Can Food Heal Us?

My Journey to Healing Dyshidrotic Eczema

DISCLAIMER & WARNING:

None of the links included in this article are affiliate links, I do not get any benefit - I’m just including them as a helpful refrerence. Also, I’m not a doctor. The following information is in no way medical advice. It’s simply me sharing my journey of researching and the life changes I made that I believe contributed to healing my severe and chronic Dyshidrotic Eczema by at least 90% or more so far. There are some images and videos included that some might have a hard time viewing. Viewer discretion is advised.

This article is a write up of what I covered on the QWP Podcast entitled “Can Food Heal Us?” aired live on Thursday, September 5, 2024.

How it Started - Just a Small Rash

In January of 2023, I started feeling a rash on the palm of my left hand. At first it was invisible, but there were noticeable bumps and it itched like crazy. I thought I must be fighting a virus or have been exposed to something I was allergic to. After a couple of months, it didn’t go away and I developed these dark reddish-brown bumps. Soon after, the rash also spread to my right hand in the same manner.

How it began. A couple of months into my journey

I took a round of Ivermectin just in case it turned out to be a parasite. That did nothing for me.

A couple of months after the rash started on the palms of my hands, it began to happen to the bottom of my feet. That’s when I decided I needed something more.

Seeking Medical Help

After a painful experience in the hospital with my mother several years before and observing how the medical community reacted during covid, I no longer had trust in health institutions, but I knew this wasn’t something that was going to go away, so I sought professional advice. I’ve never had eczema in my life!

I was told I have Dyshidrotic Eczema which basically means the eczema is localized to the palms of my hands and the bottoms of my feet and heals. The doctors said that either an allergic reaction to something in the environment or stress can bring this on suddenly. They suspected the stress I was under in my personal life and my job could have triggered it. I wonder though if it was my dog Oliver whom I had just got two months before the rash appeared. Either way it was here and I had to do something about it because it was spreading.

After consulting my personal doctor and then a dermatologist, their only answer was to use topical steroids. No other option. Are you serious?

The Dangers of Topical Steroids

Always trust your instincts. I decided to research because I’ve heard bad things about steroids over the years. Through my research, and in finding testimonials from people online, I realized my instincts were right. I learned that topical steroids only solve the symptom temporarily and don’t get to the root cause. I also learned that many people with chronic eczema that have to take steroids long term can end up having an addiction reaction when trying to get off of the steroids. It’s called “Topical Steroid Withdrawal” (TSW). So-called “experts” will tell people that this is not a thing, but its very real. Of course they will say that. Think about the kickbacks dermatologists must get from big-pharma for doling out specific medication.

Here’s just one example of someone who tried to get off topical steroid cream and her body’s reaction:

There are so many other cases of people suffering when trying to stop using these steroid creams.

If you think about it, your skins is your largest organ. I think a lot of people disregard what they put on their skin, but it’s important to know that whatever you expose your skin to, it will absorb into your body. We nonchalantly put various creams, lotions, sunscreens, and body sprays on our body. We soak in nice smelling baths. We use soaps and body washes. The list goes on and on.

The Progression

After learning about how harmful steroids can be, I decided that there must be another way of tackling this. I started researching alternative treatments. I researched for several hours a day, for weeks on end. By February of 2024, I became desperate because of the progression. I was spending hundreds of dollars on trying different lotions and creams, soaking my feet, and doing red light therapy.

After the first year, the progression became extreme. In February the simple rash that was reddish-brown bumps grew into these large, hard, white bumps that eventually broke open and caused my skin to dry out and peel.

By March of 2024 I was dealing with a severe chronic case. New bumps came in fast - they were coming in daily and in the same spot where previous bumps were - so fast that my skin was peeling and becoming raw because it didn’t have the time to shed and grow new skin fast enough. Not only had my eczema spread to the bottoms of my feet, it was getting so bad that I was in constant pain and itching. It concentrated in the arches of my feet and spread up to the sides of my feet and my heels. There was a short time where I couldn’t walk due to the pain, but I had to force myself so I could take my dog out.

Here is what my hand looked like in March 2024 just before I started making changes. As you can see, it progressed so much that I had rough, dry, peeling, and raw skin. Believe it or not my feet were ten times worse!

I almost changed my mind about using topical steroids… almost.

What’s interesting is that when it got this bad I had just finished studying the book of Job in my Chronological Bible One Year study group on Telegram. I thought about Job’s story a lot. I remembered that through his suffering he continued to glorify God. It helped me get through that period of time. If Job could go through what he did and still praise God while crying out in agony, I surely could get through my issues which were not nearly as severe as Job having sores all over his entire body for so long.

