I was so discouraged but I knew what had happened. I was eating too much of my trigger foods.
Overindulgence seems to be a conversation around every holiday. Well, in this case it’s not so much overindulging in too many sweets or too much food in general.
For me, this past weekend was overindulgence in my trigger foods. Again.
The thing with this is that it’s okay to do every so often, because sometimes just having a nice time with loved ones and eating the dishes that were brought to share overshadows the obsession with avoiding all the foods you’re “not supposed to have.”
So I ate foods with garlic and onions and my hands (my eczema trigger point) LET ME KNOW IT.
Was I uncomfortable? Yes. I’ll be honest about that. As I’ve said in the past, my eczema burns and is quite uncomfortable. It can even get to the point of my hands bleeding.
And then of course I was at someone else’s house who doesn’t use the fragrance free soap I do, so that was making it worse with every hand wash.
In hindsight, I truly should have thought further ahead about what I was going to eat and I should have brought a dish that I knew I could eat with no problems.
Even health coaches can drop the ball with this!
Moral of the story is overindulgence is inevitable at times. (Or maybe moral of the story is bring your own dish, always. LOL) So damage control was the next step for me. When I got home the first thing I did was apply my favorite soothing ointment filled with skin-loving essential oils. Drinking plenty of water, taking digestive enzymes, taking a probiotic (sometimes I’ll double or triple up), drinking a warm cup of herbal tea & getting a good night’s rest are next on the list.
And of course, going back to avoiding my trigger foods again :)
Do you know which foods trigger your eczema? How do you handle flare ups? Tell me in the comments!
If you loved this blog post, there's more where that came from in my free Facebook group here. You'll want to get in there now because that's where I'll be launching a 5 Day Eczema Relief Training very soon!
Want to get a head start? You can also grab my new guide on 5 Steps to Taming an Eczema Flare Up here!
For the past couple weeks we’ve been celebrating my stepdaughter’s birthday. This means planning a party with foods I don’t normally keep in my every day diet. This also means baking (and eating) a cake, and then one week later baking (and eating) cupcakes.
Thankfully there was very little cake left over after her birthday party, but when we made two dozen cupcakes for just the three of us - there were a lot of leftovers.
And speaking of leftovers, while there wasn’t much cake left after the birthday party the week prior, there was definitely plenty of “party food.”
So here’s what happened - for a couple days after the party, my husband and I were eating party food leftovers. Then a couple days after that we had even more cake 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
If you haven’t heard me say it yet: Inflammation is the root of all disease.
Also, if you haven’t heard me say it yet: A food is either fighting disease or feeding it, there is no in between.
Some inflammatory foods are individual to a person. Others are true for all. Gluten, refined sugar, GMO corn, dairy. Those are some big ones.
In the case for anyone with eczema - this is an inflammation issue. And it starts in the gut.
An anti-inflammatory diet is one that consists of foods that LOVE on your gut - that DON’T contribute to inflammation in the body.
This is always something I have in the back of my mind, especially as someone who is very sensitive to inflammation in the body (hello, eczema. But also - hello, daytime fatigue!).
Cupcakes and “party food,” I’m (kind of?) sorry to say, are inflammatory.
I had to get those cupcakes out of sight so I’d stop eating them. Yes, I know my will power is weak sometimes, but that’s why those foods usually just don’t make it in my house!!
Treats that are still yummy and won’t make me feel cruddy:
- Fresh cut fruit and plain (NOT vanilla - look at that sugar content!) almond milk yogurt
- Celery or apple slices with almond butter (peanut butter is, unfortunately, inflammatory in nature)
- 70% dark chocolate- yes, this is considered a health food at 1 oz per day! Add some almonds in there to make it more filling! Or maybe melt it and dip your fruit in it?
- A homemade tea latte! Add a bit of frothed milk to your favorite tea 🫖
If you loved this blog post, there's more where that came from in my free Facebook group here. You'll want to get in there soon because that's where I'll be launching a 5 Day Eczema Relief Training in a couple weeks!
Can't wait that long? You can also grab my new guide on 5 Steps to Taming an Eczema Flare Up here to get a jumpstart!
*Updating on July 1, 2023 to mention I'm divorced now, because I feel like that’s relevant 🙃*
Thinking back on my wedding day, I'm reminded of my motivation to eat cleaner & avoid eczema triggers. I knew there would be a LOT of pictures of my hands, nice and up-close. The last thing I wanted was for red, scaley skin to be in every picture from my wedding day.
I do not advocate for unsustainable, majorly restrictive diets. That’s not what our bodies were made for, but sometimes it’s necessary for a short period of time for your body to recalibrate.
