Dairy updates; and the best ASW in a long time

[flexagon]

This is the best A Softer World in a long time:



I am perky and peppy today, due in part to my no-dairy experiment going well so far. I started it two days early... technically just "very reduced dairy" since I still put a bit of heavy whipping cream in my coffee both mornings. Today, it being March, I start the real experiment, though "very reduced" may also apply to today since I fully intend to eat the swordfish and potatoes out of the soup I cooked on Sunday night. I cooked, goddamn it, and I froze a portion before my California trip just so I could eat some, and there'll be only the smallest smidgeon of cream if I don't eat the broth.

Since starting, I don't think I've seen any new blemishes appear -- certainly not the big kind, though a couple are still running through their lifecycle. Of course, this is one of the most annoying things about acne -- one is ALWAYS just a few days away from clear skin, one is ALWAYS thinking "if these ones would just heal and no more appear, I'm set!". But I have some hopes on this no-dairy thing, after reading a stunning number of stories online; read all the comments here just for starters, if you have the patience. The big, peer-reviewed studies on milk and acne have been done on 9- to 15-year-olds, not on adults; in the absence of Big Science, I am indeed taking a whole lot of n=1 studies / anecdotes as data that some people have seen a correlation -- with, in fewer cases, evidence of causality, as some newly clear-skinned people have actually gone back on dairy and broken out again.

The main things people blame are lactose (if that's the issue, then lactaid or similar might allow zit-free dairy nomming), casein, hormones fed to cows, and natural cow hormones. Two of those appear much less in butter than in milk and yogurt; also, the strongest milk/acne link in those teenager studies was seen in skim milk drinkers. Therefore, I'm not sure whether to bother with not frying my eggs in butter this month. To be safe, I do think I should start off that way -- a total dairy ban will give me more information. (What to do? heisenbug has been regularly hard-boiling, but I really like more fat than that in the morning. I'll be making Scotch eggs tomorrow.)

I will be so happy if this helps. I know my acne's not horrible and I still idealize clear skin, in that funny way that we all sometimes idealize the attributes we don't have. I remember a conversation I had with bluechromis years ago, where I found out she correlates thinness with a lack of stress; I was like, what? Being thin does NOTHING to relieve stress, lady, trust me on this! But for her there is that correlation; her weight fluctuates, and when she is smaller she feels better about herself and is palpably less tense. And I do the same thing with skin; I feel way better about myself when my skin is clearer, and when I see people on the bus I think things like "what lovely skin. She must feel so pretty all the time!". Of course, that's not so at all; clear-skinned girl is probably stressed about her pet flaw. C'est la vie.

I hear that hazelnut milk makes excellent hot chocolate, faintly reminiscent of Nutella. So I'm off to the grocery store... hazelnut milk, something for coffee(?), kippered herring because I need something to eat with my Triscuits while I'm staying up late writing my self-review this month, sausage for Scotch eggs, peanut butter.

Comments

[coraline]

fry eggs in olive oil?
and it's still lactose not lactase :)

I hear you on the pet appearance flaw though. mine is also my skin :/

[flexagon]

Damn it, did I seriously do that twice?? I did! Edit edit edit. I swear I know the difference.

Eggs can indeed be fried in olive oil. I have rather a tendency to overheat the pan, though, and wanted the excuse to make Scotch eggs again.

I think everyone has such a pet. They are not so well-behaved, these pets. Perhaps they come from a feral population and we'd all be better off getting them from breeders.

[rifmeister.livejournal.com]

You might try frying in clarified butter. We generally use that instead of butter anyways when cooking.

[flexagon]

I might. :-) Do you have a sense of how difficult it is to find/buy?

[rifmeister.livejournal.com]

Easypeasy.

[nahele-101.livejournal.com]

Try coconut oil for frying eggs and coconut,almond, oat milks for subbing for dairy?

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

I love eggs in coconut oil, especially with ground flax seeds.

[nahele-101.livejournal.com]

Oooooooh...interesting idea! Will try that!

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

I started using the oil cleansing method on my skin a number of years ago and have been comparatively blemish-free. I have a pimple just before I start my period, but that''s about it. I started with a blend of olive oil and castor oil. For a long time, I used pure coconut oil, and lately I have been using sunflower seed oil with various essential oils. My skin has been a lot better.

[flexagon]

Thank you! I'm actually trying to avoid changing multiple things at once. If I do that, conflicting effects might make it hard to tell what's making which difference (if anything makes any difference).

Another possible future direction is omega-3 fatty acids. This study shows correlation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24553997

But first, this dairy thing for a month.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Coconut milk is amazingly creamy. Somebody who hates the taste of coconut would want to use something else, but otherwise it's great. If you use the refined stuff, the coconut flavor is mild, and goes nicely with chocolate (in chocolate milk, hot cocoa, or chocolate ice cream.) Or in many kinds of cream sauces.

Coconut oil is sold in jars that look like mayonnaise jars. It's solid at room temperature, and liquid at body temperature, sort of like butter. It's generally not refrigerated. Some stores have it with baking supplies, and others have it with natural/organic foods.

Coconut milk is traditionally sold in cans, on the shelf with asian specialty foods. (Because people use it to make curries.) Sometimes you can find it in cartons next to the soymilk, in the refrigerator.

[flexagon]

Thank you! Really useful.

For the moment I've found some unsweetened almond milk / coconut blend that works pretty well for hot chocolate & coffee, certainly well enough to get by on.