Psoriasis journey: days 16&17

Had a good birthday today, until I came home from dropping of dinner to a friend and found vomit all over the couch, the floor, and cushions. And then there was more, and it continued on for the rest of the evening. I am so thankful for my dog though, as he loves to lick up vomit. Of course there was still a bit of cleanup with my handy bottle of vinegar and a towel, but way better than cleaning up chunks.

Had a great birthday dinner last night. My amazingly wonderful hubby arranged for a sitter and took me out to a fancy restaurant. We had a fabulous gourmet meal. Seared scallops, duck breast, and a lovely glass of wine, just to give a hint. It's been such a fabulous birthday week: first a new camera, bowling with my kiddos, ice cream maker in the mail, date day with the hubby, and then dinner last night. It's been a wonderful, incredible week.

And to top it all off, I have definitely seen improvement in the patches. Although, I have been slacking on the plan these last few days. But, I haven't eaten any night shades! Maybe a tad to few many sweets and not enough veggies, but no night shades.

With that being said, here's the meal plans from the last two days:

Breakfast - spelt pancakes with butter, maple syrup, and ice cream(loving the new ice cream maker)!
Lunch - lamb burger on whole wheat bun with white cheddar cheese, blue corn tortilla chips, vanilla bean ice cream with a tad bit of banana pudding(we had a bbq with some friends today).
Dinner - leftover steak and a bit more ice cream(I've got to make sure all the ice cream gets eaten before it goes bad ;-)
Evening beverage - orange flavored kombucha.

Breakfast - over easy eggs and sausage.
Lunch - grilled chicken salad with feta, walnuts, apples, red onions and an apple vinaigrette dressing.
Dinner - seared scallops with garlic sauce and sea veggies, stout and molasses muffin bread,  pan fried duck breast, butternut squash purée, broccoli, honey roasted carrots, and sweet potato fries, with a glass of Riesling.
Dessert - homemade chocolate tart with pecan nut crust.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Psoriasis journey: days 14 & 15

I missed yet another day, but for good reason this time. Yesterday, I got an early birthday present in the mail, an ice cream maker!!! I spent the evening making some delicious vanilla bean ice cream. I have been trying to upload the pictures I took, but my computer skills seem to be lagging at nearly midnight.

I will share the recipe I used though.
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
900 ml cream (non-UHT or raw if you can find it)
500 ml whole milk (unhomogenized if you can find it, raw is even better)
1/2 cup ground sucanat or maple syrup (I used the sucanat plus a dash of the maple syrup)
3 free range egg yolks
1.5 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 teaspoon arrowroot/tapioca starch/cornstarch (optional to give ice cream a bit more thickness)
1 vanilla bean - scraped down

Mix all the ingredients and make ice cream according to machine directions. Boom! Scrummy, delicious vanilla bean ice cream!

And here are the menus for the last two days:

Breakfast - millet with butter and maple syrup
Snack - apple
Lunch - Cod and a soft boiled egg.
Dinner - broccoli soup with cheese and ham

Breakfast - spelt pancakes with butter, maple syrup, and ice cream(loving the new ice cream maker)!
Lunch - lamb burger on whole wheat bun with white cheddar cheese, blue corn tortilla chips, vanilla bean ice cream with a tad bit of banana pudding(we had a bbq with some friends today).
Dinner - leftover steak and a bit more ice cream(I've got to make sure all the ice cream gets eaten before it goes bad ;-)
Evening beverage - orange flavored kombucha.

