(This article was originally posted December 2024.)
I don’t get acne anymore…until last week. Last week, I got a terrible bout of acne on my jawline…why? I’ll tell you what I discovered in a few minutes.
I don’t typically get acne (and no one should get acne — or other skin rashes — unless their body is toxic or their body is exposed to toxic heavy metals).
Sure, I had a short bout of acne around age 18, but that was short-lived. After I achieved puberty, I had clear skin until 2014.
In 2014, I began developing skin allergies to dairy, which I would later discover was related to a parasitic infection, candida overgrowth, gall bladder stones, and nutritional deficiencies. As a result, I had hundreds of cystic nodules on my jawline and neck. I could squeeze each nodule and white puss would spiral out like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. My organs were sick, because my body (i.e., blood, cells, organ systems) was invaded by toxins, and my skin was telling me about it.
Why was I sick?
Like almost everyone else in this world, I ate a lot of sugar, salt, processed foods, pre-packaged foods, and restaurant food. During this time, I rarely shopped the ‘fruits and vegetables’ section of the grocery aisle, because I relied on packaged, reheat-able foods which were over-processed and cooked in highly-processed seed oils. Of course I was sick! Despite the smart marketing advertised on food packages, I was eating high-refined carb, high-synthetic fat/seed oils, low protein, high sugar, high sodium, nutrient-deficient food. I convinced myself that I was doing okay, because I took vitamins and drank protein shakes…crazy, right?
In 2018, I had enough of battling acne (using topical skin solutions), so I did my first two-month fruit and vegetable cleanse. Literally, I drank nothing but smoothies made of kale, spinach, green apple, carrots, and strawberries — it was gross-tasting, but I did it. Every day, I lugged my pre-packed Nutribullet to the work office where I blended a green smoothie for lunch and I drank another one for dinner. I ate the Johanna Budwig suggested cottage cheese/flaxseed mixture for breakfast and dinner, too. As a result, my skin cleared and I lost twenty pounds. I looked and felt great!
Eventually, I went back to restaurant eating and pre-packaged foods, so then I was back to dealing with acne and weight gain even though I woke at 0430 to hit the gym by 0500 in the morning, five days per week.
In 2021, I experienced gall bladder pain after eating fatty foods, so I began vegetable juicing using the AMZCHEF juicer (the auger breaks about every six months, but it’s a good starter juicer). I completed two liver/gall bladder cleanses, and I passed hundreds of gall stones. See picture below of my most recent liver cleanse result.
After I began doing the liver cleanses and consuming a plant-based diet, I no longer experienced facial acne, which tells me that my liver was higher functioning, because it no longer had to process the low-quality, high-processed seed oils that I was consuming via restaurant food, pre-cooked/packaged foods or the hormones and antibiotics from dairy products.
In 2021, it was good to have clear skin until…I decided to make homemade ‘hot chocolate’ as my organic sweet treat using cacao powder. For three evenings, I drank a 10 ounce cup of hot cocoa using almond milk, cacao powder, and organic honey. On the third evening, I noticed a lumpy, bumpy acne outbreak on my jawline, so I began researching cacao powder because it was the only new thing I had added to my diet.
What did my research find?
My research found that cacao powder, cocoa powder, and dark chocolate products have high amounts of lead and cadmium. The cadmium causes acne. While I don’t have the original articles I read in 2021, I do have this link if you want to read more about cadmium, lead, and acne.
What did I do next?
I stopped drinking the hot cocoa with cacao and in two weeks my facial acne cleared up.
Fast Forward to November 2024
For a party, I decided to make an organic chocolate cake — everything was organic, except the Ghirardelli dark chocolate cocoa powder I used, which called for 1/2 cup in the entire double-layer recipe. I decided to try Ghirardelli brand cocoa, because the organic cacao powder I bought from “Food for Life” was laden with heavy metals that instantly caused me bone pain, so I didn’t want to use that and I threw it in the garbage.
The oat flour/sweet potato-based chocolate cake was a hit and here is the recipe if you want to try it via Dreena Burton’s website. It was so good that I decided to make another cake for myself, and guess what happened? Facial acne happened.
What was the culprit of my facial acne?
The culprit was Ghirardelli dark chocolate cocoa powder.
Cadmium Dangers
According to an NIH article, “When mitochondria become dysfunctional after exposure to Cd, they produce less energy (ATP) and more ROS” and this spells CANCER — related to lung, breast, prostate, pancreas, urinary bladder, and nasopharynx cancers. Also, if you find that your legs become “restless” at night, then it is due to iron deficiency. According to NIH, cadmium binds with iron to cause deficiency. Also, if your bones ache, then that may be cadmium settling into your bones. Cadmium is a known culprit for kidney disease and osteoporosis. I can personally attest to the last two symptoms — after I consume dark chocolate my tibias start to ache and I get restless legs.
Lead Dangers
According to an NIH article, there is no safe blood level for lead. Lead is responsible for decreased IQ, attention/focus issues, kidney and liver disease, hypertension, CNS/PNS – nerve-related issues.
Another NIH article explains how lead is severely damaging to the human body:
“Many systems in the body are affected by lead in the blood, but the central nervous system is by far the most vulnerable. The effects of lead on the brain can be divided into two categories: morphological and pharmacological…Lead rapidly crosses the BBB and severely damages the brain due to its capacity to substitute for calcium ions (Sanders et al., 2009). The GABAergic, dopaminergic, and cholinergic systems and NMDA receptors are inhibited by lead, interfering with neurotransmitter release.” Also, it is stated that lead destroys glutathione, which is an antioxidant needed for a healthy immune system.
What will I do now?
I will continue:
- Coffee enemas to quickly detox my blood and liver
- Consume selenium and iodine to bind heavy metal
- Consume Zinc to specifically bind cadmium
- Consume veggie juice and broccoli sprouts to bind and remove toxic heavy metals
- Drink distilled water which binds and carries away heavy metals
- Eat a plant-based diet to replace essential nutrients
- Consume calcium, magnesium, K2, and D3 to ensure I’m replenishing essential nutrients
- Stop eating dark chocolate and cacao from brands I know are toxic such as Food for Life and Ghirardelli
- Try Navitas organic cacao powder next time.
Conclusion?
It may be best to avoid cacao powder, cocoa powder, and chocolate, in general, since all the products are heavy laden with lead and cadmium; however, if you decide to partake, then prepare to detox your body with my aforementioned detox techniques and enjoy chocolate (or chocolate cake) irregularly and sparingly.
Additional Articles about Heavy Metal Toxicity
Dr. Berg – 4 Skin Signs that Reveal Heavy Metal Toxicity
consumerreports.org – Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate
New Zen Vigor 
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