Eating Journal

Ever tried to figure out what foods or drinks are triggering an allergic reaction?  I have spent the past several years of my life trying to figure the cause of my skin condition.  This year I decided to look to the inside for clues.  I have seen a nutritionist GP that got me started and have read and read and even had some food allergy testing done of which I showed allergies to so many things.  It is hard to change my way of eating and take out certain elements that I have been used to my whole life.

When I was in my twenties I kept getting mouths sores inside my mouth like ulcers.  They hurt and bothered me whenever I ate anything.  I decided I needed to cut some things out to figure out what was causing them.  I changed my toothpaste, stopped drinking coffee and orange juice, cut out berries and all sorts of things.  I decided to cut out all soft drinks completely and to my surprise my sores went away.  I gradually added the other things back over a few weeks and didn't get another sore.  One day I drank a Coke... nothing.  I started feeling silly until another day I had a Pepsi to drink.  Within just a few minutes I could feel a tingling in my mouth and knew that a sore was coming on.  I haven't drank a Pepsi since and luckily haven't had a mouth ulcer since either.  Something in the chemical make up of that soft drink triggered the allergic reaction.

So why not my skin?  Something is bound to be causing my breakouts.  And I know they say that psoriasis is an auto immune disorder and people who suffer from it know it will never go away.  But!  Since my diet changes and herbal detox from my doctor, I do feel better.  My skin isn't as aggravated and mean feeling as it has been and patches on my arms and torso have gone away, just leaving white "scars".  My main problem is patience and sticking with my diet changes.  I assume it is like any diet you go on.  But my cravings are still there for junk food.  Junk food meaning simply things that are or contain items that I have "cut out" and showed allergies to.

I made myself a little journal the other day, tailored to my needs, thinking that if I made myself write down it might be easier to stick to.  Also, I have an area where I log how my skin looked and felt that day and how I felt that day.  This part stemmed from making a casserole Sunday night that included beef and lots of dairy and my skin feeling like it was on fire the next day.  I'm just a few days in and already I feel better and a little proud of myself for taking action and forcing discipline on myself which isn't easy to do.  I am the first one to say "awe... that delicious casserole isn't going to hurt you that bad!" but it did.

It's a work in progress.  My skin problems didn't come up over night therefore will not go away over night!

Seriously... if you like the way my journal looks and thought to yourself "now that's what I need"... message me and we will create one for you.  It's simple really and I was able to print four days on one sheet of paper and simply fold and string them together with a piece of card stock as the cover.  Mine has enough room for 28 days.

I modeled my journal pages after the one I found HERE.

If you really want to read more about my skin you may do so HERE , and a little bit on my diet changes HERE.