Does Chocolate Cause Acne?

Dear Ray,

Does chocolate cause acne?  It also depends on what chocolate you eat no?

What I found out is that the higher the percentage of Cocoa the less sugar there is. Usually the ones that are above 85% cocoa have more fiber than sugar! =] I get the Lindt 90% chocolate bar. It’s yummy, and has antioxidants, and also has less sugar than fiber xP!

– Danny

 

Hello Danny,

I love chocolate, especially white chocolate. I know, I know, it’s not really chocolate but I don’t care, it’s still so good…

Anyway, you’re asking:

1.) How can I eat chocolate without breaking out?

It’s actually pretty funny when I get this email because even though I tell a lot of my readers that they need to cut down on the sugar they ask me this question.  And instantly, I pretty much know that they’re usually looking for a loophole because they still want to eat sweets!!!

Don’t laugh too hard, because you probably fit in the sameeee situation =).  I know I did.

The short answer is yes, chocolate does cause acne.  I’m sorry to say it again, eating chocolate causes acne.

The long answer is, if you live in America, the chocolate that you and I know, the kind of chocolate that can be purchased at your local grocery store, that you get from See’s Candies, that comes on a dessert plate in your favorite restaurant, most likely will aggravate your acne.

This is because of the following reasons:

1.) Most chocolate contains large amounts of sugar

2.) Most chocolate contains large amounts of ingredients that are eventually converted into sugar in your body.

3.) Sugar will cause inflammation at a cellular level

4.) Inflammation leads to a pimple if you are prone to acne (how do you know if you’re prone to acne?  Keep reading my articles to find out!)

5.) Most chocolate does not contain healthy ingredients to counteract the acne causing effects.

HOW DOES BREAKING OUT FROM CHOCOLATE USUALLY HAPPEN?

So how do these freak chocolate “accidents” usually happen? Well, let’s take my life for example.  it’s usually one of two different kinds of scenarios:

1.) I’m out with friends and somehow we end up in front of a lot chocolate.  Maybe you’re on a road trip and your friend whips out a bag of M&M’s and you LOOOVVVEEEE the red ones (like I do) which is JUST WEIRD because all the colors of the M&M’s taste exactly the same.  Or you’re at a birthday party and there’s a bowl of chocolate that no one is touching on snack table so … what the heck, you take a few pieces every now and then.  Before you know it, you’ve single handedly eaten enough to feed a small African village and the herd of antelope living nearby.

2.) You bought it.  One day you’re hungry and want something sweet.  You’re looking through your pantry and find this lovely surprise.  “Oh, I’ve been pretty on task recently, I deserve a treat you think to yourself.”  Or “One won’t hurt.”  But that one quickly turns to two which turns to three which turns into, “Crap, I’ve finished the box.”

HERE’S A EXAMPLE OF BAD CHOCOLATE

You buy it at the store, you get it from the mall, you get it in your desserts.  See’s Candies, Hershey’s Kisses, M&M’s, Chocolate pudding, Chocolate milk, Reese’s Pieces (which are seriously AMAZING), Snickers, I could go on forever.  These chocolates have one thing in them and a lot of it: SUGAR.  This is your enemy, stay away from this because this will aggravate your acne like no other.  It usually doesn’t contain any other positive ingredients and if it does, there’s very little of it.

As of writing this article, today, these large corporations and popular brands have not come up with very healthy chocolate desserts.  If you eat these kinds of chocolates, most likely, it will lead to a break out and it will cause you to have acne and pimples.  Not pleasant.

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE OF BETTER CHOCOLATE

Now we’re looking at healthier alternatives, basically, the lesser of the two evils.  What really gives chocolate that great taste is the cocoa and the sweetness.  The sweetness is usually derived from the sugar that’s placed in the chocolate.  So if you can find a chocolate with more cocoa and less sugar, then you’ve found yourself a BETTER alternative than the other brands.

One example that I love to give is Lindt’s Dark Chocolate 99% Cacao.

This stuff is very high chocolate cocoa and probably isn’t what you’re normally used to.  This is because what we’re normally used to is a lot less cocoa and a lot more sugar.  But this is the real stuff, the REAL chocolate.  And if you can find chocolate that actually has fiber in it, then you’ve found something even healthier!  These kinds of chocolates are safer to eat for your acne than other kinds of chocolates.

***WARNING***

Don’t be fooled if you look at the back of the label and it says that it contains NO SUGAR!  Don’t be tricked!

What am I talking about?

“But Ray, didn’t you just say that it’s because of the sugar that chocolate is bad?  So if I find a chocolate that is low in sugar or contains no sugar, doesn’t that mean it’s safe?  C’MON!  I WANT to eat chocolate!” I know that’s’ what you’re screaming inside your head.

And actually, for some reason I imagine people stomping their feet and jumping up and down when they say that to me, lol.  But anyway, I’ve actually been tricked a few times by this creative marketing labeling before I really started doing my research.

Let me give you an example.

Ever heard of maltose?  Probably not, most people haven’t.

You not knowing what maltose is, is a good thing for manufacturers and a bad thing for you.

It’s got different names but relatively similar structures.  Sometimes it’s called maltose, sometimes it’s called malitol, sometimes I’ve heard people say maltitose.

