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!
*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
There are different kinds of eczema. It doesn’t look the same for everyone. But it’s embarrassing and painful. That much is the same across the board.
For me, eczema looked like I was wearing gloves. Every single person thought it was SO odd that there was such a defined line right at my wrist. My hands would get beet red when I had a really bad flare up, and that was more often than not. This was so bad that I was asked it if was sunburn several times. Nope, it’s eczema. But it sure does burn.
If I was really lucky, the back of my hands, my knuckles, and even my fingers would crack almost like winter skin. But it was year round.
It was downright awful. And I had no idea what was causing it. The worst part? Neither did the dermatologists. They ran some tests and determined it was environmental. I was instructed to stay away from products with Fragrance, and I was prescribed a topical steroid ointment and cream.
The ointment and cream really did help a lot, but the eczema kept coming back. And those topicals were not cheap. So it came time for another prescription refill, and in an act of frustration and desperation, I decided to figure out for myself what was causing my eczema. Naturally I turned to Google: “Causes of eczema.” (And for the record, I do believe if one finds herself dependent on a prescription to cover up a symptom, she at least owes it to herself to try to find the root of the problem.)
Something came up that caught my eye. It’s called Leaky Gut. What they don’t tell you in western medical practices is that eczema is totally and completely related to the health of your gut. This blew my mind. This was a complete game changer. But this was just the beginning of the road.
This started my journey of healing my gut. For me, this looked like working with a Health Coach in her Gut Health workshop. I cut way down on processed foods, started changing out products in my home for plant-based options without chemicals, and took healing supplements like probiotics, hemp oil & detoxers.
I learned about the bacteria in your gut. How you have good bacteria and bad bacteria, and this is normal. But when the bad bacteria outweigh the good bacteria, that’s when you have issues like eczema, acne, infertility, anxiety, depression, fatigue. You know that saying about a “gut feeling”? There’s truth to that because your gut is truly your second brain. Some would argue it’s your first. When there's something in your body that feels "off," healing your gut will likely solve a lot of your problems.
I was mind. blown. when I found out everything gut health impacts. (I was also a bit upset - "WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS BEFORE?") And like any health journey, it wasn’t quite linear for me. I still had work to do. There were still some missing pieces I had to pull together. But we’ll save that for next week.
For me, eczema looked like I was wearing gloves. Every single person thought it was SO odd that there was such a defined line right at my wrist. My hands would get beet red when I had a really bad flare up, and that was more often than not. This was so bad that I was asked it if was sunburn several times. Nope, it’s eczema. But it sure does burn.
If I was really lucky, the back of my hands, my knuckles, and even my fingers would crack almost like winter skin. But it was year round.
It was downright awful. And I had no idea what was causing it. The worst part? Neither did the dermatologists. They ran some tests and determined it was environmental. I was instructed to stay away from products with Fragrance, and I was prescribed a topical steroid ointment and cream.
The ointment and cream really did help a lot, but the eczema kept coming back. And those topicals were not cheap. So it came time for another prescription refill, and in an act of frustration and desperation, I decided to figure out for myself what was causing my eczema. Naturally I turned to Google: “Causes of eczema.” (And for the record, I do believe if one finds herself dependent on a prescription to cover up a symptom, she at least owes it to herself to try to find the root of the problem.)
Something came up that caught my eye. It’s called Leaky Gut. What they don’t tell you in western medical practices is that eczema is totally and completely related to the health of your gut. This blew my mind. This was a complete game changer. But this was just the beginning of the road.
This started my journey of healing my gut. For me, this looked like working with a Health Coach in her Gut Health workshop. I cut way down on processed foods, started changing out products in my home for plant-based options without chemicals, and took healing supplements like probiotics, hemp oil & detoxers.
I learned about the bacteria in your gut. How you have good bacteria and bad bacteria, and this is normal. But when the bad bacteria outweigh the good bacteria, that’s when you have issues like eczema, acne, infertility, anxiety, depression, fatigue. You know that saying about a “gut feeling”? There’s truth to that because your gut is truly your second brain. Some would argue it’s your first. When there's something in your body that feels "off," healing your gut will likely solve a lot of your problems.
