Time to heal

I went to see a naturopath physician today, because I'm tired of having skin and digestive problems. She was great, spent over an hour with her, talking about diet, symptoms, what I've tried. She said that in most of the cases of people who are having skin problems, it is a sign of something in their body not working properly. This is what I've believed all along....my skin isn't necessarily the problem, my skin is a symptom of what is going on -- most likely digestive. She also said that being on the skin medicine I'm on suppresses the skin irritation, but doesn't cure it -- it just makes the irritation go back inside, and that I become dependent on the skin medication, and as soon as I stop using it, my skin problems flare back up (yup! ding ding ding!)

She believes my digestive tract is irritated and inflamed and I'm not digesting properly. She has me taking high doses of acidophillus (I had started taking it and noticed my symptoms were a lot better with it), fish oil twice a day, and a herbal supplement three times per day that helps with inflammation and digestion, and helps to rebuild the lining in my digestive tract.

And then there's the diet.

For the next six weeks, starting Saturday, I will be on the anti-inflammatory diet to give my body a chance to reset. I am not allowed ANY: tomatoes, potatoes, any wheat products, tofu (I can have some in limited amounts), citrus fruit, NO sugar, nutra-sweet or artificial sweeteners of any kind, NO dairy, NO caffeine at all, no corn products, no hydrogenated oils, no processed foods, no fried foods, no peanuts or peanut butters.

Basically, lots of fruit and veggies. Beans. Rice. Nuts other than peanuts. After doing this diet for six weeks, I will begin to reintroduce food back into my diet -- one food at a time, no more than one food at a time for three days.

The physician I saw also wants me to get tested for celiac disease, but she said that can wait until after the six weeks, because I will be limiting gluten a lot anyway by not eating wheat.

It is fairly restrictive but I am really looking forward to this. First, it is incredibly healthy. It reminds me of Phase One of South Beach, and I felt great on that. And second, I would rather take six weeks and get my body back to healthy then spend more time with itchy, irritated skin and having all kinds of digestive problems. Both my skin and my digestive problems have been happening more frequently, and I'm sick of it.

I'll update my blog regularly with how I'm doing on this. Any support you can give me, especially during the first week when I will likely have some caffeine and sugar withdrawal, I'd appreciate!