How I Healed Psoriasis Naturally
I was 20 years old and covered in spots.
The doctors called it psoriasis.
I felt stuck, overwhelmed, self conscious and tbh, pissed off. I was itchy, spotty and not in control of any of it (or so I thought).
Let’s circle back to 2010. I was studying nutrition, eating healthy, exercising daily & doing anything and everything I was told by my docs. I tried lots of different creams, was on many rounds of prednisone, frequented tanning beds per the doctors orders. In fact, when I told the dermatologist there was a lot of skin cancer in my family history, he said, “You just have to pick your battles.”
Ok, so psoriasis or skin cancer? Cool, doc.
I had seen 3 different dermatologists and was still battling frequent flares.I was so frustrated with my body.
Psoriasis on the left, eczema on the right
I thought,
“Is it my genetics?”
“What if it never goes away?”
“What else can I do?”
Ever been there?
✔️You see the doctors
✔️You follow the recs
✔️You even make some tweaks per google tips
...and...nothing. "WTF...nothing????"
I battled psoriasis flare for 2 years but in the end, it took me about 3 months to clear my skin naturally.
Here’s what I did to heal my psoriasis
First thing I did was a sh*t ton of reading. I was in grad school and had started learning about functional medicine. I dove deep into research on psoriasis. Food, nutrients, genetics...everything. Then, I started experimenting on myself. Within 3 months, I was spot free. Today, I want to share what I believe had the biggest impact and provide guidance if you're struggling. This is coming from both personal and professional experience.
I had a big history of childhood antibiotic use which led to a need for definite gut repair (ridding yeast, improving stomach acid/digestion and reducing inflammation). I also had to reduce the stupid amount of cardio I was doing (stress) and replete a number of nutrient insufficiencies with supplementation. I followed a short term elimination diet and eventually added nearly everything aside from peppers, gluten and dairy. I can have those now but I limit intake. I have done genetic testing and have genes predisposing me to psoriasis (HLA) but as I teach clients, genes are only part of the story. Diet and lifestyle play a big role in what those genes do. Okay, that's the summary of what I did. Now I want to give your more detail and guidance on where to start if you're battling psoriasis.
10 Strategies to Improve Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an inflammatory condition. This means the body is constantly fighting a fire on the inside. To heal psoriasis, you need to calm inflammation or put out the fire within the body. Your food and lifestyle choices can cause or calm this inflammatory process. The steps below will help you start putting out the first and begin healing from the inside out.
Eat vegetables at every meal
Up your good oils
Add good gut bacteria
Add special anti-inflammatory foods
Drink water
Reduce/eliminate damaging oils
Reduce/eliminate processed foods
Meditate/relax 4-6 minutes/day
Sleep 7-8 hours per night
Exercise/sweat
Eat vegetables at every meal
To keep it simple, veggies and fruit contain vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, polyphenols, fiber and many other substances that we will probably never fully understand. They are more than carbs and you need these things to fight the inflammation that is clearly present with psoriasis. Your gut also needs a makeover and vegetables help support that process. Learn more here about building a real food foundation with an easy system here. To cover some basic with your nutrients, consider a multivitamin or prenatal (I use this one)
Up the good oils
Omega 3 fats are incredibly anti-inflammatory. The ideal ratio of omega 3 to omega 6’s is 4:1. The U.S average is 25:1. GEEEZ! While you may already include omega 3 sources like flaxseed and chia seeds in your diet, if you have psoriasis, that may not be enough.
Here are some of the best food sources for omega 3’s (need minimum of 2 times/week): Wild caught salmon, sardines in olive oil, herring, mackerel, and anchovies.
If you prefer taking an Omega 3 supplement, here is a high quality supplement I recommend: Omegagenics EPA-DHA 1000 by Metagenics. You can find it by creating an account on this portal.
Other healthy fats include coconut oil, ghee, extra virgin olive oil, avocados, nuts/seeds, pastured butter.
Add good gut bacteria
Your gut houses 70-80% of your immune system (the system we are trying to heal). You need healthy bacteria to support that system. With psoriasis, you need to rebalance the good and bad bacteria in your gut. My favorite probiotic is MegaSporebiotic by Microbiome labs. It has pretty incredible research behind it. You can find this on the portal too.
If the gut is inflamed or pathogens are growing or your digestive system is less than optimal, this will impact your skin. If you want testing in this area (which I did), let’s chat.
Add special anti-inflammatory foods
Herbs and spices are full of nutrients (hence the colors). They fight inflammation and support detoxification. Examples of nutrient packed herbs and spices include: turmeric, basil, parsley, cilantro, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, etc. Add 1 tbsp ground flaxseed/day. Store in fridge/freezer to keep from going rancid. Some other important nutrients for the immune system include vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, omega 3's (to start). More nutrition tips here.
Drink water!
Ditch the sodas, diet sodas, sugary drinks, energy drinks, lattes, etc. You need to flush out the junk and your cells need H20…not Dr. Pepper. A very general recommendation is about ½ your body weight in ounces (ex: 150 pounds = 75 oz/day).
Reduce/eliminate damaging oils
Avoid: canola oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, trans-fat, margarine and all other vegetable oils. This may require a bit of extra label reading, but is worth the effort. Better yet, if you switch your diet to include real, whole foods (that don’t come with ingredient labels) you can automatically reduce your intake of these oils.
Reduce/eliminate processed foods
Simply put, they are fueling the fire you’re trying to tame! Stick to real food as much as possible!
Consider removing common inflammation triggers: Remove grains (this includes gluten), dairy, eggs, chocolate, alcohol, nightshade veggies (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, white potatoes, sugar, legumes for a minimum of 3 weeks. It’s tough, I know, but important to identify what’s triggering your system.
While there are definitely tests you can do here to get direct answers, the free way to start is with a solid elimination diet. This is not meant to be long term. It’s meant to help reduce the inflammation that is very much present and then eventually, expand the diet again.
Relax
Easier said than done, obvi. Think of stress as a bucket. If you have a lot going on in life and you’re exercising like a maniac and you’re eating shitty food...your stress bucket is full. Start emptying.
Stress triggers psoriasis and psoriasis triggers stress. It’s a shitty cycle but you can takes steps to control them both! Try a meditation app, cd, or podcast. Or take a bath, read, pray, talk with a friend or loved one, you get my point…find what works for you.
Sleep 7-8 hours per night
Don’t be silly and think “I’m the type that only needs 4 hours of sleep,” you’re not! Sleep is when our body repairs…. if you have psoriasis, you have a lot of repairing to do!
Exercise/sweat
Get your blood flowing! Your body excretes toxins through your skin. So sweat a little! This can be a sauna, an interval workout, strength training, yoga/hot yoga, pilates, walking.
It's okay to not know your root cause(s) and still be searching for answers. it's okay experiment. it's okay to ask questions. it's okay for something not to work and to try something else. it's ok to be a figuring it out.
From one figure-outer to another, you’re doing better than you think you are 💃🏼
If you are battling psoriasis and are ready to do the things to clear your skin for life, apply for a strategy call and we can chat about what you may need. Questions?