Research

The problem with my previous research is that I was looking for information on how to address the symptoms. I realized I needed to go deeper and find the root cause, if at all possible. I stopped trying to find home remedies and treatments. Instead I started reading research papers and listening to researcher videos. I was like a mad-woman on a mission, determined not to resort to steroid creams. I wasn’t planning on doing a podcast or writing about this, so I didn’t bookmark everything I came across, but I will put any references I can remember down below at the end of this article.

What I learned through research is that most medical professionals will only provide drugs rather than delve in to find the cause or use other solutions. I also learned that eczema is an autoimmune response - an inflammation of the skin. So I stopped researching eczema and started researching how to prevent auto-immune disorders and how to reduce inflammation. This led me down a rabbit hole that I was never expecting!

I learned so much about how the body works, how important your microbiome is for your health, how critical it is to have a healthy liver, and how what we eat will impact our health greatly. How can your gut health and your liver health impact your skin? I was surprised at how interconnected everything is. And it all starts with our behaviors, our environment, and what we eat. Not just what we eat, but also what we put in our bodies in the form of medicine and vaccines. The science behind the body’s chemistry is fascinating.

THEY LIE TO US

I also discovered that what we’ve been taught about “health” is completely the opposite of what is healthy. Why do they lie to us?

The American Heart Association promotes the use of dangerous seed oils. Only one oil they list is healthy and they fail to mention avocado oil and coconut oil. The use the term “healthy oils” which is inaccurate in my opinion and based on my research.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned. You might find some are shocking:

• I learned that a high fat diet and cholesterol is actually healthy. This blew my mind. Everything they told us about eggs and bacon being unhealthy is completely wrong.

• I learned that lard is good and “vegetable” oils are bad.

  • I highly recommend you watch Kate Awakening’s video podcast on seed oils. She delves into the history of seed oils and why they are so bad for you.

  • Cottonseed oil is used in potato chips, cookies, crackers, lotions, margarine, mayo, and salad dressings. Cottonseed oil that is unrefined is used as a pesticide. This article has inaccurate benefits listed, but does list the dangers of consuming/using cottonseed oil including infertility, issues with embryo development, liver damage, and more.

    

• Egg yolks have more nutrients than any other protein source.

• Low-fat foods, whole grains, and “fortified” foods are not good for you. The reason they have to “fortify” certain foods is because through the processing of the food they remove nutrients. Due to this, they have to add various vitamins and minerals back in - and they do it via “synthesized” vitamins. Look for terms like “fortified” and these: How to tell if vitamins are synthetic

• When you have heartburn or acid reflux, the cause of it is usually that you need more acid, not less. Taking an antacid is actually counterproductive and worsens the situation. Instead I learned that I need to take in some acid to make the heartburn go away, such as a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar mixed with water. Do not do this though if you have an ulcer or gastritis. See this video that explains how important it is to keep your stomach acids in check:

• I learned that staying away from salt when I have water retention is counterproductive as well. Salt is used to flush the body and potassium is used for helping the body flush out the salt. It’s important you have both salt and potassium to keep everything moving.

• Increasing your cortisol hormone can negatively impact so many things I didn’t know about. Too many to mention here, but just know that regardless of how healthy you eat or how much exercise you do, if you have chronic stress, this will cause your cortisol hormones to spike which has a range of domino effects that can impact your overall health and your weight, specifically in your stomach. If you have chronic stress, it’s imperative that you identify strategies that will work for you to reduce stress. This could include going on long walks, soaking in a bath, using a calming app, taking time to watch funny videos, or even just forcing a mind-shift in how we decide to react to what’s going on in our lives will help.

• And other interesting things I’ve learned:

  • I never knew that your body literally creates sugar even if you don’t eat sugar!

  • During sleep your body is hard at work fixing things.

  • Every cell in your body works together to use the nutrients you provide to do so many interesting and fantastic things.

  • I also learned that when you try to kill off bad bacteria (or cells), you end up killing the good bacteria in the process. Take for example antibiotics - they disrupt the body’s ecosystem and can cause more issues than they solve.

  • Did you also know that cancer uses/eats sugar to multiply?

The Hypothesis For a Solution

After my desperation and non-stop research, I came up with a hypothesis that the food I eat is preventing my body from healing. I decided to test this hypothesis before I was willing to go back to the doctors. I cut out all sugar, carbs, and grains from my diet immediately. This meant no bread, no pasta, no rice, no oatmeal, no whole grains, no beer, etc. I later added legumes and night-shade veggies to the “do not eat” list.

I also added supplements to my regimen - ones that helped with my microbiome health and others that helped keep inflammation at bay.

