My daughter has been sick with a nasty cold since before Christmas. She’s been hacking away trying to cough up phlegm stuck in the middle of her chest, lying on the couch or in bed, just feeling miserable, and fighting occasional fevers and even hives from allergy to the cough medicine - nice, eh? There was nothing her pediatrician can give her for the cold and the only thing that helped her were home remedies, spinal adjustments, and acupuncture, all of which I’ve been doing religiously. She's finally better today.
But this post is not about her nasty cold.
It’s about eczema.
Don’t be confused. I’m getting to it. However, this post is little long but very important so bear with me.
What about eczema?
Since DD’s appetite has been shot to hell, all she has been able to tolerate were rice porridge, soups, plain lukewarm water (not so much OJ since the acid bothered her stomach and her taste buds), and boiled ginger/cinnamon with honey. When she broke out in hives, due to an allergic reaction to the cough medicine, I checked her body to see how widespread it was. In doing so, I discovered something totally unexpected. Her eczema disappeared!. I mean, her red, scaly, inflamed and dry spots have significantly diminished to almost normal. I was shocked!
You see, both of my kids have suffered from severe eczema since they were little. I say “severe” because of their skin - behind their knees, crooks of the elbows, wrists, neck, and in DD's case, her lower back - are always dry and some spots are raw and red. Sweating makes it worse and whenever they come back from fencing practices or tournaments, their skin is ten times worse. The layers of fencing clothes and gear don't let the body heat escape and allow the skin to breathe. The trapped hot moist heat exacerbates the condition.
But the cold and dry Northeast winter doesn't help either since it dries out the skin too much. There needs to be a delicate balance. Their scalp gets really dry and scaly at times that I even washed my DD's hair with apple cider vinegar to get rid of the bacteria that caused it. It totally worked and now their scalp is better.
Oh, for your information, eczema can be classified under so many different skin ailments, most commonly, Contact Dermatitis, Psoriasis, Atopic Dermatitis, and Seborrheic Dermatitis. There are so many types of skin ailments that are related to eczema. There is no cure for eczema but I have tried almost everything to reduce their symptoms with little success until I accidentally discovered the secret to the eczema-free skin three days ago.
But before I tell you what I discovered, a little background on their history because it will make more sense later.
Allergy History
My DS, seventeen-year-old now, was tested mildly positive – meaning he tested 2 out of 5 on the RAST (radio-allergo-sorbent-test) - to wheat, dairy, eggs, dust and cat dander when he was three years old. His main symptom was non-stop productive coughing until he threw up phlegm. As result, I put him on an elimination diet for about a year and slowly re-introduced the allergens back to his diet. He outgrew most of them and he now eats anything he wants but he still has his ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. In fact, the elimination diet made him a picky eater so now, I don’t stop him from eating when he wants to eat anything. I’m just glad he eats! And since he needs his protein and carbohydrates for fencing, I rarely stop him from consuming foods, especially since they are usually whole foods that I cook at home anyway. But I can’t stop him from eating occasional “Subway” sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers when he goes out. He also loves Clementine oranges in the winter and watermelons in the summer. He’s a carnivore with a voracious appetite for a good steak meal and never turns down a lobster dinner. He recently started eating vanilla ice cream and an occasional slice of a birthday cake without frosting. He still hates Fettuccini Alfredo and anything with creamy cheeses and milk containing sauces. All in all, his diet is still considered ‘great’ compared to most American teenagers. And he doesn’t cough anymore due to food allergies.
My DD is slightly different as I didn’t test her for allergies and made her go through the elimination diet when she was young. But we assumed, since she carried the same genes as DS, she probably had similar allergies too. We were watching what we ate anyway so frankly, I wasn’t frenetic about eliminating foods because I didn’t want her to become a picky eater too. So, while Andrew just started eating a small sliver of unfrosted cake, DD had no problems eating cake, frosting and all, since she was young. She loves milk with her oatmeal but DS does not care for it. DD loves milk chocolate but DS does not eat chocolate. She had mild cases of eczema but no frank allergic symptoms, like coughing. But her eczema got worse as she got older and so did DS’s.
