As I mentioned before in the acid/alkaline page it is best to avoid animal products and processed foods to heal your eczema and to stay eczema free. Animal products are highly acidic, and take forever to digest in the body (anywhere from 24-72 hours!) which that energy could be used on healing the body. Optimal digestion is so key in healing your eczema, as our gut holds 80% of our immune system and is one of the main channels of elimination. Alkaline foods (plant based foods) give us all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals and energy our body needs to repair and restore from our organs, bones, tissues and skin!
This post is to provide some easy tips to make a transition to a plant based diet fool proof. It’s not as hard as you think, and once you get the hang of it, it will be like second nature!
In his article, “Skin Health, Eczema, and Preventative Strategies”, James Barker, N.D. sums up the importance of protecting the GI integrity for eczema patients by saying: “If the eyes and the skin are the portal through which we may observe the body’s internal health, the gut then is the door through which a majority of disease initiates its entrance into the body… It goes without saying that… the first area of treatment then for the patient displaying eczema should be the gastrointestinal lining, without a doubt” (p. 58).
Having an optimally functioning gut is key to healing one’s eczema as well as countless other diseases. We must heal from the inside out, and the integrity of the gut is the first line of defense in repairing the skin of eczema. The gut holds 80% of the body’s immunity! When the detoxification systems aren’t eliminating properly (gut, kidneys, liver) then the toxic waste needs to go somewhere, and the skin is the organ it decides to eliminate on. Putting the focus on healing internally with diet, and probiotic rich foods and supplements will put the body back in balance and add good bacteria into the body.
The best foods to put into the body to repopulate the good gut bacteria are plant based foods. These foods are highly alkaline, fiber rich and come with an array of various vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Drinking celery juice first thing in the morning is another great gut healing remedy one can do. Check out this very informative video on why its best to fill up on all kinds of plant based foods in order to heal the gut which will in turn heal your skin as well as other health issues.
Seven signs you should be taking a probiotic
Antibiotics – If you’ve taken antibiotics in the past year or even five years and you haven’t re-cultured your good bacteria you should look into taking a probiotic. Birth control and anti-inflammatory drugs like NSAID’s (over the counter pain meds like Tylenol, Ibuprofen etc) will also destroy the gut.
Food Poisoning – This is a shift in the equilibrium of the gut, meaning that you have more bad bacteria than good. When this happens you will definitely want to re-populate the gut with good bacteria.
Digestive Disturbances – Such as bloating, excessive gas, constipation, diarrhea etc. If this is occurring, you will want to look into supplementing with a probiotic.
Skin Conditions – Once you start to fix what’s going on in the inside of the body, the outside will reflect more harmony and balance of your health.
Mood Disorders – If you are having mood issues, such as depression, there’s a good chance that a good probiotic will help bounce up the seratonin levels. 95% of the seratonin is in the body is actually made in the gut and it’s the “happy molecule” in the brain. Once you start fixing your gut, you will notice that your mood will start to enhance!
Weak Immunity – If you’re the type of person that gets sick two to three times a year and you’re wondering why, there’s a good chance that over populated bad bacteria is holding you back and you should look into considering a probiotic.
Yeast Overgrowth – If you’re dealing with any type of yeast infection or yeast overgrowth on the inside, rebalancing the good gut bacteria will definitely help you.
For more info on the whole food based probiotics I use, check out this link HERE and shoot me an email for more information and how to order at eczema.holistic.healing@gmail.com! I also do health coaching with eczema sufferers where I send them a health questionnaire to get to know them better and offer tips, diet advice and natural remedies. ☺️
Sunday Fruit Haul! Oranges, bananas, baby bananas, papayas, limes, baby watermelon, avocados, guavas, apples, plantains, Galia melons, champagne mangos & frozen fruit tropical blend!
🍉🍐🍇🍎🍏🍓🍌🍈🍒🍑🍋🍊🍏🍍
Enjoy your fruit y’all! Don’t be afraid of the sugars in fruit, they won’t make you fat, and won’t contribute to Candida overgrowth. On the contrary, a high carb-low fat plant based diet will HEAL Candida overgrowth! The sugars in fruit give us the fuel our body runs on. This energy is assimilated and used to heal and repair our cells! Fruit is super fiberous, water rich and packed with antioxidants, anti inflammatory properties, vitamins and minerals. These components are in complex carbs unlike refined sugars in white processed foods, candy, pastries, high fructose corn syrup etc. that have virtually no nutritional value. Fruit is highly alkaline and easily digestible with a transit time of less than 3 hours! Animal products are acidic, inflammatory and have a transit time of 24-72 hours! 😱 To heal from eczema we must have optimal, efficient digestion and plant foods will aid in this, unlike animal products that sit, rot & putrefy in the colon 😳. Plus they’re super sweet and yummy and by nature we are just meant to eat them! They are the original “fast food”. Make sure they’re super ripe because it’s sweeter and better for the digestion! So “GO FRUIT YOURSELF”! 😜
Yup, you read that title right… March 2016 marks four whole years that I’ve been topical steroid free! It’s pretty amazing when I look back at all that I’ve endured, physically, mentally & emotionally. This post is kind of bittersweet because on one hand I have nothing but gratitude in my heart that I’ve come this far but on the other hand I wish I could be writing this saying that I’m completely healed and back to my normal life. Now this isn’t to discourage anyone…healing DOES happen. In my case it’s taking awhile. If you’re new to my blog I think it’s best for me to give some background of my history. I used topical steroids from 10 months old to 26 years old. I also had injections of (I believe) triamcinolone into my hands and feet multiple times. I was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2008, which I underwent 6 months of chemo twice a month (it’s said chemo has a half life in the body up to 10-12 years!). So needless to say I’ve had A LOT of toxic build up in my body, hence my lengthy withdrawal. Buuuut I’m apparently right around the time as far as healing times go. Supposedly for every 7 years you’ve used TS you will go through a year of withdrawal. So although actually 28 years of usage would equal 4 years of withdrawal, I’m not too far off, plus I have the “added bonus” of injections and chemo 😦 . Everyone is different and depending on your usage and potency you may have a shorter or longer healing time than myself, so don’t be alarmed by my lengthy healing time… you may restore faster than me, it just all depends.
