by Mary Duggan

THANK GOD FOR PSORIASIS

I can’t go anywhere without encountering people suffering with psoriasis; oftentimes the people are small children. Folks with psoriasis are always wondering if I have anything to help them – a bath soak, a skin cream, or a special soap. I know that our soaps and soaks can provide temporary relief; and I have sourced some wonderful oils that I am working up into a healing soak for psoriasis sufferers, but none of that will cure psoriasis. What I do have to offer are a few suggestions:

• Admit that what you are doing for your psoriasis is not working.
• Admit that the suggestions of your well-meaning physicians have done little to relieve your suffering.
• Demand better than creams that thin the skin, drugs that cause bone spurs or damage the liver, or light treatments that increase the likelihood of skin cancer.
• Don’t play the genetics victim role. Make a decision to be smarter and more powerful than the stroke of bad luck genetics that predisposed you to psoriasis.
• Consider the possibility that psoriasis is the best thing that has ever happened to you.
• Don’t wait for the crippling pain of psoriatic arthritis before you listen to your skin.

 

LISTEN TO YOUR SKIN?

Yep, if you work it right, PSORIASIS COULD BE THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPENED TO YOU. Because psoriasis is so unsightly and draws so much attention to it that it demands your attention. As the largest organ in the body, the skin is a powerful communicator about hidden troubles within. How many folks walk around with ticking time bombs in the form of heart disease, aneurysms, and cancerous tumors that they are totally unaware of. Isn’t it better to be given a warning so that you can do something about your health before catastrophe strikes? That’s what the over-heated, over-producing psoriatic condition is trying to tell you: there is trouble within. And a chorus of other bodily functions is joining the psoriatic choir in a desperate attempt to get you to listen and change; yep, the belching, burping, farting, bloated, constipated, gassy, putrefied GASTRO INTESTINAL CHORALE wants to be heard. You would be well served to listen.

 

WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?

Okay, now this part is so easy I hate to even say it. If you are willing to eat differently, the psoriasis alarm will stop sounding. As food no longer accumulates and putrefies in the gut, the skin will clear.  As fiber moves food more quickly out of your GI tract, your body will also shed old skin cells more rapidly and the layering of immature cells will clear. By choosing plant proteins instead of meat, you will no longer overwhelm your body’s ability to process protein and the skin will heal. If you can make the transition to accepting psoriasis as a symptom, not a syndrome, you can take control of your digestion, your skin and your future.

 

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BECOME A VEGAN

While you most certainly want to consider doing that, don’t let the inability or unwillingness to go vegan deter you from healing your gut. Start slowly: keeping your meat away from your starch is a great beginning. That’s right, have a salad with your steak, not a potato. Better still, have a really big salad that is “flavored” so to speak with strips of steak or poultry. It’s flipping the entrée-condiment paradigm that will make all the difference. Yep, a little piece of meat paired with a big salad, and not the other way around. Or better yet, choose cold-water fish and steer clear of the arachidonic acid (AA) produced by red meat and dairy. Yep, that means meat and cheese, though upon first reading I know it sounds like a spider thing might be involved. AA is the natural substance that promotes inflammatory response. You got it – the red swollen lesions. If you can’t give up meat and dairy, and you don’t enjoy fish, then for sure add in fish oil, flaxseed oil, or primrose oil

 

FOCUS ON THE ADD IN NOT THE LEAVE OUT

Every morning of your life, make a green smoothie, and drink all 32 ounces of it. Victoria Boutenko is the grand dame of this movement and her book Green for Life will give you all the inspiration, information and recipes you need to be a real success. The formula is so simple: pure water in a blender with a combination of 60% fruit and 40% dark green leafs. Every day vary what greens you eat. And do whatever you have to do to make it delicious – give it a squirt of agave nectar if you want. Use super sweet fruits like bananas and even a little bit of green in the beginning while your body makes the switch to a chlorophyll rich life. Start with simple greens like spinach and work your way up to kale and the rest of the gang.

 

AND THAT GOES FOR GLUTENS TOO

I know you want to strangle me at this point. But you really need to seriously consider going gluten-free too. Gluten sensitivity likes to make its presence known with skin and bowel eruptions. Folks, our bodies were never meant to have everything made with wheat. The Universe is designed in a diverse and abundant fashion. Say yes to the variety of grains on the planet and let your body rest from its wheat exhaustion. Once you have eaten gluten-free crackers, breads, pizza crusts and more, you will wonder how you ever survived with just the wheat variety. Be sure to check out my upcoming fiesta salad with quinoa and my gluten-free peach and macadamia nut pizza videos and you will shed any feelings about being persecuted once and for all. I promise.

 

LOOK TO THE SOURCE, NOT THE SYMPTOM

• Watch your craving of sweets go out the window.
• Watch your whole family get on the gluten-free bandwagon with you.
• Watch your energy improve so much that you will actually be able to exercise for your health.
• Watch your interest in cooked foods diminish on a daily basis.
• Watch as you begin to crave a second green smoothie in the evening so that you sleep better.
• Watch as members of your family, your friends and your colleagues begin to notice changes in you and even join you in drinking green smoothies.
• Watch your weight drop and your aches and pains diminish or disappear altogether.
• Watch your bloated, gassy, constipated GI track start to perform as it is intended.
• Oh yeah and watch your skin heal.

 

SOMETIMES THE BEST SOLUTION IS THE SIMPLEST

I love how smart our bodies are. I love being smart about our bodies. I think genius is the ability to take complexity and make it simple. Our gut is always asking us to keep it simple. Simpler, smaller, more elemental breaks in the day for refueling our bodies. I would encourage anyone with a skin condition like psoriasis (or acne, or exczema, or rosacea) to look first to his or her gut. Your brain will clear. Your skin will clear. It’s genius.

 

THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES …

Begins with a single sip. Start slowly, but start. As your gut clears, your brain will clear and you will likely find yourself drawn (if you have not done so already) to sensible health initiatives like chiropractic adjustments, living foods, probiotics, colonics, digestive enzymes, far infrared saunas and more. The sky is the limit. And with a healthy gut you will have the intuitive well being to know exactly what’s best for you. So thank God for your psoriasis and have the guts to listen to what it’s telling you and your gut about your dietary choices and the consequences.

 

SHOW NOT TELL

I am a firm believer that you can’t just tell people what to do. You have to show them. You have to inspire them. And you have to join them on the journey. Yep, that means no isolating the members of your family who have psoriasis. Join them on a phenomenal new diet that will make all of you look and feel like a million bucks. Stay tuned as we add video to our blog with fast, affordable, and delicious recipes that help us to advance our raw, gluten-free lifestyle – our journey of progress not perfection. Look for future posts on how puny psoriasis becomes in the face of raw foods.

 

About the author:
Mary Duggan is Co-Founder and President of the Duggan Sisters.
The Duggan Sisters cracked the code and created a natural deodorant that actually works: lifestinks.  We hope you will spend a few minutes exploring duggansisters.com to experience their spirited approach to wellness through their natural products and healing stories.

 

 

Tags: Gluten-free living, Green Smoothies, Victoria Boutenko

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2011 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Eating with the Sisters, Gluten-free living, Life at the Rose Cottage, Raw & Living Foods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.