Life Story
Food Intolerance is Intolerable
Eczema: They suspected my problems were linked to an intolerance to certain foods.
Eczema and Steroid Cream
I have suffered on and off with eczema all my life. As a child, others didn’t want to hold my hand thinking they could catch it.
The doctors knew little about eczema, except to tell me to drink more milk (I was a skinny kid) — and dollop the sores with steroid cream. Luckily, I seem to have genetically strong skin. Otherwise, by now it could be thoroughly ruined.
It was not until I was much older that I realised food intolerance played a part.
In this article I am going to look at food intolerance and the way it may aggrevate eczema. And how nutrition and diet can help heal you from the inside out.
Hormones
I soon came to understand that hormones were a factor. When I started my periods at 14 the eczema improved until it virtually went by the time I was in my early 20s. However, once I had my first child, and the hormones were a little messed up, it returned with vengeance. Not only that, after receiving her first vaccination as a baby my daughter, Darling Near Miss, had her initial outbreak too.
Now I had a reason to finally get to the bottom of it. However, this story is about my road to healthy skin, not hers.
Baby Care
I contacted the eczema society but they were still then in the throes of wrapping the skin in bandages soaked with steroid cream. This was the late 90s. I felt there must be something more I could do that was less harmful.
My hands blistered and became so badly infected that I couldn’t bathe my own child. This had such a detrimental effect on my self-esteem. Then I remembered a dalliance I had had a few years earlier with vitamins and went off to the library with thoughts of perhaps healing myself from the inside out.
I came back armed with some phone numbers and am really going to plug a company called Higher Nature who came to my rescue.
Nutritional Advice
In those days Higher Nature offered free phone consultations with a qualified nutritionist and from that first call, my journey began.
They suspected my problems were linked to an intolerance to certain foods. They advised some supplements and a change of diet. The vitamin and mineral bit was easy. Include daily:
- Flaxseed oil
- Probiotics
- A strong general multivitamin.
It is known that those with dry skin issues are low in omega oils, particularly omega 3 and 6. The flax helps to re-balance this issue. Another common complaint, that often goes hand in hand with eczema sufferers, is gut issues. Probiotics help build up good bacteria and improve food digestion too.
There was one other supplement I used. Something called citricidal. Basically, this is grapefruit seed extract which has antibacterial, anti-microbial, and antifungal properties, offering digestive support. Often those with a food intolerance are also suffering from an overgrowth of candida — a type of yeast. This may actually contribute to poor guts and an intolerance of certain foods.
Once the candida has overgrown in the gut, it can exit the intestinal system in what’s been termed Leaky Gut syndrome. This happens when the bowel’s cell lining becomes more permeable.
As mentioned, citricidal is antifungal, so is thought to help improve leaky gut by lowering candida. And a healthy gut will improve eczema, as well as many other health concerns.
Limited Diet
Now, the diet I chose to follow was a little more radical. Back then — the late 90s — there really weren’t many reliable tests to work out which food a person may have a problem with. So I went with the “stop eating any of the possibilities,” diet. With the thought of introducing things gradually after a few months of being on this regime.
The diet could include some meats and fish, but the trouble was at that time I was a strict vegetarian, so I basically became a vegan on a limited diet.
I cut out all dairy and wheat/gluten/yeast products and eat organic fruit and vegetables to eliminate pesticides, a known irritant. Products laced with sugar were also a no-no. As too much sweet stuff is known to cause or aggravate issues such as candida. Which in turn can trigger an autoimmune response and an eczema outbreak.
I often eat tofu and a soya mince.
Healing from the Inside Out
Amazingly, within seven days, my eczema began to clear. For example, my arms had been covered from shoulder to the tips of my fingers. By the end of the third week, I was just left with light scarring, which of course disappeared as the years went on.
I was shocked to say the least. I never expected such a quick and drastic improvement. But I followed the instructions I was given to the letter, read all labels and made all my own meals.
I cooked everything from scratch. Any herbs or spices I added myself. For example, I could not risk buying a curry sauce, so I would make my own. That was when I learned what went into an Indian dish.
I bought an amazing nutritional recipe book — the first edition of Cooking Without by Barbara Cousins. It gave simple tips such as if you are working — which I was as well as looking after my baby — make sure each time you cook one of the meals to make it twice as big and freeze half for another day. Also eat the leftovers for breakfast. I can hear many of you calling out “Yuk”. But when you are not having ordinary bread or any dairy, leftovers become a tasty prospect for breakfast and often work out well at keeping your hunger at bay until lunchtime.
Meal Examples
Broccoli and cauliflower Bhaji — Very basic. Garlic. Include spices such as cumin, garam-masala, and turmeric.
Rice Pasta — Cook then mix in olive oil, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, sheep’s feta cheese.
Bean Chilli Con Carne— All kinds of beans. Onions. Peppers. Fresh Chili. Allspice. Serve with rice or jacket potato.
The important thing was to never include too many ingredients. Keep everything as tasty as possible but also as basic. I understand that this may sound a little extreme and hard work. It was. But when covered in open sores, extreme measures were called for.
Skin Improved
After a month, my skin was brilliant. However, I had lost a lot of weight. And because I had just had a baby, my muscle tone went with it. Don’t get me wrong, this was not through lack of eating. I eat LOADS. But it was all foods that worked well with my insides and because I was eating as a vegan, and avoiding gluten and sugar, there really was not much fat content in my diet. Although I was careful to make sure I made up full proteins when preparing meals.
It’s easy to combine two incomplete protein sources to get the nutrients you need. Simply pairing rice and beans will give you a vegan-friendly meal with complete proteins.
I am a little shy of 5 foot 9. These days I weigh in around 66 Kg. Back then, I was comfortable at 60Kg (the younger me). However, after being on the diet for three months, I went down to 52Kg!
Introducing foods back into the diet
I knew I would have to start introducing other foods, as I was getting what can only be described as nasty comments about how skinny I’d become. The trouble was, I felt in control of myself and my eczema. I liked that feeling and was scared my skin would get worse. And to be honest, I had grown to enjoy the food I was cooking. It was just sometimes inconvenient and not easy when managing a baby or wanting to go out for dinner.
My local Indian restaurant was great and told me exactly what was in their dishes. It turned out that a vegetable dansak with boiled rice fitted in perfectly with my diet.
But the day came when I decided I would eat some dairy and wheat. And of course, I was literally sick. Making me realise I had to introduce foods very slowly and one at a time. Which I eventually did do.
Food Intolerance
My skin remained fine, and I learned some things about food intolerance…
- An intolerance is not the same as an allergy, which often causes instant distress and may always be an allergy to you.
- A food intolerance can build up in your body over time, irritating the gut, which then leads to other health problems.
- If you stop eating a trigger food, your body can accept it again in the future.
- However, never eat trigger foods on a daily basis.
Nutrition continued to provide me with answers to other health concerns, so I eventually studied and gained a diploma in the subject.
Conclusion
As time has gone on I understand that I should only eat certain things such as milk, cheese, and wheat-based bread, at the most two or possibly three times a week. By keeping variety in my diet, and cooking from scratch, I now enjoy almost any meal without it being an issue for my gut or skin. I feel blessed about that. Although, I may get slight outbreaks of eczema when I overindulge or am around an external irritant such as long-haired dogs that I am not familiar with.
During one of the lockdowns I was exposed to mould which is toxic for many people who have skin concerns. You can read about it below:
A shout-out to a Medium pal Monika Hall who has also realised the importance of Omega oils.
Want to find out more about omega oils? Here’s one by Isabel Young