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20

Psoriasis journey: day 13

I am a day behind yet again. It seems the only time I can be sure to write my posts on time is when I stay up to all hours of the night after everyone has fallen asleep. I shall be brief and just post the meal plan for yesterday: Breakfast - plain cheerios with milk and honey (I know this is not exactly an approved food, but it was easiest, and what the kids were eating.) Lunch - apple. Dinner - spelt pasts with a white cream sauce. Evening beverage - kombucha. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:3-4

Psoriasis journey: day 12

Today is the first day my psoriasis has actually been painful. There are a couple patches on my torso, one of which is about the size of a half dollar, and anytime fabric rubs up against them, there is instant pain. The largest patch has even started bleeding a bit. I have some lotion I make specifically for the kiddos' dry skin, and I have seen some improvement through applying it. The lotion is shea butter creamed with jojoba oil and a few drops of lavender and German chamomile essential oils. I am so thankful it has brought some relief. I am still waiting on the hubby to help take some more pictures to see the healing progress I have made if any. I definitely feel like the skin is healing, but it's hard to tell since I look at my skin every day. I want to write up a healing progress post with pictures very soon. I find making time to write such a post is the hard part. But soon, I promise. :-) Here is the menu for today: Breakfast - slippery elm bark tea and two eggs over easy and half a waffle. Snack - apple. Lunch - sweet potato mash. Dinner - spinach salad with olives, cucumbers, mushrooms, broccoli, pancetta, feta cheese, and a small piece of cod with a balsamic vinegar dressing. Evening beverage - kombucha tea. For the Lord has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:8

Psoriasis journey: days 10&11

The last few days have been busy, and I've gotten behind with my posts. This is a catch up post for the last two days. The spots on my torso and hips seem to be fading quite nicely. I'm am also noticing fading along my hairline. I took picture last week and want to take some more today to show my healing. I can definitely tell the skin cell growth is slowing down in certain patches, most noticeably at the hairline. Hubby got me a new camera for my birthday, so I'm hoping to figure out how to use it soon and start posting pictures. Yesterday was a tough day in avoiding food. Hubby had the day off, so we were out about and ended up eating lunch out. We went to a made to order sandwich shop who also serves fries. It was a struggle to not eat any, especially since they are one of my favorite foods. It was even harder to explain to Bug why mommy can't eat French fries anymore. I found the hardest part about ordering was finding something new to eat on the menu. My go to sandwich at his particular restaurant is a buffalo chicken wrap. So, I went with just plain chicken with provolone cheese, but then I didn't know what sauce to get. I think that is a very diffficult thing to figure when dining out. There is no way of knowing just what goes into sauces and condiments. I ended up eating mine plain which was a little bland, but worth not interrupting the healing process. Here's the menu breakdown for the last two days: Breakfast - spelt pancakes with butter and maple syrup Snack - apple Lunch - avocado, cucumbers, grapes, and white cheddar cheese(usually once a week we have a day where lunch is whatever I can find in the trudge. We call it mush mash lunch day). Snack - apple Dinner - pan fried fish with whole wheat bread crumb crust, black beans, spinach, and avocado all in a whole wheat tortilla with lime juice squeezed over. Evening beverage - chamomile tea and fresh squeezed apple juice with a lemon. Breakfast - spelt waffled with butter and maple syrup (special request by hubs for his day off). Lunch - grilled chicken, provolone cheese, lettuce, black olives, and pickle on a whole wheat tortilla. Dinner - yogurt and granola. Evening beverage - orange/lime flavored kombucha. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:6-7

Psoriasis journey: day 9

I'm getting to writing about day ten a bit late. It's going to be short and quick. On Monday, I hosted a lotion/scrub making workshop at my house. Last night I enjoyed the fruits of my labor. And I realized and remembered just how beneficial scrubs are to the skin, especially for a psoriasis sufferer.

I started off just using the scrub on my feet. It was comprised of adzuki beans, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, peppermint essential oil, geranium essential oil, and lavender essential oil. It is a very lovely scrub. As I was applying it to my feet, I thought why not do my legs as well. That led to me using it as a whole body scrub, and it was fabulous!