I was mind. blown. when I found out everything gut health impacts. (I was also a bit upset - "WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS BEFORE?") And like any health journey, it wasn’t quite linear for me. I still had work to do. There were still some missing pieces I had to pull together. But we’ll save that for 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.
I had been on a journey trying to figure out the root of my eczema for years before discovering the undeniable connections between skin issues and gut health.
I had absolutely no idea the two were related until my first health coach introduced the concept to me, and it made complete and total sense.
When there’s something wrong on the inside, it shows up on the outside. Eczema, acne, almost every single skin issue is a reflection of an imbalance within. A microbiome in dysbiosis (AKA an imbalanced gut) trickles down to almost every physical & emotional aspect of your body. Infertility, depression, anxiety, inflammation - it’s all related to the health of your gut! Your microbiome!
So what does that mean for your skin?
The first thing my dermatologist told me to do was stop using products with fragrance. This one piece of information completely rocked my world.
Do you know what fragrance is in?
Literally almost everything in the personal care product section of the grocery store.
Do you know what fragrance does?
Not only is it a skin irritant (which is why any doctor will tell you to avoid it when dealing with eczema – or even a UTI) but it’s an endocrine disrupter.
What does this mean?
It means it makes a mess of your hormones, and many of your hormones are housed in your gut. If your gut is out of whack, this shows up on your skin. You can read more about this in my blog post “Why I Never Buy Products with Fragrance.” Acne & eczema are the biggest examples I give for this because that’s what I’ve struggled with most in my life.
For the past 5 years or so, I’ve become much more aware of the ingredients in the personal care products I use. And I’ve been much happier using more natural products! It just makes sense to me. So - go check the products in your bathroom! Do any of them include fragrance? Switch them out one by one, and reference my previous blog post as needed. :)
If you loved this blog post, there's more where that came from in my free Facebook group here.
You can also grab my new guide on 5 Steps to Taming an Eczema Flare Up here.
Your body is talking to you all the time. Listen to it.
My body has told me for years, “No, Mary, we don’t like gluten.” “No, Mary, dairy isn’t good.” And I resisted so much!! I’ve now been gluten free for about 15 years and I don’t plan on going back. I have experimented with re-introducing dairy into my diet, and almost every time, my body is like, “No, stop!”
Symptoms are your body’s way of communicating with you. It’s dangerous to shut down this method of communication because your body needs to be able to send you important messages! Health is a journey. And while I’m much farther along than I was 10 years ago (or heck! 3 years ago!) I still have recurring symptoms that I’m trying to figure out. And the truth is, I can’t do it on my own.
Skin issues are what brought me to the concept of gut health. Gut health is related to much more than just the skin – it’s related to hormones, anxiety levels, mood and more – but symptoms showing on my skin came out to tell me something is wrong on the inside. And I’m no doctor, but I truly believe MOST symptoms/issues appearing on the skin are caused by some kind of internal storm – likely in the gut.
I’ve gone to a Naturopathic doctor several times in my life to “re-calibrate” and see what’s going on in my body. I’ve found they’re like translators! It’s so interesting all the insightful information they can uncover with unconventional testing using things like electromagnetism, your muscles & your nervous system! You can even see if your local health food store offers any sort of testing. Mine offers an Asyra test - and I'm going Saturday!
The results from these tests can be overwhelming – because you usually get news you don’t want (like your favorite go-to snack is causing problems in your body). But here’s the thing: this is what you’re looking for! This is what you need to be in tune with your body and move forward living your BEST life, in alignment with your body’s needs!
My best advice is NOT to try implementing multiple new foods and lifestyle practices all at once. Once you know what you’re working with, you can start by slowly implementing SUSTAINABLE changes in your life.
LISTEN to your body and HONOR what it’s telling you. Don’t fight it and don’t just treat the symptom. Just find another way. And that’s what us Health Coaches are here for!!
Was this helpful for you? Let me know in the comments below! You can also request to join my new Facebook group for more tips to come – free of charge. <3
