developing eczema since starting

[nursejenn01]

Has anyone developed eczema on the Whole 30? I have never had it in my life and its appearing all over my face and chest. I am on day 14, following the diet very closely. I was never a big meat or egg eater prior so this is a big change for me. I'm feeling discouraged and not sure what to do.

[Carlaccini]

Hi Nurse Jenn!

I will start by asking you what are your meals looking like?  What are you eating - please be very specific.  

As a life long eczema sufferer there are some things that will cause a flare up for me - tomatoes, peppers, and eggs are all culprits.  Also if you are using ghee as your main fat source - it could present a problem.

Cheers,

Carla

[ShannonM816]

It's hard to know for sure without knowing more about what you're eating, but there are foods that are Whole30 compliant that can cause skin issues like eczema for some people. Eggs are one of these, nightshade vegetables another. I'm sure you don't want to hear you may need to limit more things, but here are a couple of articles that you might want to read through and see if they sound like possibilities:  https://www.thepaleomom.com/what-are-nightshades/ , https://www.thepaleomom.com/the-whys-behind-autoimmune-protocol/ , https://www.thepaleomom.com/start-here/the-autoimmune-protocol/

You're also welcome to list a few days' of typical meals if you need help identifying what items might be causing problems, or if nothing in these articles matches what you're experiencing. If you're not already, you may want to start keeping a food log, and also noting when your symptoms seem better or worse, to see if you can find any patterns. It may not be as easy as eating something for breakfast, and having problems immediately afterward -- sometimes these things are dose-dependent, so you over time find you can have eggs every now and then, but having them every day is too much. 

[sweetcee]

I only get eczema on my hands. I suspected it’s worsened a little due to the super high volume of washing dishes in my life at the moment, or maybe my body getting thrown off with all the healthiness and none of the junk. But now I’m thinking about eggs too...

[nursejenn01]

I have been cooking mostly with olive oil, eggs in ghee though. 

Here are a couple days of my diet:

Breakfast: 1.frittata made with bacon, swiss chard, sweet potato, mushrooms and an orange. 1/2 avocado. Green tea.

2. Eggs scrambled in ghee, pico de gallo and 1/2 avocado; green tea

Lunch: 1.sweet potato with beef chili on top (had red peppers in it); cut veggies and tessamae ranch

2. Mixed greens or stir fry and chicken

Snack: olives, almonds, dates wrapped in prosciutto, cut veggies, apple with almond butter

Dinner: 1.carnitas with guacamole, lettuce and pico de gallo

2. chicken thigh fajitas with peppers and onions, guacamole, salsa in lettuce wrap

Like I said before, I've never had eczema before so I can't imagine I'm reacting to nightshade veggies. I have always been a huge veggie eater, not so much in the eggs and meat department. If I cut out eggs for breakfast, what can I do besides leftovers??

[ShannonM816]

5 hours ago, nursejenn01 said:

If I cut out eggs for breakfast, what can I do besides leftovers??

Any food you'd eat at any other meal works for breakfast too. Leftovers are easy, but you could make up a soup, or do sausage and vegetables, or a salad. Here's one previous discussion with some ideas, but if you google Whole30 non-egg breakfast, you can find more:  

 

If you do cut out eggs for a week or two and notice your eczema clears up, you can try reintroducing eggs and see if you have some tolerance for them -- some people can do the yolks but not the white, so if you find that works for you, you can do mayo, or use egg yolk in recipes where egg is used as a binder, or you may find you can have a meal here or there with the whole egg, but not every day, or definitely not twice a day.

 

 

 

 

 

[sweetcee]

20 hours ago, nursejenn01 said:

I have always been a huge veggie eater, not so much in the eggs and meat department. If I cut out eggs for breakfast, what can I do besides leftovers??

I have been alternating between chicken apple sausage (aidell's and applegate are compliant by me) and turkey sausage patties, ground turkey w/spices per a recipe I got off a paleo blog. I love a veggie hash with breakfast if I have the time / appetite but have been enjoying soups in the morning too.  Nom Nom Paleo's carrot soup has been a real lifesaver for me this week. 

[berry straw]

I make turkey sausage patties and drink a mug of bone broth with collagen as my breakfast protein sources because I have an egg intolerance (found after starting Whole30).