Vegan diet – how I did it and how it helped my eczema

If you asked me a year ago if I would be blogging about a vegan diet I would have LAUGHED in your face. But here I am! I’ll start from the beginning. I have always eaten healthy, exercised daily, and treated myself whenever I wanted – as my amazing Nan always said, have everything in moderation. When my eczema started getting really bad (mid-end of 2016) I tried to track what I was eating and drinking to figure out if diet was causing my eczema. Bottom line, food and drink is EVERYTHING to do with skin health, but it did not CAUSE my eczema. Medics don’t really acknowledge how diet links to eczema, mainly because unless you have an actual food allergy, food is not a proven cause of eczema. It is more likely to be genetic, stress, environmental factors, contact allergy etc. However, my eczema was always worse on a Monday – the day after the weekend – so I knew alcohol and sugary/junk food contributed to my eczema flaring. Essentially, anything ‘inflammatory’ will inflame the gut and in turn, the skin, and as eczema lies just below the skins surface – it will flare. Diary and gluten also made me react i.e. pizza was never a good idea.

I did the York Test because I was so desperate to rule everything out, including food intolerance. When I say I tried every cream/every test, I really did! Anyway, see yorktest.com for more information but the company does DIY test kits for food and drink intolerance by taking a sample of your blood. It cost me £350 which is eye-watering but I was so desperate I did it. It came back saying I was intolerant to wheat, yeast, gluten, diary and malbec (lol). I was super disheartened by this because that would have ruled out lots of food, but I also didn’t know whether to believe it because so many GPs say the York Test doesn’t give you accurate results. I’ve always eaten everything and anything with no trouble. They do give you a 30 minute consultation with a nutritionist which was really helpful but my GP essentially discredited the results and told me to ignore them for the time being. It was November time – just before all the festivities were starting. He basically said if I did a strict diet eliminating so many foods I could end up so much more  down on top of the fact that I was already so down with my skin, my sleepless nights, my inability to think rationally etc. He said those foods may make eczema worse or more inflamed but they weren’t the cause and also not the cure. The nutritionist did tell me about ‘leaky gut syndrome’ and suggested taking l-glutamine which is an amino acid which prevents food leaking from your gut and causing skin issues. I honestly don’t know if taking it made a difference.

I also visited a Chinese herbalist who told me to cut out animal products and gave me expensive teas which I also feel like didn’t work. I ended up feeling like I couldn’t eat anything and I didn’t properly understand any of it. I did cut back on all triggers for a couple of weeks but I think my skin was so sore and so severe that it would have taken months/years for the diet to impact my skin, if at all. I wasn’t in the right mind set and at that stage, I was so tired I couldn’t think straight or comprehend what was happening to me. I would just take my anti-histamine everywhere and anytime I started to itch after food or drink I’d take one and it’d go down. My GP told me to take Berocca everyday, but only a quarter each day. He basically said they rip you off by having a whole one – if your pee is orange then your body is not using the vitamins. Try and quarter and save some money! I took Wellwoman multivitamins and green juices everyday which is great for skin.

Fast forward a year later, my skin was under control (mostly), I was in a better head space and I felt ready to take charge of my skin once and for all. I’d been thinking about doing vegan from around summer 2017. I had already swapped milk for coconut milk, soy milk etc and would try and have vegan lunches at work – so I eased myself in. I went wild over Christmas as everyone does haha and then I promised myself a month of trying a new diet – I owed it to myself to try and I thought if I couldn’t do it in January then I’d have no chance succeeding.

So I decided to do Veganuary (to go vegan for January), I also did dry January (no alcohol), no sugar, no caffeine etc etc. I was kind of hoping nothing would change so I didn’t have to do it long term haha, but of course I felt amazing! Day 1 was a struggle – I was hungover in bed from NYE and I ate peanuts all day and slept. Day 2 I was delirious – I think from no caffeine. I had a bowl of spinach for dinner and went to bed. Day 3 not much better – see below picture for my dinner that evening!

I knew the way I was going wasn’t sustainable but if I say I’m going to do something I always do it, so I bought the Deliciously Ella app (best £3.99 I’ve ever spent) and decided to properly plan and organise my diet! Deliciously Ella is a beautiful inspirational young woman who had an illness that left her bed bound with no cure. She decided to change her mostly sugary diet to plant based with no gluten and it transformed her life. She is so successful, her snacks are everywhere and she’s opened numerous deli’s around London. Her food tastes GOOD – seriously GOOD! You wouldn’t know it’s vegan. The recipes are so simple – they are usually 5 ingredients that you put in a blender or pan.

I did a dinner party with my family and everything was vegan – they loved it! My favourite recipes are her ginger and cashew energy balls, apricot and coconut oat bars, cheesecake and banana bread (half eaten pic as evidence)!

