A Recipe and a Question
My 14-year-old daughter and I are playing around with a gluten-free, dairy-free diet, as per our Doctor Mary’s suggestion. It’s hard! Especially when one is hanging out downtown and stops by a shop called Candyland.
I’m just saying.
And yet…as you can see in the photo from yesterday’s post, where Cate is holding Baby Emory, she really struggles with eczema. She has horrific allergies in general, (I talked about that in this post), so my question for you today is:
In your experience, does diet play a huge part in treating eczema?
We are toying with the idea of allergy shots, actually, because it’s just SO MUCH to stay on top of. My doctor actually recommended a 30-Day elimination diet–no gluten, dairy or egg–but boy…
We’d require serious motivation and perseverance for that.
Anyway, chime in on the discussion if you can and, as promised, here’s the recipe. I made these yesterday and they were delish! (Note that they are not egg-free.) (See what I mean?) (It’s hard to cover all three bases!)
.: Gluten-Free Banana Muffins :.
Ingredients
3 ripe bananas
1 1/2 C. Unsalted Cashews
1 C. Gluten-Free Flour (you could use almond flour and make this grain-free)
2 Tbs. oil of your choice
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grind cashews in a food processor, (I used my Cuisinart), then add your oil and blend.
3. Add bananas & egg. Blend.
4. Add the rest of your ingredients and blend. Super easy, right?! I did it all in the Cuisinart.
5. Pour batter into greased muffin tins and bake for 12 mn or until your finger doesn’t leave a dent when you gently press on the top of the muffin.
6. Let muffins cool slightly.
7. Enjoy! And say a prayer in your charity for my daughter’s eczema. 🙂
In my experience, no. But in a friend’s experience, yes. My kids get mild eczema outbreaks that seem to be seasonal or weather related and are usually confined to a small area of their body (top of the foot, elbows, arms, etc). But a friend of mine was suffering from horrible eczema all over in giant crusty patches that she even had biopsied to make sure it wasn’t something worse than eczema and through an elimination diet, she was able to determine that hers was being caused by nuts (even though she doesn’t have a typical nut allergy although her daughter does). Hope that helps.
I think ultimately it depends on the person and the case. A systemic wide breakout of eczema like what your daughter is dealing with would lead me to think it was being caused by diet (if you’ve eliminated all other environmental considerations like shampoo, soap, or laundry detergent. A small, localized break out like my kids get sometimes is probably not diet related. That’s just my experience and opinion.
Noah has suffered from eczema since he was a newborn. We have tried an awful lot of dietary changes, especially after we did patch testing ( http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/conditions/dermatology/skin_tests_85,P00319/ ). Noah tested allergic to several metals and our doctor suggested not using any canned foods and cooking in non-stainless steel pots for at least a month. Sadly, nothing changed. His eczema still comes and goes and seems to be the worst in places where his clothing is snug — around the waist, sometimes the back of the knees and inside the elbows. Because it comes and goes I don’t think it could be anything food-related. We know Noah is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, but those are life-threatening allergies, not dermatological. We were told when his eczema was diagnosed at three months that it is atopic dermatitis, meaning the source is unknown. It often comes hand-in-hand with life-threatening food allergies and asthma, and he developed the other two. Some people figure out triggers, others never know. Faith gets it on her knees and Joshua has had it on his entire abdomen and thighs. But with them it also comes and goes. Is she washing with something like Cetaphil or white Dove? Also use a double rinse on her clothes and bedding. Noah has been so bad at times that the only thing that cleared it up was a course of antibiotics, which I didn’t like doing, but it worked. He uses steroidal ointments when necessary.
PS Egg substitute: http://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-a-flax-egg/
Mags,
We did this for years. The 8 year old boy still tests positive for dairy, so we’re still dairy free. I’ve cooked dairy free for 10 of the last 20 years.
Use chia seed or flax seed soaked in water 1:3 for an easy egg replaced. Just ask yourself what the eggs are doing in the recipe. If the are binding ingredients, used the soaked seeds above. If it’s as a leavener, use extra baking powder plus a bit of vinegar.
And don’t forget crazy cake… No eggs, no dairy, can be made gluten free. And into cup cakes.
Check out Vance’s Darifree at Valley Natural Foods.
And don’t forget it may histamine. Does she get a sour stomach or have reflux? That might be a sign she’s not breaking down the histamine in her food and stomach acid is made with histamine. Headaches, eczema and hives all come from too much histamine.
Sorry for the typos.. I should never respond on my phone 😝
For my kiddos with food allergies, their skin is my barometer. I know I need to go back to omitting corn, eggs and tree nuts religiously because his skin is suffering. It IS hard to start out on such a thing, but can make a HUGE difference in both skin and mood. Praying for you all.
A site I like for gluten-free recipes and recipes for lots of food sensitivities is thepaleomom.com. Her recipe for chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache is delicious. I was very inspired reading her journey to a paleo-lifestyle.
Our 1 year old had a reaction at 6 months and was diagnosed with a legume (including peanut) allergy. I eliminated legumes from my diet as he was breastfeeding and we saw a near immediate improvement in his eczema. It was remarkable, but it did not completely eliminate it.
I have suffered from allergies for most of my life and allergy shots were a truly life changing experience. It was a royal pain, but worth every single sacrifice to make it happen. I’m just trying to go without now after 5 years of shots and so far so good. My husband just started last year and he too has had a huge improvement (able to work outside in the yard, no sinus infections, improved eczema). I have an awesome allergist in St. Paul if you need a recommendation.
Hi Margaret, just here to echo all of the comments above. I think I mentioned it before but taking the gluten and dairy out was the magic trick for us. It was not easy but it took my daughters eczema totally away. Can I encourage you to do it for the whole family for your own sanity? I cannot imagine cooking two different meals for different eaters – way to much work to avoid cross contamination. Oh, don’t know if I had brought this up before but we finally decided to take the leap after getting my daughter tested at Enterolab. https://www.enterolab.com/ There is some controversy as to whether the tests are valid or not. I guess I researched it allot and could not find anyone who had the test and then disagreed with the results later (meaning the took out the culprit food and then did not feel better.) Let me know if you need recipes!
Try flax seed and water instead of eggs in the muffin recipe, if that is something she can eat.