How eating (more) raw helped my daughter

Greetings all,

Last night I was corresponding with someone from another group I'm on and she wanted to know how to get relief for her eczema. I wanted to share the email that I sent to her (I'll edit it to remove her name, etc.) and also share photos of my daughter (that can be found in my photo gallery here) who (now 6) suffered with a severe case of eczema for the first 5 years of her life until we changed her diet and gave her mostly raw. I hope that this will be of help or encouragement to someone else who may be going through the same thing:
Click here to see her before and after photos

=========
Well, it looks like you already have/know the answer! :)

It's most definitely a change in diet. I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear from me, but it's true. I have a 6-year old who suffered severely with eczema the first 5 years of her life. I tried everything, I mean EVERYTHING...cortizone creams that did zilch; prescribed creams from the Derm that did zilch but just made it worse; Aveeno products; Eucerin; Phisoderm soap; some stuff I ordered off the internet that worked for a hot minute and then it was back to square one; shea butter; African black soap; essential oils; baths in herbs such as calendula...girl I have tried it ALL.

But nothing gave my baby long-term relief. Some things worked temporarily but it would just flair up again.

Then something amazing happened. I began taking things out of our home and diets such as all processed, white items (flour, sugar, etc.) and as many things that contain those things as I could. I began buying a LOT of fresh fruits and veggies and that is what my daughter ate during most of the day. Then one day I happened to be looking at her and I noticed how incredibly smooth her once scaly face looked. I then told her to come to me and I examined all of the areas where her eczema thrived - undersides of her arms, her knees, the creases of her legs, and right underneath her buttocks. Her skin was SO beautiful and smooth. Gone were the days of her scratching in agony, bleeding and oozing pus; the areas that had lost pigmentation were beginning to regain her real skin tone.

I was astonished! All this time I spent money, time and shed tears on her behalf when all I needed to do was to eliminate sugar, white/processed stuff, meat and dairy and give her an abundance of fresh fruit and veggies (which she loves)!

I can assure you that if you are eating sugar and/or dairy, if you can eliminate just those two you'll see some results.

Now, one thing about my daughter, she DID begin to develop it on her hands ONLY when she ate things that were not good for her (like Grandma sneaking and giving her something or her wanting something the older kids had, etc.) but it's been a long time since her hands have had a flair up. Also, when she was sick with eczema, she was "allergic" to oranges or anything citrus really. But once we cleaned her diet up and cleaned her body out, she can now eat oranges freely!

So, I say to you, if you really want to be free from this, then please examine your diet and remove those things.

If you don't mind sharing with me your current diet, I'd be more than happy to be a support and help you make this change in your life so you can be free from eczema like my baby.
===========
Click here to see her before and after photos

Cherie, I just saw the pictures this morning and they are amazing! Truely amazing! I'm so happy that you found raw and your daughter is benefitting from it! She's beautiful btw. What a testament to the raw lifestyle! :)


Karen

I'd like to add my two cents to this matter. I can also personally attest to removing bad things from the diet such as dairy to clean up the eczema. Soon as we took my son off of dairy, actually anything from the cow, his skin cleared up. He also suffered with eczema since birth and nothing we did ever helped until we cleaned up his diet. My family is currently moving into the vegan mode with my husbands full support! He is actually enjoying all of the fresh fruit and veggies we have been eating! Last night we all piled onto our bed (all 6 of us) and dipped our hands into a bowl full of juicy red grapes! Needless to say, they were gone in two seconds, but how much better than a bag of potato chips! Also one more thing to add, since we removed all cow products from his diet, he no longer gets ill. He used to get a cold as least once a month and strep throat about 4 times a year. Of course they wanted to remove his tonsils, but we refused. They said we should consider his quality of life, so glad we took the diet approach and so is he-he loves being healthy now! It is alot of work, but it can be done!!

Have a wonderful day!!

Rawmom

Question? I would love to get my kids off dairy, but they love cheese and milk? Only one of them really likes water, what can I get them to drink? We have a juicer, but it's too expensive to juice all the time. Any ideas?

Hi Rawkinlocs,

Thanks for sharing!!! It is so true, what you wrote.

When my grandson was only breast fed, he develope ecezma at the age of 4-months (diagnosed by a doctor). He scraced until he bled. Once my daughter cut all rice and most grains out of her diet, his ecezma cleared up. It has only come back once, just one small spot on his side, and we think during VBS, he got ahold of some cheerios or other grain foods that are given to the other children in the nursery. There were different workers in during VBS than regular S.S. The normal workers are TOTALLY aware of Bryson's diet.

What we eat REALLY determines what sicknesses or diseases we'll get or won't get.

<>< Helen of Tennessee

Hi Raw Mommie,

I was wondering if your children eat a lot of fruit? I have found, in myself, if I eat a lot of fruit I have no desire to drink much of anything. Even my dogs, once I put them on raw food, rarely touch their water bowl. I have two 70 pound dogs and I can fill their water dish and a week later there will still be water in it.

I'm not into cheese, so I haven't done much looking in this area, but I do recall seeing recipes where they make cheese out of nuts. Have you tried some mock cheese recipes that you could substitue for the cheese they are eating now? It's probably going to take a long time, making real small changes at a time to wean them off of cheese.