Ugh eating a vegan diet is sooooo hard! Hehehe, just joking! 🙂 This lil blog update is to show what I eat in a day, all vegan, all delicious! Vegan is basically no animal products (meat, eggs and by products like dairy) and all the abundant plant based foods you can eat!
check out my instagram, username: jlh827 for lots of vegan inspiration pics!
Currently reading: The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD
This book is the truuuuth! Such an intense study of the western & eastern diets and comparisons of disease rates in each. Our SAD (Standard American Diets) are only causing higher rates of diseases. The Western diet comprised of high amounts of animal proteins, fatty & processed foods are keeping us fat, sick & nearly dead! Adopting a whole food plant based diet will prevent and reverse diseases like cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cataracts, skin issues, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s, cognitive dysfunction, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis & many more! There’s truly only one dis-ease, acidocsis…get the body alkaline by going plant based and heal your symptoms! 🍄🍀🍉🍃🍌🍊🍎 #govegan !
Persimmons are AMAZING!!! Never had one? Please give it a go! They are super sweet like candy with this ooey gooey texture to them. They look like cute lil tomatoes ☺️ They are mainly in season around this time and when you try them out you gotta make sure they’re super ripe before eating. An under ripe persimmon will have a bitter taste and will leave you with a weird mouth feel. You’ll know when it’s ready when the skin is really soft to where you can almost break the skin from pushing into it. Like when a tomato is getting soft and squishy. Gotta be patient though, these bad boys can take awhile to ripen…but good things come to those who wait, like this delicious smoothie!!!
Persimmon Smoothie
Serves 1…because I like a massive smoothie for breakfast.
I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time now! I ventured into a raw plant based diet back in May, and I kept it up for a month and a half. Anytime you make changes in your diet to clean, whole foods rich in enzymes & nutrients, you will experience a detox. I was already eating very clean…I was eating a plant based, vegan whole foods diet pior to going raw. I guess because my diet was so clean beforehand, I didn’t think that I would’ve experienced a detox. But sheesh, what a detox it was!
All hail plants! Great video on detoxification, the best way to cleanse and heal the body of any illness!!! “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine thy food” -Hippocrates
If there’s anything that I’ve learned through these 3 past years of withdrawing from topical steroids as well as getting through cancer years ago, it’s that your attitude is truly everything. We all go through times of suffering, some more than most, and to keep your sanity, it is so important to keep your mind right. To stay faithful, positive and full of gratitude, I feel is the key to getting through the rough times. Negative, despondent thoughts can keep you just as sick as the illness you’re fighting, so it’s super important to change your thinking.
I’ve been going through it pretty hard core these past few weeks. I’ve been experiencing a healing crisis with my skin to where spots on my feet and both of my calves have been oozing then crusting and flaking, with extreme itchiness. I know exactly why it’s doing this…I started going fully raw vegan with my diet and implementing enzymes therapy to help speed up healing…I’ll be doing a blog post on this later ;). After a few weeks of ups and downs, I feel like I can confidently say the worst of the cycling is over, and I’m coming out of the healing crisis into a calm (hopefully the end!!!) stage. My skin is feeling stronger, softer and much better off than before I implemented a raw diet. Although it was hell to go through at times, it was well worth it because I feel that this healing crisis was the last push my body needed.
Through these rough few weeks, I’ve had to really hold it together, dig deep, and find my strength to keep pushing through. I’d like to share with you all some sticky notes that I’ve had on my wall for years to keep me inspired. I’ve taken these stickies with me through two moves, one from North Carolina to New York, to another apartment also in New York. I look at them daily and since I’ve said the words from them over and over again, it’s ingrained in my mind so I repeat them throughout the day. I hope that the affirmations, and spiritual scriptures that I’ve scribbled on them can give you some inspiration to help keep you fighting through this eczema healing journey ❤
Eczema Holistic Healing 