It is suggested that the right eczema diet can prevent flare-ups and reduce or even eliminate symptoms. Most patients will experience a reaction to a trigger food within two hours of consuming it, others will not see symptoms for up to 24 hours. Since everyone is different, the list of unfavorable foods will vary from individual to individual. What this means is that you may have to deal with quite a bit of flare-ups during your trial and error phase to come up with your list of foods to avoid.
Determine Your Trigger Foods
The most common foods that cause eczema rashes are dairy, berries, eggs, wheat, gluten, nuts, citrus, soy, tomatoes, fish, and chocolate. The best way to determine which foods are causing your eczema is to help yourself to a small serving of one of these foods each day, allowing at least 24 hours for a fair evaluation before trying a different one. Any food that triggers a rash should be on your list of foods not to eat.
Popular Diets
• wheat free diet – For some, a wheat-free diet is all that is needed to prevent eczema. This includes refined wheat, whole wheat, wheat bran, semolina, couscous, durum wheat, stone ground, bulgar, einkorn, matzah, kamut, triticale, and seitan. However, you can still enjoy foods that contain amaranth, almond flour, brown or white rice, arrowroot, corn, tapioca, coconut flour, flaxseed, maize, quinoa, rye, and barley.
• gluten free diet – There is a misconception that wheat-free and gluten-free are the same, but they are not. Gluten is actually a plant protein. So while the food list is similar, gluten-free foods are a bit stricter. For example, a person following this diet for the treatment of eczema could eat the safe foods from the list above, with the exception of rye and barley because they are derived from plants. You can safely eat frozen or canned vegetables as long as no gluten has been added as a preservative or thickener.
• vegetarian diet – As long as you don’t have allergies to wheat or gluten, a vegan diet has become a popular option for eczema. This eliminates a large portion of trigger foods like dairy, eggs, fish, and meat. Vegan diets are also recommended for current cancer patients, as well as to help prevent cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and high cholesterol.
It is important to understand that a specific diet may not be the best option for you. While wheat may be the culprit, there is still a chance that other foods can cause rashes as well. It is always recommended when trying new foods, not to overindulge until you know how your body will react.
Don’t get discouraged if there are foods you love on your list that you can’t eat. Today, there are many substitutes available to fit any diet, so you can take this opportunity to expand your daily diet and find new things to love!