“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” – Virginia Woolf.

Since I was 2 years old, I have suffered from severe eczema, which has gone through periods of dormancy and flare-ups throughout my lifetime. I have been managing the condition through different creams and steroids until about a year ago when my Dermatologist enrolled me in a clinical trial for a breakthrough drug.

I will conclude my 2-year stint in September and have experienced great success. My skin has been excellent! What a treat not to feel the need to claw at oneself or hear people tell me to stop scratching. Herein lies the problem. Once this product hits the market, it will cost thousands of dollars per month, not covered by insurance or any philanthropic soul. One of my sisters has MS and has been successfully managing it through a stringent diet that she developed through advice from a Naturopath and her diligent investigation. Being faced with the option of returning to creams and steroids, I decided to follow her lead and contacted a local Naturopath.

The first thing the Naturopath did was send me for blood tests to check for food sensitivities. A food allergy is an immune system response that can cause serious or life-threatening reactions, even to small amounts of food. Sensitivities result in discomfort when certain foods are digested. There is a belief that these intolerances can exacerbate eczema. A wide range of food was tested, including dairy, grains, fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, herbs, and nuts. The results break each food item into a category: red being very bad, yellow relatively bad, and green good. After a couple of weeks, my results came back, and if you think of everything tasty to eat, that would be reflected in my red and yellow categories.

Even though the trial has nine more months, I thought it best to start approaching my new eating regime now. First, I will remove red items from my house menu but not exclude them when out for a meal. Second, I will substitute my yellow items with green items when possible. Third, I will become more creative with cooking based on the green category.

I just finished week 1 and am feeling good. While out yesterday, I had a red category item and became aware of cramping that I hadn’t had all week. Maybe there is truth in the world of Naturopathy. When in doubt, remind myself that I am a big bag of water that is conscious!

Retirement will allow me to continue to tune in with my body responses, improve my culinary creativity, and give greater attention to alternative approaches.