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 ❤
This is just about the easiest breakfast you can make! So sweet, delicious and nourishing, you’ll feel like you’re treating yourself to dessert! Papaya and mango are so awesome for skin health, and the banana gives it the creaminess and calorie density to keep you full. I like to keep it pretty simple for breakfast, lots of fruit to give my body the wonderful carby energy that it needs. Fruit is also great to have for breakfast because your body has been fasting while you’ve slept, so it’s nice to introduce easily digestible foods to the body so you’re not overworking it or shocking the system with something heavy that will take forever to digest and make you feel sluggish. I’ll either do something like this delicious papaya boat, raw fruit, lots of melon (quickest digestible fruit) , nice cream or fruit smoothies for breakfast. 🙂
*tip! Save the seeds from the papaya, wash and freeze. You can use these as a natural anti-germ remedy for parasites, infections and as a natural antibiotic. Just take a spoonful on an empty stomach, crush (I like to just crush with my teeth…holding my nose of course) and swallow with water. I’ve used this remedy many times while going through an intense flare with oozing skin. It helps to keep any infection away, and in my opinion it speeds up healing. It seemed to draw out the ooze and heal it up quicker! All of those wonderful enzymes go to work to heal the body! Gotta love natural, drug free remedies!
Papaya Boat with Banana Mango Nice Cream!
1/2 ripe papaya
3 frozen bananas
1/2 cup frozen mango
add a knob of grated ginger for a nice kick!
Super simple….
Wash the papaya, cut in half (lengthwise), scoop out seeds
Take frozen banana, mango and optional grated ginger and place in a high speed blender. While using the tamper (tool used to push down contents in blender while blending) blend the frozen fruit until it’s a creamy ice cream consistency. You can add a tiny bit of water if you want it like a soft serve consistency, but I like it without liquid.
Yea, this recipe came out pretty amazing! So simple to make, colorful and super filling! We eat with our eyes first and this dish is definitely enticing to the eyes. I’ll for sure be making more veggie burritos and wraps in the future with different fillings and different spices. 🙂
There’s nothing better than having a nourishing smoothie for breakfast….oh yes, this can make it better!!! Blend up your fruits without much liquid using a tamper (tool to push down the contents in the high speed blender) turning it into a thick ice cream consistency! Ice cream for breakfast or in this case “nice cream”, no dairy in sight!
My homie Thomas has decided to share his Topical Steroid Withdrawal story with his friends on Instagram! I’m super proud of him for being so courageous, it takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there, and I’m sure that he will reach many others just by honestly sharing his experience & his passion for healing with a whole foods plant based diet. He’s been in TSW now for about a year and has been pushing through like a trooper. Cheers to you Thomas! Keep on keepin’ on! 🙂
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I think its time to share what my life has been like for the past year. For all of you that have normal skin, take a moment and appreciate the hell out of it. Not only do I look like sh*t, but my confidence is non existent, it sometimes hurts to fully extend my arms, and I cant sleep through the entire night without waking up to an itch fest. Every day is a struggle just to get by. This is the worst its ever been so it can only get better right? What I have is eczema. In an attempt to cure this “incurable” condition, I changed my diet to only organic fruits and veggies. With the help of all the nutrition, my body now has enough energy to start dumping out all the bad stuff. Diseased cells and tissues are being disposed of and malfunctioning organs are being restored to life, and the toxins are coming out of my skin. The good news is eventually there is an end date to this misery, just don’t know when. All I can do now is have faith that my body will restore itself as long as I continue to provide it with good food, water, light, and love.
My skin has been craving some good ol’ vitamin D and a few days ago it was warm enough (55 degrees) to sit on the stoop and soak up some healing rays 🙂 I live in NYC and this winter has been quiet long, and pretty brutal. Being homebound and not being able to put on shoes to get out to take a walk and such has been pretty rough on me, but I’m so thankful that spring has finally sprung and the weather is warming up enough to get some sunlight on my deficient skin. I have no doubt that just soaking in some sun will help along my healing!
Vitamin D is so crucial for the human body and especially for eczema sufferers.
It can help the immune system reduce levels of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, and it strengthen your skin barriers.
Vitamin D causes skin cells to make more antimicrobial proteins, which is why people with low levels of vitamin D tend to have more skin infections.
Since I’m darker skinned, I will need to absorb the suns rays longer than someone of fairer skin. The melanin (substance that affects how light or dark your skin colour is) that is in my skin makes it harder for the UVB rays to enter my skin. So with less UVB being absorbed through the skin, less vitamin D is produced each minute.
The paler your skin type the more easily your skin can produce vitamin D. So, if you have skin type I to III, you produce vitamin D more quickly than if you have skin type IV to VI. For example, if you have skin type I, it might take around 15 minutes of sun exposure to get the vitamin D you need, while if you have skin type V or VI, it might take up to six times longer (up to 2 hours).
Because of all these factors – your skin type, where you live and the time of day or season – it can be difficult to work out how much time you need to spend exposing your skin to the sun in order to get the vitamin D you need. A good rule of thumb is to get half the sun exposure it takes for your skin to turn pink to get your vitamin D and expose as much skin as possible.
The best way to get vitamin D is of course through the sun, but you can get it through supplements and small amounts in certain foods. You can find this vitamin in a vegan food source…mushrooms! Just like humans, mushrooms have the capacity to produce vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet light.
I have been taking a few whole food plant based supplements to help give me a lil boost of vitamin D while I’ve been hibernating this winter. This Premium Mushroom Blend supplement for vitamin D2 and another whole food plant based supplement for Vitamin D3. If you are interested in more info about it just shoot me an email! eczema.holistic.healing@gmail.com .
Here’s some info from the http://www.itsan.org q & a section about sunbathing…..
Q: I’ve heard that getting some sun on my skin may help me heal. Can you describe this in detail?
A: Sun is not promised to speed healing but is often found to help. It is only recommended for those in the later stages of Topical Steroid Withdrawal after flares have stopped, and when the skin is dry, thicker, and not pink or red. UV rays can help restore the dry, steroid-damaged skin to a normal, healthy state. You must be careful to avoid getting too much sun or getting too hot. Start with a short amount of time (10 minutes or less) and work your way up to 20 minutes. Cool sun is recommended.
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015 – Didn’t end up going out with any moisturizer, kinda just forgot to.
*my skin’s looking quite dry in these photos because I didn’t apply any emollients like coconut oil, shea butter or micro algae lotion before going out. It wasn’t really a conscious thing, I guess I just forgot lol.
I saved a gross photo for last… some extreme skin flakes… check it out if you dare! 😛
I love experimenting with different hummus recipes and this one in particular ended up becoming my fave! It ended up having this amazing pizza like flavour with all of the delicious Italian seasonings I added. I don’t really follow recipes too much, I kinda just wing it when I’m in the kitchen, so if you’d like your hummus to be a bit smoother, you can just add more liquids to it. I like to eat this with organic tortilla chips, slather it on a rice cake, or have it with celery. Spreading this on a sprouted toasted tortilla wrap (like the Ezekiel brand) would be a great idea with some other tasty veggies and some nutritional yeast for a nice cheesy flavour…instant pizzas! There’s so many options with this super easy protein packed veggie snack, the possibilities are endless 🙂
Someone on the itsan forum posted this link for this eye opening doc called Bought – the truth behind vaccines, big pharma, and your food.It’s all about the corruption in the medical and food industries. It’s only available for free until the 15th of March. Check it out if you can before the 15th! 🙂
“Your health is now brought to you by Wall Street. If you thought they hurt us with the banks, wait till you see what they’re doing to our health care…”
Eczema Holistic Healing 