I have two copies of the Food Matters documentary to give away!
This is kind of a merge between a blog and twitter competition. I don’t want to force you to follow me on twitter (I’m kind of hoping you’ll want to and follow me anyway!), so instead I want you to use the twitter 140 character rule and post me a message in the response box below.
How to enter
Using a maximum of 140 characters, answer the question – What frustrates you most about eating for your skin?
I’ll be selecting the best two answers on Friday, the 11th August 2009. Winners will be announced on Twitter and notified by email.
What’s Twitter??
You may have seen a funky blue box in the right hand side bar of High on Health. This is Twitter which I use to notify you of any new products that come in, product updates, new blog posts, recipes, and of course my journey as a health blogger and a yogini living in Australia.
I’d love to follow you on Twitter too! So if you have a Twitter account or sign up for one, send me a message and say hi so I know to start following you.
If you want to start following me, you can add me from this page – http://twitter.com/highonhealth/
More about Food Matters
I can’t leave this blog post without giving you a bit more information about the actual prize.
I did a video review about Food Matters some months ago. If you haven’t seen it, check it out here –
Good luck everyone!
71 responses ↓
Hey Fran,
Food Matters had a huge impact on me also. It’s an eye opening piece of film which should be seen by all consumers. I was especially interested in the nutritional therapy component of the film.
After I saw it, I spent two weeks in Thailand eating raw organic produce. The results spoke for themselves. (morning tongue scraping was barely necessary as there were no toxins being eliminated through my tongue over night, increased mental clarity, clear eyes and skin, no afternoon siestas, and best of all, a craving for all things healthy !).
I hope your readers enjoy the film as much as I did.
Kris
The most frustrating thing about eating healthily occurs when going out with friends: Not all restaurants accommodate healthy-eating habits.
What bothered me the most? I really want to put two things:
1 – family – they do not understand at all why I would want to go off of dairy. Same with grains. Grains are supposed to be like the magnificent health food in today’s society, but all they tend to give you is a lot of trouble.
2 – free quality sweets – I had trouble deciding what to call it. I don’t have trouble avoiding things like candy, or oreos, or something like that. What I have trouble with is something like double german chocolate cream cake, or gourmet chocolate chip cookies, or something that looks and sounds wonderful. And I won’t buy something unhealthy, but it’s hard to resist when it’s free.
Now following you on twitter, but I’m not sure how to send you a message, oh well
Whoops, I thought it was 140 words, not characters, sorry!
The most frustrating thing to me is that it seems like the foods that are my absolute favorites are the ones that I cannot eat, it is such a bummer sometimes when everyone sits there and eats dessert while I watch! I have a hard time enjoying food anymore because the question of “is this going to irritate my skin” is always in the back of my mind! I feel so limited!
For me, it is the fact that getting into the regular habit of eating well can be SOOO tough…just when it is going well, then a bad day or a big piece of cake gets in the way!
Impulse buys! Those sweet little chocolate chip cookies…those creamy, milky lattes…they call to me seductively from the stores as I walk by.
I hate not having an income source, Im 17, to buy healthy food and not having any organic or health food stores in my area. So fustrating!
I think what Frustrates me the most is being scared of what to eat and not eating enough, because you don’t know what’s in it that could make you break out. Just like at my school i’m scared of eating the main lunch because most of the time it’s greasy and really bad for your skin so i just eat the salads which arn’t always enough.
“It can be a difficult process because results are not as immediate as humans have been raised to crave. It takes patience, which is abnormal in today’s culture.”
I want to elaborate, but with only 140 character allowance, I cannot
Thankies for the competition Fran. Been wanting to watch this documentary since I heard of it via your youtube channel. My fiance and I want documentaries all the time on alternative thinking (sad that healthy eating is not the norm, but an alternative, ain’t it?)
most frustrating; so far i haven’t been able to see any clear links between what i’m eating and how my skin is looking, in spite of all my reading and experimentation.
What bothers me most about the special diet is that eating healthy is way more expensive than eating unhealthy food. The icelandic currency is dropping so nearly everything is way more expensive. I’ts easier to just buy a pack of crackers than too think your meal through.
It’s hard sometimes to resist sweets but I try my best. I sometimes have a piece of fruit in between meals. Also, I live in the country side, two hours away from the capital Reykjavík, and it is hard sometimes to get the healthy stuff. Usually I have to go to Reykjavík when I want to buy something healthy and not so very expensive. I’ts easier to shop when you have more options.
