How To Choose A Diet For The Eczema Sufferer.
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It has become common knowledge that diet plays a major role in the frequency and severity of eczema flareups.
Therefore, when choosing a diet for the eczema sufferer, there are several factors one needs to consider in order to reduce flareups, all the while ensuring the sufferer gets the nutrients he or she needs to be a healthy and thriving individual.
These factors include:
- Foods Commonly Known To Trigger Eczema.
- Determining What Foods Cause Flare-Ups In The Individual Sufferer.
- Incorporating Food Substitutes To Ensure Proper Nutrition.
- Incorporating Foods That Aid In Eczema Relief.
* Eczema Sufferers, Before You Take Another Bite, Read This First - Foods Commonly Known To Trigger Eczema.
Logically, the first step in choosing a diet for the eczema sufferer, involves getting to know the common foods that have been proven to trigger such aggravating and often painful flareups.
As a norm, the most commonly known foods that trigger eczema flareups include:
- Eggs,
- Dairy
- Wheat
- Gluten
- Nuts
- Citrus fruits
- Soy
- Tomatoes
- Chocolate
- Shellfish
In addition, inflammatory foods such as caffeine, sugar, spicy foods, and alcohol have also been found to contribute to eczema flareups.
Once you know what foods are potential eczema triggers, you can transition to the next step....
* No Two Eczema Sufferer Are Alike - Determining The Foods That Cause Flare-Ups In The Individual Sufferer.
Many eczema sufferers will question why one particular food will trigger a eczema flare-up in them, but will not trigger the same reaction in another eczema sufferer.
"We have the same condition.... Why the different reactions?" some have questioned.
Simply put, no two eczema sufferers are alike. What triggers a flare-up in one, may not trigger a flare-up in another regardless of the fact they share the same affliction.
This leads to another challenge - Determining the very foods that cause flare-ups in the individual sufferer.
While a allergy skin prick test may give you a limited amount of information, a blood test is an additional tool that will provide more accurate results than the prick test.
However, even an allergist specialist and a physicians will tell you that the best way to determine what foods cause flare-ups in the individual eczema sufferer, is by trial and error.
In other words, having them actually consume the foods in small amounts may be neccesseary - since you will not be sure of how severe the reaction may be.
When determining what foods triggered my toddler's eczema: these were the precautions I personally took:
- Giving her a small portion of the food from the list
- Giving her a a food from the list one at a time, a week at a time until the list was complete(excluding the nuts, alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, and shellfish due to her age)
- Completing the process in a controlled environment - in my home - with her prescribe allergy medicine (Bendarly can also be used), her Epi-pen Jr. (in the event the reaction is so severe that it calls for extreme action), and her physician's phone number - in the event it was vital to seek medical care.
- Keeping a journal detailing how she reacted when she consumed the foods from the list
For those not comfortable with this process, a total avoidance of said foods is a option as well.
* If You Can't Eat This, Try That - Incorporating Food Substitutes To Ensure Proper Nutrition.
When choosing a diet for the eczema sufferer, it is extremely vital to incorporate food substitutes to take the place of those that must be avoided. Thereby ensuring proper nutrition.
- If Diary products cause the flare ups: Substitute them with rice or soy based milk and cheese. Some have even had great results from goats milk and cheese, or incorporate more veggies such as broccoli that provide a good source of calcium.
- If Wheat products are the source of the flare-ups: Substitute them with rye, corn, or flax-seed products.
- If Gluten products are what ails them: Stick with products that are non-gluten (there are a variety of them on the market today).
- If Citrus gets them itching: Fruits such as Kiwi, papaya, mango, as well as veggies such as red, yellow, and orange bell peppers offer a good amount of Vitamin C.
- If Eggs are the problem: Substitute them with beans, nuts, or meat that provide good sources of protein and choline.
- If Nuts are driving them nutty: Substitute them with seeds such as sunflower seeds (if they are a lover of peanut butter, you can substitute peanut butter with sunflower seed butter, which is a yummy alternative).
