Does fast food contribute to acne? Is eating greasy hamburgers and French fries bad for your skin? Of course! Have you ever heard "you are what you eat?" When you eat only junk food, the first place it will appear is on your skin.

Your skin is your body's largest organ. When you feed yourself junk all of the time, it's going to show up somewhere. Your face is a good bet of where it will show up first.

If you want to clear your skin, start from the inside out. The first thing that you want to do is eat a proper diet. A proper diet is common sense. It consists of all the foods that you have heard are good for you, including plenty of fruits and vegetables. These foods have the antioxidants in them to give your immune system a boost.

Acne is the result of hormonal secretions that cause oily skin and allow pores to get clogged with bacteria. When the skin is under attack, the reaction is to break out to fight the bacteria. And what system of your body is in charge of fighting off bacteria and viruses? That's right, your immune system. So any boost to the immune system is a fight against acne.

In addition to a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, you should also stay away from foods that are loaded with simple carbohydrates or are high in fat. This would include sweets, cakes, cookies, candy, sugar laced drinks and most fast foods. If you have a diet of McDonald's and sweets, it is not only going to show up on your waste line, it will also show up on your skin.

Like what you eat you also are what you drink. That means that you should avoid soft drinks laced with sugar as well. These will only add unwanted pounds to your frame. Drink water to hydrate your skin and plenty of it. At least 6 glasses of water each day should be consumed when you are on the acne diet.

Avoid fried foods. They are high in saturated fats and are not good for you. This means that fast foods such as burgers and fries should be out of the question. Try foods that are healthier for you. If you have to eat out at lunchtime, look for a subway. Eating processed meats is not, contrary to popular belief, any way to diet, but this is a better option than a burger and fries.

Avoid alcohol while on the acne diet. Alcohol is another empty calorie food that has no benefits, although red wine has proven to be of some benefit to the circulatory system. If you have to drink, drink a dry red wine.

In order to succeed at the acne diet, you should have plenty of the following foods:

Fruits
Vegetables
Whole grains
Dairy products
Meats and proteins

You should, in turn, avoid the following foods:

Fried foods
Foods high in sugar such as cakes, cookies, ice cream, candy
Soft drinks
Alcohol
Foods high in fat

And drink 6 glasses of water a day.

By avoid, this does not mean that you can never have these foods, but you are better off to avoid them while you are trying to clear up your acne. The foods in the first list will help your skin look better and will also give you more energy and make you feel better

As far as caffeine goes, have some if it makes you feel better. If you want that boost in the morning, though, you can get it with green tea. Green tea, unsweetened, can be a way to get your metabolism going early in the day and is great to drink while watching your diet or just to add more antioxidants to your body as green tea is loaded with them. Many people successfully diet using green tea.

Remember that you are what you eat and that sooner or later, it will show up on your waist line as well as your face. Try the acne diet for a week and you will notice a difference in your skin.