Leading up to the wedding, I was restricting most fruits including fruit derivatives - palm oil (in most gluten free breads, crackers, baked goods, peanut butters, etc.), vitamin A palmitate (in most store-bought dairy alternative milks), grape-based vinegar & anything with avocado, olives or coconut. Anything with garlic or onions was out too.
I didn’t come up with this list on my own. I was tested for food sensitivities by a naturopathic doctor. That didn’t make this list any easier to follow.
And you bet your bottom dollar I indulged like crazy on the honeymoon - eating the foods I had been depriving myself of for so long.
That list of food sensitivities is not a fluke. When I eat too much of certain foods on that list, I’m destined for a flare up. But I’m learning my boundaries.
A year later, I'm able to eat some of the foods on my trigger list without having a flare up.
The trick is to know what your body can handle, and not to overdo it. And if your body starts to rebel whether in the form of an eczema flare up or an unsettled stomach, you know you need to pull back.
The moral of the story is I was desperate for clear skin on my wedding day, and for me that meant restricting for a bit. But not forever.
Variety is the spice of life. Your body craves variety. Feeding it the same 3 foods all the time is not only boring, but it’s not good for your body systems - including your immune system.
Your immune system depends on a healthy gut, and a healthy gut is made up of a diverse microbiome. A diverse microbiome is nurtured by a variety in diet.
So just remember - if you need to go on a special diet for a special reason for a short amount of time, that’s totally okay. But don’t forget to keep some variety in your diet, and your life for that matter!
If this was helpful for you, join my Facebook group where you can find more wellness tips – free of charge. <3
In Step 1 of My Gut Healing Journey and Step 2 of My Gut Healing Journey we talked about food. Food is so important, but the health of your gut is not just about what you eat.
It’s about what goes on your body. One of the first things almost anyone will tell you when it comes to eczema is to stop using products with fragrance on the eczema.
Fragrance is an irritant, but it’s also extremely bad for your gut health. Most fragrance (and we’re talking “fragrance” listed as an ingredient) contains phthalates which are endocrine disrupting chemicals. Your endocrine system produces hormones, and the majority of your hormones are housed in your gut!
That being said, it’s not only important to stop using fragrance on your eczema, but it’s also important to stop using it anywhere on your body! You can read more about that here.
Young Living is one brand in particular I trust 100%. I know there will never be synthetic or “natural” fragrance in their products. Anything that smells nice in their products is from clean essential oils made only with plant juice. It’s a wonderful thing.
Other brands may offer unscented or fragrance-free options. Apps like EWG Healthy Living and Think Dirty have helped me a lot in the store.
Makeups are also filled with ingredients that wreak havoc on your gut. To put things into perspective, Europe bans over 1300 chemicals from cosmetic products. The US only bans 11. Clean brands, while harder to find, do exist. Once again Young Living is my favorite for this one (they actually have a list of over 2000 chemicals they will never use in their cosmetics), but BeautyCounter is another brand I know that goes the extra mile to keep icky ingredients out.
Nail polish is another one I never thought I’d have to second guess. The big name brands are filled with harmful chemicals like Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, and Camphor. Look for 5-Free (even better is 6, 7, or 8-free!) nail polishes like Olive & June, Ella + Mila & Static.
The health of your gut is also directly related to your levels of stress. Your gut can only repair itself when it’s in rest and digest mode. If you’re in fight or flight all the time, that’s not good for your gut!
Taking time to relax, destress, breathe & just take time for you is so important. The main reason I started using essential oils (which I’m obsessed with now by the way) was to help me relax. You can read more about that here.
Getting enough sleep is important too! This is optimal rest and digest time! Taking your probiotic and then getting in bed to get 7-9 hours of sleep will do you SO much good.
If this was helpful for you, join my Facebook group where you can find more wellness tips – free of charge. <3
You can also grab my free guide on 3 Easy Steps to Lose Weight and Feel Amazing here.
Once I found out my eczema was gut health related, what did I do?
The VERY first thing I did? I honestly don’t remember. I think I just let it sink in. I may have started taking a probiotic again, but I wasn’t sure what the right steps were. I was in limbo for a little while.
A series of divine interventions led to me finding a free workshop my soon-to-be Health Coach was offering on gut health. I remember the flyer saying “eczema” and “gut health” and that’s all I really needed to be on board!
I went to her free workshop and then enrolled in her program. It was several weeks long during which time she educated us on different topics each week.
She talked about food. Grains. High glycemic versus low glycemic. Some things have stuck with me since going through her program like white rice and white potatoes versus brown rice and sweet potatoes. The first couple are high glycemic. The latter couple are low glycemic.
When you’re on a journey to heal your gut, low glycemic is easier on your digestive system. I still choose brown rice over white (in fact, I don’t even buy white rice and I cringe when it’s my only option eating out) and I order sweet potato fries over normal fries when I have the option.
Brown rice, quinoa & sweet potatoes are my easy go-tos when I’m trying to formulate a healthy meal.
Some easy (or no so easy?) things to cut out (or cut waaaaay back) are the super-inflammatory culprits. Gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol. Processed foods can also be very inflammatory. A lot of them are also filled with addictive chemicals so you keep overeating and buying more. Ideally you want your food to COME FROM a plant, not be MADE IN a plant. See the difference?
Another not-so-fun guideline was to avoid eating out at all costs. The bottom line is you don't know what goes on in the kitchen. The sourcing of the meat, the vegetables, how much salt or sugar is added, etc.
Speaking of sourcing of meat: organic, grass fed beef. organic, free range chicken. wild caught (rather than farm raised) seafood. As far as vegetables, organic is preferred. In season and local is even better.
Let me emphasize right now that a restrictive diet is NOT something I recommend long term. (Although cutting out processed foods and sticking with organic meats is always a good idea.) On a journey to heal your gut? Sure! But only eating 5-7 different foods all the time is NOT good for your health.
Variety is the spice of life, and variety in your diet is actually essential!
This was a “detox” for us in the program. A “reset” for our bodies. We would not follow these “rules” long term, but for these several weeks we did the best we could. We just ate a nice, clean diet filled with high quality whole foods. Although - like I said - a lot of these practices stayed with me and would be good for you as well!
Vegetables were a huge part of that. Fruit too (organic green apples and berries have the least sugar), but vegetables more-so. Making sure your plate is at least half veggies is really important.
CHEWING is also really important! One week Jackie challenged us to chew our food 30 times before swallowing. Try it! It’s difficult!
This just begins to scrape the surface of my journey, so hang on tight for part 2 next week.
The VERY first thing I did? I honestly don’t remember. I think I just let it sink in. I may have started taking a probiotic again, but I wasn’t sure what the right steps were. I was in limbo for a little while.
A series of divine interventions led to me finding a free workshop my soon-to-be Health Coach was offering on gut health. I remember the flyer saying “eczema” and “gut health” and that’s all I really needed to be on board!
I went to her free workshop and then enrolled in her program. It was several weeks long during which time she educated us on different topics each week.
She talked about food. Grains. High glycemic versus low glycemic. Some things have stuck with me since going through her program like white rice and white potatoes versus brown rice and sweet potatoes. The first couple are high glycemic. The latter couple are low glycemic.
When you’re on a journey to heal your gut, low glycemic is easier on your digestive system. I still choose brown rice over white (in fact, I don’t even buy white rice and I cringe when it’s my only option eating out) and I order sweet potato fries over normal fries when I have the option.
Brown rice, quinoa & sweet potatoes are my easy go-tos when I’m trying to formulate a healthy meal.
Some easy (or no so easy?) things to cut out (or cut waaaaay back) are the super-inflammatory culprits. Gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol. Processed foods can also be very inflammatory. A lot of them are also filled with addictive chemicals so you keep overeating and buying more. Ideally you want your food to COME FROM a plant, not be MADE IN a plant. See the difference?
Another not-so-fun guideline was to avoid eating out at all costs. The bottom line is you don't know what goes on in the kitchen. The sourcing of the meat, the vegetables, how much salt or sugar is added, etc.
Speaking of sourcing of meat: organic, grass fed beef. organic, free range chicken. wild caught (rather than farm raised) seafood. As far as vegetables, organic is preferred. In season and local is even better.
Let me emphasize right now that a restrictive diet is NOT something I recommend long term. (Although cutting out processed foods and sticking with organic meats is always a good idea.) On a journey to heal your gut? Sure! But only eating 5-7 different foods all the time is NOT good for your health.
Variety is the spice of life, and variety in your diet is actually essential!
This was a “detox” for us in the program. A “reset” for our bodies. We would not follow these “rules” long term, but for these several weeks we did the best we could. We just ate a nice, clean diet filled with high quality whole foods. Although - like I said - a lot of these practices stayed with me and would be good for you as well!
Vegetables were a huge part of that. Fruit too (organic green apples and berries have the least sugar), but vegetables more-so. Making sure your plate is at least half veggies is really important.
CHEWING is also really important! One week Jackie challenged us to chew our food 30 times before swallowing. Try it! It’s difficult!
This just begins to scrape the surface of my journey, so hang on tight for part 2 next week.
If this was helpful for you, join my Facebook group where you can find more wellness tips – free of charge. <3
You can also grab my free guide on 3 Easy Steps to Lose Weight and Feel Amazing here.