- If Tomatoes and all tomato products make them see red: Substitute them with a product called Nomato which provides a great substituted for any recipe using tomato or barbecue sauce, as well as ketchup or salsa. It's made from vegetables and seasonings and contains no soy, dairy, wheat, gluten, nuts and no tomatoes!
- If It's Soy that aggravates the problem: Stick with other legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, beans, or alfalfa.
* Eating This Can Really Help - Incorporating Foods That Aid In Eczema Relief.
Fortunately, even with the many diet restrictions the eczema sufferer has to deal with, a diet of basic, whole foods has been found to encourage a balanced immune system, as well as a healthy internal balance that aids in eczema relief.
Foods rich with essential fatty acids have been found to be extremely beneficial. Excellent sources include:
- Flax-seeds and Flax-seed oils (since flax-seeds and flax-seed oil change with heat, never use them in baking and never expose them to high temperatures)
- Cold-water fish such a as herring, salmon, and mackerel
Foods rich in zinc is essential as well, since zinc encourages the proper and effective metabolism of essential fatty acids. Excellent sources include:
- Pumpkin and Sunflower seeds
- Chick peas
- Lima beans
- Poultry
Since Vitamin A and bet-carotene are vital for good skin health, incorporate green leafy and orange-yellow vegetables. Steam them, eat them raw, or juice them to get the most benefit from them.
Don't forget your water: Drinking a sufficient amount of water on a daily basis helps rid your body of toxins, which encourages skin health.
If food is a source of your eczema flare-ups, then with the help of your physician, allergist or nutritionist, as well as a eczema safe diet, you can reduce at least one of the sources of your aggravation.
* This article is for informational purposes only. Be sure to consult your allergist, your physician, or a trained nutritionist to prepare a diet that is right for you.
copyright © 2010
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Creativeone I really hope this information helps. A lot of people who suffer from or have children that suffer from eczema are not aware that food often factors into the flareups. I do hope this helps. I really feel for her.
I must say, ever since I put my two year old on a eczema friendly diet, she has improved so much. Diet has a lot to do with it.
I'll be keeping your daughter and your grandbaby in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for stopping by.
This is a masterpiece and such a great help for eczema sufferers which must be awful. Thankyou for your informative hub and helping other people. You are such nice person and I am glad that I found you and your are my fan. Thank you.
Wow, what fantastic information. It's so true we need to treat many problems from the inside out. I'm glad you've found a way to help your daughter, I know eczema can be a very stubborn condition to treat. Take care, Veronica!
Great hub, I needed this 7 years ago when my son had terrible eczema. He eventually outgrew it.
Rated up and stumbled!!
Thank you so much Hello, hello, wordscribe41, and daisyjae for stopping by and your wonderful comments.
Hello, hello - you bring me to tears with your compliments. Thank you so much for being a fan of mine. I do hope that this information will help parents or indivdiuals that suffer from this condition. Thank you for stopping by, you are truly a lovely person.
Wordscribe - thanks for stopping by. I'm a firm believer of treating the symptoms from the inside out. It truly is the best way in my opinion. Yes, eczema is a stubborn condition, but with a lot of prayer and persistence, it can be controlled and conquered.
Daisyjae - I'm so glad your son eventually outgrew this skin condition. I think now, the more and more children that are being diagnosed with it, the more parents are looking into safer/alternative ways to deal with it.
Thank you for the rating and the stumble!
Thank you all once again for stopping by and leaving wonderful comments.
Very good hub! Thanks!
Thank you for stopping by Paradise7.
I have an uncle who lives opposite to my house and is suffering from this disease. I will send him this useful hub so that he can take benefit from this. This is very helpful Veronica.
I hope it helps Soni. It has made a huge difference in my little one's life. She still has flareups, but very little of it is due to her diet. She used to have flareups all over, but now they are only confined to her elbows and knees, which is a huge improvement. Diet does have a lot to do with it. Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for this information I plan to get started on my 3 yr old daughter diet right away. We have tried everything to help with her major flare ups. My 8 yr old son finially started to grow out of his, he still has flare ups but they are not as major as my daughter's. I would like to try the diet method before her well child check in July when she turns 4. From there I will push for allergy testing, for now I will play around with her diet and see if I get any results.
