My Story of Healing Chronic Eczema

Life is full of surprises and pivots and one of them is inevitably a health issue that seems to come out of nowhere. And before I show you exactly how you can heal your skin through detoxification and knowledge of how the body works, here is a bit of my own story and hero’s journey dealing with and conquering eczema. It was in the fall of 2012 when I first noticed a small rash forming on top of my right hand. At that time, I thought it was just stress and the rash would disappear.

But to my dismay, it simply kept spreading with intensifying severity – first over my hand and then all over my body. In fact, what instigated the first onset of eczema was emotionally triggered, but now I realize it was escalated by genetic influences and a lack of hydration my body desperately needed – essentially, raw foods that are full of hydration and electricity.

What I also didn’t know at the time was that genetics and sluggish lymphatic system (the body’s sewer and immune system) have a lot to do with the onset of skin issues. But there are more ingredients to the problem skin recipe, including stress and adrenal gland overstimulation, weakened nervous system and thyroid function, as well as compromised kidney filtration. And when all of those “potentials” align, the trigger of a typical event like a stressful period of time in one’s life can be the match that ignites the fuse.

Ultimately, the skin membrane shows us how our internal world is reflected on the surface of that which we project to the world. It is the boundary between our inner and external world and can show us a lot about how we navigate this experience. Looking back at this time and knowing what I know now, there are a few ways anyone can understand what his or her body is telling them with problematic skin.

For example, even if we have great genetics and eat the best diet in the world, the way we interact with the world and how we see ourselves in it can impact the appearance of our skin. If we have very weak boundaries, our skin will reflect this through a variety of skin conditions, showing us that we have to build a stronger boundary between our internal and external experiences and how we let the external influence us.

Likewise, if we have a very negative perspective of our lives and our experience in “our skin,” the intensity of our emotions and the manifestation ability of our thoughts to create our reality will be reflected by the appearance of the skin.

Wellness is our natural state of being, and the skin is the most apparent reflection of how we can apply its laws (the cosmic law expressed as the law of nature) to our lives. These principles of physical health must be honored for optimal wellness and skin healing:

• Cause and effect dictate all physical phenomena
• Maintaining 80% alkaline/20% acidic pH balance of the body is essential
• Cells are active and require fuel; they also create waste that the body must eliminate
• The chemistry we consume either gives us energy or robs us of it

We can use these laws of nature as a guide to help us reframe our own unique experiences in this life and generate customized solutions that work for our own body, environment, mind, and spirit.

To truly live in optimal health and spiritual awareness, we have to be active co-creators of wellness and take responsibility for our health fully (we must dedicate our lives to being our own investigators and healers and only seek guidance to help us on the journey).

When we don’t give away our agency by leaving our health up to others, we take back our power and control over our lives and our individual sovereignty to live and thrive in this world as powerful beings. Indeed, this is the foundation for healing all health conditions.

How to Take Care of Your Skin

The skin membrane is the largest organ in our body. It is the barrier between our internal ecosystem and the external world – literally, the boundary between us and our outside world. Its function is to help us perspire in order to help the body push out toxins through sweat. It is a permeable organ that, with the help of its pores, breathes in oxygen and breathes out toxic gasses that need to be detoxed from the body – just like the lungs.

That is why it truly matters what type of environment we surround ourselves in, what material of clothes we wear (including the detergents/chemicals we use to wash them) as well as what we put on our skin.

If we treat our skin as a dead, non-living entity that can withstand the chemical cocktail we bombard it with on daily basis in the form of makeup, skin lotions, perfumes and other cosmetics, depending on our genetics, the skin itself may not show the resulting short-term degeneration, but our internal cells and tissues will be impacted adversely over time. Likewise, the regular burden of detoxifying these chemicals on our elimination organs will weaken their function and their ability to detoxify our bodies over time.

If you wouldn’t eat it, you shouldn’t place it on the skin!

In general, eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, acne and other skin issues are simply the composite outcomes of (one or the many of these factors): a weak skin membrane, weakened elimination organs organs, dysregulated nervous system, weak liver function, under-performing glandular function, and lymphatic stagnation (or, intracellular acidic fluid that is pushed out by the body through oozing, congregating in pockets and/or burning from the inside out).

