I’ve talked before on here how I’ve been reducing my dairy intake because of eczema. Well even with eliminating dairy, it hasn’t seem to help much because I still have flare ups…and it really hasn’t gone away completely at all in between them. Overall it’s better than it was, but it’s still here. Some days it’s clearly worse than others, even when I don’t have any dairy. Also I thought I should mention…eczema is something I’ve dealt with on and off for years. In the past when I’ve stopped having dairy for a week or so it goes away and then I can handle it again in small amounts. I had ZERO eczema when I was pregnant and ate dairy in large amounts because I was always craving it. Also I probably wouldn’t care as much about it, but it’s on my face and it REALLY bugs me!
I went for an allergy test today at my general doctors and nothing came up. Not even dairy. First of all, I know for myself that when I have too much dairy I get itchy and my stomach is a mess. It’s gotten progressively worse as I’ve gotten older, which is why you don’t ever see me having fro-yo or Ralphs because they destroy me (ice cream is better on my stomach!) I also know for myself that wheat/gluten doesn’t bother me at all, but I still don’t eat a ton of it.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on what can cause ezcema and dairy is one of the first things that comes up. Also what I’ve read talked about an acidic diet and the causes of that. Even though I eat a TON of fruits and veggies and that’s what primarily makes up my diet, I still feel like I consume acidic foods (coffee, vinegar, meat, beans, soy, dairy, tomatoes). So I’m doing what I’ve been avoiding doing for awhile. I’m going to try a modified elimination diet.
I hate doing things like this…mostly because I feel like I eat so healthy, I HATE limiting or restricting foods. I HATE not being able to eat what I want…but I feel like this is the only way to give my system a break. I basically eat the same things everyday. I have had 2 or 3 eggs with a piece of ezekial toast with butter for breakfast for the past..um….year and a half? Then I have a greek yogurt or coconut yogurt (when I’m limiting dairy) with berries, chia and a large glob of almond butter…again a snack I’ve had for…ever?
So I’m trying to think of this as a reset and doing something to give my body a break. I found this regarding elimination diets, so I’m going to loosely follow it.
I’m going to try it for a week. I was hesistant writing about this because if I slip up or give up I don’t want to feel like I failed or am letting everyone down…but I figured someone else must have these struggles too!
What’s it going to look like for me? You need to do your own research and see what you feel comfortable with…this is what I am comfortable with and it may change.
What I’m NOT going to eat:
- Dairy (butter, yogurt, cheese, milk) WAH…this is always SO hard for me
- Soy
- Beans (although I don’t think beans really bother me….)
- Wheat
- Eggs
- Vinegar (this is going to be hard too because I usually have atleast 1 salad a day)
- Tomatoes
- Eggplant
- Nuts
- Acidic fruits: oranges, lemons
What I will be eating:
- Lots of fresh fruits and veggies (minus tomatoes/eggplant which I eat A LOT of)
- Sunflower butter (I’m going to replace almond butter with this)
- Coconut milk (going to use this in my oats for breakfast)
- Brown rice & quinoa
- Chicken, turkey & fish (the elimination diet suggests cutting out chicken, but I don’t really feel it’s necessary for me)
- black coffee (I just CAN’T cut out all coffee. I usually drink my hot coffee black, so this won’t be hard)
This is a good time for me to do this because I have 2 weeks off from weddings. My short term goal is a week. I don’t know what beyond that.
I’m starting tomorrow…mainly because I just had an iced coffee with whole milk in it. Figured one last hurrah!
In the meantime, if you have any great vinegar-less salad dressing or oat recipes, link away!