Andrea - thank you so much for stopping by. I can attest to the huge improvement I saw in my daughter when I changed her diet. It can be somewhat tedious, but it is worth it. Please let me know how things work out.
My daughter used to have this, but I guess she outgrew it. Good info here!
I am hoping that my little one grows out of hers as well. I know it was a relief for both you and her. Thanks for stopping by, it's good to hear from you.
Hello Veronica, thanks to your advice. I actually have a very bad flare up right now. I need I really have to check with the food I take. I have been suffering for 30 yrs now and it's really very depressing. My eczema is confined on my lower right leg and it is where the flare ups usually occur. I feel so hopeless with my case, consulting different dermatologists but none of them cured me, though I know that eczema can not be cured. I even asked them if I do need to avoid some foods which may cause flare ups in my diet, but they said I can eat any food I want. This article of yours is very informative. I think I want to give it a try. Please wish me luck...as I have been suffering for many years now. God bless you and more power!
High - thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and read my article. My two year old suffers from eczema and I know for a fact that diet has a lot to do with it. We even had her blood tested to help us determine what "offending" foods were causing some of her flareups.
Even her allergist specialist informed us to avoid offending foods as well. Sadly, there is no known cure for eczema, some people outgrow it, while others have to find effective solutions to simply control their flareups.
I am so glad that my article was informative and please let me know how things work out for you. Don't forget to keep a journal of what you eat and how your body reacts to it, this will help you as well. I hope you find much success in this endeavor, here is to better controlling your flareups and hopefully having less and less inbetween.
"Since Vitamin A and bet-carotene are vital for good skin health" - thanks for all the info
Thank you so much john000 for stopping by. I am glad you found this informative.
Great information! Usually people wouldn't think about adjusting their diet to deal with eczema. Instead it's straight to meds. There's a lot of stuff to learn here. Good job!
Thank you ShapeMed for stopping by. I agree with you, many people do not think of adjusting their diet to deal with this skin condition.
Thank you a lot for your great post. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me ready through the day. I've recently been seeking all around for that web-site under recommendation from a friend and also had been pleased right after I found it after browsing for some time.
Thank you so much basil33dalton, I'm so glad this has been of some use to you. It really means a lot to me that I can be of some service to others suffering from this painful affliction.
Lots of helpful hints here! Thank you for the article.
As with any health condition, including skin conditions, eating a healthy diet is a major contributor to achieving a homeostatic body.
I so agree with you Teresa. I have found that a diet change has had a major contribution in keeping this condition at bay in my little one. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, read and comment.
I have found our post very informative. I have noticed a hugh difference in my skin when I too cut out dairy, wheat, eggs etc. Going back to raw foods really helped.
Thanks for a great article.
You are so welcome Eczema Natural. I have seen a huge difference as well in my toddler's skin once I restricted her diet from a lot of these triggers as well. There is definitely something to be said about your diet and your health. Thank you for stopping by.
What an informative article, thanks!
Thanks you so much orioleorange for stopping by. I'm so glad you found this informative.
Thanks a lot of the great info. Good Work. And thanks again for sharing it.
Thanks so such for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment.
great hub you seem to know a lot about it tnk for sharing
Thank you fionageler....this information is due to my personal journey with my youngest who suffers from this painful skin condition. Much trial and error, research, and close working with my child's allergist specialist has really helped me to come up with a workable plan for keeping her healthy and keeping her free of outbreaks.
This great information , thank you.
You are so welcome Glemoh101. Thank you for stopping by.
Great Hub! Valuable info, thanks for sharing
Thank you sunnymarie for stopping by. I'm glad you found the information valuable.
Thanks for putting them info up it really helped me out thanks again
Thank you Rebecca for taking the time to read and leave a comment. I am glad that this helped you.
