Thomas’ 8 Day Juice Fast Experience!

My good friend Thomas was kind enough to allow me to do a blog post on his juice fast experience. I became friends with him a few years ago when we “met” online through a Topical Steroid Withdrawal forum. We’ve kept in contact ever since and have encouraged one another through the healing process over the years. I actually got the chance to meet him in person this past summer, and it was such a joy! We got a chance to hang out, eat ripe mangos (freshly picked that day might I add!) and cook some yummy vegan curry together! He was the first person I officially met from the online world and I look forward to hanging out with him in the future again! He has been working diligently and consistently in healing his skin, and I’m so proud of his success. I love that he’s not one to shy away from experimenting with different healing methods and I truly commend his efforts. It can take a bit of willpower to do a fast, but he jumps in full on and always keeps his focus on ways that he can help his skin repair, this is what drives him to stay dedicated. This is the same mentality that I recommend to those who reach out to me needing coaching support…to always remember that it’s not a sprint but a marathon, but all of the great things that you do for your body will add up as they are all cumulative. You have to take responsibility for your health, and not make it a quick fix, but a lifestyle…just incorporating healthier foods, making sure you sleep well, stay stress-free and get enough exercise…they all go together to aid in healing. 
Juicing can help the skin as it allows the body to receive a concentrated amount of nutrients that are super easy to digest (because it is juiced, so no fiber is intact) which allows the body to spend less energy on digesting food, and more energy on healing the illness. Raw fruits and veggies are packed with enzymes (no cooking is involved), dense nutrients, minerals, vitamins, and tons of oxygen for the cells. I highly recommend if not doing a juice fast every once in awhile, at least incorporating a green juice into your daily meals. I like to have my green drink as the last thing that I consume at night as it gives me a great dose of anti-inflammatory nutrients for healing at night, and it gives me great eliminations in the morning (yea, I know TMI haha). I don’t have a juicer, but I just blend it with my high speed blender. If I wanted it like a juiced consistency then I could just put the liquid through a strainer. I switch it up, but my go-to green drink is usually kale, cilantro & parsley (great for heavy metal detox), spinach, romaine, ginger, apple for sweetness, a squirt of lime or lemon (vitamin c helps you absorb the nutrients better), celery and cucumber.
Various green drinks I’ve made in the past. Make sure to switch it up and keep it interesting!

Check out Kris Carr’s info on How to Make a Green Juice

Click “continue reading” below to see photos chronicling his healing crisis in his skin, and a day by day account of the fast, plus a little Q & A I did with him. Let me know in the comments below if you’d be interested in doing a fast like this, or if you have before and what are your thoughts! Thanks again Thomas for sharing your experience!

Continue reading “Thomas’ 8 Day Juice Fast Experience!”

Recipes! – Oatmeal Banana Cookies!

  

Oatmeal Banana Cookies Recipe

Super easy to make and very healthy for you!

  • 3 super ripe bananas
  • 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats

the rest of the additions are up to you! For mine I added:

  • a handful of raisins
  • a handful of pumpkin seeds
  • a few dashes of cinnamon, one dash of nutmeg
  • 2 spoonfuls of almond butter (any nut or seed butter works great in these)
  • a tablespoon of coconut shreds
  • a nice sprinkle of chia and ground flax seeds.

Method:

  1. Mash up bananas and incorporate your spices and nut or seed butters, then mix in well, and then the rest of your additions such as sunflower seeds, coconut, raisins etc…whatever you want!
  2. Stir in your rolled oats, mixing very well and let it sit for 10-20 minutes.
  3. Spoon onto a baking sheet with parchment paper and kinda flatten it out.
  4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20-30 minutes until nice and brown and fully cooked.
  5. Store in the fridge.

Extension for 2 More Days!


So due to many inquiries and interest in this program, Abby of Prime Physique Nutrition and I have extended the enrollment to the Conqueror Eczema Academy 8 week group coaching program for 2 more days! Together, we’ll be walking with you over the next 8 weeks to teach you how to overcome this through weekly LIVE calls, teachings, support, accountability, and encouragement! You’ll also receive a meal plan, recipe suggestions, an eczema friendly workout program, and meet others who are going through the same thing so that you can get more support ☺️ You will also have access to 50+ video teachings by a naturopath, skin experts, nutritionists, and a personal trainer.

In the last round of coaching, we had members from Australia, Asia, Europe, USA, & Canada! It was so awesome to reach people from all over the globe and get them the help they need to heal! One of the members in our group had been using steroids for over 20 years and experienced significant healing after being 1-month steroid free!

