Eczema: Healing the gut

In a previous post, I told you about a young boy plagued with eczema and gave suggestions on how to naturally treat it from the outside. (Click here to read.)  It also involves treating the inside to get to full recovery. For that, I need to pull in an expert...

Healing eczema from the inside out

Let’s get back to five-year-old Blake.

His doctor, Dr. Axe, suspected he had food sensitivities, most likely to gluten and casein.  He also had allergic reactions to shampoo, laundry detergent and maybe even the linen in his bedsheets.

In order to confirm his suspicions, Dr. Axe tested him:

I had Blake take an IgG food intolerance test and an IgE allergy test, blood and skin tests that help me zero in on the cause of immune response, and the results were not surprising: Blake was sensitive to cow’s milk, gluten, strawberries, egg whites, and tree nuts and had several environmental allergies. Like so many children I’d seen, Blake’s multiple food and environmental sensitivities were the outward manifestations of leaky gut. – Dr. Axe, page 32.

Quoted from his book, Eat Dirt (affiliate link)

Dr. Axe advised that he eat a gut-healing diet that included pears, blueberries, healthy fats (avocados, coconut oil), grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, steamed carrots, cauliflower and squash. He removed the food allergens from Blake’s diet. Because of his environmental allergies, he advised that Blake’s family toss their home-cleaning and body products and replace them with home-made versions, add certain essential oils, and add bentonite clay to his diet. (By the way, this is where the title/subject of the book comes in – he advises to literally eat dirt… as in bentonite clay.)

Three weeks later:

The dermatitis that covered Blake’s body and the eczema on his cheeks had disappeared.

Dr. Axe reminded Blake’s mother that coming in contact with household chemicals, including antibacterial soap, could cause his skin to react again.  His gut lining would continue to get stronger but they still had to be vigilant in avoiding the triggers.

Now, I am obviously not a doctor and I can’t promise that following Dr. Axe’s protocol outlined in his book will guarantee the healing of eczema, psoriasis, or rosacea. But what Eat Dirt outlines is a very thorough break-down of the various forms of a leaky gut and what can be done about it. Because I have multiple questions via email come in about these skin conditions, I wanted to have a source to point people to. I do get emails from people who have been able to heal their skin conditions by identifying and eliminating food triggers (primarily eggs, dairy and nuts) and I firmly believe that there’s hope for people who can give it a try.

What I appreciate about Eat Dirt, the book:

• It’s not just about chomping down dirt for dinner. The idea is to get back to nature… eat what grows in your area, eat foods that get exposure to local pollen, eat less processed and more fermented foods… and when you’re ready to try it, take a teaspoon of bentonite clay three times a day.
• Each of the four gut types mentioned above has a whole chapter devoted to it, outlining the causes, the right diet, the right supplements and “good practices” to follow. There’s even a daily routine schedule with each gut type, beginning at 7 am and ending at 10 pm, with lifestyle and eating suggestions. It’s not just about food.
• There’s enough of a medical explanation throughout the book to know “why” your body is acting the way it is, without overdoing the complicated doc-speak that requires a medical glossary tab open.
• Recipes at the end of the book are easy to follow, with ingredients that are accessible to most people.
• This: “By living in a squeaky-clean bubble and turning germs and dirty into villains to be destroyed or avoided at all costs, we’ve kept some of our most powerful allies for health at arm’s length – and the devastating ramifications are piling up all around us.”  He goes on to say that there’s been at least a sevenfold increase in rates of autoimmune disorders like Crohn’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis and it’s directly related to the lack of beneficial microbes in our gut. (p 49)

Find the book on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tqJscC

Whether you use Dr. Axe’s book or research on your own, I recommend that if you suffer from psoriasis, eczema, itchy skin or rash, go find out if you have other symptoms of leaky gut and see if that’s the cause.

In the meantime, use these ideas to help manage the eczema until a treatment protocol is fully in place: https://store.hardlotion.com/blogs/news/how-to-treat-eczema-naturally-in-children