With the adzuki beans, it was a bit rough as an all over body scrub, but it gave me the idea to make a scrub designed for all over body use. My psoriasis generally doesn't have any issue with using soap as does some peoples(but I make my own soap as well and tailor it to my condition), but just using the scrub last night I could definitely tell a difference. The oils in the scrub work to moisturize and clean the skin as the beans slough off the old skin and exfoliate. I'm thinking of an oatmeal based scrub and a sugar based scrub to make later this week. I also want to add, I haven't had any itch since using the scrub. Thumbs up!

The thing I struggle most with about this nightshade free diet is adapting our favorite dishes. One reason I've been writing this blog is to keep track of what I'm eating, so I can make up a sort of monthly meal plan. Hopefully it will help others as it is helping me.

With that being said here is yesterdays meal breakdown:
Breakfast - slippery elm tea, over easy egg, slice of whole grain toast with butter
Lunch - leftover chicken with rice(I think there is something in the rice that has not been agreeing with me the last few days, a friend made it, so I'm not sure what all is in it)
Dinner - Mexican themed rice bowls: spinach, brown rice, black beans, mushrooms, ground lamb(seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cilantro, cumin), white cheddar cheese, and avocado, all drizzled with a cilantro, lime, olive oil dressing. I really missed the traditional kick from the chili powder and red pepper, but it was still a really good dish. And the kiddos devoured it. It will definitely be something to make again.
Evening - chamomile tea

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Psoriasis journey: day 8

Almost all of my posts this past week have been written around midnight or later, and after re-reading them, I can tell my writing capacity is diminished this time of night. I wanted very much to figure out how to get pictures onto here, but that has yet to happen. After all it is nearly half past midnight, and I just got done taking care of little Bug's bloody nose. One day soon, I will figure out how to get pictures from the ipad into my blog.

Today was lotion making day in our house. Some ladies came over and brought some wonderful food, and we made foot scrubs, hand creams, face moisturizers and more. I'm feeling a bit pampered although I didn't get to pamper my feet yet, so I'm a bit bummed. Perhaps tomorrow, as I want to pick up some nail polish remover for a pedicure.

I also made up a few things for my cousin who is expecting next month. Now, I need to finish the baby blanket I've been crocheting, so I can send everything off to her. After all, I am not sure how long it will take to mail from England to California.

I also started a second fermentation of my kombucha batch today.  I tried three different flavors of juice for the second ferment. We went shopping yesterday, and little Bug snuck a few extra bottles into the basket without dad realizing she wasn't supposed to. So, we have a white grape/pear flavor, and orange/lime flavor, and an apple/raspberry flavor. In a few days, I shall see how they taste.

I am using the kombucha in place of the evening tea for the psoriasis diet on some days. The diet calls for either saffron or chamomile in the evening, but after a bit of research I think the kombucha is a good substitute. It has a lot of health benefits including liver cleansing, and also inflammation reduction in cases of arthritis. Since I started drinking it a month or so ago, I noticed a huge reduction in my joint pain in the mornings. Initially, I cut out strawberry and citrus per the book, but it only made a very small difference. Drinking the kombucha, however, has made a huge difference. I was also suffering from plantar fasciitis, and the kombucha seemed to cure it as well. I am now mostly joint pain and inflammation free!

I am also quite happy to report, the spots on my forehead seem to be fading/healing. On the downside, I think a few more small ones have popped up on my knee and shoulder/back. And I don't know why, but they are always itchiest in the evening. I am thankful for olive oil and the relief it brings though. Else, I may just go crazy. Perhaps a pampering oatmeal bath is called for. Tomorrow evening is looking up more and more to be a pampering kind of evening.

Here is today's menu breakdown:
Breakfast - slippery elm bark tea, millet porridge with butter and maple syrup.
Lunch - yogurt with bananas and homemade granola (one day I will get around to posting a recipe for this).
Snack - Ugandan rice dish my lovely friend brought over.
Dinner - grilled chicken salad with cucumbers and a bit of ranch dressing (I am supposed to avoid dressings, but this one only had six or so ingredients and I could have made it at home it was so simple, plus I was out of lemons to make the olive oil/lemon juice dressing).