How we treated eczematous symptom in the past
DS's case is more severe than DD’s and as a result, he’d get secondary skin infections due to eczema, like Staph and Herpes (as in cold sores on lips) infections, on his face. Their pediatrician and dermatologist would just treat the infections and prescribe steroidal creams and would tell me to use Cetaphil lotion to treat eczematous symptoms but never said that eczema was related to allergies. I even urged their dermatologist to do patch tests on them to rule out Contact Dermatitis and was relieved when the tests came out negative. But to address their eczema, I use all natural plant-based laundry detergents, goat milk soaps, neem soaps, calendula soaps, organic herbal shampoos and neem & calendula creams and lotions. We now use shampoo bar from Herban Lifestyle and it is by far the best non-itching shampoo for their scalp. But they are still not enough to reduce their symptoms. (I actually bought all these soaps and creams from these sellers on Etsy and they are great! And I'm not making a penny from this endorsement. I just love them.)
After researching and even taking them to an acupuncturist, I learned that it’s the “heat” in their system that causes the inflammation in their skin. In addition, stress sweats from fencing, not enough rest and sleep, but most importantly, the foods that they are eating aggravate eczema. Unfortunately, there is not one thing on that list that I can change, except for food. But since we live such busy lives, and their bodies require certain nutritional needs at this age, it was hard to do a total purge. I tried so many times to implement the strict “eczema diet” but it was almost impossible to stick to it. But more importantly, they weren’t convinced that foods could change their skin that dramatically enough for them to go through the torturous elimination diet. They would quit eating bread and red meat for a week but then, they’d come back from fencing all red and inflamed that they would get discouraged again. And quitting fencing was out of the question.
A Revelation!
Fast forward 3 days ago.....
As I said in the beginning of the post, DD was so sick with the cold but what did we discover unexpectedly? Her eczematous skin was baby-skin-smooth!! Suddenly, I had an epiphany! You see, while she was sick, she was unable to eat her usual foods - the only thing she tolerated was rice and water. She did not eat any dairy, wheat, eggs, red meat, sugar, or even her usual fruits – all the foods that have been known to trigger eczema. I was excited about this discovery and couldn’t wait to share it with the boys. And seeing her smooth skin with his own eyes, even my feisty teenager was excited ....until he realized what this means. He almost cried when he realized he's going to "starve".
How we are planning to treat eczema from now on.
Eczema and Food Allergy
But DS was willing to try the "diet" after seeing it with his own eyes. So, I told him to cut out wheat, dairy, eggs, wheat, sugar and red meat that he was devouring during this vacation. I also told him to stop drinking OJ and eating Clementine oranges that he was consuming in boxes to prevent catching her cold. The next morning, we couldn’t believe our eyes again. Their skin was still so smooth and not inflamed! We were flabbergasted. Intellectually, I knew foods affected eczema but I wasn’t convinced that my kids would be affected this seriously by them. I mean, they don’t live on that stuff. I take pride in the fact that I cook whole foods – not processed foods - in my house, so I thought their diet was pretty healthy. But I was wrong. They might be healthy for non-eczematous people but not for my kids with eczema. We eat pasta – yes, with homemade sauces with fresh ingredients but pasta is all wheat, even if they are organic. We love eggs – free range from organic grain fed chickens from local farms. We drink organic fresh un-homogenized 2% milk from the local dairy. We eat grass fed beef. We also make sure we buy fresh seasonal organic fruits. But if you are sensitive or allergic to any of these ingredients, fresh or organic will not make a difference. Your system will react, violently.
So after seeing the dramatic change in their skin after just one day of eliminating them, I wrote up a list of foods that we are going to eliminate for at least two months. We are eliminating the foods that he was originally allergic to:
- wheat
- eggs
- dairy
- soy (not listed above)
In addition, we added foods that are specifically ‘no-no’ for eczema:
- red meat
- sugar
- shell fish
- citrus fruits
The last four are inflammatory foods that my kids might not be allergic to but may still be the culprits for making their system inflamed. Other people might have a different list of foods that might trigger their eczema, including soy, peanuts, tree nuts, and even rice or corn. But I am starting with this list since he was tested positive in the past for these foods.
Anyway, they will also be getting plenty of supplements, especially, Vit. C, Vit D., Vit E, and natural anti-inflammatory oils like Omega-3 oil. And drinking at least 8 glasses of water is mandatory and cutting out all other beverages. If we were to have the typical Western diet, this elimination will be almost impossible. So we will be adopting an all-Asian diet with plenty of brown rice, fish, seaweed, vegetables and green tea. And looks like I’ll be packing their lunches too. Oh, joy.