Click HERE to sign up & learn more today

****if you happen to miss this deadline or aren’t able to sign up, no worries…you can sign up after the deadline or in the future with the link in my bio and join in the next round of LIVE coaching we’ll hold in the future!

 

Detox Food Pyramid


I like to focus on eating simply when the body is going through a healing crisis aka flares, this allows the body to do some deep cleansing and really repair. This is a great pyramid to show you how the body can cleanse on different foods. A water fast (which I’ve done a 3 & 5 day one before) can allow the body to put its energy strictly on healing because there’s no energy spent on digesting foods. If you look into doing a water fast start off slow with a 3 day one & sort out time to do it (because you’ll literally be just drinking water, urinating and resting, no energy to do anything else). Fruit is the easiest of foods to digest, and you can see it’s next on the pyramid. Melons are the fastest of foods to digest, so having a watermelon feast is another great cleansing method (I did a 3 day watermelon feast once aka watermelon island ). As you start going down the pyramid and adding veggies your detox can slow down and when you add cooked foods and especially nuts and seeds it can slow way down. Always focus on how foods digest and look into food combining for proper digestion. When I focus on fasting methods and eating more simply & raw, I FEEL the results in more hydrated skin, more clarity, and great digestion. Healing comes from the inside out, we gotta help our detox channels in every way we can! 👍 #eczemaholistichealing

Meet Up with Fellow Eczema Warrior Abby!

 

A few weekends ago, I finally got the chance to meet Abby, of Prime Physique Nutrition in person! ☺️ We’ve “known” each other for a few years now ever since we connected online and I did a podcast interview on her YouTube channel sharing my eczema healing journey. We’ve kept in contact ever since and have collaborated many times on projects together and have always been there to encourage one another. (Funny enough we share the same birthday: 8.27 ☺️). She’s such a wonderful soul, a true eczema warrior and she does such great work helping eczema sufferers in their healing process. It was wonderful chatting over some delicious vegan Caribbean food and playing with her super adorable baby Cooper. How about this random wall behind us draped in hanging bras though?? 😜 LOL! Keep up the awesome work you do Abby, we need more people like you in this world 🙏💜

“What I Eat in a Day” Series – #1

Hey Guys!
I’m working on a new series called “What I Eat in a Day” where I will post just that, exactly what I eat in a day. This will help anyone needing some plant based meal inspiration! You can check out more info on my typical daily meals HERE.

*this pic was taken at the end of summer when watermelon was still in season lol, I’m a little last posting this up.

Breakfast

  • I always drink 16-32 oz of water upon waking up. Hydration is key first thing because you’ve been sleeping all night and basically fasting the whole time. It’s also great for waking up the digestive system. (Make sure that you’re drinking lots of water throughout the day, you want to get about 1/2 your weight in water in ounces everyday.)
  • Next I have my turmeric tea which consists of turmeric paste, a squeeze of half a lime, a tiny drop of coconut oil to make it more bio-available and half still water and half hot water. You don’t want it boiling hot, just warm enough. This turmeric tea helps to balance the ph in the body and helps to stimulate digestion.
  • About 15 minutes later I had some watermelon, this was probably 1/4 of a decent sized watermelon. Eating watermelon first thing in the morning is the BEST thing you can do as it’s super hydrating and the fastest of the fruits in term of digestion transit time.
  • Probably about an hour later I had my large smoothie which is pretty much a meal replacer and keeps me full for hours. It is half cherry + banana & moringa powder + banana. So I used 3 bananas and 1/2 cup or so of frozen cherries, and then 3 bananas and a small spoon of moringa powder. I also blended in ground flax and chia seeds for some healthy omegas! The liquid I used is half unsweetened almond milk and half water, I just make it to my desired thickness. Moringa is antioxidant rich a great anti inflammatory agent, has hormone balancing properties and is great for the skin health with it’s antibacterial properties. It’s super rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin A, potassium, protein and calcium as well. Check out more info on moringa HERE . I will add it in my smoothies, and I’ve also started making a yummy tea with it with hot water and some dairy free milk and a sweetener like coconut sugar.
  • I like to eat all fruit for breakfast because it’s best to eat simply with easy to digest foods in the morning as your body is just now waking up as I mentioned above. Fruits have the quickest transit times, are full of energy, fiber and nutrients to keep you going. Plus they are super hydrating.

