Naturopathic Approach to Healing Eczcema

If you suffer from eczema you know that the itching, redness, peeling, cracking and even blistering can range from annoying to debilitating. It can be very hard to pinpoint what the trigger is especially as the severity and location of the rash can change quickly. 

What is most frequently prescribed for eczema, or most rashes for that matter, is topical cortisone cream. While this can be very helpful in the short term to decrease severity of symptoms and therefore sometimes your sanity (trust me I’ve been there!), longterm use of cortisone cream can thin your skin and simply suppresses the rash instead of targeting the cause. For those with eczema on their face, cortisone cream is still prescribed, although with a disclaimer to not use too much or longterm. However, what else are you supposed to use if the rash does not go away? 

This is where Naturopathic Medicine can step in. By treating the root cause of eczema, the use of cortisone cream becomes minimal or not even necessary and your skin can look and feel as good as new! The root is typically due to poor gut health and immune function so that is what I target first for my patients. 

6 Steps to Healing Eczema

1. Determine any pattern:

Patterns are helpful to determine to better identify the cause. Take note if your skin is worse in the heat or cold. Do you notice a correlation between your hormones and skin, eg. does it flare just before your period or improve during pregnancy? 

2. Look at your diet:

The most common cause of eczema I see in my practice is due to a food sensitivity damaging the gut. Food sensitivities can be determined through an elimination diet or a simple blood prick test. The most common food trigger I see related to skin issues is dairy. You may not need to eliminate all dairy longterm, however I suggest avoiding all in your diet for 4 weeks and take not of any skin improvements. Other common food triggers are wheat, eggs, soy and corn. 

3. Heal the gut:

From experience, simply eliminating a food may not do the trick completely, especially if too much damage has been done to the gut. That is why I always pair an elimination diet with gut healing support. With continued stressors, a molecule called zonulin is released which weakens the tight junctions holding the intestinal cells together, allowing more permeability. It is therefore important to knit those cells back together with amino acids found in collagen or from glutamine. Some of the most effective gut healing supplements are probiotics, glutamine or collagen powder and omega 3 oil. Dosing depends on severity of the symptoms.

4. Control the immune function:

When the gut is more permeable, the immune system then reacts to foreign substances to leak through into the blood stream. It is therefore important to support and control the immune system to decrease inflammation. Probiotics, omega 3 fish oil and D3 are all helpful nutrients for this purpose. 

5. Heal the skin:

As we work on healing the gut, it is helpful to calm down the inflammation on the skin directly, depending on the severity of the symptoms. My go-to cream for this purpose contains a variety of soothing and healing herbs and nutrients including calendula, aloe vera and vitamin E.

6 . Address stress: 

Last but not least, address your stress levels! High cortisol exacerbates inflammation both in the digestive tract and throughout the body. Consider adrenal or stress support supplements, create a mindfulness practice for yourself and get some sleep, eight hours every night!

If you struggle with eczema try out these tips or don't hesitate to reach out to discuss proper diet changes, supplements and dosing for you. 

In health & happiness, 

Dr. Karen

My Secrets to Staying Healthy While Traveling

Considering I am on vacation at the moment (just finished flying down a snowy mountain…shoop shoop) I wanted to share a few things I do to stay healthy when I am on vacation. 

I’ve learned that it is important to not stray too far away from your usual routine, mostly in terms of food and sleep, to ensure you feel your best while getting some much needed R&R. With the abundance of colds and flus flying around at the moment it is even more important to take care of yourself. When your life is filled with commitments that keep you very busy and stressed, our cortisol is typically higher. A high cortisol level stimulates immune cells to ward off inflammation and infection. When we finally get to relax our cortisol decreases, our immune system is down regulated giving way to potential colds and flus. This is an actual phenomenon! This is why people often tend to get sick when they are on vacation. So without further ado here is what I try to stick to to stay healthy:

Lemon water in the morning:

• If this means bringing a lemon with me on the plane I will do it. Lemons are filled with vitamin C, helps with detoxification and helps keep those pipes moving. If you suffer from constipation while travelling this could give you that little push. I don’t drink coffee so when my fellow travellers are drinking their cup of joe I don’t feel like I am missing out. 

Immune Tea:

• Have you ever brought your own tea on the plane with you? Flight attendants are always intrigued when my good friend, and fellow ND, and I pull out our own tea and snacks on a flight. Echinacea tea by Traditional Medicinals or a David’s tea immune blend are great options during the cold and flu season. 

Healthy Snacks:

• My family knows that while traveling it is important to keep me fed to keep my energy and mood up. I usually always have healthy granola bars or nuts with me (homemade trail mix on the ski hill? Yes please!). If I am staying somewhere with friends, making a batch of hummus or energy bites always helps. This curbs the craving to grab Timbits, a sugary latte or chips. 

