Hi! I've been eating whole foods plant based (95% ore more vegan) for the last 3 years.
I wanted to share my story, since it is a little different from others that I have read.
I have been eating whole foods for all my life, meaning very very little processed foods.
In my childhood I didn't have access to junk food since that food was all imported and much more expensive than cooked foods, and when my parents became wealthy enough to afford junk food, the news about it being damaging to health was everywhere.
So I was raised an omnivorous diet with almost no junk food. When I was 15, my mother, who was about 20 pounds overweight decided to go low carb - back then this was the only diet that focused on lifestyle. It worked for her for a short time, and she cooked all the food this way. I was convinced by the arguments of the diet and so I embraced a high fat diet (15 eggs/week, lots of meat and dairy, some vegetables and no fruit) - a recipe for disaster. I am now convinced that these inflammatory foods were an important factor in my skin problems.
I developed seborrheic dermatitis on my face and the doctor told me that there is absolutely nothing I can do to treat it.
I became convinced that food makes it worse or better, but I was only able to identify coffee and spicy foods as triggers.
I continued to eat this way and when I was 21 I met my now DH. At the time I met him, my arms were covered in seb derm patches and I was embarrassed.
My husband was horrified by the amount of fat I was eating and after we got married I slowly switched to a whole foods omnivorous lowish fat (lean chicken/fish, boiled rice, steamed veggies and a little dairy was a typical lunch).
My skin got better, but I still had problems (sometimes really big ones) with seborrheic derm on my face.
Three years ago, after a really big episode of seb derm right after Christmas - when I knew I ate a lot of fatty foods, I started to research the internet.
I found the WFPB vegan diet as a possible answer and then found Dr Greger, and then Forks over knives, and after that there was no turning back.
It was really important that I found a lot of sexy women on social media that ate vegan, so I was convinced I would not become overweight.
The change in my skin, energy and overall health was immediate, but the great fact is that all the benefits are increasing with time.
So, I have heard a lot of arguments that the WFPB vegan diet only works because the SAD diet is so horrible.
I never was on the SAD diet, went long time on all major health trends (omnivorous classic, low carb high fat, low fat diet, WFPB low fat vegan) and I experienced a lot health benefits of WFPB, including clear skin.