I know it’s only been a few days and it’s too soon to get excited. But for now, we are going to stick with this diet. I also know once they start the fencing season, it might flare up but I am very optimistic about their prognosis. I found so many websites and blogs that have eczema related information but most of them are just for symptomatic treatments and not getting to the cause of it. Only alternative therapy sites mention food allergy as a possible cause, a factor which I think are grossly overlooked by mainstream therapies. I also found some interesting articles on how making our internal system more alkaline can help eczema too. I have to look into that further.
In regard to avoiding certain foods, they are as tricky as finding out that allergy to foods can cause eczema. I already knew “whey” and “casein” are derived from dairy but I had no clue that wheat is disguised in so many ingredients in foods. Check here for information on hidden wheat and dairy ingredients in your foods.
Do you suffer from dry skin or eczema or know someone who suffers from eczema? I would love to find out what you or they have done to treat eczema.
Oh, if you think this was helpful, please forward it to anyone you think might be helped by the article.
2.5.2014 Update - Read the update here
4.4.2012 Update : Check out my review on CVSkinlab's magical Rescue and Relief Spray for Eczema!
BGregory says
I was shocked when I found out what is causing all these food allergies. A friend's daughter has a serious fish allergy. If she smells fish cooking, it means a hospital trip. The epi pen will help get her there maybe. You can read the regulations for yourself. Pharmaceutical companies can "self-affirm" GRAS (generally recognized as safe) ingredients. Basically, they decide something like refined GMO soy oil should be GRAS. They do one study, have some experts review it, then they are free to use it without submitting anything to the government and it becomes a protected trade secret. How can the FDA protect the public when even they don't know what is in pharmaceutical products?
Sara says
Hi Karen. Your story is unfortunately very familiar to me. My daughter who is 5 has been suffering from eczema since she was 5 mo. She spends most evenings in my bed scratching her hands and behind her knees. We're currently on the no wheat, dairy, eggs, sugar, nightshade vegetable diet and it's so hard. We're also doing NAET which I'm starting to lose hope with. The struggle is that although there has been some improvement, she still suffers. I'm also looking into alkalizing vs acidifying foods however all proteins are acidyfying which means she could basically eat rice and fruit, not much of a diet for a 5 yr old. I don't know about you but I'm soo tired of this!!!
ecokaren says
Hi Sara,
Oh...I am so sorry to hear about your little girl. It's so much harder when they are young.
Alkaline vs. Acidic foods have been mixed in its validity. Some say it works and some say it doesn't. I haven't tried it because like you said, some foods go against what's recommended for Eczema.
Each kid is different so you have to see what works for your daughter. For instance, I think sugar is bad for eczema but people have different emotions towards sugar. My son doesn't like sugar so he stays away from sweets, which can mean that it's bad for him so his body doesn't even crave it. So he has no signs or symptoms that I can visually see on him regarding sugar. My daughter, on the other hand, likes sugar, not LOVE, but likes sugar. BUT when she has too much of it, like her baked goods (she loves to bake!), she'll get sores in corners of mouth...common for people with Eczema.
Dairy, eggs, and wheat are the same way but there's seems to be no correlation with meat or nightshade.
So, before you start eliminating everything, go to an allergist and get her checked. DEMAND a blood test with specific allergens. Not the skin prick test but a blood test with every little food groups. I did that on both as I couldn't tell which one was causing the reactions.
I was surprised by the result. I probably should have done that first but you know doctors (or insurance companies)....unless they see a cause (and some MD's still don't believe foods are related to Eczema and they just want you to 'live with it' because there's no cure!!) they won't order expensive allergy tests.
With the winter coming here, I came up with a home made skin remedy for my daughter. I'm going to post it next week. I'm experimenting with it so I can't tell you what it is yet but come back and read my post next week. I'll post the pictures too, if this works.
I know it's hard but hang in there. It does get better.