Snack

  • My huge banana smoothie keeps me nice and full for hours but when I start getting hungry I still like to snack on some fresh fruit and what I had was a handful of organic red grapes and 2 pulots aka dinosaur egg plums.
  • Maybe 30 min or so later I had two Brazil nuts which is great for skin health, two dates (these are my favourite as they truly taste like caramel candies!) and two homemade oatmeal banana cookies.

Oatmeal Banana Cookies Recipe

Super easy to make and very healthy for you!

  • 3 super ripe bananas
  • 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats

the rest of the additions are up to you! For mine I added:

  • a handful of raisins
  • a handful of pumpkin seeds
  • a few dashes of cinnamon, one dash of nutmeg
  • 2 spoonfuls of almond butter (any nut or seed butter works great in these)
  • a tablespoon of coconut shreds
  • a nice sprinkle of chia and ground flax seeds.

Method:

  1. Mash up bananas and incorporate your spices and nut or seed butters, then mix in well, and then the rest of your additions such as sunflower seeds, coconut, raisins etc…whatever you want!
  2. Stir in your rolled oats, mixing very well and let it sit for 10-20 minutes.
  3. Spoon onto a baking sheet with parchment paper and kinda flatten it out.
  4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20-30 minutes until nice and brown and fully cooked.
  5. Store in the fridge.

Dinner 

  • Large salad with mixed veggies, romaine lettuce and mixed greens. I always have a salad with my meals, it’s a great way to make sure you’re eating something raw and green in the day. If I don’t have a salad then I’ll try to make sure I get a green drink in at night. For my dressing I just simple put a spoon of tahini and made sure everything was well tossed and covered.
  • I made some brown rice pasta with a variety of sautéed veggies (mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, onion, garlic, and frozen kale and spinach mix) in herbs like parsley, oregano, basil, thyme and fennel. I like to top it off with some nutritional yeast (not an activated yeast, great source of B12 and has a nice cheesy like flavour).
  • Digestive period: From noon to 8pm the body’s metabolism is geared towards digestion.  When the body is in digestion mode it requires a lot of energy to complete it’s job, so it only makes sense to eat your biggest meal of the day around this time. The earlier the time frame, the better (the Ayurvedic system of medicine says the time of optimal digestive power is 10 am to 3 pm).  I personally eat my biggest meal between 2pm and 6pm, and drink my nightly green drink by 8pm.

 

 

 

Break Your Fast with Melon! 


Ever had Honey Kiss melon?? 😋 It’s nice and sweet with a refreshing crisp crunch! I love to eat melon as my first meal of the day because it’s super hydrating and one of the easiest digestible foods! We have to gently wake up our digestive systems in the morning because we’ve been fasting all night (that’s why it’s called break-fast to break the fast). I like to drink 16-32 oz of water, then have my warm lemon or lime turmeric tea then eat some fresh fruit like melon. I got this at my nearest Wal-Mart actually for $1.98, super cheap refreshing breakfast., great for hydrating the skin 👍 you can subscribe to my Instagram page @ eczema.holistic.healing ☺️

Michal’s Healing Testimony!

 

The next participant in the Testimonial Healing Series is Michal! I met him through my website and he reached out to me needing support and suggestions to get through the natural eczema healing process. I love how proactive he became in changing up his diet and really getting into it… you can just tell in his delicious food pictures below! He is such a trooper for having to deal with so much having to take care of his family, and going through this awful process. He has always kept a positive, faithful attitude and is a great encouragement to me as well! I just know that his story will inspire you all!

Click “continue reading” below for more!

Continue reading “Michal’s Healing Testimony!”

8.27.17 <3 Five Years & Five Months TS Free!

 

AUGUST 16 2017

Today, August 27th 2017 is my 32nd birthday! I seriously can’t believe sometimes that I’m in my 3os AHHHHHH! Although getting older can be daunting at times, I’m so very thankful for reaching another year, stronger, healthier and wiser than the last. I’m always in awe of all that I’ve been through with my health and how I’m still here…even after many times of, well honestly wanting to not be here. It’s sad to talk about but at my lowest of lowest moments I had a lot of mental & emotional turmoil within, where I didn’t want to live to only see the next day struggling in my body again. I give thanks to God that He gave me the strength to keep pushing, to KNOW that things won’t always be this way, that in time it will get better, and my body WILL heal.

“This too shall pass.”

Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

At this moment as I type this I’m not in an agonizing pain with an intense itch. I only have some irritation around my mouth (little cuts that are oh so stubborn to heal up already) that can be painful at times and tight to where it’s hard to open my mouth. I’m not complaining though because it was only two years ago on my birthday I remember being stuck in the house with oozy achy feet. My bestie who lived with me at the time was so sweet and brought home vegan cupcakes and balloons for me, and another bestie of mine came to visit with gifts as well! I do wish I was back in New York with my friends, partying it up this past weekend, maybe going to a concert and out to dinner…but I’m thankful that I’m here, alive, breathing, in good health that will only continue to get better and better!

I give thanks that I have the strength to take care of my mom who had 3 spinal surgeries last year and is recovering with the use of a walker and a wheelchair. It can be hard to see her struggle with numb & weak legs and feet, but her positive attitude and resilience shows me that no matter how hard it gets never give up, and continue to have faith and hope! Through my struggles and experience I can assure her that healing does indeed take time, and that the patience that I had to learn through my healing process is the same virtue that she must adopt (she can be like me at times and want it to hurry up and end already lol). I give thanks that the mother who gave birth to me 32 years ago and who has been there with me through it all can now lean on me as I help to take care of her. I know that my future birthdays will be bright with even better health, great experiences and adventures!

As I reflect on this past year, my heart is full of gratitude for the ups and even the downs as it strengthened me, for those who helped in anyway possible as it showed me that there are kind people out there willing to lend a hand and to not always feel like I have it under control, that I can be vulnerable and ask for help. I have gratitude for my environment, for the healing sun rays that I’ve definitely taken advantage of this year and the healing plant based foods that I’ve been able to get living here in Florida. I have gratitude for my body, for healing so nicely and never letting me down…even in the days when I would look down at my skin and scream at it, wondering why it’s flaring again…why is this my body…then of course I’d lovingly take back those words and speak life into myself, close my eyes and pray over my body and envision only clear healthy skin. I give thanks for my family, friends and all of those whom I’ve met through this website, instagram and facebook support groups, always giving me encouraging words and giving me blessings and thanks for the work that I do just helping them out on their healing journey. I’m so thankful for another birthday, and I look forward to all of the amazing things that are ahead of me! ❤

(click continue reading below for more!)

Continue reading “8.27.17 ❤ Five Years & Five Months TS Free!”

Brazil Nuts!


Get some Brazil nuts into your diet! ​These nuts are the highest source of the mineral selenium (542 mcg, 774% daily recommended value in just one ounce!!). Selenium in Brazil nuts speeds the cell turnover process, providing a natural glow to the skin​ & helps with inflammation​.​ Selenium is also a great mood lifter which will help battle depression allowing it to boost the levels of serotonin metabolites. The high levels of antioxidants in Brazil nuts stimulate the production of glutathione, which combats free radicals that damage the skin collagen​ ​and ​helps to prevent skin cancer. The Vitamin E in Brazil nuts also maintains the integrity of the cells of the mucus membranes and the skin​​.

Brazil nuts also contain copper, a mineral that aids in the production of melanin​ ​(a color pigment that protects the body from the harmful ultraviolet rays).​​ ​​I like to consume about 2 raw Brazil nuts everyday along with other nuts and seeds like walnuts, sunflower, chia, pumpkin & flax! Brazil nuts have a propensity to spoil quickly so buy them in reasonable amounts. Look for Brazil nuts that are stored in airtight containers, whole and brown and heavy in the hand. Don’t pick any that are shriveled or in pieces, as they could be already spoiled or contaminated with mold. It’s best to store Brazil nuts airtight in a cool, dark, dry place without exposure to humidity or sunlight.​ ​You can also store whole Brazil nuts in an airtight bag in the refrigerator, where they can last for a few months.

 A one-ounce (six kernels) serving of dried, unblanched Brazil nuts contains about:

  • 185 calories
  • 3.5 grams carbohydrates
  • 4 grams protein
  • 18.8 grams fat
  • 2.1 grams fiber
  • 542 micrograms selenium (774% DV)
  • 106 milligrams magnesium (27% DV)
  • 0.5 milligram copper (25 percent DV)
  • 205 milligrams phosphorous (20% DV)
  • 0.3 milligram manganese (17% DV)
  • 0.2 milligram thiamine (12% DV)
  • 1.6 milligrams vitamin E (8% DV)
  • 1.1 milligrams zinc (8% DV)
  • 45.2 milligrams calcium (5% DV)
  • 186 milligrams potassium (5% DV)
  • 0.7 milligram iron (4% DV)

Check out more info on Brazil Nuts HERE & HERE (Brazil nuts effect on cholesterol)