Soap Box Moment

I don't normally go off on tangents about things like this but I feel it is time to share my opinion if I can just help one person out there with a similiar issue. (Or even help with a completely different health issue not related to skin)

Some of you know that ten years ago now I started having skin issues that were eventually diagnosed by docs as "eczema". I was given lots of steroid creams to combat my itchiness and sent on my way. Well, let's just say I could NOT accept this diagnois and I was NOT going to be on steroid cremes for the rest of my life. I did not agree that this was "just how it is" because the one thing that had alway been "healthy" in my life was my skin. I might have had heart problems, back problems etc...but I did have great skin, not even the adolesent acne that plagues most of us. So I was not about to just accept this diagnosis, and after 2 years of seeing about a half dozen specialists, trying new diets, detergents, soaps, lotions etc, yoga for stress & researching reasons why my skin would suddenly attack me from the inside out; I finally determined on my own that I am allergic to chemicals/preservatives in food.


Which in turn, made me a label reader when grocery shopping and realizing that the same ingredients in my shampoo, lotions, sunscreen, toothpaste (and even eventually diaper creme-when the babes were born) are some of the same ingredients in the foods I ate. Really? I am eating something they put in diaper creme? This led me on what is now my 8 years of "trying" to eat as natural as food as possible. Sure, I've cheated and as long as my skin was clear I could get away with "cheating" 1-2 times before Scott could recognize that I had eaten a food on my "No-No" list. Eventually, even the deputy coroner I interned for was keen enough to know that I had cheated!

But I am now to the point where I can't even cheat on something as small as a piece of bubble gum. And if I do cheat, I pay for it for at least 2 weeks with itchy, scaly dry hands that crack & bleed. And that is if I only cheat 1 time. Cheat multiple times & I pay for it for well over a month and not just on my hands.


Therefore, I've resigned myself to the fact that I will now become one of those people who brings my own food to restaurants (I've already been bringing my own soy sauce & salad dressings), potlucks, parties etc. so that I can eat & not pay for it. And unfortunately (or fortunately depending how you look at it) I've passed this allergy or trait to my children as they now break out when they are exposed to preservatives.


Lucky for me and the kids, over the past 8 years more people are demanding "healthier" foods & I am seeing more "natural" products on the average grocery store shelves. So we now have more options, but our main grocery stores are Trader Joe's, local farmer's markets, Costco, a handful of items at Winco, and occasionally Whole Foods (when we get to Roseville).

I have 2 reasons for sharing this with my friends & family on my blog:

1) To share with you 2 websites I recently discovered about a mom who has been eating "Whole Foods" for 100 days. www.100daysofrealfood.com/ and http://www.thefoodillusion.wordpress.com/

Although I will admit she has gone more hardcore than I do. Her family has eliminated all white flour products, sugar, white rice and some other items that I've not had (nor am I willing) to give up since I have no issues with these foods. She writes both these blogs and has a 10 day challenge for her readers. And though I'll be honest and admit I could not do it (I'm not ready to give up my white Basmati Rice, switch to only whole wheat flour products and give up sugar), I would challenge anyone who would like to eat healthier or has skin problems to eliminate chemicals in their diet. Which leads me to my reason #2 for sharing this here;

2) Last year, I was chatting at one of my monthly Mom's night out with friends , one of whom had been having some skin issues and had e-mailed me several weeks back. She had wanted to know how I figured out my preservative allergy. I explained to her how I figured it out and recommended she try cutting out the 2 main preservatives found in most foods & see how it went. Now, she was telling me and showing me how her skin had begun to clear up. Another friend who was listening began asking questions. She had psoriasis and wondered if it would work for her. I told her it couldn't hurt her to give it a try and at the very least, she'd be eating healthier. I e-mailed her the same recommendations and less than 2 weeks later, at a party at my house, she was excited to tell and show us that her skin was clearing up after years of this common skin disease. In addition to these 2 friends, several months later Scott was talking to a buddy of his whose fiance had "eczema". I e-mailed her & guess what? She stopped preservatives and after less than a week her skin was clear.

Now these ladies reactions to eliminating preservatives and their skin clearing up could all be a coincidence, but I think there may be more to it than that. So this Blog Post is really for anyone of my friends/family out there suffering from a skin condition (or know of a friend who is) that is READY to try something else that might just clear up their skin. It takes a lot of commitment and willpower to cut these ingredients out of your diet. This change is not for the soda-drinking addict, or junk-food junkie unless you REALLY want a change.

I also encourage those not suffering from any skin condition or other ailment to give this a try. At the very least I hope that all those I love will start reading the ingredients in the foods they buy and see how many "real" ingredients are in your food & how much "fake" food is in the products you buy.

Lastly I will leave you with this food for thought:

Our skin is an organ and if these chemicals are creating these reactions in our outermost organ, what do you think they are doing to the organs inside of us?

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me: cardiokidz2000@gmail.com

God Bless.