Customer Rating: 
Summary: Everyone is different
Comment: I have type 2 and 3 rosacea and read this book. I used the recommendations faithfully for only three weeks, because that is as long as I could stand my symptoms getting worse and worse. My lesions got bigger, and more itchy and weepy. I also had many other bad effects from the recommended diet, such as near constant gastrointestinal distress, headaches, skin problems starting to appear on my elbows, and the worst bout of PMS in years. That was some time ago.
The diet that has worked the best for me for my skin, with no bad side effects, was to reduce animal proteins in general, eliminate all dairy protein, and eat more fruits and vegetables and "plain" foods. My diet is now high in carbohydrates -- but low in processed foods and white flour. It is low in fat by American standards. This is pretty much opposite of what Brady Barrows prescribes. And none of this took "iron willpower" -- after a few weeks of avoiding the trigger foods, I no longer wanted them.
I have had only a small area of type 1 rosacea on one cheek now for over two years, and when I eat even better (practically eliminating white flour and animal foods, which I sometimes do for short periods), my one remaining lesion gets smoother. If I eat a lot of fatty foods or eggs/lean meat it tends to flare up. Caffeine has also been a trigger for me, so I limit myself to one or two cups of coffee a day and drink only caffeine-free sodas. I still take the precautions I always have, like protecting my face from hot shower water, steam from drinks, or cold air.
Some people have fruit and vegetable triggers, but I haven't found one yet. I thought I had a vegetable trigger because if I ate a lot of salads or broccoli it seemed to make my lesions break out more. However I finally discovered it was the dairy based dressings and cheese toppings that were probably doing it. I don't use those any more and have no problem with any vegetables, no matter how much I have.
Everyone is different. Try lots of different approaches, but give each one a good honest, 100% try for at least a week or two. If you go half-measures or "cheat" or don't try for long enough you won't really know. It is very much worth it when you find the right mix for you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A few good concepts--but maybe not the best for a strict program
Comment: I got a few good concepts out of what I read. However, everyone doesn't have the same triggers, and I don't believe that this diet is a universal method to control rosacea. He did point out some good concepts though, and since I have browsed through the book, my own rosacea is more under control.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rosacea Diet - Worth every penny
Comment: It frustrates me to see several reviews from people who read Rosacea Diet and dismissed it without even trying it. How can you review something you "didn't have the willpower" to try or something you just didn't want to do (i.e. Give up sugar)? Comparisons to the Atkins diet are bound to occur, despite the fact that Rosacea Diet is very different in that it allows NO sugar and FAR fewer carbs than the Atkins plan. I'm trying Rosacea Diet now and have seen drastic improvement in just 5 days. When you get past the first few days of adjustment and get over the fact that you can't eat sugar or grains, it's not that hard. I don't have any desire to eat sugar and I previously consumed large quantities of it. You focus on what you can eat and you eat only those foods. There's nothing hard about it...it has actually greatly simplified my life to have the enormous number of food choices taken away. This book has opened my eyes to the fact that sugar lurks in much of the food we normally consume, even products that claim to be "sugar free." I HIGHLY recommend purchasing Rosacea Diet. The book is giving me the power to conquer rosacea without spending thousands on doctor visits and prescription treatments that don't work.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rosacea Diet disappointment
Comment: I bought this book with the best of intentions: to read it in its entirety and apply its suggestions of a 30 day Atkins-like diet. Disappointed, I found that the author not only had no obvious accredited medical background of any type but also realized that he had written this book solely based on his personal experience with his rosacea. This certainly didn't apply to me and the explanations of having a protein diet and eliminating sugar wasn't equally as comforting either. Unfortunately, for us rosacea patients who are trying to figure out the complexities of our disease, all know that our own bodily functions cannot simply be treated by a 30 day diet which includes what most dermatologists would have acknowledged as rosacea trigger foods.
Secondly, the last half of the book are just emails between the author and those who applied the diet, so there is a lot of repetitive information.
