By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben
Well, based on the large number of e-mails I’ve received in the past few weeks, it seems like lots of people are dealing with psoriasis. So in the interest of helping as many people as I can without having to make a thousand phone calls, I thought I’d dedicate this post to sure-fire nutritional stratagies for eliminating this troubling skin condition. Before I give you some ideas however, I want to make two points very clear: #1 psoriasis is completely treatable once the causes are addressed and #2 psoriasis is only the outer the manifestation of an internal biochemical issue that MUST be addressed to prevent inevitable degenerative systemic disease that can cause much more than cosmetic distress. In other words, psoriasis sufferers are at higher risk for cancer, heart disease, arthritis and many other degenerative health challenges that can ultimately decrease quality of life and shorten life span.
So what do you do? First of all, it must be recognized that psoriasis is NOT a skin disease. Psoriasis is an immune disease that appears on the skin and it usually has a digestive component. So, first of all, immune conditions mandate removal of immune triggers. These are usually digestive and involve grains, dairy, soy, beef/pork/chicken, eggs and legumes (peanuts and beans). Patients must be aware of any digestive discomfort, (even something as mild as heartburn) and eliminate triggers.
Then digestive support supplements must be incorporated. These include probiotics also known as “good bacteria” (Youngevity FLORA FX, or NIGHTLY ESSENCE) and digestive enzymes (Youngevity ULTIMATE ENZYME which contains bile salts in addition to enzymes). Other important nutritional supplements include Essential Fatty Acids (Youngevity ULTIMATE EFA) Vitamins A and D and C and Zinc (Youngevity ULTIMATE MULTI and in my personal favorite Youngevity product BEYOND TANGY TANGERINE). Topical application of Zinc and Vitamin C can provide some relief and may accelerate the healing process. Lastly, make sure you AND your plaques are getting out in the sun.