Greens:

• This is something I definitely try not to stray from. When I am at home my goal is always to have at least one meal, hopefully two, with greens. Greens provide so much healthy nutrients and help with detoxification. When I’m traveling I let this slide to one meal a day if more difficult. If eating out, I grab a big salad for lunch, grab a green juice or have salad as a side for dinner. When staying at someones place, this may be a green smoothie for the group, or salad with dinner. 

Supplements:

That's me in the pink pants :) 

• This will vary for everyone but I bring the essentials with me to keep energy up, bowels healthy, and immune system supported. I sometimes think I am going to jinx myself if I bring my Cold-Pro supplement, but will wish I have it in case anyone including me gets sick. Sproos collagen even has little daily packs for gut health. 

Get Moving:

• I want to keep my blood and lymph moving during vacation and my muscle strong. I try to search out some activity to do, whether skiing, playing tennis, or simply walking and stretching. Don’t be surprised if you finding me stretching in the airport or on the plane by the bathroom. 😃 

There you have it, my tips to stay healthy while on vacation. What are yours?

In health & happiness, 

Dr. Karen

CTV Morning Live! Segment - Old Remedies that Really Work

Yesterday I spent some time at CTV Morning Live! We talked about those grandmother remedies we hear about that really work. These remedies have medical properties that bring validity to their claims. Check out the clip below! 

Click on the photo to see the segment.

Benefits of Eating Seasonally

With the colours changing on the trees, it is time to take advantage of those last good trips to the famers market and stock up on delicious, nutritious fall foods. There are several reasons to eat foods that are abundant at this time of year. We want to eat a seasonal and varied plant-rich diet to support our body and its natural processes. Michael Pollen says “eat foods, mostly plants, not too much.” I would add (among many things) to eat seasonal foods, mostly plants, not too much because of their benefits. 

It is so easy to forget about seasonal eating with modern day food processing and worldwide distribution. The lines have gotten blurred as to what foods are appropriate when, creating a monotone diet that was not possible in the past. Here are a few reasons why eating seasonally is important:

Most flavour and nutritional value:

Foods travelling less km will lose less nutrients and therefore provide greater freshness, flavour and health benefits. Plants get their nourishment from the sun and soil so when that changes so do their nutrients. Have you ever eaten a spaghetti squash in the spring and realized it is much harder to shred and tastes bland? Or a peach in the winter that tastes nothing like the fresh ripe juicy peach from the summer? This is exactly what I am talking about. Nutritional changes in food have been studied often for example a Japan study found 3 times more vitamin C in spinach harvested in the summer versus winter. 

Eating seasonally supports our health-promoting microbiome:

What is your microbiome you ask? It is the abundance of good bacteria that resides in our digestive system (and all over actually) that help your overall health including immune health, digestive health, skin health, blood sugar balance, weight management and so much more! Our gut bacteria is ever changing for the good and eating seasonally contributes to this. Fall foods contain things like resistant starch (in foods such as onions, leeks, garlic) which feed the good bacteria, as well as polyphenols providing antioxidant support. A highly processed diet with sugar, unhealthy fats and carbs can negatively shift the microbiome within 24 hours! Luckily with can remain calm in knowing it can shift back within that time frame by eating a plant-rich healthy diet. So you can forgive yourself for indulging over the weekend. One idea is that in the fall we want to limit fruit that we indulged in in the summer as too much fructose-rich fruit and a more sedentary life may cause a yeast overgrowth leading to feeling bloated, moody and with skin changes. 

Lower prices:

Due to an abundance of produce that is easier to grow prices usually drop.

Decrease carbon footprint: 

I am all for outsourcing foods such as avocado, superfoods such as matcha or acai berries, and cold pressed coconut and olive oils but we should take advantage of what we have close to us to reduce our food mileage. 

Community: 

Finally there are many studies on the benefits of building a community around you to live longer and feel happier and what better way to do that than around food! Take advantage of those friendly faces at the farmers market stalls or CSA pickups while getting your seasonal foods, but why not build a community around cooking those foods as well. It could be with family on the weekend prepping meals for the week, or with friends one evening during the week to break up the mundane work work. Get creative :)

Check out a list of seasonal foods below. These foods are rich in phytonutrients and fibre, along with delicious resistant-starch options:

• Acorn Squash
• Artichokes
• Arugula
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Brussel Sprouts
• Butternut Squash
• Celeriac
• Delicata Squash
• Escarole
• Garlic
• Leeks
• Onions
• Pumpkins
• Radishes
• Rutabega
• Spaghetti Squash
• Sweet Potatoes
• Sunchokes/Jerusalem Artichokes
• Turnips

Seasons should form the natural backdrop for eating and in Canada we have wonderful seasons to take advantage of for our overall health. 

In heath & happiness, 

Dr. Karen