Allison says
So what exactly are you guys going to be eating?
ecokaren says
Hi Allison,
A lot has changed since I wrote this post. I wish I can say they don't have Eczema anymore but they still to. However, we've slowly introduced all the foods they didn't eat for this "experiment", albeit they watch the quantity of what they eat. Too much of one allergen always always results in flare ups. Dairy and refined sugar are the worst. I made a scrub with coffee, olive oil, and sea salt and they rub dried spots with it and it really seems to make a difference. I thought coffee grounds (caffeine) would constrict the blood vessels and reduce inflammation and it works!!
My son went to college in Durham and the climate seems to be helping his condition too. Even with Freshman jitters, his skin was almost clear normal when he came home in May. Now it's worse than when he came home. So, apparently, NY climate does NOT agree with his skin but Durham does.
I can go on and on but the bottom line is you have to try what seems to trigger it. Food is huge since they are allergic to some but that's not everything, it seems. 🙂
Joanne says
I eczema when I was a child it disappeared when I was in my twenties. Now that I am 53 for the past 2 years I have been dealing with eczema all over again. Your article is very helpful. I never thought that food could be a culprit however I do remember that at the age of 14 the dermatologist told me not to eat eggs, chocolate, peanuts, limit my intake of milk, and to stay away from citrus. Thanks for the reminding me.
Karen says
Hi Joanne,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, if you eliminate all those allergens, they will definitely help. It will not cure Eczema, but definitely lessens the symptoms. And that also include, environmental allergens like pollen, dust mites, mold, etc. I know it's hard, but anything that affects your immune system tends aggravates the symptoms. It is auto immune related. Good Luck!
Karen says
My daughter had a flare up with a teeny bit of milk chocolate two weeks ago. Since she was clean for about two weeks, even a little bit of the allergen - milk, in this case although sugar could have done it too - made her symptoms appear almost immediately. So if you've been clean - detoxed from all the allergens - even a mild assault to the system will make it obvious. Hope that helps.
Jaszy says
Thanks Karen! I suppose the best thing for me to do is go on a milk fast for a week or more to see if my eczema clears up then incorporate goat's milk back into my diet and see what happens.
Thanks again!
Jaszy says
Me again. Just wanted to chime in regarding goat milk. Is it true that if you have an allergy to cow's milk you won't have the same issues from goat milk? Please say yes because I LOVE goat milk and would have less difficulty making the transition away from cow's milk. It was my understanding that in addition to allergy issues milk or anything that causes mucus buildup in the body/organs can cause a host of health issues.
Karen says
Jaszy: unfortunately, goat's milk has all the same properties of cow's milk, including lactose. But the good news is that there's less in goat's milk. Also, you produce less mucus with Goat's milk. But if you are really allergic to cow's milk, the chances are you'll be allergic to goat's milk too. But I think it depends on "how" allergic your are. Goat's milk is more tolerable to people's digestion than cow's milk as the protein is finer. So, there are definitely advantages to goat's milk but if you are allergic to b-lactoglobulin, then, you might be allergic to goat's milk too.
Karen says
Hi Patty,
I never checked to see what breed of goat milk we had. I guess I should have checked. Unfortunately, my kids are not really into milk of any kind. It would have been nice to be near Pricilla to taste her milk though! But they use her soap. 🙂 It's time to order soon so it's a good thing you stopped by to remind me. I posted one of your soaps on theEcoDiva's post today.
Thanks for the tip about the breed.
Pricilla says
Karen, what breed of goat provided the goat's milk you gave your son? Different breeds' milk tastes different AND it will taste different dependent upon what the goats are eating. The milk from a Nigerian Dwarf is very rich ( can be up to 8 - 10% milkfat) but Pricilla's milk tastes just like cow's milk. My biggest adjustment was to the richness not the taste. I was coming off of skim milk and drinking the goat's milk was like drinking cream. But the goat's milk doesn't give me heartburn like full fat cow's milk will.
You might try another breed of goat or find a place with more free ranging goats and see how their milk tastes. I wish you were closer so as to taste Pricilla's milk....
Karen says
Elizabeth B: Thank you for the link. I hope my readers will benefit from reading the article. I knew about it's dangers but not those specific studies. Besides the GMO and herbicide issues of the Roundup Resistant Soybeans by Monsanto (and monopoly is a whole other debate), there are the hormone mimicking properties of soy to deal with. Ironically, other than when they drank soy formula for six months, my kids really don't like to drink soy milk. But soy is in a lot of foods and when they have to avoid dairy and wheat, which are in everything, it's hard to eliminate soy too. But what helps is that we are eating whole foods and not processed foods. I try not to use pre-mix spices too. We eat miso - fermented soy beans - and when we really need soy sauce flavor, we use Tamari - soy sauce without wheat. It is tough but I know we can do it. We have to.