Veronica ~ Congratulations on an excellent presentation. Well done and good coverage of the materials with links to recipes. Blessings to you, Debby
Awww! Thanks Debby Bruck for your commendation. Blessings to you as well.
thank u soo my mom and i have tried to cure my exzcema haha look at that im so young i dont even know how to spell it but i also have found that heavily chlorinated water makes me flare up within about 5 minutes even touching the water so when i am done swimming i go take a shower or i have a really bad break out i still have mine from a month ago so thank u i will ask my pedatictric doc. thanks sooo much veronica
You are so welcome mhgreentermite! I hate that you have to endure this skin disorder but it is sooooo vital to find out what causes your flareups. It's great that you and your mother are remaining alert to what causes some of your flareups and staying proactive in trying to keep them at bay. Have a great day!
I was doing some research last week and noticed that a common solution for many ailments is diet. Diet changes everything and it has in my life. It is such a simple concept, but until I made the change and saw the results, I was a non-believer. Thanks for the nice hub and it is great that you are helping a lot of people.
You know Tracy Anderson - I truly believe in the saying "you are what you eat." I did notice that diet had a whole lot to do with my daughter's flareups and once I put her on that diet she has done so much better ever since. She still has her flareups but not as many and not so severe. Thanks for stopping by, reading, and sharing your own personal experience with us. You are so right...changing your diet is a simple concept...but it makes a huge difference.
It's amazing how much impact a diet can have on skin - but if you do the research it all makes sense. I too have researched this topic in depth and think you have covered this extremely well in your post - well done!
You are so right Ezcema Diet. Thank you so much for stopping by and for your compliments.
For Eczema Sufferer's choosing a diet can be very difficult. You have provided some really great tips and info here and have been a huge help. Thank you for your caring and kind hub!
Thanks for the info...I have an 8yr old picky eater who is allergic to almost all the foods she will eat without complaint. I am partially to blame, not letting her try a variety of foods when she was younger. It is a fight now to get her to eat something new. She is allergic to peanut butter, dairy, soy, gluten and that is what she likes to eat. There are a few vegetables and fruits. It would be virtually impossible to isolate all and then try one at a time. For now we use a steroid cream for the worst, because dr. never believe it is food allergies, and lotion to keep her skin from drying out. Truly amazes me still how doctors in this day and age still don't take diet into account. Thanks for the hub, I loved some of the substitutes. I haven't tried sunflower seed butter. She knows when I am trying gluten free bread, waffles, etc. :)
Thank you The Diet Remedy Program - I really hope these tips will be of benefit for others who suffer or care for those who suffer from eczema.
Random Thoughts - it amazes me as well how many do not realizes just how often many doctors do not take diet into consideration. My little one was fortuante enough to have a doctor who kept this in mind. I'm not sure if this makes a difference or not, but it was not my child's pediatrician that diagnosed her and kept my child's diet in mind, it was actually and allergist specialist that we were referred to. In addition to other outside influences, blood test were taken in addition to my personal observance and keeping a diary that helped determined that several foods were causing her flareups as well. All in all, restricting these foods from her diet and subsituting them with others has done a world of good. It is only when she has a severe flareup that the steriod cream has to be used. That is not very often thank goodness. We use a mixture of vaseline and olive oil to keep her skin moisturized. I too had a problem with my little one prefering foods that cause her flare ups so I simply keep them out of the house - "Out of sight, out of mind." I do hope this information was of some help. Maybe at a later date you could keep a food dairy and just watch your youngster to see how she reacts with other foods. It can be tedious but that in addition to a blood test provided by an allergist specialist may be helpful as well.
I have been treating my eczema with Pure Organic Argan Oil. I use use Essence Of Argan ( www.essenceofargan.com ) which directly from a commune in Morocco and it works great.
I've never tried this oil before on my daugher. I think it's great when you can find a product that works for you...especially if it is organic and natural. Thanks for stopping by ksn.
Thanx for this great info...me and my sister and my niece suffer from Eczema but my 18 mos niece suffers from it the worst. She has it really bad...it just seems like the doctors want to mask the problem instead of trying to find the main root of the problem and it can be very frustrating. We think it is from the environment and something she is eating. I will pass this info to my sister. Thanx again!!! You rock!!!
creativeone59 Level 4 Commenter 2 years ago
Thank you so much Veronica, I'm going to copy this hub for my daughter for her two year old son that has it bad. this information will help her and him. Thank youj for sharing. Godspeed. creativeone59