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. Psalms 66:18

Psoriasis journey: days 6&7

My day yesterday was spent building an awesome toy box/shelves for our playroom. I am tired of tripping over toys, and the kiddos just can't keep things picked up as there's no real organization system. It's not quite finished, but I'm hoping to finish it up this week and get it painted.

I am having issues getting pictures imported in here or else you would be looking at the toy shelves this moment instead of reading about the lack of pictures.

Here's the meal breakdown for the last couple days:
Breakfast - two eggs over easy, slice of bacon, slippery elm tea.
Lunch - leftover calzone with homemade spelt crust, olives, mozzarella, mushrooms and ricotta.
Dinner - spelt spaghetti with white wine garlic sauce and mushrooms.

Breakfast - homemade spelt buttermilk pancakes with butter and real maple syrup. slippery elm tea.
Snack - blueberries and grapes and white cheddar cheese cubes.
Lunch - skipped lunch today, as we got home late from church, and I wasn't too hungry from all he mid morning snacking.
Dinner - grilled chicken, zucchini, and corn on the cob.
Evening - chamomile tea.

I have been dealing with a lot of itch today. Not sure if it's because yesterday I skipped applying the olive oil, but I am really getting annoyed. I also had someone ask me what was wrong with my head today. It's the first time ever anyone has asked about my psoriasis. I think it's mostly because it is getting much worse and more noticeable. Looking forward to next week. Last time I started the diet I noticed healing after about a week and a half. Hoping it will be the same this time. I need some positive motivation to keep to the program.

Yesterday, I made some buffalo chicken dip for my hubby to take to a fantasy football draft. It's one of my all time favorite foods, and it smelled so good. I did taste a few times to make sure it was good, but I rinsed and spit each time. I love the dip, but I desperately want to be healed even more than food. Plus, if I stick with it now, down the road somewhere I will be able to enjoy my favorite foods again. Yay!

God is good, and His love endures forever.

Psoriasis journey: Day 4

Agghhh! Today the itch is worse than ever, and I have had several new spots erupt all over my torso, back and elbows. I was reading in the book about how with some people this happens within the first few weeks sometimes, and I was hoping I would avoid it. I am far from avoiding the "getting worse before it gets better" bit. The spots are tiny and everywhere and with them a terrible, horrible itch. I have never really suffered with the itching before, so this is quite new to me. I have new sympathy for my dad and sister who have struggled with this for so long.

My chamomile tea is brewing as I write this, and I have just finished applying some olive oil to my torso to help with the itch. It has been a tough day in psoriasis land today. I have never had it itch quite so bad. I should think tomorrow I will have to apply olive oil to my scalp has it has been quite bad today, and the flaking is horrendous.

I have noticed olive oil seems to help the healing process of the skin. I'd rather found out by accident when I was sick a few months back. I had been massaging garlic oil onto my face to help with a sinus infection and after a few days noted the psoriasis on my face and hairline began fading away. It wasn't until later on when I was reading healing psoriasis, I discovered the correlation between the two.

Diet wise, I feel today was very successful. I stayed away from the do not eat list, but only managed about a 50-50 alkaline acid ratio. Today's menu:
Breakfast: slippery elm tea, whole wheat French toast with butter and a bit of pure maple syrup.
No snack.
Lunch: Sautéed cabbage with brown rice and a soft cooked egg. (I have read on a few sites that soft cooked eggs are considered to be alkaline, so I try to always eat them with a runny yolk.)
Afternoon snack: one apple
Dinner: small cod fish fillet with whole wheat bread crumb crust, half piece of toast, and a soft cooked egg.
Evening beverage: chamomile and mint tea. (I am out of my plain chamomile and my batch of kombucha hasn't finished fermenting yet.)
I should add most days I drink about one liter of lemon water, consumed throughout the day.

Praying for an itchless night sleep to all you out there with psoriasis, and may the Lord bless you.