Dolli: Flaxseed oil is great for so many things and although we never used it directly on the skin, we eat flaxseed and we use Omega -3 oils in our diets and supplements. I have tried olive oils on their skins though but when their skin flares up, I will try it directly on their skin. Thanks!
Jo: we love your Eczema butter. We still have some and we use it right after the shower.
Jaszy: it's so easy to fall off the wagon - I know. Being that my kids play sports and go to school, it's hard for them to be very strict. But I'm hoping that having this awareness now, when they are young, will teach them how to manage even if I'm not around. It's surprising though, that they are willing to sacrifice and try it. Of course, it helps that there are less temptations since I don't allow the "contraband" in the house. Hang in there. If my 14 y.o. sweet tooth and 17 y.o carnivore can do it, you can too!
Doreen: allergies come and go. And if you had allergies in the past, you have to be diligent about recognizing new symptoms and investigate whether allergy might have caused the new symptoms. And since we are not in control of what we eat anymore, unless we grow our own foods, we have to be even more careful of what we buy and where we buy from. The only safe solution is to buy locally, from farmers market, and if the food is not pulled from the ground, we shouldn't eat it. I'm more and more leaning towards becoming a vegetarian.
Thank you all for sharing your stories. I think through encouragements like these and tips about managing Eczema, we can help each other a great deal.
BululuStudio says
My young has eczema since she was born. It's a very tricky condition. Thank you for this post.
Doreen McDermott says
Great Post. Thought I'd let you know my story. I was born with Eczema 77 years ago (1932) from the top of my head to just below my shoulders. The District Nurse came in every day and washed me with olive oil (water never touched my body). The eczema disappeared when I was 2 years old only to come back when I was 28, but only on my scalp. Since then, I have tried all sorts of preparations and have finally settled on "cholesterol for the hair" or "hair mayonnaise" - you can get both products in the shampoo section of Wal-Mart. I wash my hair, put this stuff on my scalp, cover it with a plastic bonnet and leave it on until the following morning when I run a comb through my hair to take off the "crust" and then wash the remainder off. So far, this seems to have worked well for me. On occasion I do also give myself an olive oil scalp treatment and this also works well. I am Celiac (allergic to gluten) so I don't eat anything with wheat, barley, oats or rye in it, nor do I eat any prepared, packaged or canned food. I'm also allergic to the casein in milk but I do use goats milk - as you can imagine my diet is a little limited. I also had an allergy test done a couple of years ago and found out that I was allergic to pinto beans and garlic! My basic philosophy is "if God or my mother wouldn't recognize it, I don't eat it!" I can't say I have eliminated the eczema completely but it's certainly better than, say, 5 years ago. Good luck to all of you out there who are battling skin diseases - perhaps these darn medical doctors will wake up one of these days to natural medicine and stop throwing junk at folks. Doreen
Jaszy says
Like so many of the comments already posted, I too suffer from eczema and like you found that once I eliminated certain foods from my diet my skin, overall health, and mood improved.
In addition to eczema I suffered from painful joints and stomach pains. On a whim, without initially doing much research I opted to eliminate dairy, wheat, chocolate, red meat, and caffeine from my diet. I found that I LOVE goat milk and cheese and rice pasta. I did this for NINE whole months and felt great! Unfortunately after a bout with traditional pizza I fell off the wagon and right back into eczema, joint pain, and stomach issues. Obviously I know what I need to do, it just seems more difficult now.
Thanks for the reminder.
Jo says
Thanks so much for including my eczema salve in your fabulous article. I know how heartbreaking this can be. My son suffered from eczema as a child but as an adult his flare ups are rare, maybe once every year or two and he says stress seems to bring it on. My daughter who also had it as a child, has never had it again as an adult and stopped having flareups in her teens.
Dolli says
Great post! My daughter also had horrible eczema. Her pediatrician advised that we put a little flaxseed oil in her bottle each day and then apply some evening primrose oil to her skin after her bath and now her skin is amazing. Thank you for sharing and good luck!
