Skin disorders & Digestion

With eczema not everyone has the same symptoms. Dry skin, sore rashes, redness, inflammation, and almost constant itching are common. When scratching causes the skin to split open, it can become infected (staph infection for example), then the skin becomes infected, it may crack & weep, this is called wet eczema.

Although this may seem like an external problem that would respond to an external remedy such as salve or cream, the problem comes from inside. Treating this as an external problem by using a cream may bring some temporary relief, but the skin problem will keep coming back until the problem is healed from the inside.
Those with skin disorders, such as eczema often have allergies: hay fever (allergies to things they inhale such as pollen or cat dander), food allergies, or asthma.

Prior to eczema showing up on the skin, the person may have had digestive problems (bouts of diarrhea, chrohnÂ’s disease, colitis or diverticulitis).

Everything we eat goes through the digestive tract. It allows substances to pass through the membranes, allowing the body to absorb nutrients.

If there are problems in the digestive tract the walls of the digestive tract become more permeable & allow foreign substances and larger molecules to pass through. Bacteria, fungi, parasites, toxins, undigested protein, fat, and waste material into the bloodstream. In other words, these large, protein molecules, which have not yet been broken down or digested to a suitable size for absorption, pass through the damaged, leaky gut into the blood stream, where they do not yet belong. The body sees all of these as unwanted substances & the immune system begins to attack, now the body will see these foods as something to attack, so each time the food is eaten there is an inflammatory reaction.

The body can go for many years dealing with faulty digestion and dietary abuse. By the time the symptoms begin to occur in the form of allergies, eczema, hives, autoimmune diseases, and viral and bacterial infections, bouts of diarrhea, skin problems, bloating, gas, cramps, etc. the connect to digestive health of often not addressed.

Asthma, diabetes, lupus, scleroderma, colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Crohn’s disease are just some of the autoimmune diseases that are suspected to start with leaky gut.

The health of your digestive system is as important as the foods you eat. You are what you digest. Begin to look at the foods you put into your body as a way to nourish it & keep it healthy, instead of what tastes good, or what is quick to grab so you get on with what you are busy doing.

To build up the health of your digestive system:

1. Take herbs & supplements to get rid of yeast overgrowth & parasites. This usually takes many months to clear up, and it is a good idea to use herbs & supplements once or twice a year after that. See my article on clearing candida.
2. Heal the stomach lining with aloe vera or slippery elm.
3. Eliminate common food allergies for at least 1 month, and then reintroduce them slowly (but stop eating them if symptoms begin to recur) milk, cheese, wheat, eggs, peanuts, corn, beef and pork, chocolate, and refined sugar.
4. Replenish good intestinal flora with acidophilus. Use this for several months, and then once or twice a year for maintenance. Acidophilus of good quality is found in the refrigerated section of health food stores. Don’t waste money on poor quality products.
5. Use a good quality digestive enzyme to encourage complete digestion of the foods you eat. You may need to stay on digestive enzymes forever. Use them daily for several months and then see if you just need them with a large meal. Organika Full Spectrum Plant Enzymes, or Natural Factors Multizymes are good brands. A good digestive enzyme should contain:
a. lipase (breaks down fat)
b. protease (breaks down protein)
c. amylase (breaks down carbohydrates)
d. cellulase (break down celluloses, a substance in plants that the human body cannot fully digest)
6. Build your immune system up, use a good quality multi vitamin (vitamins A,C,E, zinc & selenium help to build the immune system). A good multi should have 25 – 50 mg. of the B-vitamins in it, 500 mg. of C, 50 mg. of zinc. Buy extra bottles of C, B complex or zinc if your multi does not have enough. Use herbs such as Echinacea or astragalus, to build the immune system. I like to choose herbs depending on each clients needs.
7. Increase your intake of essential fatty acids by eating more raw & unsalted nuts and seeds, and using flax oil, hemp oil or evening primrose oil. Essential fatty acids stimulate production of the body’s natural anti-inflammatories. Another way to get these anti-inflammatory acids from the diet is to eat cold-water fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel, sardine, swordfish, shark, cod, and halibut. Flax oil & hemp oil can be used on salads or in a shake (not on anything heated). Flax oil and Primrose oil can be used in capsules, use 3,000 IU per day. These should be used daily forever. Be aware that fish oil capsules are hard for those with digestive problems to digest, so use primrose oil, flax or hemp oil. If you use either flax or primrose oil for several months and notice no difference, switch to the other or use both. You can pierce the capsules and put it directly on skin disorders as well, but remember you need to heal internally so take the oils internally.

How to improve your digestion:

Steps to Better Digestion
1. Don’t overeat. When you overeat you are taxing your system. Over the long term, this leads to wear and tear of the digestive organs, depleted stomach acid and enzymes, yeast overgrowth, leaky gut, and a sluggish system. Eat small, frequent meals. This is especially important to keep blood sugar balanced.
2. Eat more whole foods: vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts. Make sure to avoid the foods causing allergic reactions. Cut out as much processed food & junk food as possible (processed, packaged, high sugar foods, white flour foods) these are all low in fiber, hard to digest, and are unhealthy foods to eat.
3. Chew well to help the digestive process begin well, eat in a relaxed environment & take your time, enjoy your food.
4. Don’t eat fruits with other foods, this results in incomplete digestion, and encourages candidad growth. Fruits are best eaten on an empty stomach. Some people can tolerate fruits with yogurt, if you do not experience burping & gas when eating the two together, it is probably fine.
5. Don’t drink water with meals, it dilutes digestive enzymes.

Any information presented here is for informational purposes only and not intended to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a medical practitioner.