But I think it’s fun to eat healthy when you have the time and are dedicated to the part.
p.s. I love your webside and letters, they’ve really helped me alot. Thank you.
I’m frustrated most by the fact that no matter what I try to eat or try not to eat.. I NEVER see any genuine results!
It’s frustrating not to get support from family and without an income now, it’s harder to eat as healthy as I want.
I feel like I don’t know enough about the benefits of eating healthy, to actually have the drive to stick to it. I need help! Plus, McDonalds is so cheap and convenient.
The thing that frustrates me most about eating for my skin is that the #1 food/drink on the DONT list is alcohol. Unfortunately alcohol also just so happens to be #1 on my love to DO list. =(
What frustrates me the most of eating healthy is trying find out if i’m allergic to something. Another frustrating thing for me is not knowing what to buy and where to buy it. Not all places sell healthy food/options specialy in NYC.
Also not having the support from your family and friends. It’s very hard to keep up with the plan when everyone look at you like a weirdo
Considering mercury levels in fish, phytoestrogens in soy and serious allergies to flax, canola, and cottonseed makes eating for my skin challenging and frustrating!
It’s amusing how we even have to define something as ‘healthy eating’ in the recent centuries. Only 1000 or so years ago, the regular diet -was- ‘healthy eating’…
—
My Answer:
The inconveniences:
[Answer Begin]
1. Finance
To buy your own (organic) food is costly. Especially for teens –with acne- who also have to spend on Acne maintenance
2. Time
The time required to keep updated with health information, find recipes, find the ingredients from a variety of food stores, and finally cook the food (when something similar can be found for much cheaper and ready-made) is time consuming
3. Lack of support from family
In exploring new things, and be a beginner chef, it is discouraging to hear mockery when an invention turns out a failure
4. Always having to cook own food as others can’t be trusted (for they often fail to mention hidden ingredients)
— [Answer End]
However, for each con there is a pro:
1. You learn to prioritize and be money efficient
2. You develop researching skills and learn to be a judge over the new information. Further it forces you to experiment and be creative to find alternatives
3. Learn to stick to what you believe is true, regardless of the discouraging environment. Further, how to politely deal with such people.
4. Reduce dependency on others (for teens anyways)
5. Best of all, what you are doing is proper. Though pleasurable, ultimately we eat to sustain our health. To eat in negligence of the ultimate purpose, and do what is to it quite contradictory – is foolish.
Hello Fran!=]
Okay well the thing that frustrates me the most for eating for my skin has to be when I go out. When i go out like lets say to a party or to the mall or just a friends house and even at school, there’s not a lot of healthy choices to pick from so you have to bare with eating junky and really bad foods thats not good at all for your skin and thats really frustrating for me.
Enjoying eating out – so many ingredients, seasonings, and sauces make for overprocessed meals. Raw foods and simple ingredients are hard to find when eating out.
What frustrates me the most about eating for clear skin is the likelihood–and one-time reality–of my regimen turning into an eating disorder and compulsion.
What frustrates me most about eating for my skin is that I can’t just eat whatever I want, and there are some people who can eat whatever they want without breaking out. It is also annoying because I have to put more thought into it than I would usually. And it could get more expensive.
I get fustrated when I look on the ingredients list of almost ANY item in a grocery store and it has added sugar
food is love, but not all food sustains love, we control a lot, but it is difficult to control the price of food that sustains and creates health and love in this world
What frustrates me most about eating for my skin is that I’m still not sure what to eat. And I don’t like putting that much thought into what I’m eating all the time. Thanks Fran!
The hardest thing about eating healthy is fast meals that FILL me up. I’m super busy and a teenage boy…. not a god combo when it comes to needing to eat healthy!
The hardest part would be the not knowing when the result is going to kick in. i’m currenty eating this type of vegie that’s known for treating acne in culture and it is taking forever!!
Whats Most Frustrating about eating healthy is…. that i dont know where to begin. ive read forums and sites on what and what not to eat, creating candida, natural foods; its such a mix of information now. What im doing now is working on staying calm, despite what acne has done to my physical appearance
Water! Ironically, the thing we’re mostly made up of is so hard to remember to top up
What frustrates me the most about eating healthy is the contradictions. One week a food such as egg is unhealthy and fattening and the next week its great and recommended everyday. How do you fit in five serves of vegies, how much is that, what should you include? There is so much information out there on how to cure acne but the information is usually all over the place and diets are often hard to sustain. Eating healthy should not be a diet but a lifestyle which is extremely hard to maintain if you do not have the right information to begin with.