Elizabeth B says
Hi, Karen. This is really inspiring--thank you for sharing your family's story. I've thought idly about elimination diets, but I've been too lazy to try them. (How pathetic is that?)
Please don't think I'm horribly nosy, but soy milk is not a good food to be eating in large quantities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/jul/25/food.foodanddrink
It freaked me out to read that a bottle full of soy formula is equivalent to as many as *five* birth control pills. Also, much of the soy sauce available in the American market is made by drying soybeans, flaking them, and then using toxic chemicals on the flakes in order to extract the oil. !!! (However, if you look for organic soy sauce made using whole soybeans, which is the traditional method, you can avoid the yummy hexane solvent.)
Anyway, I hope this is helpful and not upsetting. :/
Karen says
Catherine - "my doctors have always told me it is inherited and the best you can hope for is to ease the symptoms"
This is exactly what happened to my kids. I got tired of hearing that from dermatologists and pediatrician. They only gave us symptomatic relief answers. If by doing this particular elimination diet does not improve their condition completely, I'd get another allergy testing done to see exactly what they are allergic to. I am not cutting out corn or soy at this point but may be they are allergic to those too. But for now, I'm sticking with the ones that my son was initially allergic to. So far, it's working beautifully on Emily and Andrew is improving dramatically. After all, he's been on it since Jan 2nd and Emily has been on it since December 22nd.
You should really be disciplined and try the elimination diet to see what your body is not happy with. Once you set your mind to it, it is possible. If my 14 year old and 17 year old can do it, YOU CAN TOO!!!
Catherine Ivins says
Karen- Thank you for posting this. I have had eczema for years- it came on during a very stressful period before my mother died and has never really gone away. It is much worse in the dry winters. I use a humidifier at night, Eucerin bodywash and lotion, take fast cool showers (ugh!) and prescriptions when it gets too bad (maybe once a year or so). I have always suspected I could ease alot of the symptoms with dietary changes, but it seemed that they needed to be drastic changes because cutting back on the typical culprits has not had any noticeable effect and I have eaten well for years. Allergies and asthma are in my family (as well as eczema) and my doctors have always told me it is inherited and the best you can hope for is to ease the symptoms- I have always thought the best idea was preventing flare-ups in the first place. You have given me new encouragement to be more aggressive with eliminating these things.
Elena says
Hi Karen,
Your story is amazing and reminds me of what we have gone through this past year. My son & I are both sensitive to wheat, and probably eggs & dairy. I'd grown so accustomed to eczema that when I went off of wheat to do the elimination diet with my son, I was shocked to see that after 2 months of no wheat, dairy, most meat & white sugar my skin was smooth for the first time in my life. Now after a year of eating that way, and now mostly raw (which is alkaline), I am feeling better then ever.
This is the hidden secret in our standard recommended diet...btwn gluten, dairy, and animal products, we are making ourselves ill.
Thanks for sharing your story.
XO
Elena
Karen says
Hi Elena,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I had no idea. In addition to the foods I mentioned here, I am also checking the list of foods that are more alkaline than acidic as well. I even heard about "alkaline waters" that "cured" someone's Psoriasis and I'm intrigued by this. Although we can't eliminate everything, if I can help it, I'll try it. It is so sad that what we eat are making us ill when they are suppose to nourish us and give us life.
Karen says
Rosina,
Let me tell you; it is so hard to do this. Personally, I am OK with the diet because I'm not really a bread nor dairy or red meat person. But my husband LOVES meat and starch. He loves fruits and vegetables too but he just can't live without the 'bad' stuff. I have a theory that if you are allergic to something, you either HATE it or CAN'T live without it. So when he eats ice cream or drinks soda in the house, it drives me and the kids crazy.
You and your daughter might be allergic or sensitive to completely different foods than my kids but try the diet for two weeks and see if it makes a difference. If you feel great, then, you'll want to eliminate the bad foods forever because you'll like how you feel.
Good Luck and let us know how you are doing with the diet.
