals make the program easier to follow—and consistency makes it easier to learn whether changing your food is affecting your skin.

Why Go All In—At First?

We understand that the intervention can sound restrictive.

But context matters.

We're not talking about somebody with clear skin casually trying to optimize an already healthy diet.

We're talking about the teenager covering their face before school.

The adult canceling social plans.

The person who doesn't want to be photographed.

The person who wakes up every morning wondering how many new pimples appeared overnight.

We know that person because we were that person.

When severe acne has taken over your life, giving a structured dietary intervention six or eight weeks—or longer if necessary—may seem very reasonable.

The important thing is that if you're going to test the approach, actually test it.

If you remove oil during the week but eat oily restaurant food every weekend, continue eating peanut butter every morning, and occasionally have vegan cheese pizza, you haven't really learned whether the low-fat intervention works for you.

Give it a fair experiment.

Then evaluate the result.

What About Sugar and High-Glycemic Foods?

There is legitimate research connecting high-glycemic dietary patterns with acne, and we certainly don't recommend a diet filled with sugary drinks, candy, and highly refined junk food.

But we don't want that message twisted into "carbohydrates cause acne."

Our diet is built around carbohydrate-rich foods.

Beans contain carbohydrate. Oatmeal contains carbohydrate. Potatoes contain carbohydrate. Fruit contains carbohydrate. Rice and corn contain carbohydrate.

These foods formed the foundation of the intervention that cleared our own skin and helped many of the people in our programs.

Added sugars can be reduced further as a troubleshooting step if someone's acne isn't responding as hoped. But the core Clear Skin Diet has always been a very-low-fat, starch-centered, whole-food, plant-based approach.

Your Skin Is Complicated

None of this means every pimple is caused by something you ate.

Acne can be influenced by genetics, hormones, medications, cosmetics, stress, sleep, and other factors.

Persistent, painful, infected, suddenly changing, or scarring skin conditions deserve professional medical evaluation. A dermatologist can diagnose problems that no dietary change can identify.

Nutrition and dermatology don't have to be enemies.

And please don't discontinue prescribed medication simply because you change your diet. Discuss medical decisions with a qualified health professional.

Our message is simply:

Don't dismiss food as irrelevant.

If you have severe acne, especially acne that has not responded well to conventional approaches, changing what you eat may be another tool worth exploring.

Clear Your Skin First. Then Learn What Works for You.

One misconception we especially want to correct is that the Clear Skin Diet was intended to be a permanent elimination diet.

It wasn't.

The strict phase is an intervention.

Simplify the diet. Remove the suspected triggers. Give your skin enough time to respond.

Then, once your skin is clear and stable, you can carefully broaden your diet.

Add a food back. Give it some time. See what happens.

Some people may discover that particular higher-fat foods trigger breakouts. Others may tolerate them perfectly well once their acne is under control.

Today our diets are not identical to the strict intervention we followed when our faces were covered in cystic acne.

They don't need to be.

The intervention did its job.

It helped us regain control of our skin at a time when we felt as if we had lost control of our lives.

Listen to Your Skin Without Blaming Yourself

Acne is not a character flaw.

It doesn't mean you're dirty. It doesn't mean you lack discipline. And it doesn't determine your attractiveness or your worth.

So if you're struggling, approach the problem with curiosity rather than shame.

Get appropriate medical care.

Look at your skin-care products.

Look at your sleep and stress.

And yes, take an honest look at your food.

If you want to see whether the Clear Skin Diet approach can help, give the actual intervention a fair trial:

Plant foods.
Starch-centered.
No added oil.
No concentrated high-fat foods during the intervention.
Whole and minimally processed foods.
Simple, repeatable meals.

Give your skin time.

Then let the results—not dietary ideology—tell you what to do next.

Join Us for the Plant Strong Glow Challenge

That same spirit of curiosity is why we're happy to support the Plant Strong Glow Challenge.

For 31 days, the challenge encourages you to eat more colorful fruits and vegetables, make additional Plant Strong choices, and notice how changes in food and daily habits affect the way you feel.

You may notice changes in your skin. You may notice differences in energy, digestion, sleep, or simply how comfortable you've become preparing plant-based meals.

And if acne is the reason you're here, remember that our own Clear Skin Diet intervention goes further than simply "eating more color." It is a structured, very-low-fat, starch-centered whole-food plant-based approach designed to give troubled skin a serious dietary experiment.

For us, it changed everything.

For many people who participated in our intervention programs, their skin improved too.

If you're suffering, that possibility may be worth exploring.

About Nina and Randa Nelson

Nina and Randa Nelson are identical twin sisters, lifelong plant-based eaters, content creators, and co-authors of The Clear Skin Diet: The Six-Week Program for Beautiful Skin. After developing severe cystic acne despite eating a vegan diet, they adopted a very-low-fat, starch-centered whole-food plant-based intervention that transformed their own skin. They subsequently organized physician-supervised Acne Intervention pilot programs to explore the approach in other people with acne. The Clear Skin Diet is designed as a strict skin-clearing intervention, after which foods can be carefully reintroduced according to individual tolerance.

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Nina and Randa were featured on the Plant Strong Podcast - you can watch the interview HERE.