The Importance of Kidney Filtration in Detoxification

The lymphatic system is one of the most unknown and mysterious systems of the body, whose function is systemic (head to toe) and which is composed of a vast network of interstitial channels that carry cellular waste from tissues and organs to the kidneys, skin, and bowels to be expelled from the body! It is the sewer system of the body that helps to keep it clean from acids and waste.

Did you know that just like you go to the bathroom, so do your cells? And this waste must be expelled out of the body so that your cells do not bathe and slowly degenerate in their own toxic waste.

A properly functioning lymphatic system can clean, carry and expel cell waste from the body efficiently through a healthy lifestyle and the optimal functioning of all the eliminating organs, especially the kidneys which excrete cellular waste (the lymph fluid) out of the body.

Although the liver is one of the major detoxification organs in the body that works like an alchemical lab – converting non-water-soluble toxins from the blood into water-soluble byproducts that can safely be purged from the body – it is not an elimination organ. The byproducts it converts are purged through the colon and out of our body. But if the colon is backed up with waste, skin may take over with some of its detoxification duties.

Similarly, kidneys work most directly waste system – the lymph system – to purge toxins out of the body through urine production and elimination. If the lymphatic system is unable to do its job and carry waste out of the body through the kidneys, the acidic waste becomes “stuck” in and around tissues and causes degeneration over time.

Optimal kidney filtration ensures that the cellular waste that accumulates daily is eliminated right away before it leads to chronic inflammation. Overall, focusing on strengthening the liver and kidneys is essential during the detox and healing process so that environmental toxins and intracellular acids can be properly eliminated before they cause health issues.

Consequently, we can see disease formation in those areas of the body that are often the weakest or the most genetically compromised. By being aware of our bodily weaknesses, especially through the multiple diagnostics available in naturopathy, and helping our lymphatic system function optimally, we can ensure that our weaker bodily areas are not further compromised and have a chance to regenerate.

Here are some natural ways to improve the flow of the lymphatic system for clearer skin:

• Consuming a predominantly alkaline diet
• Introducing more fruit into your diet (fruit is highly astringent and alkaline)
• Eating less or no complex protein (which is hard to break down for the kidneys)
• Ditching dairy products, which create mucus and back up the lymphatic system
• Dry skin brushing, which promotes circulation of the lymph and blood
• Light physical activity (which preferably involves sweating)
• Lymphatic massage and dry brushing
• Sauna (especially steam saunas)
• Eating more simply with smaller portions and fasting

How to Eat for Energy and Cellular Regeneration

Understanding that we are energetic beings that run on energy as fuel is the essential precept of knowing how our reality and how the concepts of wellness work.

If we spend more energy digesting and healing the body because of our poor lifestyle, we will have less energy available to lead energetic, optimal, and vital lives. Because our food, thoughts, and lifestyle fuel our body with energy or detract from it, everything we do either provides us with energy or depletes it.

When it comes down to it, we are walking energy units, and the amount of energy we have depends on what we eat, the state of our emotions, our thoughts, and how we choose to spend energy on a daily basis.

Inevitably, true long-term healing and regeneration will occur when your body has more energy reserves than it spends on daily digestion, nervous system activation, metabolic activity, immune function, detoxification, waste removal, and healing. However, if the body has to compensate for energy to keep in the survival mode, it will start to slowly degenerate and develop disease.

Food is one of the main fuels that the body uses for generating energy and healing. It converts its chemistry to keep us alive by nourishing and healing tissues and organs. Its role is further supported by other healers we have at our disposal – our thoughts and emotions. Inevitably, how we generate and spend energy will dictate our aging process, since we are biological batteries with rechargeable, self-regulating mechanisms.

Now that you know more about your body and what it takes to heal skin issues, how can you start on your healing journey? My advice is to ease into full-body detoxification – first through the elimination of the most acidic food from your diet and then through the gradual introduction of raw vegan foods and an alkaline diet.

Remember to go slow and to be gentle with yourself. Like a loving parent would, treat your transformation process like a birthing process – a gift of new life and endless possibilities to feel strong, powerful, and confident in your own skin.