Not only did I change what I ate, I changed how I ate. I discovered that intermittent fasting will put your body in a state of “Autophagy”:

“Autophagy is a natural, self-preservation mechanism whereby the body removes damaged or dysfunctional parts of a cell and recycles other parts toward cellular repair.” - Healthline

My intermittent fasting routine:

A couple of times a week I will not eat for 18-24 hours, but I will drink water and coffee during that time. I already try and keep my lunch and dinner with a 5 hour window, so essentially I skip breakfast 2-3 times a week. Once in a while I’ll skip lunch also to get to that 24 hours. Your body will go into autophagy after about 10-12 hours of not eating. After this time and throughout the remaining fasting, your body will clean up damaged cells, reduce inflammation, and regenerate/repair damaged cells.

2-4 weeks after I changed my food and how I ate, my eczema healed up at least 50% if not more! I still had new bumps developing, but it slowed down tremendously. I had the same results with my feet which meant I was able to be more active.

For my feet, I also do a foot soak every other day switching between using Epsom salt and using apple cider vinegar mixed in water, alternating days for the Epsom salt soak and the apple cider vinegar soak.

I was shocked that my hypothesis proved true. I continued with my carb-free, grain-free, sugar-free eating lifestyle. Today, six months after I made these changes, my eczema is healed 95% or more. I am still shedding some of the damaged skin and have roughness that needs to reduce, but the redness has gone down and there are no more new bumps coming in.

My hands today - September 2024

I have no more pain and rarely any itching. This is incredible! I can’t wait to see where I’m at at the one year mark next March.

Other Surprising Benefits

I believe my whole body had inflammation and water retention and that my cortisol levels were through the roof because one surprising side-benefit of changing my lifestyle is I’ve lost some weight - mostly reduced inflammation throughout my entire body and flushed out the water retention.

Another side benefit I wasn’t expecting was an increase in mood and in my energy levels. I am surprisingly less tired and more energetic throughout the day. And I no longer get heartburn - ever.

The fourth and final side-benefit is that I discovered is that I was no longer feeling hungry and I no longer get what I would call “the shakes” if I don’t eat. I don’t need (or want) to snack.

What I Eat, Won’t Eat, and Supplements

The foods I miss the most are bread and ice cream. They are really the only things I still crave sometimes. But there are so many delicious and beautiful whole foods I can eat and I find it fun to come up with new recipes. I have also discovered that whole food is so much more delicious than the convenient processed food.

PRIMARY FOODS

This in no way is an exhaustive list, but it represents pretty much 95% of what I eat. Some might say I do keto, but I eat fruits and other things, so I’m definitely not keto.

• Grass-fed, grass-finished beef - this is my main meat of choice for daily meals. High fat, not lean meat.

• Fish - wild-caught tuna or wild-caught walleye.

• Chicken - pasture raised only. It’s hard to find, so I don’t eat a lot of chicken.

• Eggs - pasture raised only.

• Bacon.

• Dairy - Milk, Sour Cream, Heavy Cream, Cheese, Yogurt (plain), Butter - all organic, full-fat/whole fat, from grass fed cows only. Without hormones or antibiotics.

  • I add vanilla and Agave or Honey to my whole fat plain yogurt, along with some blueberries and it tastes so much better than the processed, sugary yogurts.

• Fruits - Blueberries (any berries really), lemons, limes, grapefruit, Olives - organic and non-GMO (yes, olives are a fruit!). Once in a while I’ll do an apple.

• Cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel-sprouts, asparagus.

• Leafy greens - all types of organic lettuce - a mix, but mostly dark ones.

• Golden beets.

• Organic cucumbers.

• Fermented: pickles and sauerkraut. Did you know most pickles are not fermented? Bubbies pickles is a fermented brand you can order online.

• Oils: Organic and cold-pressed Olive Oil, coconut oil, and Avocado oil.

• Nutritional yeast, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds.

  • Once in a while I’ll do almonds and cashews, but I’m currently researching cashews because I’ve heard they can be toxic. More to come on this!

• Beverages - coffee (organic), spring water, sparkling waters.

• Various fresh or dried organic herbs and spices.

• Agave in the Raw as a sugar substitute.

  • Sometimes raw organic honey, but not a lot.

  • Sometimes Allulose.

  • Sometimes organic maple syrup.

• Coconut flour and almond flour (organic).

• Apple cider vinegar (organic, daily!)

• Organic Vanilla.

• Organic Cacao (unsweetened) - believe it or not, it makes some savory meals pop and I can make a mocha latte with it also as a special coffee treat once in a while.

• Xantham gum or psyllium husk powder for thickening gravies or as a gluten replacement in baking.

• I eat a lot of salads, so I make my own salad dressings by mixing a base of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice and then add in various spices depending on what I’m in the mood for. I sometimes add in balsamic vinegar. To make a creamy dressing, I add a dollop of sour cream and whisk vigorously because the acidic vinegar and lemon will curdle an dairy products - so whisk it fast!

