Say CHEESE!!!!

Maybe you should start saying KALE instead of cheese... have you ever wondered why people say you should eliminate dairy? We grew up on this cow juice and love the Got Milk moustache campaigns! So what’s the real deal?

Your skin acts as an excretory system to eliminate substances that don’t agree with your body. Dairy is a mucous-forming food that can be difficult for the body digest—which is why many people are lactose intolerant. When you ingest more dairy than your body can digest, it can be excreted through cystic acne (hard, painful bumps under the skin) on the chin and jawline. Try cutting out all forms of dairy (yogurt, milk and all cheeses) for three weeks to see if any new breakouts appear. If not, this very well may be the underlying cause of breakouts on the chin.

Why the chin and jawline area? Most dairy cows are given growth hormones. Therefore, the consumption of milk, cheese, and yogurt influences endogenous hormones. These mimic the hormones that trigger the skin’s oil production, thus starting the acne process. There are more sebaceous glands in the face.

Since hormones are fat soluble, the body uses these glands to excrete fat-based hormones, specifically in the chin and jawline area. It’s also important to know that out of the blue, you can suddenly develop an intolerance to dairy. The body is very uniquely strange in this way!

Note: If you LOVE dairy (I mean, who doesn’t love cheese and ice cream?!), it doesn’t mean that you can’t ever eat it again. Eliminating it for three weeks will help determine if it’s causing your cysts. If after three weeks of no dairy, you’re not getting new breakouts when you normally would, consider this is a good thing.

You now have amazing knowledge to make choices moving forward. Is that cheese really worth a cyst when you have a special event coming up? If you can’t bear to give up dairy completely, try slowing introducing it back into your diet. If you start getting jawline or chin acne again, you then have an understanding of your body’s tolerance level. For some people, they can consume a little dairy but not too much. For others, they must avoid it completely to keep their skin clear.