With eczema being at an all time high, many are wanting to know what are the best foods to eat, but let’s take it a step further with the top 5 diets for eczema in no particular order.
GAPS
GAPS (Gut And Psychology Syndrome) is a diet founded by Dr. Natasha McBride. It’s focus is on healing the gut to treat alleviate autism, ADHD/ADD, and other learning disabilities, yet it’s been a great tool for those suffering from eczema. One of the main foundational foods this diet focuses on is Broth and foods cooked in it. Meat Stock is used to heal and seal during the Intro Gaps stage, Bone Broth is to maintain gut health during the Full Gaps stage.
Because of the way the GAPS diet is laid out, many foods can be consumed, however they must be eaten at certain stages of the diet. There are two stages: GAPS Intro and Full GAPS. Plus this list of approved food is quiet extensive.
Read more about GAPS in detail in her book as she explains the what , why and when to consume them.
KETO Diet
The Keto Diet is high in good fat, low in carbs. It focuses on changing the body from relying on glucose (sugars & carbs) for energy to shift to good fat, causing the body into a form of kerosine. Instead of the body going into a starvation/metabolic state from lack of calories, it’s forced to gather energy from the good fats … ketones.
Keto focuses on good fats from meats, avocados, dairy and good oils. Many have seen positive effects in their skin health.
For this diet:
No Grains
No Sugar
No Fruit
No Starchy Vegetables: Potatoes, Yams, etc
Autoimmune Paleo Diet (AIP)
The AutoImmune Paleo Diet is geared towards those with autoimmune diseases where the body attacks its own immune system. There is no true cure for these conditions, so we use food as the means to reverse these conditions. Gluten is an inflammatory, so this diet removes gluten completely to remove phytic acid and inflammatory lectins. Essentially using food as medicine to get rid of inflammation, heal the gut and desensitizing the body from attacking itself.
For this diet:
No Grains
No Gluten
No Legumes /Beans
No Sugar / Alcohol
Through this diet, it also avoids eggs, certain veggies (nightshades) and nuts and seeds.
While this seems like a lot, rest assured, there is plenty of variety and foods to eat. If you’re wanting to change the way your family eats and feel overwhelmed or running out of ideas on what to cook, Real Plans is the meal planner that caters to many of the diets we use to heal the body, including AIP.
Whole30
Whole 30 Diet is a short term diet used to reset the system in 30 days. It’s also short enough to keep us motivated to complete the process with true results. It’s goal is to remove unhealthy cravings, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system.
Why is the Whole30 diet good for eczema? It also focuses on gut healing and removing the food groups Candida overloaded bodies love… sugar, carbs & grains.
Probably the most challenging part of Whole 30 is the No sugar rule. No sugar or sweetener what so ever.
The rest of the no-no’s is:
No Grains
No Alcohol
No Legumes (Exceptions: Green Beans, Snap & Snow Peas)
No Dairy
No Peanut Butter or Soy
And just like that, the 30 Day start time begins.
Low Histamine Diet
This is probably one of the least known about diets. It’s focus is on providing nourishment through foods that are low in histamine. If you’ve experienced seasonal allergies, the first thing we reach for is an anti-histamine. But what is histamine?
Histamine causes your blood vessels to swell to allow white blood cells to quickly find and attack the invader. The histamine buildup is what gives you a headache and leaves you feeling flushed, itchy and miserable. This is part of the body’s natural immune response, but if the body doesn’t break down histamine properly, a histamine intolerance develops.
Histamine can affect every single part of your body which makes it hard to diagnose and often gets misdiagnosed.
Foods that are high in histamine cause several problems inside of a body with histamine intolerance. Those foods are:
Fermented foods & alcohol
Cured Meats
Sour Foods
Dried Fruits
Most Citrus & Bananas
Nuts
Certain Vegetables: Avocados, spinach
Smoked fish
Dairy
Preservatives & Food Dyes
Teas
Don’t fret, there’s still plenty to eat. Luckily the world is FULL of foods that your little one’s body will LOVE. And if you’re still having a “what can we eat” brain freeze, Real Plans can really get you out of a pinch. No need to google 75 recipes and hope it won’t contain foods you can’t eat. And if you want to chat with someone about any of these diets and/or eczema, join us inside of our Eczema & Allergy Breakthrough Group on FB.
If you suspect that your little one’s eczema is triggered by certain foods, be sure to consider revamping their diet to allow food to become the medicine. When we shift our mindset from “Live to Eat” to “Eat To Live” our bodies will thrive as we continue to listen to it and provide it with what it needs to become it’s healthiest. One of the key things to remember is the body is one complete system. These diets focus on treating it as such instead of trying to fix one symptom.