“FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD”

Okay, so I’m Lauren, Kara’s sister (and best friend!) and I’m not great when it comes to writing about myself but I will just give you guys a very quick introduction so you know who’s writing! I have been in the background with my sister since she started this blog and I am very excited to say that she has invited me to post with her! I am studying personal training and nutrition and in the process Kara suggested that I use what I know - and am learning everyday - about nutrition to write posts for ideas for psoriasis-friendly meals. So, I have been doing extra research into what a psoriasis friendly diet is in the hopes of helping heal psoriasis from the inside out. I personally believe that everything we put into our bodies directly affects our skin and makes a big difference to what we see on the outside, in many ways. I used to have a terrible diet, smoke and drink way too much and role my eyes at people that said words like “yoga” and “kale”, however, since finding the gym and healthy eating, I would never consider my old lifestyle in a million years and hope that maybe my posts here can help and guide other people, or at least give you some inspiration to eat yummy food with us! …I LOVE to eat!

  So, whilst I am studying and qualifying, I’m going to share meal ideas, tips and general advice as best I can and would love feedback and suggestions from you guys too! I heard a saying in a film once (my memory isn’t always great!) “food is the only beautiful thing that truly nourishes us” and that has stuck with me ever since – sadly the film title has not though! So with that rather cheesy note, let’s get started talking food!

I’m going to just give a quick summary of what kind of eating we are aiming for, so if you’re reading this and already have a pretty good idea of what’s good for psoriasis and what isn’t, feel free to skip this part, or leave a comment adding to my lists!

HIGH ALKALINE & LOW ACID FORMING FOODS

This basically means that we should aim to minimise acid forming foods and eat lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and proteins from fish, poultry, tofu and lamb. Acid forming foods are things like red meat, pork, shellfish, all processed, fried and junk food, white carbs, tomatoes, strawberries and other red fruit and veg.

Instead, fill your diet with yellow and green leafy veg like kale, spinach, lemon, grapefruit, broccoli, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, peas, carrots, berries, cherries and many more!  Try to buy low sodium dairy products and limit eating eggs to once or twice a week.

All grains are acid forming, however everyone needs carbohydrates and “good carbs” like brown or black rice, brown pasta and gluten free grains like quinoa, buckwheat, corn and wild rice are all perfectly fine. Some of my research has suggested avoiding eating proteins and starches together too often, but please don’t cut them out of your diet completely or your muscle mass will breakdown!!

It might seem like just because you have psoriasis, you have to sacrifice eating foods you love, but my aim with my posts is to try and show you that this really isn’t the case at all. The biggest thing to cut out is junk food. Trans-fatty acids (TFAs) found in things like fast food, doughnuts, take-away food, cakes, luncheon meats, hot dogs, cheese etc are your worst enemy BUT they are everyone’s enemy! These chemically altered molecules that make these foods taste nice prevent the function of enzymes and the body’s metabolic processes – you are basically fueling your tank with bad fuel that stops your engine running the way it should! This is the same principle for everyone. If a marathon runner ate junk food all day, all the running in the world couldn’t out-exercise their bad diet. If the world’s best weight lifter didn’t get enough protein, carbs and fat, he would never make any muscle gains. Diet affects each and every person in the world.

This is not to say that you can’t treat yourself once in a while, I love cheat days! The key is just to have everything in moderation. I love pizza as much as everyone else, but I know that if I want to be healthy, I have to limit how often I treat myself to it! I know that changing your diet and lifestyle takes time and that the results are never going to magically happen overnight, I’ve experienced it for myself, but over time you will see a huge difference to how you look and feel.

I’ve written a bit more than I anticipated so I will wrap up here until the next post – which will include a lot more food and a lot less ramble! 

My initial research into what foods are good came from “Dr. John’s Healing Psoriasis Cookbook”. If you’re keen to read up on what I’ve touched on in this post I would definitely recommend this book and have included a link for you HERE.

Thanks so much for reading! Any feedback on my first ever blog post is welcome!

L x