The Bean Protocol for Acne
The bean protocol for acne is the easiest way to get clear skin! If you want a simple way to clear hormonal acne without harmful medications or toxic creams, then this will be the answer to your prayers!
I’ve struggled with pimples as soon as I got my period when I was 12 years old. And as I entered college and experienced one traumatic event after another, my acne was out of control.
I’ve had everything from a simple pimple, cystic acne, blackheads, whiteheads, malia, and everything in between. And I’ve tried every remedy from Clear and Free, stained all my colored clothes using Proactiv, and I believed doctors when they said the pill would help clear it up. 🤣
Nothing worked consistently, and it also never lasted until I tried the Bean Protocol.
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What Causes Acne?
According to Karen Hurd, there are four culprits to acne (and they all cause hormonal imbalances).
Sugar
Caffeine
Fragrances
STRESS
I don’t have experience with all of these stimulants causing acne, but I have experience with sugar and stress.
sugar
I can vouch for sugar. When I had a month of great skin, I remember then decided to enjoy a couple (about like three) of fancy donuts. OMG, they were so freaking delicious! Bacon maple, red velvet, and a classic chocolate donut, so worth it, right?
WRONG!
Less than 24 hours later, I woke up with not one but a full face of pimples.
That’s when I knew sugar was partially responsible for my skin.
After four months on the protocol, I decided to have a snickers bar. This was a science test to see how sugar would impact me now that my body was functioning properly. At least better than it had been functioning.
This was a guilt-free snickers bar because I made it one!! Never feel guilty for not doing the protocol 100% - do what you can and learn to listen to your body.
I took a bite of this small snickers and omg SUGAR rush. I felt the sugar pulsating through my blood all the way to my heart. It was intense. I slowly finished the snickers, enjoying every bite because come on, it’s a snickers bar! But within five minutes I had anxiety, and within 16-hours, I had several pimples. They appeared on the left side of my lip and on my chin.
stress
When I was 19, I was held up at gunpoint. I suffered from PTSD, which turned into an entire cluster of stress, alcoholism, and depression.
During this time, my skin was so bad; no makeup could cover up my face. Even when I tried eating better during this time, I was so stressed that it caused more inflammation and acne.
Even today, when I’m stressed about regular life stuff, or politics, I get pimples in the same places, and along my lip line.
How do I know it’s stress because I’m on the protocol, eating my beans daily, and I can now feel my body’s reaction to stress - which is anxiety, increased heart rate, and my hair falls out more than usual.
I’m sure if you decide to do the protocol for at least three months, you’ll notice the same changes in your body from stress and sugar.
Does oil cause acne?
Karen Hurd doesn’t mention this, at least not my knowledge, but before I started the bean protocol, I was consuming a lot of olive oil. My boyfriend and I used olive oil to saute everything like cover veggies for roasting, regularly enjoyed Aglio e olio and other pasta dishes filled with oil.
And since I wasn’t eating any legumes or psyllium husk, I believe, it only made my bile worse. As mentioned in What is the Karen Hurd Bean Diet/Protocol? Our bile becomes toxic with an overload of sugar, caffeine, stress, and fragrances. When we don’t consume soluble fiber, there’s no way for the poisonous bile to leave the body, which is then recirculated into the system, making the bile worsen over time. Gross.
So my high-oil diet only made my bile worse.
How does the bean protocol help acne?
When you follow the bean protocol, the goal is to stop over stimulating your body with stimulants and to remove the toxic bile with soluble fiber.
Once your body has an opportunity to detox, it will begin to eliminate the crap that is in your pores.
If you need the details about the bean protocol check out this post or sign up for the newsletter.
the detox process does cause more acne
As the body heals, the body detoxes using the largest organ of the body, our skin! So, during the first few weeks of detoxing from stimulants, and removing toxic bile, you may notice an increase of pimples.
But don’t get scared. This is a sign that the body is healing! Be patient and kind during this period.
Don’t worry if you need more tips to soothe detox symptoms, I’ve got you covered, check it out! My favorite remedy is the last one!
What can you do to help acne that appears when you’re on the bean protocol?
Use small amounts of oil with your bean meals.
When I sauté veggies or meat, I only use about one tablespoon in my pan for about three cups of veggies or three chicken breasts. When I roast veggies, I use parchment paper without oil and they come out perfect!
If you’re on the gallbladder/fatty liver protocol, you shouldn’t have any fats. And I highly recommend anyone with these issues working with Unique Hammond or buying Karen Hurd’s courses so you can ask Karen questions via email.
