Here’s my experience with eggs and acne…
Several months ago, I gave up eggs – kind of by mistake – but I went 40 days without eating them. I started a seed cycling protocol to help with balancing my hormones because I had stopped taking oral contraceptives. The protocol required incorporating all kind of seeds into my diet, so I started eating Powerseed Overnight Oatmeal instead of eggs, just about every morning for breakfast. It was an easy way to get in the seeds.
Prior to going off the pill (and even before I started taking it), I was getting huge, deep acne cysts on my neck. I’d get a few breakouts on my face from time-to-time, but they were minor and nothing like what was happening on my neck. The cysts on my neck randomly popped up all month long, so they didn’t seem related to my hormones. They were semi-painful and looked terrible (and no amount of concealer covered them up), so I asked my GI doctor, Registered Dietitian friends, and Googled like crazy to figure out how the heck to get rid of them. No one really had an answer and, not surprisingly, the Internet was all over the place with what to do. I struggled with this awful neck acne for months and months (and wasted money on so many acne products), but then, during the seed cycling protocol, they just went away. It was like magic! My experience with eggs and acne was finally starting to make a little bit of sense!
Once I realized that maybe eggs were making me breakout, I continued to avoid them in my diet. My skin got so much better (I also credit Beautycounter for the improvement!) until… Kerrie and I went to San Francisco. Since we were traveling and ate all of our meals out, I ended up ordering a variety of egg breakfasts during our stay. I guess I was getting a little cocky because my skin was the best it’s been in years, and I didn’t think a few eggs would make a huge difference. Plus, eggs were an easy source of protein, and I just couldn’t say no to the delicious avocado egg sandwiches on just about every menu. Of course, breaking out crossed my mind, but I figured, worse case, it was a good test to see what would happen. Sure enough, once I was back home, a few cysts popped up on my neck. Darn eggs!
My Experience with Eggs & Acne
Do eggs cause acne?
After that, I laid off the eggs again until New Years Eve day when Mal offered to make me an egg sandwich one morning. It was the last day of 2017, and I figured, “What the hell?” Plus, I wanted to see if just a single egg would make me breakout. The outcome: A cyst on the side of my neck popped up just a couple of days later. Whomp whomp.
So, eggs are out of my diet right now. If they’re cooked into something, like a donut, things are mostly fine, but I just try not to go overboard on recipes/foods with eggs in them. That’s just part of my experience with eggs and acne. From what I know about eggs, it’s typically the whites that give people problems. I want to try eating just some yolks (since they’re so nutritious) to see what happens. I’ll be sure to report back! In the meantime, I wanted to share some egg-free breakfasts that I’ve been eating lately. I definitely miss eggs, especially egg sandwiches, for breakfast. But now that I’ve found some new favorites, it’s not so bad. I hope you guys find them helpful!
Top left clockwise: Egg-Free Breakfasts
- Corn tortillas with mashed sweet potato, baby spinach, shredded chicken, and BBQ sauce
- Rice cakes with peanut butter, banana slices, and cinnamon
- Avocado toast with hemp seeds and ground flaxseeds
- Chicken sausage, roasted potatoes, and sauteed spinach with Everything but the Bagel Seasoning
Check out my Eggless Paleo Breakfast Ideas!
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