This is because maltose technically turns INTO what we know as sugar, but manufacturers don’t have to label it as sugar on the front of the chocolate packaging.  That’s why they can say that their chocolate is SUGAR FREE.  So you eat this chocolate and it still causes acne.  What’s going on?

This is because the packaging says sugar free and technically they haven’t added the sugar that you and I know, they added maltose which is later converted into sugar.  So it still has that sweet taste because it’s chemical structure is very similar to structure but the loophole is that you think you’re eating a chocolate with no sugar and they get away with it.

Tricky huh?

Bet you’re glad you spent the time reading this article, don’t you?

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

So Danny, right now I’m going to say that you’re on the right track in finding a chocolate bar with less sugar. This is because less sugar can do less damage and cause less inflammation. A chocolate bar that causes less inflammation means that you’re eating a chocolate bar that causes less acne on your face. And that’s a good thing =).

For those of you who are “real” chocolate enthusiasts. It’s really about the cocoa content in the chocolate more than anything else. That’s what gives it that “chocolate” taste. The more cocoa you have, the more REAL chocolate you have. All that other stuff, that’s just filler 😉

Also, more fiber than sugar in a chocolate bar is a good thing as well. This is because the fiber can act as a barrier against the sugar thereby lessening the negative effectives of sugar.

The solution to curing your acne is to not focus on improving your health in the commonly accepted way.   Now, what I’m NOT saying is to not work out, not eat healthy, and not wash your skin.  That is NOT what I’m saying.  However, what I am saying is that what we believe now to be “taking care” of our bodies needs to be tweaked a little bit, especially if you have acne.  And that “tweak” that you’re looking for is exactly what How To Clear Your Acne is about.

What every acne sufferer must learn, especially the ones that are really fit and health conscious yet still can’t figure out why they still have acne, is that there is a DIFFERENT KIND OF TAKING CARE OF YOUR BODY ROUTINE for us.  Our bodies are different than the “average” person who eats whatever they want and just gains weight.  Sometimes our bodies, which you’ve probably already noticed, doesn’t even gain weight.  Sometimes, when we neglect our bodies, we just end up breaking out instead.  And it sucks.

It doesn’t make any sense that we’re working out, getting a good sweat, going to a sauna, washing our face, and then doing a facial mask yet we STILL breakout.  WHY?!

So whatever you do, don’t just keep working out and trying to eat “healthy” thinking that something’s going to change and that your acne is suddenly going to start clearing up if you just try harder.

I know this doesn’t work.  Because that’s what I used to do.  I would just redouble my efforts thinking that I wasn’t trying hard enough.  But that’s not the answer and it’s not going to cure your acne.

You need to stop and think.  Reformulate a new plan.  Really try and understand what’s going on.  Figure out the WHY.

It’s questions just like these that I racked my brain for years!   I’ve been in your shoes before and it’s hard to really know what works and what doesn’t.  It just seems like there are so many acne products out there, it’s hard to really find out with ones are telling the truth and which ones are lying. I’ve bought a lot of them too, Clearasil, Murad, ProActiv, those are just to name a few that I’ve tried.  I used to have use a lot of acne products such as aloe vera, benzoyl peroxide, face creams, masks, etc… But these days, I barely even wash my face once a day sometimes, and I’m still clear. I’m proof that clearing your acne the healthy and natural way works. And it’s permanent too, I still have clear skin and I have no problems maintaining acne free, clear skin.

And I finally figured out the perfect routine and way to care for our bodies and our skin if you have acne.  The true causes of acne are really dirty blood and an overwhelmed system. And I talk a lot about these two causes in my website and more in detail about how to deal with them in my products.

For anybody reading this article, if you’re serious about clearing your acne for good, the logical next step for you would be to learn about your body. It doesn’t matter if you choose me or someone else, I would highly recommend you to start learning about how to clear your acne from the inside instead of concentrating on the outside. Make sure you know that outside acne treatments are only short term, and that you really want to focus on clearing acne from the inside out.

I don’t hold back in this program, I’m telling you all of my experience, my stories, what I went through, what I learned, how I cleared my acne, and I’m teaching you exactly as if I were standing right next to you coaching you through the way. I WISH that I had something like this when I had acne. It would’ve saved me so much TIME, MONEY, and ENERGY.

I, and thousands of other people, have spent years of our lives suffering from acne.  And I mean REALLY SUFFERING from having acne.  And it’s just a handful of us that finally found the secret to be able to free ourselves from those dark days when we hated the reflections of ourselves in the mirror.

There are those people out there that look at their old pictures and remember the days when they USED TO HAVE acne.

Some of them now have moved on with their lives and forgotten about the nights that they were ashamed of meeting new people because of their acne.

The question I have for you is…

WILL YOU BE THAT GUY?

Or are you going to just be another one of the dozens and hundreds and thousands of guys that just stand and wait… or hopes that whatever you’re doing now will somehow magically start working?

If you want to know all the steps, top to bottom and front to back for how to clear your acne once in for all, then I have a hint for you …

Go get my eBook “10 Things Every Acne Sufferer Must Know for Clear Skin”, which can you can download and be reading in just a few minutes…

It’s time for you to stop sitting on the sidelines and missing out on the acne free life you should be living. I’ll show you how.