I get very frustrated with killing off cravings. I live in Pakistan so there aren’t a lot of substitutes available for, say, chocolate or dairy products. Its literally like fasting 24/7/365 but in the end, the good skin is worth it… or is it?
I HATE not being able to enjoy my food! :’(
The most frustrating thing for me is when you try to eat healthy for your skin such as cutting down on junk foodand recieve a lot of criticism from family and friends claiming your anorexic or have an eating disorder when you are simply trying to eat healthy for your skin. This is frustrating because it makes me feel like they don’t believe me and a lack of belonging to loved ones resulting in decreased self esteem due to differences in values.
First, I dislike eating. It’s a necessity but I just don’t like it, maybe because I never feel good afterwards.
Now taking this in count, it’s even more frustrating to eat healthy! It’s money and time consuming, since I have to go and by the ingredients to cook (moste likely in a bio store anyway) AND cook as well.
The cooking itself – honestly who likes cooking for only yourself? Specially when you partner comes in and starts making idiotic comments *hmpf*
Lastly healthy meals are not always the best for me since I’m allergic to nickel. And it’s in most food as well like chocolate, oat, soy, …
… so I’d rather pass on eating all together. Whish that would help with skin issues as well *sigh*
(I hate taking medications, so I’m nearly always feeling bad after eating ANYTHING.)
Feeling like I have to be aware of consequences all the time re what I’m eating. Oh to be “normal” – to be able to have some occasional junk food for the hell of it! People saying things like “you should loosen up” when it comes to what I eat… oh god if only!
i dislike the fact that in my family I have never been a fussy eater. Now with an acne cautious mind I AM. Same goes with eating out with friends or round their houses. I avoid cheese bread and all things that are basic necessities in most peoples diets. I wish I could just do the same. To be honest, sometimes I do join them. It makes things a lot easier. Which is annoying.
there’s always some trepidation about eating! i can’t just relax and enjoy, which in my culture and family, is a big deal. did i win???
1. CULTURE. I currently live in Japan where white rice is the staple food of almost every meal. No one can understand why I wouldnt want to eat it.
2. DESIRE. I love cheese, ice-cream and most dairy foods from living most of my life in NZ. So hard to pass up.
3. CONFUSION. So is chocolate good or bad for acne? aaaaagh!
What frustrates me the most is not being able to go out with friends and family on occasions where u can have that fantastic meal but unfortunately u are sitting there with a big bowl of salad. When do going out I have to make sure I order the right food for my skin. Its also frustrating seeing others eating certain foods which u are unable to eat. Sometimes its very difficult to get certain products such as organic products especially for us younger teenagers we don’t have enough financial savings.
Hm, maybe the fact that since i stopped eating meat and eggs and al that I found out I have no protein in my diet which of course is quite bad….All I eat is carbs which of course include fruit and all that fresh stuff but still……And I’m not a vegan or anything – I’d eat meat but it’s a very rare occasion.
Second – the high prices of organic stuff…..and the fact that some things say organic but i see them in regular stores for cheaper!!!!
What fustrates me the most is that i can’t just Be. I’d like to just eat with no worry or guilt attached to it. I want to be free.
I’m sure frustration would only aid in stressing me out, so why bother? If I ever felt irritated by family, friends, money, I would remind myself that this isn’t just my skin; it’s my health, my life. It deserves more. And now that’s what I’m giving it.
That’s it. My answer. I guess I should mention that I’m EXTREMELY lucky. I have a (mostly) accepting family. A Wegmans (cheap but really nice grocery store). Not 1 but 3(!) resteraunts that have vegan selections, and I live in a small town. And because I live in a small town there’s usually great local produce available. I never had much of a sweet tooth. Which is odd because now I always want some of my awesome vegan (and usually fat free) desserts. I made a yummy peach upside down cake yesterday!
Anyway. I guess it can be frustrating, but it’s so long ago (2 weeks actually!) that I can’t even remember. Probably because the frustrating bits were so minor in the grand scheme of things. And I want to thank you. I would have never changed my diet, or lifestyle, if it wasn’t for coming across your blog. You’ve really changed my life. And by the number of responses here, I’m obviously not the only one. Maybe we should all pitch in and give you a prize
Thanks Fran.