Psoriasis journey: day 5

Today is Friday, and it was a trying day to stick to the diet. We ate lunch with the hubby for a work function; burger's and fries was the meal with ice cream and cookies for dessert. Pepperidge farm cookies and Breyers ice cream no less. Then Friday night is usually pizza night in our house. And well, we all love pizza. It was a tough day to stay the course, but with some forethought and planning, I succeeded. I started off the day with a new food - millet. The little ones had their fav banana oatmeal for breakfast, so to eat kind of the same thing I made a millet porridge. I was quite surprised at how tasty it was. The texture and consistency is similar to grits, and it cooked up in the same amount of time as the oatmeal. The best part is millet is an alkaline food! Here is a quick recipe for how I made it. 1/4 cup millet 1/2 tbsp kerrygold butter (you can sub an oil of choice for the butter) 3/4 cup waterG Grind the millet in a coffee grinder or food processor until most of the grains are ground up. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add millet to butter and cook about 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook about 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally. When its finished cooking, it will have the consistency of grits. Top with your choice of fruit or nuts or other favorite toppings. Today I went with a smidge of butter and a touch of maple syrup. Quite scrummy indeed. And, it was very filling. On a side note, millet about triples in size when cooked. I made 1/2 cup, and it was way too much for a single serving. Here is the menu plan for the whole day: Breakfast - slippery elm bark tea, millet porridge with butter and maple syrup. Morning snack - apple Lunch - cucumber slices and a slice of cheese on toast. Afternoon snack - a bit of leftover porridge (as I cooked up way too much) Dinner - homemade spelt crust calzone , topped with mushrooms, olives, roast chicken, mozzarella and ricotta cheese and a white garlic sauce for dipping. Not as treaty as the quadruple neat calzone my hubby had, but it was still delicious. Evening beverage - chamomile tea. I am quite happy with my meal choices today. I think I averaged close to 70-30 alkaline food ratio which makes me one happy camper. Keeping to the ratio is the hardest part about this diet for me. On another positive note the olive oil worked wonders last night in keeping the itch down and today was much better as well. No constant scratching makes any day better. Cheers to trying a new food today and may the Lord richly bless you.

Psoriasis journey: Day 3

It is the end of day three, and I am tired of apples. And, I am tired of raw food, although I will be continuing that for the next few months to some degree, so I will have to get used to it.

I am at the end of the three day cleanse and now move onto the next phase. The main part of this phase is eating an 80-20 alkaline-acid diet. This is the part I struggle with. It entails a diet comprised of eighty percent alkaline forming foods and twenty percent acidic forming foods. If you are wondering what that means, so was I. I had to do some research and what I found is most fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, and all meats produce an acidic state in the body when eaten. All vegetables, a few seeds and nuts and a couple fruits produce an alkaline state in the body when eaten. And, dairy is generally accepted to be neutral.

On top of this, there is the do not eat list. No peppers (except black), no tomatoes, no potatoes, no eggplant, and no paprika. There just went all of my Mexican inspired recipes, eliminated completely from my recipe book. And of course my all time favorote food - the potato, means no chips, no fries, no baked, roasted or grilled potatoes. Boom! Nearly three quarters of my side dish recipes eliminated.

Could it get harder? Yes. Yes, it can. Little to no caffeine with a strong emphasis on no. Tea is my go to drink. I live in England where a cuppa tea is a must have. Thankfully there is decaffeinated, but it's just not as good. And true to my American roots, I love a nice glass of iced tea in the summer, but I can't find any caffeine free tea for making it.

So here I am, having to completely adjust my cooking and eating habits, just to get rid of this dreadful psoriasis. I know it will be beneficial for my health and the health of my family to follow this diet. The hard part is to change. I have been cooking the same meals for years, and now I have to change it up and get my family to go along with it. I am refusing to cook separate meals, so everyone will have to eat the same thing, and I can already foresee this being hard for my hubby and kiddos. My hope is in God for the will power and support to go on. After all, I have made it three days so far, only one hundred and eighty more to go, give or take a few.  