Rosina says
Hi Karen 🙂
I just saw your message on the team ecoetsy email and had to pop over to see what you had done to cure your daughter's eczema. I have eczema and unfortunately I have passed it on to my daughter as well. I have been eliminating foods in our diet but it was very inspiring to read your post and hear that you have completely cleared it!! I haven't been vigilant enough with our diet and this has really renewed my quest to purge foods that are triggering our outbreaks. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Megan says
Hi Karen- Saw your post about this on the team boards and I had to come check it out. I don't know if you have heard of it or not, but it sounds like you are doing something similar to the Candida cleanse/diet. My doctor "prescribed" this diet to me last winter because I have had increasingly worsening stomach issues for about 5 years (the type with shooting pains that make you have to sit down on the grocery store floor). It basically calls for the elimination of sugar or any product that could be converted to sugar in the body (i.e. wheat, dairy, any grains (rice included), fruit, corn, alcohol, etc.). Well, I was freaking out about it a first because it thought it was going to be impossible, but now I'll never go back to the American way of eating (except on rare celebratory occasions of course). And, its really not that hard to stick with a diet that consists mainly of veggies, beans, and occasional (locally raised) meat. My stomach is 100% cured, and I only relapse when I start eating all the sugary stuff again. The more people, I've talked to about this, the more people I find that feel the same way I do and eat a diet similar to this all the time. Some have used it to clear up allergies, some have used it to control high blood sugar/diabetes, and some just do it because it makes them feel great. Anyways, you are certainly onto something here and it sounds like its something similar to the Candida diet. There aren't too many great internet resources but there are several books that are worth checking out on the subject. This is a "cure" that many alternative/integrative/natural medicine practitioners use!
Karen says
Megan,
I guess if you think about it, all these would eliminate sugar. So maybe it does become like the Candida diet. I also know that people with eczema have increased amount of Candida in their system. So you could be right. Thanks for the thought.
Bobbie says
I have eczema and used to use steroid creams. They worked so so..Then a friend got me this;
Banana Cream banana peel extract (BPx)
made by NuTopicals
It says it is for wounds, Burns, and Dermatitis
I use it now as soon as the eczema shows up I put it on and it goes away within
24 hours. At first it took longer to go away, but the more I used it the less severe
the flare up is.
I am not sure if you can get it online, I think she got it from the co-op.
Karen says
It's funny you mention banana because banana peels contain vitamins and minerals that are effective for itching. It is used for mosquito bites. I tried rubbing the peel on my kids' skin once and they cringed. I didn't know there was a banana cream. I should get one just to have one around the house. Thanks for the tip!
Karen says
Rachel,
Food Inc. mention the corn industry too - it goes after Monsanto, big time. It also mentions Pollan's book.
When my kids were in elementary school, I was the Health and Safety Committee Chair and I tried to educate the kids and parents about obesity. I was surprised to learn that some parents didn't want to be told "how to raise" their kids and tell them what to feed them. So, although the food conglomerates are "responsible" for making us sick, it's also the American public that need to be educated about the hazards of what we eat. If we ignore what the companies are feeding us, and stay silent, they will continue to feed us this way.
Did you know that some HFCS containing foods also have high mercury content? like Coca Cola? Not only are they making us fat with HFCS, they are also contaminating us with mercury. It's really sickening to learn all these hidden lies.
Wild caught salmons are the best, I suppose, but I also heard that farm raised salmons from responsible farmers are better in some cases because there are less toxins in them than the ocean. I'm mixed on that issue.
I could go on forever with this too. It's day six for my son and so far, we've seen a little bit of improvement but he's starving. Poor kid.
Rachel says
Hi again,
I want to see that movie Food, Inc soon. Did you read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan? He talks in length about the corn industry and how it's infiltrated everything-it's frightening. They even feed fish corn... I went back to being a vegetarian after reading that book (except I eat wild salmon). I haven't bought anything with HFCS in years (getting my husband to closely read labels if finally kicking in too). I am in a research lab that studies obesity and the studies I hear about on fructose and it's direct connection with obesity are an eye opener (too bad the general public isn't getting that same education). I'll stop there-I could go on!!
Karen says
Hi Mary,
I totally agree with you about the "American" food being the culprit. When I eat whole, meaning not processed or packaged, foods and sauces that I make at home, I know what go into making my meals. Even soy sauce has wheat in it!! And it's hard to find juices without corn syrup.
Food Inc, the movie, was an eye opener but reading labels and ingredients are really depressing too.