The book would've been shorter if it just referred you to read the Atkin's book after you read the preface of the Rosacea Diet. And if your rosacea didn't clear up at least you would've lost some weight. Truly disappointed at the lack of knowledge and information that was not apparent in the book. I gave this book one star just so I could get this comment posted. Otherwise I don't think it deserves a star. There are better books out there that will highly recommend ways to self-analyze reactions, provide worthy explanations and nutritional diet based on your own personal profile with rosacea.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Is it possible to control rosacea with a diet ? I doubt it
Comment: Brady Barrow's rosacea diet has been around for a couple of years now. If you ever wanted to know what it was all about then hopefully this text will be of interest. So what do you actually get when you purchase a copy of the diet ? you get an outline of what foods are claimed to cause rosacea, and a suggested list of foods to eat. A couple of books are suggested as supporting information for the diet. Interestingly some dieting books, including an internationally well known diet is incompatible with the rosacea diet - being full of offending foods. The text contains a full listing of suggested foods to eat for 30 days. The remainder of the text of the diet is a curious collection of email exchanges from the diet's creator and people interested in trying it.
Brady points out several times on his web site that his diet is hard to stick to. The foods that you are asked to give up won't kill you, but for sure it will take a significant amount of self control - especially for those used to a modern western diet. Brady is also clear in what he isn't saying. The diet is not claimed to be a cure. So given that it is difficult and not claimed to cure you, what does it have to offer you ?
Many have commented on the diets author's desire to charge for the diet. One could say that people will only really value something that has some cost. This argument works for the rosacea-support group at large - many learned people have posted useful information to the group, but as it has come at no cost to list members, the value is missed. The alternate argument is that if you pay for something, you want it to work, and when you pay for it, your perceived rights suddenly expand. As the amount asked for is small I don't see this as a real issue. To take this point further, if you read the diet, and the pages of comments on the web site, it represents a couple of years of answering the same questions for the diet's author. Anyone who charges such a small fee, and sticks at it for a couple of years must really believe in what they are doing.
I attempted to gain some feedback from anyone who has tried the diet. I collected 85 email addresses from the diet itself and the web site and asked them for any feedback. Given that the best possible result I could hope for would only amount to anecdotal evidence, I was interested in as much feedback as possible. Brady tells us that he has had more than 500 people try his diet. Although I have only tried 85 names, and over time email addresses spoil, it is at least a small sample from which to make some comments. From these 85 addresses I got 17 bounces, 1 said it made their skin awful, 6 never tried it in the end, 1 said it was too hard, 3 said it did nothing and 4 said that they had a good response and believe that the diet was what made the difference for them.
Whilst the feedback was quite small the 4 good responses are an encouragement that for some the diet is worthwhile.
Some of the positive comments :
"I'm very grateful to Brady. While I have never followed his exact menus, I have now been avoiding certain food groups, per his suggestions, for over a year. The difference in my skin is very noticeable. I still have to avoid sun and heat and irritating skin products, and I still take tetracycline - but I was doing all those things before Brady's diet and I still had large cystic bumps, swelling and pain. I have no doubt that following Brady's advice helped me."
  -- Rose
"I have been on the diet for a year now and I have found that not only does it control my skin problems but it is a healthy diet. Perhaps so many people have suffered from Rosacea because of the high carb, low fat diet most people consume. Perhaps, the rosacea sufferers body is finally exhibiting stress from all the sugar and highly refined foods most people eat on a regular basis, perhaps the liver is not doing it's job properly (cleaning the skin) because of a constant poor diet. The rosacea diet basically triggered my research into a whole new approach to eating..."
  -- Nicola
"I have tried EVERYTHING I could find, have spent countless dollars and time trying to find something to help this condition. Brady's diet is the only thing that gives me results over time. I have found some things have worked for limited amounts of time, but this is the only thing over time."
  -- Debbie
Brady has recently created an email group at Yahoo! Groups relating to his diet. Another positive comment can be found [online.]
Given that I haven't actually tried the diet (it would require an committment I'm not willing to give), and going by the handful of comments that it works for some really searching - it could have something to offer. Will it work for you ? Well if you are really keen and willing to stick it out then you have nothing to lose...
