DAY 129

Sorry, I’ve been really quiet recently. To say work has been hectic is an horrific understatement, and I’ve been working into the evening most days. It’s a good kind of busy though. In the dark days, this added stress would have led to a flare of almost incomprehensible magnitude, so the fact that the only small itchy patches I have are on my calves and the only bumpy bit is on one side of my neck (and that only appeared yesterday) is pretty damn good.

It’s silly that I haven’t updated this in a while because a lot has happened; I’ve finally enlisted the help of a nutritionist. A few months ago, I honestly thought nutrition was a load of unscientific mumbo-jumbo and would scoff at those who went down the all-natural path, but the control I felt on the low-histamine diet has completely changed my view. I do not believe nutrition is a cure for eczema – I will always be prone to it – but I do feel as though a good diet can be used as a preventative method.

Anyway, my nutritionist, Jeraldine, went through all my history, current eating and future goals to come to a big food plan for me, complete with recommended supplements, a full food list, weekly meal plan and new recipes.

I also found out that I have the metabolic rate of a 17 year old which I’m probably more proud of that I should be.

The full report looked daunting at first, especially as it’s a big step away from the histamine focus (I can eat tomatoes, hurray!!!), but I’ve broken it down and understand the need to protein to reduce blood sugars to reduce insulin to stop hormones being paused to help digestion to detoxify etc. etc. etc. Stuff I would have laughed at the beginning of this year, however, from my memory of A-Level Biology it actually makes a lot of sense.

Our emphasis now is on “clean” eating, and making sure I get (wait for it) 8x portions of vegetables and 3x portions of fruit a day. Easier than it sounds, the other day I managed 12! It’s pushing me to try new foods; today I tried avocado for the first time (bland as hell, what is all the HuffPost fuss about?!) and yesterday I tried courgette (blurgh but I’ll soldier on…).

Here are some roughly 4 month skin photos: