Your body was not designed to become ill.
When we take care of our bodies, our bodies take care of us.
“Cold and Flu” is not a season.
High sugar intake is a season with buckets of Halloween candy, desserts on Thanksgiving, events surrounded by Christmas cookies, sweets at every holiday gathering, chocolates on Valentine’s Day & more desserts for Easter.
High stress is a season with family members who don’t get along, celebrations to coordinate among multiple households, perfect presents to find, money that shouldn’t be spent, food to prepare, shopping to do, places to be & schedules that are packed.
When we get busy, self care is the first thing to go. Morning lemon water, yoga stretches, regular sleep, nutritious breakfasts, veggies throughout the day, sufficient water intake.
70% of your immune system is in your gut. Nourishing your gut health is a top priority when it comes to maintaining a thriving immune system.
Probiotic before bed THEN 8oz lemon water right out of bed THEN protein for breakfast THEN morning coffee (organic, if you can). (This is my favorite probiotic and this is my favorite gut-loving coffee.)
Manage your stress with time carved out just for you. 10 minutes first thing in the morning before the day starts, 15 minutes before crawling into bed. However it works best in your schedule.
Quiet your mind. Read a chapter in a book for pleasure. Look up a video for some gentle yoga. Sit in stillness and pray or meditate. Go for a walk around the block. (This is my current favorite quick yoga video.)
Turn off your phone. Keep the screens off for a while. Don’t check your notifications first thing in the morning. Start your day slowly.
As tempting as it may be, limit sugary, processed foods as much as possible. These wreak havoc on your gut, which means they wreak havoc on your immune system.
Stay active during colder months. Make sure you’re getting at least 7 hours of sleep at night. Prioritize Vitamin D levels and water intake. (This is my favorite Vitamin D supplement and this is what I carry my water around in.)
And irony of ironies, worrying about getting sick makes you more susceptible to getting sick.
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!
Hi there, friends! It’s been a while. I disappeared there for a little bit (again!), and I wanted to explain why.
My main goal here is to help women with eczema overcome this struggle. It’s painful, embarrassing, annoying, disappointing and truly downright frustrating when you don’t know what the problem is.
So here’s what happened — first, I got pregnant (hello, morning sickness) so I disappeared for a bit. THEN my eczema came back. UGHHH this wasn’t supposed to happen, guys! I had just been posting about knowing your limits and saying it’s okay to eat *some* of your trigger foods in moderation once your eczema is under control. This is because for some of us, avoiding all our trigger foods all the time is really restricting and truly no way to live.
I was being SO hard on myself about the fact that I’m supposed to be the one you come to in order to get your eczema under control because I had been there and I got MY eczema under control. And then what happened?
PREGGO CRAVINGS. FRUIT is one of my eczema triggers. Well guess what? I haven’t been able to get enough fruit throughout this pregnancy. Plus I’m eating what seems like all the time and yummy high protein options don’t come with a large enough list when I'm avoiding my food triggers. So what have I been doing? Snacking on cheese.
So what you (or rather, I) have here is a perfect storm — zero restriction with my eczema trigger of fruit PLUS a daily intake of (albeit, organic) cheese which is inflammatory by nature. Because it’s yummy. And filling. And is supposed to actually be GOOD for you, but in my case my body’s just really sensitive to these things. And when you’re pregnant it’s a LOT harder to eat foods that aren’t super delicious just because you know they’re good for you.
Add those two things on to the fact that your immune system takes a hit during pregnancy (Hello, gut health. Remember, 70% of your immune system is in your gut!) and you have a triple threat.
So my eczema is back.
But here’s the thing..
I know WHY it’s back. I know exactly what happened and what I’m doing to cause this. So I actually do have complete control. And I’m even proving to you that what I’ve said up until now is 100% true, because when I don’t go by what I’ve taught you — MY eczema comes back too!
As I said above, eczema is painful, embarrassing, annoying, and when this baby comes out, I don’t want him or her to have a momma with dry, scaley, cracking, bleeding hands! So I’ve upped my probiotic intake, I’m taking more digestive enzymes, and I’m really, really trying to cut back on my cheese and fruit intake! And I really have seen a difference!!
So my message to you is when you get to the point of getting your eczema under control and then it comes back, DON’T do what I did and be super hard on yourself. Evaluate the situation and make changes where you’re able. You did it before. You can do it again. And I’m here to help. Because I get you.
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!
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.
First of all, if you missed last week’s post, hop on over to Step 1 of My Gut Healing Journey to get yourself all caught up.
Now that we’re all on the same page, I’ll continue.
I learned about the importance of organic. I was shocked to find coffee beans are actually one of the most heavily sprayed crops, so I always look for organic coffee. This can be slim pickin’s at a lot of grocery stores, but Trader Joe’s especially, I know for a fact has delicious organic coffee!
Now let’s talk about coffee for a second. I know this is a huge fan favorite, BUT (especially if you’re on a journey to heal your gut or you just have a history of digestive issues) this is not the best thing to have first thing in the morning. This isn’t the first thing you want in your stomach, especially if you took a probiotic the night before (which I hope you did! Especially if you know your gut health needs extra support).
The thing about having coffee first thing in the morning is it can wipe out all the good bacteria that formed in your gut from your probiotic the night before. So it’s almost like the probiotic was a complete waste of your time and money.
Lemon water is the best thing to start your morning with! And next is your breakfast.
I learned about the Dirty Dozen list from my health coach. This is a list of fruits and veggies that have the highest pesticide count; therefore, these are the ones you’ll want to buy organic if your grocery budget is tighter. If you’re able, 100% organic would be ideal!
Pesticides wreak absolute havoc on your gut.
If you’ve clicked the link to the Dirty Dozen list above, you know that dark, leafy green are on that list. Which brings me to our morning shake.
Last week we talked about how important it is to eat plenty of veggies. Your morning shake is the perfect way to get veggies in first thing.
Here’s the recipe I use:
6 oz water
4 oz almond milk
1 c ice
1 large handful of ORGANIC dark, leafy greens
⅓ c fruit (berries are great, but I usually use pineapple)
1 scoop protein powder (I use Truvani but Nature’s Sunshine is also super yummy)
3 tbsp hemp seeds
You can play with it to your liking, but make sure you get your protein in there and don’t leave out the greens!
Now that we’re all on the same page, I’ll continue.
I learned about the importance of organic. I was shocked to find coffee beans are actually one of the most heavily sprayed crops, so I always look for organic coffee. This can be slim pickin’s at a lot of grocery stores, but Trader Joe’s especially, I know for a fact has delicious organic coffee!
Now let’s talk about coffee for a second. I know this is a huge fan favorite, BUT (especially if you’re on a journey to heal your gut or you just have a history of digestive issues) this is not the best thing to have first thing in the morning. This isn’t the first thing you want in your stomach, especially if you took a probiotic the night before (which I hope you did! Especially if you know your gut health needs extra support).
The thing about having coffee first thing in the morning is it can wipe out all the good bacteria that formed in your gut from your probiotic the night before. So it’s almost like the probiotic was a complete waste of your time and money.
Lemon water is the best thing to start your morning with! And next is your breakfast.
I learned about the Dirty Dozen list from my health coach. This is a list of fruits and veggies that have the highest pesticide count; therefore, these are the ones you’ll want to buy organic if your grocery budget is tighter. If you’re able, 100% organic would be ideal!
Pesticides wreak absolute havoc on your gut.
If you’ve clicked the link to the Dirty Dozen list above, you know that dark, leafy green are on that list. Which brings me to our morning shake.
Last week we talked about how important it is to eat plenty of veggies. Your morning shake is the perfect way to get veggies in first thing.
Here’s the recipe I use:
6 oz water
4 oz almond milk
1 c ice
1 large handful of ORGANIC dark, leafy greens
⅓ c fruit (berries are great, but I usually use pineapple)
1 scoop protein powder (I use Truvani but Nature’s Sunshine is also super yummy)
3 tbsp hemp seeds
You can play with it to your liking, but make sure you get your protein in there and don’t leave out the greens!
That's all for now, but be on the lookout for part 3 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.