The hardest part about being vegan is the lead up to it – honestly. It was not difficult at all. The hardest part for me was no caffeine! I noticed a difference almost immediately but by the end of the month I honestly felt incredible. I was full of energy, stronger than ever, in a great mood, happy, positive…the list goes on. Skin felt amazing and glowing and even though I was eating more carbs, I lost weight (added bonus). No matter how much I ate I never felt overfull or bloated, I always felt satisfied. I didn’t have a salad once, the whole month I had zero salads. If you get creative you can make wonderful food. I spent evenings/weekend in the kitchen which I have always HATED but I found focusing on recipes actually helped me de-stress. My boyfriend loved my food too (I think). It is now nearly the end of February and I am NOT a full-time vegan haha, I was bought up to eat whatever was put infront of me and I love food and the social aspects of dining out. I wanted to try and re-introduce other foods and see what happened – if I could get away with not being a vegan I would! I am very happy to say my skin is still good and I haven’t needed to use any steroid creams. If my skin goes red for whatever reason, it somehow calms down overnight without any intervention needed. I am still eating vegan for breakfast/lunch at work and most evenings in the week. I am also not having as much alcohol/caffeine/sugar etc so I didn’t go back to introducing everything at once. When I’m out for dinner or out with friends, I will eat what I want because if I restricted myself the whole time, I’d be so down and stressed about that and my eczema could still appear and then I wouldn’t know what to do. I like knowing if my skin got bad again I could go back to a stricter diet and it would work, but for now I am content eating everything in moderation. I think I needed to reset my gut and do a strict detox which I totally think worked and now I am able to go back to normal. I definitely recommend trying it for a month, or even making a few small changes that may help your gut health!

Couple of things that worked; TURMERIC – it is amazing. It is anti-inflammatory and has so many health benefits. I have a daily turmeric shot (turmeric, cayenne pepper which helps your body absorb more turmeric, lemon and hot water). Lemon water is also amazing – bad for your teeth but great for your gut! I got some lush turmeric lattes from bali which I have with coconut milk every morning (or a decaf Nespresso). You could also rub turmeric mixed with water on your eczema which calms it.

I take the below supplements which are great for eczema. Krill oil (fish oil) is also particularly good for eczema.

What I ate in January:

Breakfast: Gluten free oats mixed with soy milk and water (50/50). I cannot notice a difference in taste between this and regular milk. I add banana, super green powder, chia seeds, blueberries, raspberries, nuts, peanut butter, honey (I know it isn’t vegan but I don’t think honey ill give me eczema so I’m having it) 🙂 I always have this for breakfast and did long before I did the vegan diet. It is so filling and yummy!

Lunch: Stir- fried veggies, tofu and rice/couscous, lentils or any other grain. Pics below. This is healthy, tasty and vegan. I use tamari sauce which is gluten free soy sauce and put tumeric all over everything – it isn’t a strong taste but great for eczema. I buy really firm tofu and cover it in cumin, paprika, chilli flakes and fry until crispy. It tastes like chicken I promise!

Dinner: Dinner is most difficult. If in a rush I would go into the small Sainsbury’s near where I live and I honestly felt like I couldn’t purchase anything which would get annoying if I was hungry. This only works if you plan! It is easy to choose the healthy option because there is usually only one option if you eat out haha! I would usually have veg curry or veg stew (using Deliciously Ella app). Linda McCartney sausages are good. If you live near a health store go and pick up whatever vegan meals they have – I live by one and it is amazing! They do vegan burgers, steaks, koftas, kebabs etc. Super tasty. I have it with veg and sweet potato fries/rice etc. Or you could go to any big supermarket and the ‘free from’ isle usually has great alternatives. They have curry sauces without gluten and dairy, brown rice spaghetti pasta which tastes great, and so on.

For drinks, I love Kombucha which is full of live cultures and a probiotic. I definitely recommend drinking this. I’ve also heard loads about kefir as well which I will give a go! I have a green juice everyday and in general am trying to overload on vegetables!

In conclusion, it is true that there are vegan replacements for everything, but there is nothing that tastes like a proper steak or a proper beef burger! I won’t lie! I honestly didn’t miss it though – when you’re actually doing it and seeing amazing results it makes it so much easier to carry on. I definitely think it had the effect it did because of the head space I was in – I was fully invested in my health and exercising daily, sleeping well, making sure I wasn’t stressed etc. I will keep you updated on my skin and if it stays good. I now eat mostly plant based by choice rather than a chore. I still consider myself a sufferer of eczema, I’m sure I’ll always have sensitive skin and reactive skin. But if I can control it I am happy.

 

Any other questions please let me know! Hope this was helpful!