Almost forgot here is today's menu breakdown:
Breakfast - slippery elm bark tea, apple No snack as we woke up a bit late and had a late breakfast. Lunch - sauteed cabbage, carrots, zucchini and a couple cubes of cheese.
Afternoon snack - banana and some cucumber slices.
Dinner - fresh salad of spinach, rocket, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, black olives, mushrooms, and broccoli with a lemon juice-olive oil dressing.
Evening beverage - chamomile tea.

Thanks for stopping by and may God bless your day.

Psoriasis journey: Day 2

Today is the second day of my journey to heal my psoriasis. I am following the book healing psoriasis: the natural alternative by Dr. John A. Pagano. On day two I am halfway through the cleanse. This is my second time trying to follow through this book. The first time I gave in to food and went back to French fries and salsa - two foods on the do not eat list, but two of my ultimate favorite foods. This time I am committed to following through until I am completely healed from the inside out. Since this is my second time, I am following my own sort of cleanse which entails mostly raw foods. The first time I only ate fruits during the three day cleanse, and it was incredibly hard. I am feeling free to modify the cleanse because I don't have any problems eliminating which is the main reason for the cleanse in the first place. Here's a rundown of my meals today: Breakfast - slippery elm bark tea, followed by an apple and some mango-apple juice. Midmorning snack - one apple Lunch - banana and plain yogurt (technically I suppose yogurt isn't raw, but it does contain live cultures, and I have to little ones who ate yogurt and granola) Afternoon snack - one apple Dinner - avocado, mashed sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon, and corn on the cob (definitely not raw, but so yummy) Having two little ones and a hubby who loves meat, I find it really hard to not eat the same thing they are. This means I usually end up compromising on dinner. Not a good excuse, but it is just what happens. I have planned out meals for tomorrow that don't really appeal to me, so as not to be tempted to eat the same. I am looking forward to the cleanse ending tomorrow. Although, the next phase of the diet changes are going to be tough too. I am constantly having to remind myself of the end goal - freedom from psoriasis. I am praying constantly for God to help me persevere through to the end. Thanks for reading and may the Lord bless your day.

My journey to healing psoriasis

For most of my life, I have been free from psoriasis, while my sister has suffered from it since childhood and my dad since about the time I was born. While my sister has tried numerous mo cure her psoriasis, she still suffers as does my dad. In the past, I tried the steroid creams and shampoos, but I never actually felt like they were curing my psoriasis because it would always come back and most often times be worse. Then recently a friend from church gave me a book called healing psoriasis: the natural alternative by Dr. John A. Pagano. A bit skeptical about the book, I decided to try part of the suggested protocol. Within a few weeks I noticed some of the spots on my torso and legs were fading, and the skin beneath them was healing. There was no scarring either. In the past anytime the psoriasis spots would fade there was almost always scarring left behind. This time was different though. After three weeks, I couldn't even tell where the spots had been. I still had quite a few patches left, especially on my scalp, but I felt like now I had control over the healing of my body from this disease. For a month i followed the protocol outlined in the book all the while seeing a noticeable improvement. Then, I stopped. It had been really hard following the diet and cutting out two of my favorite foods - potatoes and tomatoes, and we were going on vacation. And I missed French fries. It has now been two months since I strayed from the plan, and I am ready to begin again. My scalp is completely covered in psoriasis, and it is quite difficult to deal with. I also have several patches on my torso as well as a few on my leg. I am committting myself to follow this book until I am free from psoriasis completely. I am writing this blog as a form of accountability and to share my success with other psoriasis sufferers, as I have no doubt I will be healed completely by following this book and the plan it outlines. If you are reading this and suffer from psoriasis, I encourage you to take control of your body and heal yourself. Follow along with me on this journey and see what you can accomplish in ridding yourself of psoriasis forever. Thanks for reading and may the Lord bless your day.