Wow. My overall answer sure was a lot longer than I thought! And sorry for posting again, but I just wanted to say to some of the other commenters that when it comes to food, it can SO FREAKIN delicous. Out-of-this-world delicous. And it’s really great for you which is a major bonus. So experiment. Find some recipes that work for you, and be sure to throw out the ones that don’t. Forcing yourself to eat something you don’t like is one of the worst things you can do. It took my family and friends a matter of days to try my food. They said the smell ( and smile on my face
made it irrisistable. Yep.. It’s that good! So give it a try!
Biggest frustration: Trying to cook and eat the way I should while still enjoying my food. Wish my skin loved to try new recipes too!
What frustrates me the most is the long time you need to wait to see any results and if within that time you get an “stress attack”… bye bye results… then what happens is that you get stressed about not being able to get stressed, and what do you eat? A carrot? No…. lol… it never seems to end!
Forgetting to take enough food to parties and making the impossible decision between hunger and skin…
Here’s a my personal quote on what frustrates me the most on eating (this doesnt count
)
“Eating food goes beyond the mind, learning how to coordinate it to your body’s function and desire is perhaps the biggest challenge we face.”
BTW, I changed my mind so this is my “official” one.
Eating uber healthy is frustrating because I feel so imprisoned. My life doesn’t revolve around food; I have many dreams and aspirations yet to accomplish. I want to just grab some chips or make a ham and cheese sandwich without feeling guilty and worried about getting new pimples. Food was never my nemesis (up until I found out eating certain foods contributes to acne) but now I feel like I’m its slave…
Eating healthy for my skin is wonderful most of the time but my only issue is my sweet tooth. Eating right @ home is a sinch cause it’s already there, out 2 eat is strangling cause i always have 2 look @ the dessert menu. I enjoy making my own desserts @ home adding natural sweeteners, but sometimes it’s not the same. I always end up finding something out there I want & cant find it in a healthier way. I’m always looking up recipes 4 an alternative to my carvings & i cant keep up w/ them all.
when my skin starts out great and i walk around with confidence only to realize at the end of the day that i had a huge zit on the tip of my nose that people were staring at when i thought they were just looking me in the eye
It is frustrating that I can’t always afford to buy the ingredients to cook healthy meals every day, which I think is a problem for a lot of people.
What frustrates me most? KNOWING THAT I BECOME WHAT I EAT. Yet, that is empowering too, isn’t it?, hence this blog. Because knowledge is power: Through it we overcome.
It’s frustrating that I’m young and though I love food so much, I will regularly turn down food that I’m offered if I know it’s not healthy. Then people think I’m being rude and stuff…but I just care aobut my health! Also I would love to be able to eat whatever and not worry about what it would do to my skin, body, etc.
It seems like some people in these comments are working on will power. Try thinking about what is preventing you from having the will power to eat healthy. Once you commit to a healthy lifestyle, you’ll actually CRAVE healthy food instead of junk. For some people it may be financial constraints (which you can adjust if you change your priorities – i.e. spending more on food, less on movie tickets; get a job, etc.).
But for most, and I’m going to be completely blunt here – it’s laziness. And I’m speaking from experience. I used be too lazy and inexperienced to cook healthy meals, so I would eat pasta with canned sauce every day in college. I think the only veggies I ate in college came on my sandwich. And when I went to parties, I ate the chips, cake, etc.
Now I eat dinner beforehand! I can’t even think of biting into a gluten-filled cake, bagel, etc. anymore because I no longer want sweets and flour like I used to. Your tastes really do change when you commit to eating what your body can actually digest. Now I crave nutrients instead of ‘mouthfeel’ – yummy dense salads, fruit smoothies, protein, water, etc. I remember trying someone’s coke after not having it for years, and it tasted like poison (heck, it kills plants really well). I mean seriously, it was so sweet and acidic it burned my throat and left my mouth feeling sticky and dry.
Something to help with will power: Listen to the cells of your body instead of your tongue. Your body’s intuition will tell you what to eat. And there’s a big difference between INTUITION (your body telling you what is good for it) and ADDICTION (to sugar, flour, dairy, etc.).
Hope this helps!
The worst thing about eating for my skin is not avoiding unhealthy foods, but forgetting to eat for my body and health. I have found that I’ve lost weight and gained stress over reading what is good and bad for my skin. By avoiding all of the supposed “bad” foods that I hear about on different websites, I’m losing a lot of weight (I’m already underweight) and sleep stressing over it.
