How diet transformed chronic psoriasis to clear skin
by Sue Kira, Naturopath & Clinical Nutritionist
Client name and identifying information changed
When Henry came to me, most of his body was covered in psoriasis. He said it was easier to tell me where he didn’t have psoriasis rather than where he did. Strangely he had no psoriasis where his underpants were or on his feet, but pretty much everywhere else was covered with thick scaly red patches.
Henry is a cane truck driver. Day in and day out, he picked up sugar cane from the fields, drove to the cane mill and tipped the cane into the collection areas. He came home covered in cane dust every day and was used to this as part of his daily life. Because the covered areas were free of psoriasis, I realised that the dust must have been getting to all other parts of his body which caused the irritation.
I asked Henry if he needed to be outside of the truck when he was loading and unloading; he said that he didn’t need to but usually did so for a break. I recommended that instead, to wind down his window, say a quick hello to his fellow workers, then wind the window up and stay in his air-conditioned cabin and then drive to a nearby rest area to get out of the truck for a quick break before proceeding to the cane mill.
As an early starter, Henry didn’t usually eat breakfast before he left home and chose to stop at the ‘truckies’ restaurant at the petrol station when he fuelled up the truck and ate a bacon and egg roll for breakfast and a toasted ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. He would often unwind with a few beers at the end of the day and ate dinner at home with his wife, which was usually some meat and vegetables.
Henry’s diet was pro-inflammatory and was not helping him. I’ve found that many people with psoriasis cannot digest grains very well and also have issues with dairy products and sugar.
I recommended a detox diet for a while by cutting out all grains, dairy, sugar, alcohol and additives/chemicals (including chemicals in personal care products). He possibly had ‘leaky gut’ but couldn’t afford to be tested, so we just went with the diet to see how he would respond.
To make these changes happen, he asked his wife to cook extra meat with dinner so there were leftovers he could have with salad for lunch and he also took a thermos of soup (bone broth with veggies) to drink. For breakfast, he had a blended vegetable, coconut water and chai seed smoothie. It all meant a little more preparation, but he was willing to do what it took to make his skin clear again.
I must admit that Henry was a ‘star pupil’ with compliance.
His skin responded to these changes far quicker than I had ever seen in someone whose condition was so bad. What we did was obviously right for him, as his skin was completely clear and rash free after only two months on the diet. The only supplement he took was probiotics due to his restricted budget.