Did you change your diet? How long before it had effect?

[Grumpy]

Hi, I know there are many people on this forum who have had varying degrees of success in improving their psoriasis through changes to their diet, either through eliminating certain foods or increasing their consumption of others, or through a combination of both.

I have recently made a significant number of changes to my (perhaps slightly unhealthy) diet - inspired partly by some of the posts here - and I'd be interested to hear from others who have previously made such changes how long it took for you to see any effect on your psoriasis? Are we talking days, weeks, or months before there were any improvements? I've only been on the new diet for a week and a half.

I'm certainly not fooling myself into thinking that diet alone will completely clear my psoriasis - I have a severe case and am due to start on Stelara soon - but I do think that an improved diet might at least help to alleviate the symptoms, and if nothing else, then at least I'll be healthier overall!

I have cut out dairy, cut out gluten (only in the last few days), cut down significantly on salt and sugar, cut out processed foods almost completely, significantly increased amount of fruits and veg (especially green veg), increased amounts of oily fish, reduced amounts of red meats. Also, trying to go free range / organic wherever I can.

In addition, I am taking a cod liver oil supplement, a Vitamin D3 supplement, and a probiotic.

Thanks! 

[LittlePinkPuss]

Well I would love to help you, I really would. That is why I joined this forum.

But I dare not say too much, in case someone feels I am shoving my ideas down their throat or spoon feeding them or boring them or whatever. Blah blah blah.

All I can say is give it time and have patience. It took me six months of diet and then another three months of diet and juicing.

But had I started the diet at the height of my very bad P coverage, I think it would have taken a year. I will never know now, because I know my P will never be that bad again, so I can't test it.

Then again some people clear in a matter of months. Some don't fully clear but do improve: 90% clear is better than 90% coverage in anyones eyes.

I read of someone clearing in 8 weeks after doing a juice fast. Given 7 days is pretty much my limit for a juice fast (and 2 days for a water fast) I doubt I could ever do 8 weeks myself.  You can't fast if you are on medication anyway, so fasting is not relevant to you with the  Stelara.

It also depends on a lot of other factors (i.e.) work stress levels, home life, emotions, chemicals in skincare, etc... diet is only one factor of a bigger picture.

You may get worse before you get better, or you may have a slow steady clearance over several months. You may (as in dieting) hit a platitude for a while and if you do, you may need to fine tweak.

Try to be strict in the first 3 - 6 months, as constant yo-yoing between healthy food and unhealthy food is very detrimental. And you may actually undo all the good work you have done.

Remember things have to work on a cellular level, before the results will show up on your skin. That is why patience is required.

No doubt I have said too much already, so that is all I will say.

Good luck with it all.

Maybe send a PM to Lazza, as he one of the most helpful and knowledgeable people on this forum.

[Lazza]

Grumpy, when I started on my diet it took about six weeks before I was convinced something good was happening.  But during this time I was still eating a slight amount of dairy; I later confirmed that I am extremely sensitive to dairy.  And so if I really went 100% dairy free from day one I believe I would have seen results in half the time (3 weeks).

Best of luck to you!


_Lazza

[Spotted Girl]

Thats interesting LitlePinkPuss and thanks for your reply, I had been wanting to ask the very same question as Grumpy.

[Grumpy]

Thanks for your replies LittlePinkPuss and Lazza!  Much appreciated.

LittlePinkPuss, the time frames you gave were, I assume, for the time it took for the total improvement, which is useful to know. However, what I wanted to know was how long it took before you started seeng the very first signs of improvement - like Lazza says, when you began to be convinced that there was an improvement and that something was indeed happening. Do you remember how long it was?

[Charlotte_S]

Hi Grumpy

I'm still in the early stages of a diet change - some days I'm brilliant other days not so much 

About 6 months ago I started to venture out on a new way of eating (it's been hard work at times).  I've eliminated meat to about 95% from my diet.  I'm doing the green shakes (you will find those discussed else where on the forum) about 3 times a week and I've cut down drastically on my dairy consumption. 

I started to see improvements relatively quickly but if I've had a naughty patch and eaten and drunk things that don't agree with me I will experience a little flare.  However I am back on the wagon again now (after a bad couple of weeks - just left my job was mildly stressed and developed some bad habits) and the P is receding again.   The main change for me however has been that my joints are no longer so painful - in fact I've not had any significant pain for about 3 months now, which is a major success for me.

[wexfordfox]

Hi Grumpy,

It was about three months before I saw obvious improvement.

Eating loads of different vegetables daily and taking peppermint oil and fish oil year round and the D for the 6 colder months seems to be working for me.

I also found taking gut bacteria pills beneficial during the first twelve months.

Took about a year to work out my diet based triggers but have good control over the P now. 

hth

[ladydresdenjo]

im about to change my diet due to my P. not looking forward to it thou....have to give up all the foods i love and eat food i hate but if it makes a difference i think it will be well worth it. fingers crossed