What is the best diet for Eczema? A TCM food therapy approach to managing eczema and healing your skin.
Spoiler: There is no single, magic diet that is best for those dealing with atopic dermatitis.
Even from a Western Medicine standpoint there is no one size fits all “eczema diet”. It’s not a gluten-free or dairy-free diet, or a carnivore diet, or a FOD-map diet, or any of the other restrictive diets out there.
The good news, TCM can help make a diet plan using a TCM food therapy approach. TCM food therapy isn’t about any one specific diet either. TCM food therapy takes into account the disease (eczema), the pattern (how the disease might be different from one person to the next), the individual (other illness, genetic factors, etc), and environmental and seasonal influences to tailor dietary guidelines to the individual.
While there may not be one best diet for all eczema sufferers, diet is extremely important for anyone dealing with a chronic, inflammatory disease like atomic eczema. The appropriate diet for someone with eczema can be adapted to address specific food allergies and sensitivities, environmental and seasonal factors, and specific nutritional needs from one person to another to support healing.
According to TCM, eczema arises from dysfunction in the Lungs, Spleen, and Liver. A TCM food therapy approach to eczema focuses on reducing heat (inflammation) and resolving dampness, supporting the Spleen (digestion), strengthening the wei qi/Lung qi (skin integrity and immune function), and supporting the Liver (nourishing the blood and harmonizing the spirit).
How can TCM food therapy help mange eczema?
TCM uses patterns to distinguish how one disease might present differently from one person to another. The most common TCM patterns we see involved in eczema are: Blood Heat, Damp Heat, Blood Deficiency, and Spleen Qi Deficiency. Depending on which pattern your eczema falls into you may benefit from a different dietary approach. As is common with eczema, all of these patterns may be present to varying degrees depending on the day or where in the flare cycle you are. In those cases you can adapt your diet to address the presenting symptoms day to day.
What do common TCM patterns of eczema look like?
Blood Heat: diffuse redness with scaling and flaking of the skin, itching, bleeding with scratching, flaring with stress, frustration, anger, or intense mood swings,
Damp Heat: weeping and crusting with scratching, swelling or puffiness, well-defined areas of redness, hand eczema, eczema worse in summer
Spleen Qi Deficiency: chronic eczema, fatigue, bloating, loose stool, lots of food sensitivities, paleness
Blood Deficiency: intense dryness, lots of flaking, cracking or fissuring of the skin, paleness (not so much redness), dry eyes and nails, eczema worse in winter
What are the TCM Food Therapy recommendations for each pattern of eczema?
Blood Heat: Eat more gently cooling and hydrating foods like cucumber, lotus root, pears, blueberries, and cooling herbal teas (like peppermint); Eat less chili and hot spices, alcohol, and meat. Additional tips for reducing Blood Heat: engage in gentle movement exercise like walking to reduce stress and relieve stagnation in the body, especially focusing on breathing exercises like strong exhales and 3-part breathing to calm the mind and regulate the nervous system.
Damp Heat: Eat more foods that regulate fluids, improve digestion and increase urination such leafy greens, brassicas, pear, watermelon, mung beans, chrysanthemum tea, and oolong tea.
Spleen Qi Deficiency: Eat more warm and well cooked foods like soups, stews, and porridges. Eat more orange and yellow foods that nourish the digestion like sweet potatoes, winter squash, rice, oats, and fresh ginger. Avoid or limit cold and iced food and drinks, raw foods, and processed foods. Additional tips for supporting the Spleen: keeping regular meal times, eating small meals and allowing 4 hours between meals, sitting while eating and focusing on chewing and digesting, avoid screens or multitasking while eating.
Blood Deficiency: Eat more foods that nourish the blood and fluids like fatty fish (salmon, sardines), bone broth, sesame and pumpkin seeds, egg yolks, and leafy greens. Eat more cooked foods (avoid raw foods). Eat less spicy food, alcohol and coffee. Additional tips for supporting the blood: follow the Spleen Qi deficiency recommendations because in TCM the Spleen helps with blood production and storage.
No matter what kind of eczema you have these foods are widely tolerated and have benefits for skin health and eczema:
fatty fish : reduce inflammation, provide essential fatty acids and omegas that nourish the skin
olive oil : supports the skin barrier
vegetables : calm inflammation, feed gut bacteria
fermented foods : support gut-skin connection
berries : full of antioxidants to decrease inflammation
Conversely, foods that tend to exacerbate all forms of eczema are:
high sugar foods
fast foods, greasy and fried foods
highly processed foods (snack foods, cereals, crackers, etc)
alcohol
In Chinese Medicine (TCM) we look to food as the first line of treatment for almost any illness. The food we eat, our relationship to our food, how we prepare it, and how we consume it all impact our health. A TCM food therapy approach shows us how we can use food as a tool in our everyday life to improve symptoms and outcomes in atopic dermatitis.
Every case of eczema is unique. With a thorough intake and Chinese Medicine diagnosis we can create a treatment plan specific to the individual. If you or someone you know suffers from Atopic Dermatitis and wants to get to the root of your skin issues, TCM Dermatology may be the best option for you. To learn more and find out if Chinese Medicine is right for you, schedule a free consultation today!