Sometimes skin conditions are not what they seem. On page 18 of Health News magazine issue #72, Rick Lamothe tells how a condition he thought was eczema was actually a rare form of cancer.
But what if your skin condition truly is a skin condition — is it genetic or caused by diet?
Well… yes.
Though you may have a genetic predisposition to a skin condition, like psoriasis for example, how you live determines how that gene is expressed and whether or not you will suffer from outbreaks.
In essence, psoriasis is merely an external indication of an internal problem.
Consider that psoriasis is rare in countries where the diet is low in fat (Balch, Phyllis A. Prescription For Nutritional Healing, Fourth Ed. Penguin Group, 2006).
Toxic build up in the colon is also linked the development of psoriasis; in fact, one study found that a bad diet was common among psoriasis test subjects.
By contrast, eating a diet that is at least 50% raw foods (The Hallelujah Diet recommends 85% raw foods) and includes plenty of vegetables, fruits, and grains is a commonly advised diet for persons with psoriasis. This kind of diet will also help to alleviate toxic build up in the colon.
Knowing what causes psoriasis to flare up is also important. And guess what? Flare-ups are diet related, too.
Psoriasis tends to flare up when the sufferer ingests red meat and dairy because both contain arachidonic acid, which promotes an inflammatory response in the body.
However, use of fish oil or flax seed oil has the opposite effect, interfering with the production and storage of arachidonic acid, preventing inflammation.
The link between diet and psoriasis goes even deeper.
Studies have shown that patients with psoriasis have a higher risk of developing certain metabolic disorders, particularly obesity. Why? Because psoriasis and obesity are linked through chronic, low-grade inflammation.
To complicate matters, obesity also affects the body’s response to traditional treatment for psoriasis.
Follow the trail of clues and it soon becomes clear that one of the major contributing causes of psoriasis is improper diet.
Not to mention, certain diet-related cancers are also significantly associated with psoriasis, including those of the urinary bladder and skin, oropharynx/larynx, liver/gallbladder, and colon/rectum.
If not for psoriasis, changing one’s diet is certainly worth looking into to avoid all of the life-threatening baggage that comes with it!
But is switching to a whole foods, plant-based diet really all it takes? Kevin L. wrote to Hallelujah Acres to tell us his story:
“Since I began The Hallelujah Diet several months ago, my psoriasis has almost totally faded, and I have had continual weight loss—at least 30 pounds in five months. Many doctors have had theories about what causes psoriasis. It is my firm belief that it is a condition brought on by the suppression of the immune system when processed sugar is consumed. For example, I mentioned that my psoriasis had almost totally faded. That is not altogether true. The month of October contains birthdays for four in my family. During that month, I was not too faithful to the diet. I consumed a large amount of processed sugar in various forms, and the psoriasis started to reappear! When I backed off on the sugar, the psoriasis started to fade again. I think, at least in my case, I have established a link between some skin diseases and the immune system, prominently, the processed sugar connection.”Kevin’s theory holds true; in fact, it lines up perfectly with the connection between psoriasis and obesity. When you consume refined sugar, fructose in particular (i.e. high fructose corn syrup), you are not consuming a carbohydrate, but fat. Here’s why: when the liver becomes overwhelmed with fructose, it starts making fat and sends it to the bloodstream in the form of triglycerides (i.e. fat). Therefore, a high sugar diet is indeed a high fat diet. A high sugar diet can also lead to candida, which is another ailment connected to psoriasis. In fact, research shows that candida is one of the triggers to both exacerbation and persistence of psoriasis. It would appear that, like so many other ironies in God’s creation, the answer to alleviating the outside of the body actually begins with evaluating what you put inside of it.
This article appears in the July-August 2012 issue of Health News magazine - click here to read more articles!
