Skin changes- need feed back

[slea]

Hello everyone! I have known about the Wai diet for four years this month now. I am a 38 yo female and started this diet due to a severe case of acne rosacea. I am happy to say that it has cured my rosacea by 90%. It took about two years because I included munch foods here and there and I drink alcohol socially occasionally. Here is my issue, my skin looks more aged on certain days and better on others. I know that the moisture level fluctuates in your skin depending on what you eat. I still include a small amount of munch foods occasionally and on a few times a month, I will have a full cooked meal. It doesn't affect my rosacea any more to eat cooked, I think I just needed better nutrition and the Wai diet made me healthier. It's more hormonal than anything. The only time I break out now is a very small amount around my period. I mainly follow Wai now for heath reasons and anti-aging.

For example, last week I was 99% because of a small amount of chocolate and some roobiroos tea. ( I swear the roobiroos makes my skin look better, I know herbal tea is not on Wai) This weekend, I ate 80% cooked while visiting a friend out of town. I had bread with butter, rare steak, baked potato with butter, steamed veggies, french fries, sweet tea, popcorn, Coca Cola, a beer and two glasses of wine. After the middle of my cycle last week my skin started to look sallow and wrinkly. It looked really bad yesterday, especially around my eyes and forehead. Today it is remarkably better and looks much more youthful. People usually guess my age around 27. I think I looked my age the last few days until today. Could the cooked food have made my skin swell and fill back out?

I just wanted to get an opinion on if:

1. It's hormonal? Because I notice a difference after I ovulate and my period approaches, I get the sallow look and my rosacea flares up a tiny bit on my chin on one side or the other. (that is the 10% of the rosacea that is left, and sometimes I go all month with out it)

2. It's the munch food, especially chocolate? I eat some almost every day. I try to stay away from milk choc., but I got some for Valentines day. Just finished them off.

3. I'm not eating enough salmon or egg yolks? I eat salmon twice, some times three times a week. Usually have one egg yolk, sometimes two a day. I usually only crave them a week or two before my period.

I also notice the longer I stay 100% my skin looks thinner and sometimes drier, but it almost like I have different skin every day wrinkle wise! It's very frustrating and I'm wondering if I just stuck to 100% if the dryness and wrinkly look will eventually work it's self out?

Any ideas?

[Oscar]

Hello Slea.

My opinion would be that hormones can play a role, but for sure the munch food does. Basically the closer you are to 100%, the bigger the effect of munch foods is.
I don't think you lack animal protein, unless you eat very small amounts.
The dryness would sort itself out, when you're 100% (less water-attracting).

[RRM]

the problem with not doing the 100% raw version is that it is impossible to accurately judge what is not working for you, unless you do it extremely systematic.
That means that for 2 weeks you have to eat exactly the same every day to find out whether it works for you. Then you can add something or leave something out for the next 2 weeks to be able to detect its effects.

what works best is going 100% raw first, and then start experimenting with other stuff. But in every case you need to do it systematically (always at at least 2 weeks eating exactly the same), if you want to be able to draw any conclusions from it, that is...

[slea]

Thanks Oscar and RRM. I think I am just trying to get away with too much in my diet. I want to be able to do it all and I know now and have known that will not work! I am just going to have to be more strict and do with out the munch food. Unfortunately, I am one of those who cannot have much munch foods in the way of bread and such. I just need to go a few weeks 100% and my munch food ways will be forgotten! Now I just need to figure out how to side step all of those "just have a bite" comments! One bite for me equals falling of the wagon and being sucked back into cooked food sneaks! Sad but true. I am a cooked food addict.