Psoriasis and Fad Diets: Do They Work?
If you think fad diets affect diet culture alone, think again.
Fad diets have targeted countless communities across the globe, and the psoriasis community is no exception.
Playing to the advantage of words like ‘cure’ and ‘heal’, modern society seems to believe that these far-fetched, foody trends can do just that. But we’re here to tell the truth.
What are fad diets?
Fad diets are like fashion trends - they gain popularity quickly, and are generally backed by public opinion -- not science.
And while you may think these diets are a recent phenomenon, people have actually been crash dieting for over 2,000 years.
With everything from counting calories and eliminating carbs, to avoiding dairy and intermittent fasting, these trends have taken the world by storm.
And while these diets may show promising, short-term results, they also wreak havoc on the body. They are unhealthy and unrealistic to maintain, and can lead to binge eating and nutritional deficiencies, in addition to a slew of other health problems.
What is psoriasis?
For centuries, doctors, scientists, researchers, and even those living with psoriasis have been in search of a cure - or at the very least an explanation as to why exactly it occurs.
Psoriasis is a chronic, autoimmune disorder that largely affects the body’s immune response and in turn, the skin, leaving sore, dry, and scaly patches all over the body.
Psoriasis is said to be biological in nature, triggered and influenced by environmental factors.
And for that reason, a cure does not exist.
But while a cure does not, treatment does.
Treatment options and psoriasis
Treatment options are widely available in many forms.
We encourage you to speak with your healthcare provider to determine what works best for you, though many psoriasis sufferers have found relief in topicals, oral medications, or subcutaneous injections.
Other popular forms of relief seem to come with changing your diet or lifestyle - which is where things can get messy.
Fad diets and psoriasis
Research suggests that certain foods can impact the frequency and severity of psoriatic flare-ups.
We wrote about these foods in a prior blog, which you can check out by clicking here.
Some of these foods, like dairy and red meat, have led others to believe a whole world of misinformation about what avoiding them can actually do for a psoriasis-riddled body. Rumors about cured, plaque-free skin have run rampant.
But the truth is, there is no cure for psoriasis and completely avoiding certain foods will never change that.
Luckily though, The National Psoriasis Foundation suggests that a reduction in the consumption of these foods may lead to an improvement in psoriatic symptoms.
They also suggest being mindful of your diet as a way to help reduce your risk of developing comorbidities, which have a relatively high prevalence rate in those already living with psoriasis.
In conclusion
Fad diets are just that. Fads.
As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, a fad is nothing but “an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object’s qualities”.
It’s important to remember that these diets won’t cure, or treat psoriasis indefinitely, and this is in part due to its biological component.
But we also can’t negate the fact that every body is different, and therefore responds differently to environmental factors like diet and lifestyle.
What triggers one person, may not trigger another, and so intuitively listening to your body may be all the more important in finding relief.
If you’ve given up on trends and you’re not sure where to turn, start by checking out Psoriasis Honey.
At Psoriasis Honey, we’ve already analyzed the trends and scrutinized the science.
We’ve taken that research and placed it behind our products, and that’s why we back them with a customer satisfaction, money back guarantee.
If you’re looking for long-lasting results that will deliver, look no further. Check out the collection by clicking here.