I would love the pudding recipe as my daughter is dying for some decadence. I am planning to add some recipes here while I'm on this journey so if you have them, please e-mail them to me. And if you have any other tips on food sensitivities, share them with us. Of course, I'll always link back to you. Thanks for stopping by Mary. 🙂
Mary K says
Great post, Karen. It is amazing how many foods that are such integral parts of an American diet, even a very healthy one like your family's and mine, can trigger allergic reactions. Everyone in my family has sensitivities, so I have become pretty good at making low-allergenic foods (I definitely let this slip during the holidays, though!). Let me know if you want any recipes (I literally just finished making some non-dairy, non-wheat, sugar-free pudding that tastes amazing).
My family and I have found that we don't get the same level of reactions to typical allergens when we are in Europe, so it is my guess that it is the GMO corn and soy, as well as the single type of wheat strain used in most American foods that are the true culprits.
Karen says
Oh my gosh...I'm so glad you know what I'm going through, I mean, not "glad" but you know what I mean.....
Rachel: you are right; CORN is in EVERYTHING!!! Even in things like BBQ charcoal - not kidding. My family saw FOOD Inc. over Thanksgiving and it made me realize what the big food industry is doing to our health through manipulating what we eat. Corn is a huge business controlled by a few big food companies and they put corn in everything....High Fructose Corn Syrup is inevitable if you eat processed foods. My kids didn't test for corn but if this elimination diet doesn't work, I'll test them for that too. Thanks for writing in.
Heidi: Milk and eggs are two of the worst. And again, very hard to avoid if you are eating processed foods or restaurant foods. I think your son will end up like my kids - he'll "grow out" of it but not really. I think their system will always be sensitive to them. The problem is milk, soy, eggs, corn, and wheat are in EVERY processed or packaged foods. So when we eat three things for dinner, the chances are, we are actually eating twelve things that we are sensitive to, which taxes our system so we can't tolerate them, making our body to react.
Amy: Oh I hope they are not allergic to soy. Soy milk and tofu will be their staple foods from now on. When Andrew tested positive for cow's milk, I tried giving him goat's milk and he did not like it. So we gave him soy which he liked. But goats milk soap we use all the time.
Sara: soy is in chocolate??? Yikes! Unfortunately, since you have allergies, the chances are, you probably passed your food allergies to your daughter. You are going to have to watch her for symptoms too. The funny thing is I have no food allergies so I thought we are in the clear. But it turns out, both my parents and my husbands parents have allergies that we didn't know about. 🙁
Sara says
very good post. I also suffer with excema, and did the cambridge food test to see whatI may be sensitive to. I found out I was sensitive to dairy, soya and eggs, so went about cutting them out. Its hard!! soya in particular is in almost everything (including most chocolate which was very painful for me ;-)) I actually did this to help conceive, but the by product of it was that my excema totally disappeared, and has only returned recently, and in smaller patches. I only gave them all up for about 2 months, then gave in gradually to everything. I also now have a beautiful 7week old daughter 😀
Amy says
Hey Karen,
My youngest had terrible rashes/excema too when she was small. The doctor said no cows milk or soy. But he did say we could try goats milk. We (I was nursing at the time) were able to do well with goats milk. It may be something to try when your kids are "going through withdrawl" for dairy.
hugs,
Amy
Heidi S says
Thank you so much for this post! My youngest is 2 and has had horrific eczema since he was 6wks old. First on his face (and his face would be wet and seeping and swollen and he would scratch it until it bled). I knew that he had a food allergy but no doctor would listen. Finally I took him to an allergist who still didn't think it was an allergy but tested him anyway. He was surprised that he came back allergic to milk and eggs! He was tested again when he turned 2 and supposedly had grown out of it but now he has it from his neck down to his ankles and on his arms. I am starting to cut out dairy and eggs again. He is incredibly itchy still but I am hoping the diet change will help again. Thanks for your post! I know that no cream or Rx has worked for my little guy.
Rachel says
Very helpful post Karen. I'll forward this on to family who have skin issues. Sorry to hear your daughter has been so sick but good she is on the mend. I did the elimination diet a while ago suspecting I have a food allergy to corn (not skin related). Corn is in SO many things in so many forms, like wheat. Turns out I am allergic to corn but not severely, so I can handle something with a form of corn low on the ingredients list. Good luck with your family's elimination diet.
Maura says
Excellent post! I tweeted it and am passing link to it onto a couple of friends whose children have Psoriasis. Thanks for sharing!