FOODS I WILL NOT EAT

You might be surprised by some things on this list!

• Sugar - that includes things that have different names like fructose, glucose, corn syrup, maltodextrin, and more.

• Grains - that means no rice, no bread (not even whole grain), no cakes/muffins/pies, no tortillas, no corn, no beer, no oatmeal.

• Night-shade veggies: these have a potential of causing inflammation, so no peppers, no paprika, no eggplant, no tomatoes

• Starch - starch is a long-chain form of sugar, so no potatoes, rice, or other starchy foods.

• Legumes - no green beans, no navy beans, no black beans, etc.

• Seed oils - no “vegetable”, canola, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, sesame seed, soybean, grapeseed, flaxseed oils. - nothing “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” - no shortening.

• No alcohol, although I might have a glass of wine a couple of times a year.

• No soda, not even sugar free - that’s actually worse for you!

• Nothing labeled as “sugar free”, “carb free”, or “keto friendly” - they all still have bad stuff in them like aspartame, soy, soy oil, etc.

• Processed foods and anything else that isn’t in the list of primary foods above.

SUPPLEMENTS

These are the supplements I take to keep my microbiome healthy and to prevent or reduce inflammation in the body. Although I strongly believe we should get all of our nutrients through the foods we eat, I plan on using supplements to help my body along this journey until I’m completely healed 100%.

• Vitamin D (between 5,000 - 20,000 IU’s daily) - this is the most important supplement out of all supplements and I always take magnesium glycinate, vitamin K2, and zinc with it, as they help in the delivery of Vitamin D. I take all four of these right before bed.

• Trace minerals - the second-most critical supplement for me. This supplement includes traces of Iodine, Selenium, Copper, etc.

• A prebiotic, probiotic, and postbiotic combined. The one I take is called Synbiotic+.

• Milk Thistle (1,000 mg) for liver health.

• Omega 7 (Sea Buckthorn Oil) - 1,000 mg - for reduction of inflammation.

• Benfotiamine (fat soluble B1) - for red blood cell and mitochondria health.

• Alpha lipoic acid (600 mg) - I take this at the same time as benfotiamine right after I eat dinner. Reduces inflammation.

Final Thoughts

The original question from the title of this article is “Can Food Heal Us?” and I believe the answer is “partially”. I am convinced the following combination of factors can lead to you naturally healing things that ail you:

1. Eating whole foods.

2. How you eat - trying not to snack and do intermittent fasting once in a while.

3. Exercise - I take two walks every day, rain or shine, which ends up being 3-5 miles each day.

4. Sleep - your body heals itself while you sleep. 8 hours or more sleep every night is critical for your health. I need to work on this one though!

5. Lowering stress - during times of stress, our bodies can increase cortisol levels. Too much cortisol can cause you to lose protein, increase belly fat, vitamin D and potassium deficiencies, can cause allergies, digestive issues, anxiety, increases in blood sugar, and increases in inflammation. Finding ways to reduce stress can be challenging, but I force myself to take time to just chill every day.

When it comes down to it, it’s actually all just logical common sense - God gave us whole foods to eat. If we stick to that simple thought and only eat whole foods that haven’t been processed, genetically modified by man, or sprayed with toxins, we’re likely on the right path.

One other thing to remember is that everyone is an individual and what worked for me might not work for the next person.

Up Next

In my next article to be published next week, we’ll do a deep dive into the food industry and pose some questions. such as:

• Why does the FDA approve toxic foods?

• Who owns the food companies?

• Who owns organic food companies?

• How does the government influence farm production?

References

These are some of the references from my research that I can recall. I did extensive research, so there is so much more, but I didn’t bookmark or save my findings, as I wasn’t thinking I’d need to share this information later - I was simply learning.

If you know of other studies or references you’d like me to look into and include, let me know in the comments!

STUDIES

• Reevaluating heart healthy

• Eggs are good for you

• Even the NIH has to admit that prebiotics and probiotics can improve eczema - usually their studies go against any natural remedy, but they reluctantly admit that synbiotics can make a difference.

• More studies to come - I did a lot of research and will add to this post or as a follow up.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS TO REFERENCE

• Dr. Sten Ekberg: https://www.youtube.com/@drekberg

• Dr. Eric Berg: https://www.youtube.com/@Drberg/videos - he strongly promotes keto, but he delivers great information and explains the body chemistry in easy to understand methods.

• There are many great resources out there, but these were two that I referenced frequently.

OTHER REFERENCES

• Where to purchase good meat - find a local regenerative farm/ranch for grass-fed and pasture raised meat.

• Glycemic Index - there are multiple sources online, this is just one.

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