There's also a video "Raising Kids Raw", that may have some good ideas in it, or maybe your children watching it will give them the desire to try to make the changes on their own. I've never seen this video, but maybe someone else has. Sometimes it's easier for a child to make changes when it's their idea and not mom's.:

http://www.waldorfhomeschoolers.com/raw.htm

Here is a fun raw page for children that your children might enjoy playing around with (again slowly making changes in their minds):

http://www.thefruitpages.com/kids.shtml

<>< Helen of Tennessee

Hi Rawmommie:

We explained to the kids that were old enough to understand that we had learned that dairy wasn't good for us and we were going to stop buying and eating it. They didn't like the idea, but they adapted quicker than we expected. We have switched them to apple juice (100%) no it's not raw, but better than dairy and also rice milk that is enriched. This has been a good transition for them. We have also bought Garden of Eatin blue corn chips and they like those. As far as the cheese thing goes, Helen had some great ideas. Maybe you will find a substitute that they will be happy with. These are just some things that worked for us. Just a funny note, at dinner the other night my 5 year old was eating plain spinach leaves, no dressing, when I offered the dressing, he said, "No, I like 'em just like this". I thought that was so cute!

Hope it was helpful.

Rawmom

Thanks ladies for sharing your stories and for your compliments!

Helen, I can definitely understand about a baby exclusively breastfed ending up with eczema because my daughter was breastfed during the time when she first started breaking out. MY diet was crappy at that time!

Rawmommie, I agree with Helen that the more fruit your kids eat (especially juicy fruit) they are getting the most pure form of water available...distilled right within the fruit! But with me and my kids, there are a few things to consider:

1. My kids were never really milk drinkers as in, out of a glass. They mostly used milk for cereal or drinking with cookies.

2. I'm partially a modern mom and partially an old-fashioned one. There are times I allow them to make decisions, but there are times when they have no choice in a matter. I don't force them to be 100% raw, but I had to put my foot down on some things like rawmom said, they adjusted but at first didn't like the idea too much. So, when it was time to get off of dairy, I did soy milk, trying different brands until we all found one we liked or at least could tolerate. Now, I know there are many opinions on soy, but this decision was made prior to me having heard any conflicting information on soy. But anyway, my oldest son was the main one who didn't really care for the soy milk or rice milk and I told him that he didn't have to eat cereal then. So, he wanted to continue eating it and decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and use the soy. They no longer "have to have" milk with cookies.

As for cheese, they were never cheese nibblers either. They'd eat it on sandwiches or mac and cheese, but that's about it. So, we just cut it out altogether and they learned and adapted to getting along without it. I just stopped buying it, point blank.

As for water, that is all I buy. Every now and then (I mean very rarely) I'll "treat" them with a bottled 100% juice, but all we have in the fridge to drink is water. When a child (or person, period) gets thirsty enough and that's all there is, they'll drink, especially after eating something that makes their little mouths dry! LOL!

So, it's all about how you handle such situations that will determine how you will go about getting your kids off dairy. Some things I did the "wean-off" thing with and some things just flat out had to go. I did explain to the older ones (the ones who could understand) the dangers of thus and thus, but they still whined and moaned a little when it was all said and done, but here they are, still alive without whatever it was they thought they'd absolutely "DIE" without having! :)

Usually my little guy (also 6) has Almond Breeze with his cereal instead of dairy milk. He never drank dairy milk straight from the glass until a couple of months ago, when I got one of those huge canisters of Nestle Quick from a bulk store. My kids started drinking chocolate milk (using organic dairy milk) all the time after that, in the morning, as snacks, etc.

Pretty soon I noticed my little guy had some sort of rash on the inside of his arm where the elbow bends. I attributed it to all the dairy milk he was suddenly consuming. After putting some ointment on it, I told *them all* to stop drinking that stuff every single day and they have, and I haven't seen a rash on my little guy again.

I'd be happy to get rid of the dairy milk. Even though it is organic, I feel like it still triggers skin problems with my 2 boys. I'm making a goal of slowly cutting it out in the next few months. I'll let it run out and skip a couple days before I buy it at the store, that way they'll use the Almond Breeze and eventually get used to it. Sooner of later they'll all like it and I won't have to buy the cow juice. That is my evil plan! :cool: I think the almond milk tastes better anyway and it doesn't cause so much mucus!

Rawkinlocs, thank you for posting the success of raw changing your daughter's eczema. I developed it on my face mostly and my legs about 4 months ago. It's starting to get worse. I am glad to know that it will clear up soon. By the way you have a beautiful daughter.

Rawkinlocs~
I was so excited to hear about your daughter!!! That is beyond cool!
My best friends son has severe eczema, since being an infant,and now he's8. He's the reason she became vegan even to help stop the breakouts. He eats vegan and about 50% raw, but like you mentioned with citrus...he is highly allergic to that also. I will definitely pass on the word to her about your daughter. What foods does she still have to stay away from if any? Is she 100% raw? I'm just curious...Michelle

@ Alice - Thank you! :)

@ Mishka - My daughter has to stay away from any processed sugars, most (probably all) prepackaged foods. Lately, she eats mostly fruits and veggies but still eats cereal (from the natural foods store) and that doesn't effect her at all. But basically, her mostly raw and partially cooked vegan diet is working for her. I just need to get more greens in her and I usually do it by way of smoothies (adding baby leaf spinach to it) and salads.

Great story Cherie! Your children are all beautiful! What a good mommy for going the natural approach to health! :D

I ditto Feelin'Good!:)
Thanks for responding Cherie! I will definitely pass that on to my friend. I know she still feeds him prepackaged stuff. They just got back from vacation down to LA to visit the grandparents and he is covered with excsema. It is so frustrating for her... she can't even wipe him down with towels with conventional soap. That how allergic his body is. And her husband has Crohn's. If ever a family ever needed 100% raw it would be them. It is a blessing to all of us that will "just do it". Soooo... why oh why do we deviate from it???? Why do I do that which I don't want to do??? Changing habits sure is a challenge. My actions and body need to catch up with my mind. Period. Ultimately, I guess that is what true BELIEF is right?? ACTION. (sorry I turned inward for a minute there.)
You are inspiring to me...I have lots of questions for you....:)