The most frustrated thing about my skin is to eat balanced diet, my brain force me to eat salad and low calories product but i want to eat every thing which i like, means burger pizza chocolates french fries chicken related items etc etc
For me it’s people eating unhealthy around me; from friends to family. I’m not earning anything either so at the moment i’m eating anything in the house…not good…
What frustrates me most about eating for my skin is avoiding some of my favorite foods. For example, I love grapefruit juice, but it wreaks havoc on my skin.
It is sad to think that the best food for your overall health – especially that which is best for your skin – is not necessarily the most easily available, or inexpensive for that matter. Even though I truly love fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and all the array of good foods for my skin out there, and would love to take my time in shopping for, cooking, and enjoying them all, it can be frustrating to ‘eat for my skin’ because of the way I have been raised up to eat – what we now deem a “normal” and even “healthy” diet, but which is sadly full of processed foods. This ‘normal diet’ is so far from being truly healthy that making the change to the diet that God really intended for us to have proves very ‘inconvenient’ at times.
the most frustrating thing about eating for my skin is that as a teenager, you go out alot to eat, and because we’re cheap, its normally fast food; but thats not possible when you have bad skin because i can definatly tell what i have eaten after, so it means you have to go eat somewhere healthier, and thus: more expensive. it also annoys your friends because it means they have to spend more money too!
1-chocolate, it’s irresistible, you’ve helped me with that though
2-people think I’m weird
3-I love free food, and saying ‘no’ could be mean
^^^^^^^^^^^^
that’s the real answer
i don’t like how it’s so hard to tell what foods affect your skin because of your particular body type. You can try trial and error.. but for the most part, it’s next to impossible to tell if your body just doesn’t like something and then takes it out on your skin. especially if you eat the same type of things every day.
The trial and error aspect is so difficult–years trying to pinpoint culprit foods..so hard when friends with beautiful skin eat so poorly!
I would like to fully immerse myself in the joy of feeling healthy and not be constantly thinking about what I am going to Look like when I eat certain foods
The thing that irritates me the most about eating for my skin is that i feel odd and having to make up excuses why im eating so “strange” compared with my friends.Like they don’t understand so i have to say like Im not hungry, or I made a promise to stay away for sweets for some weeks.. Im afraid they will start to think im getting anorectic or something!
Also i hate having cravings for evil food like cookies and candy!! I hate to love them :S
Hi there fran I recently seen one of ur YouTube video about your new skincare product and how it’s helping you with your acne you said it was called “faith” I live in Vancouver do you think I can find this in stores here if so which one right now my skincare product I’ve been using facedoctor RX rejuventating soap it’s containing all natural ingredients I havnt tried yet but would you know if that works wonders on acne it says it does but have you ever tried it
That I can’t control it. I work in a camp where the food is supplied. I bring what I can with me, and I try to be selective, but it leads to a very boring diet for weeks at a time. My skin flares up badly when I’m at work. It starts to heal for the few days I’m home, but as soon as I come back it flares up again.
I’ve asked to go to another job.
I misread the 140 characters. Now it won’t let me edit it :s
1. As a teen, the financial aspect and availability of organic foods especially if ur only options are buying from the local suburb
2. Support + lack of understanding from family since i try to keep updated and am exposed to all the info, why would my parents accept to pay more for “organic foods” or try new things.
I loved reading these comments, so enlightening. ^^
Something I’d like to add, in my own personal experience, though it overlaps, is not having someone to talk to who is enthusiastic as you are, because perhaps your too shy /introverted or personality/interest clashes.
I agree with a lot of the previous comments, but the one that really stuck out was:
“food is love, but not all food sustains love … but it is difficult to control the price of food that sustains and creates health and love in this world”
and, of course preparing meals, but this one too:
“What frustrates me the most about eating healthy is the contradictions… How do you fit in five serves of vegies, how much is that, what should you include? There is so much information out there on how to cure acne but the information is usually all over the place … a lifestyle … is extremely hard to maintain if you do not have the right information to begin with.”
The most frustrating thing about eating healthy for my skin is that it always seems like the very day after I have committed to eating all raw foods or maybe even just no sugar in my diet of foods, my parents or someone in the house will have baked cookies or chocolate cake . From a box, too! It’s absolutely unhealthy and so tempting. Or the most ordinary cooked meal will appear SO mouthwatering. That’s the hardest part.