I wrote this article on my blog and thought you all might be interested - it's pretty awesome what a vegan diet can do for your health. You can read the original article at:
http://healthandwellnessnewsnow.blog...reatments.html
What is Eczema?
Eczema (also known as atopic eczema, atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, seborrheic eczema, pompholyx or dyshidrotic eczema) is a term for a group of skin conditions that cause the skin to become inflamed, puffy, irritated or scaly. Eczema is most common in infants and it tends to run in families. One interesting thing to note is that people with eczema often have a family history of allergic conditions such as asthma, hay fever, or other allergies, thus showing that eczema is essentially an immune system disorder (more on this later).
According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the prevalence of atopic eczema is increasing rapidly. Atopic eczema affects 9 to 30% of the U.S. population. Atopic eczema most common in young children and infants. While many infants who develop the atopic eczema outgrow it by their second birthday, some people continue to experience symptoms on and off throughout life. With proper nutrition and natural treatments, atopic eczema can be minimized or eliminated completely in most people.
Please not that if you have eczema and it goes untreated for a long time, the skin can become incredibly irritated by the allergic inflammation and scratching and this can lead to thickening of the skin or scarring. So don't scratch if you can help it. And don't delay in taking action to reverse and eliminate your eczema! I'll show you how easy it is to completely reverse your eczema with natural eczema treatments - all you have to do is put it into action!
What causes Eczema?
Eczema is caused by a hypersensitivity reaction (similar to an allergy) in the skin, which leads to long-term inflammation. Basically, eczema an overactive response by the body's immune system to various environmental triggers. This overactive immune system response occurs because the immune system is out of balance. Thus, any effective long-term treatment for eczema must involve helping the immune system come back into balance. I'll show you exactly how to do that.
Studies have shown that children who are breast-fed are less likely to get eczema. This is especially true when the nursing mother has avoided cow's milk in her diet. Other dietary factors which may increase your eczema include dairy, eggs, fish, peanuts, and soy. I've written more extensively on dairy and it's negative effects on immune system and human health in a previous post on Alzheimer's.
Natural Eczema Treatments
Because eczema is a disease caused wholly by an imbalanced immune system, the natural treatment for eczema is to bring the immune system back into balance and reduce inflammation. (Please note that the following recommendations have been proven to be effective for eczema as well as all the other autoimmune and immune system disorders such as psoriasis, Crohn's disease, allergies, asthma, and more).
There are a number of ways to help bring your immune system back into balance, reduce inflammation, and get rid of that eczema:
1. Eat more fruits and vegetables
Thousands of studies have shown that eating fruits and vegetables reduces oxidative stress which invariably reduces damage to the immune system. Fruits and vegetables help balance the immune system. This is one of the reasons why people who eat more fruits and vegetables are less likely to develop diseases like cancer, heart disease, and many others.
Furthermore, fruits and vegetables are anti-inflammatory. Eating fruits and vegetables (and berries) is one of the most imporant things you can do to reduce inflammation.
Since most people don't eat enough fruits and vegetables and won't even if they know it will eliminate their eczema or other chronic diseases, I recommend taking Juice Plus+. When my brother added Juice Plus+ to his diet 9 years ago, his eczema cleared up within just a few months without any other dietary changes or eczema treatments.
2. Avoid All Dairy Products
Dairy products contain a protein called casein. Casein has been shown to be incredibly harmful to the human immune system and has been shown in thousands of studies to increase allergies, asthma, respiratory infections, and autoimmune disorders. Your alarm bells should be going off now. In fact, most people find that just eliminating dairy from their diets has helped them eliminate their autoimmune disorders, allergies, and eczema.
Much more information about casein and dairy protein can be found in The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.
Not sure what to use instead of dairy for all your meals? Check out my post about dairy substitutes.
3. Add Omega-3 Fats to your Diet
Omega-3 fats are essential to good health and proper immune system functioning. Omega-3 fats are the anti-inflammatory fats. Omega-6 fats are the pro-inflammatory fats. Research shows that the ideal balance for human nutrition is a 1:1 ratio of Omega-3 fats to Omega-6 fats. In America, our ratio is closer to 1:15.
This incredible imbalance in the right fats in our diets causes our immune systems to be extra inflammatory and out of balance. This immune system imbalance causes immune disorders like eczema, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, and many others.
There are two very easy ways to add more Omega-3 fats to your diets - with whole flax seeds or with flax seed oil. You can buy them at your local health food store or order them online.
4. Get Enough Vitamin D Every day
Vitamin D is crucial to good immune system functioning. For reasons that are beyond the scope of this post, the RDA for Vitamin D of 200 IU is way too low. You need between 4,000 and 6,000 IU daily for optimal health. Getting enough Vitamin D every day can't be done just by eating foods or taking a multivitamin. Unless you get 30 minutes or more of high sun exposure on your whole body every day, you should be taking a high-quality Vitamin D supplement.
It's also interesting to note that pompholyx or dyshidrotic eczema often occurs during the winter months - which just happens to be the time when our bodies are least able to create vitamin D because of the lack of sunlight. It's vital for people with any type of eczema, but especially pompholyx, to supplement with vitamin D during the winter when your body is unable to create enough vitamin D.
I've written more extensively about Vitamin D in a What You Need to Know About Vitamin D.
5. Avoid Refined Sugar and Processed Foods
Refined sugar is incredibly damaging to the human immune system and has been proven to reduce your body's ability to protect itself from diseases like eczema. In fact, sugar has been shown to be a major factor in children developing eczema. For more information about sugar, I highly recommend Dr. Mercola's article 76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health.
Likewise, processed foods are also damaging to the immune system and often contain many chemicals like refined sugar, hydrogenated oils, and other ingredients and food additives which are damaging to the immune system. Furthermore, because processed foods are either cooked, pasteurized, or chemically changed in some other way, they often contain very little if any nutritional value. And remember, nutritional value is what you need to improve your immune system and get rid of eczema (that's why eating more fresh, raw fruits and vegetables is so effective in treating eczema).
Natural Eczema Treatments
So there you have it - five natural ways to balance your immune system, reduce inflammation, and get rid of your eczema forever. Anyone of these dietary changes may work for you. Of course, every human body is different and unique, and eczema is not a singular disorder (there are so many different things that can throw your immune system out of balance). So I do not know which of these natural eczema treatments will work for you...
But I do know this - If you do all five of these things - eat more fruits and vegetables, eliminate all dairy products from your diet, add more Omega-3s to your diet to get closer to the 1:1 fat ratio, get enough Vitamin D every day, and avoid refined sugar and processed foods, your immune system will be happier and your eczema will disappear!
What do you think? Have you tried any of these natural eczema treatments? Please comment and let me know what worked for you and what didn't.
Bookmarks