Baking Soda Masks
Wash your face
Making a baking soda paste in the palm of your hand - I add baking soda into my left hand (probably about 1 teaspoon), wet my right hand, and sprinkle the water from my right hand into my left hand with the baking soda. I continue to sprinkle water until it becomes a paste. If it becomes too watery, I add more baking soda.
Apply to your clean face.
Leave it on for 20-minutes. After 20-minutes, the baking soda is no longer activated.
Repeat once or twice a day
After a week, my skin began to dry out, so I reduced it to once a day, and eventually three times a week for maintenance, and now it’s only for spot treatments.
As always, start slow with the baking soda, and monitor your skin closely so you don’t irritate your skin.
UPDATE 1/19/21: I now only use Baking Soda Sparingly on my face - maybe once a month tops.
UPDATE 3/10/22: I stopped using baking soda awhile ago, I don’t even remember when, but my skin just didn’t need it any more at all.
Use Fragrant Free Products
In addition to Baking Soda Masks, I also use the following fragrant-free products.
Daily Skin Care Products
I know I use men’s face wash, but I don’t believe in men vs female personal products. 🤣
I also use a face oil that my friend gave me. It’s a new line that will be released next year, but I absolutely love it! She recommends to say a positive affirmation when you apply it to your face, so everytime I say “I am healthy and my body is healed.”
Weekly Skin Care
The Ordinary Peeling solution is only used once or twice a week. I use it for my acne scars.
Sometimes instead of baking soda, I use Indian Healing Clay mask with apple cider vinegar.
When will your face clear from acne?
It took three weeks for my acne and malia to go away. But I’ve seen people report one week and others report a few months. Make sure to monitor your skin and follow the protocol to the best of your ability.
Remember that you’re on your own journey and, however long or short it takes, you will get there!
What to do when a pimple appears?
I essentially use the baking soda as a spot treatment two times a day. It really helps the pimples disappear faster than if I leave them alone.
What about hormonal acne!?
Okay, period acne sucks. And I would break out around my mouth and cheeks pre TBP. But the protocol not only helped with my period symptoms (night sweats, bloating, fatigue, cramps), but the cystic acne has cleared up too!
It’s essential to track your cycle to stop period acne right in its tracks plus any cramping or other symptoms. Tracking my period is still very new because I’ve NEVER tracked my cycle, and I was always pretty regular.
Before the bean protocol, I was moon cycling. My period would start on the full moon (every 28 days) and last about 3-4 days. After TBP, I’m now about every 30 days and still lasts about 3-4 days.
Tracking your Period
Knowing when your period starts allows you to remove the excess hormones that your body is creating.
I don’t have a fancy app, I use my iPhone health app to track my period. It notifies me a week before when my period is estimated to start. Once it starts, I open the app and mark the days I have it and add any symptoms. You can also add your basal body temperature and other things, but I’m too lazy for that.
Increase your bean intake
You need to prepare to increase your bean intake in the week before your period. Yes, adding more beans is the solution!
This doesn’t necessarily mean to eat more beans, but to reduce portion size and increase frequency.
When I was healing I was eating close to 3 cups a day. Now that I’m on a maintenance plan it’s more like 1.5 cups a day.
If you’re eating beans 3x a day, increase to 6x.
If you’re eating beans 6x a day, increase to 9x a day.
If you experience severe symptoms, try having a combo of psyllium husk and beans every 20 minutes for about 4-8 hours a day.
I know this is an enormous task, so what I do is eat my regular beans three or six times a day.
Next, I take 1-3 capsules of the Now Brand psyllium husk capsules every 20 minutes or when I remember to take them in-between my bean servings.
Note that not all beans are alike. You may be able to digest black beans, but not chickpeas. Always experiment and find what works best for your body now. You can always try to reintroduce different beans later.
don’t forget your unsaturated fats
What’s important during this time that you’re increasing soluble fiber is that you also need to make sure you’re getting enough unsaturated fats at night.
The first time I increased my soluble fiber, my period was not the right color or texture that it should be. It was brown and clotty. It needs to be a red and smooth consistency.
Since I overloaded my soluble fiber intake in the morning and day, I made sure to have a big unsaturated fat fest at night. Right now, I love this fall salad Roasted Butternut Squash Spinach Kale Salad. Just hold the dates.
Other unsaturated fat options include salted nuts or salted olive oil!
If you’re ready to have clear skin without tons of chemicals or birth control! Beans is the way to go!
Are you trying to get clearer skin with the bean protocol? Ask your questions down below!
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