Plant-based Skin Benefits

“I had the greatest epiphany of my young adult life—I wonder if what I put into my body could change my erratic skin?”

Tomahawks are the rare exception, especially when the restaurant is best known for their steak selection. April 2016.

My relationship with my skin is a long tale full of rollercoaster rides—three and a half decades of emotional (and physical) high’s and low’s. The art and science behind my skin care is rooted from my existing skin conditions—severe eczema (as a child), mild psoriasis, and a genetically bred skin disorder call ichthyosis. Today, most people will look at my face and they have no idea that I’ve desired beautiful, healthy skin all of my life, and that I struggle to maintain visibly normal skin even today.

When puberty hit and acne made its debut, the combination of pimples and eczema around my hairline and ears turned into weeks of self-shaming and hiding behind layers of clothes and long hair. It seemed like a never-ending crusade with genes I had no control over despite the dermatology-grade medicine cabinet of creams, ointments, solutions, and lotions I had at home. Nothing would cure any of it, and I didn’t know when the enemy (or enemies) would strike.

I spent over 2 decades a victim to my uncontrollable skin, never knowing which battle I’d wake up to each morning—another cluster of acne cysts or flakes of eczema that made dandruff look like a dream.

In my early twenties and during my first years in LA, I was working for a woman who was an avid animal rights’ activist. She introduced me to the idea of becoming a vegan (more like forced meat out of the office); I’ve never really heard much about it before meeting her. It was the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard of—you want me to stop eating eggs, cheese, and bacon? What miserable planet do you live on? I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of giving up the most delicious foods in the world… and for what, to save cows?

Obviously, there was a lack of education and information on my part. I didn’t grow up with that kind of health culture—my mother always fed me vegetables and lots of fermented Korean foods, and told me to stay away from McDonald’s—but never really explained why, and I didn’t really care. Naturally, as a rebellious immigrant child to a traditional, tiger mom, I never gave much thought to what she said—so I just ate whatever I wanted, lots of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Jack’n the Box. You name it, I ate it.

But back to the vegan lady—she was my boss, and she wasn’t very nice to me. I was terrified of her. And although the idea of giving up eggs, cheese, and bacon seemed ludicrous, I thought I could win brownie points with her if I became a vegan. So just like that, I gave up all my favorite foods one day and found vegan-related subjects to drum up conversation with her—all because I wanted her to like me at work. She gave me a laundry list of books to read, documentaries to watch, restaurants to visit, etc. and my plan seemed to work.

After eating (what seemed like) bird food for just over a month, I started to notice a difference in the way I felt, but more importantly at that time, I started to notice a difference in the way I looked. My skin was less oily, my pimples were much smaller in size and less of them on my face! It didn’t click immediately that maybe the change in my diet was changing my skin—but I became very curious. I started to think through my daily routine, I hadn’t changed much of what I was doing or the products I was putting on my face. The only tangible difference was the food I was putting in my belly, and because I wasn’t eating greasy, heavier foods, I wasn’t craving sodas, so I had naturally stopped drinking Pepsi and started drinking more water. Two for one deal, I was winning!

I had the greatest epiphany of my young adult life—I wonder if what I put into my body could change my erratic skin?

I became obsessed. I started to love bird food, rabbit food, and all small-caged pet foods (plants, nuts, and grains). I didn’t stay vegan for too long, but I kept my diet vegetarian and integrated a bit of cheese, butter, and eggs back into my meals (little did I know at that time, dairy is the worst of them all). I maintained a strict diet for almost 4 years—and boy, did that change my life.

The quickest, and most noticeable change was the acne—most of it subsided and the regular pimple clusters transitioned to minimal premenstrual appearances only. The monthly eczema visits were now quarterly check-in’s—just a gentle reminder that they’re still very much a part of my life, but they stopped trying to fight with my sanity every day. 

Fast forward almost a decade and a half later, with a lot more education and self-guided discovery: I am still mostly vegetarian. 

I’ve definitely had spans of no meat, and lots of meat over the last decade (still), with months of sugar versus no sugar, gluten versus no gluten, etc.—I’ve tried, played, done, and experimented with every food group out there. I still struggle with the idea of never eating cheese and bacon. But all in all, my diet has become much more stable and manageable—plant-heavy, dairy-light, minimal wheat, sprinkled in with a bit of wild caught fish each week. And I even let myself have the occasional cheese and bacon if I really want it. It’s just a matter of regulation now. 

The result: I get an occasional pimple here and there, but never a full-on, crater-face breakout like before. And the eczema, I’ve had 6 eczema breakouts in the last 10 years—and these eczema outbursts are no more than 2-3 inches in diameter, and I’ve figured out how to treat them over 7-10 day course (they used to take over an entire limb and last for months). 

I still love food of all kinds, and sharing delicious food is the equivalent to sharing love for me—never say never to anything. But the way I think about food is completely different now because I know what it’s like to feel good, looking good—and that to me, is everything. #plantskincare