Chapter 16

Adult/family menu

The adult menu begins with a 3-day Alkalising Cleanse, where you eat predominantly alkalising ingredients to enhance liver detoxification of chemicals and cleanse the digestive tract. This food-based cleanse is optional and is a great way to kick-start your healthy skin program if you choose to follow it. There is a 14-day meal plan which can be repeated or you can adapt the menus to suit your preferences. If you are feeding your family, the meals listed in the adult menus can be enjoyed by everyone from day 4 onwards.

3-day Alkalising Cleanse

The 3-day Alkalising Cleanse is a highly nutritious and gentle food-based cleanse that is gluten-free, low in natural chemicals and contains no artificial chemicals. The three-day cleanse is not suitable for children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or anyone who has a medical condition requiring medical drugs.

If you are used to consuming caffeine and sugar, or if you have candidiasis, you might feel tired during the cleanse and might experience headaches as you go through caffeine, sugar and/or chemical withdrawals. Candida die-off can also cause these symptoms. If you feel tired it’s advisable to rest, relax and refrain from exercise, and drink plenty of filtered water.

Recipes for the 3-day Alkalising Cleanse
During the cleanse
  • Enhance Phase 2 liver detoxification by cooking with fresh garlic and eat either cabbage or brussels sprouts daily (these are included in the recipes).
  • Drink filtered water (five to eight glasses daily).
  • Eat raw vegies daily: celery, mung bean sprouts, spring onions, iceberg lettuce (no other raw vegies during the cleanse).
  • Herbs to choose from are chives and parsley.
  • You can eat the following steamed vegies: cabbage, green beans, brussels sprouts, white potato (potatoes to avoid are listed in the shopping guide), and eat choko (chayote) if desired (though choko is not essential).
  • Don’t go hungry: eat as much soup, casserole and/or raw vegies as you like and drink plenty of Tarzan Juice (at least two glasses).
  • It’s important to rest and not go out socialising during the cleanse as you need to avoid all other foods and drinks for three days.

Main menu recipe list

After completing the 3-day Alkalising Cleanse, if you choose to do it, you can select from the following list a range of meals each day. Alternatively, you can refer to the handy menus starting from section entitled “Adult/family menu from day 4”.

Breakfast selection

(The first three recipes are the preferred choices.)

Drink selection
  • filtered water
  • Tarzan Juice
  • Healthy Skin Juice
  • Therapeutic Broth
  • Alkaline Vegie Broth (alternative broth for vegetarians and vegans)
  • Healthy Skin Smoothie
Snack selection
  • carrot and celery sticks with Sesame-free Hummus
  • Alkaline Bomb Salad
  • The Wishing Plate
  • Papaya Rice Paper Rolls
  • sliced papaya, peeled pear, banana
  • Eczema-safe Fruit Salad
  • Pear Muffins
  • Baked Banana Chips
  • plain rice crackers (no additives) with Bean Dip
  • wholegrain rye crispbread with Parsley Pesto
  • wholegrain rice cakes with Banana Carob Spread
  • Potato Wedges (homemade)
  • Banana Icy Poles
  • Stewed Pear
Lunch and dinner selection
DIY suggestions

I encourage you to experiment with the eczema-safe ingredients and create your own meals, for example:

  • lean lamb/chicken/fish/veal with green beans, brussels sprouts and Smashed Potato
  • lean lamb/chicken/fish/veal/beans with roasted carrots and Potato Wedges
  • grilled chicken served with Alkaline Bomb Salad
  • vegetarians and vegans: plain tofu with kidney beans, quinoa and diced carrots
  • chicken casserole with potatoes, sweet potato, carrots, leeks and celery (modify the Chickpea Casserole recipe).
Must you eat meat?

Please note it is not necessary to eat red meat, fish or chicken during the Eczema Diet. Recipes containing meat are in the menu mainly for variety (and they supply protein and iron). Please choose vegetarian soups and eat beans if preferred.

Vegetarians and vegans

Eczema-safe vegetarian protein sources are chickpeas (garbanzo beans), green beans, raw cashews (if no nut allergy), tofu, lentils, kidney beans and other beans (not broad beans). Most of the Eczema Diet recipes can be converted so they are suitable for vegetarians and vegans, with the exception of Easy Roast Chicken, Baked Fish with Mash and Therapeutic Broth (Alkaline Vegie Broth, is a suitable broth alternative). If a dinner recipe contains animal product and it cannot be converted to a vegetarian or vegan meal, then an option marked with ‘V&Vn’ will be given or there will be soup options. Many of the recipes in the menus are already suitable for vegetarians and vegans (such as breakfasts and snacks) and these are not marked with V&Vn.

Avoid these: tempeh, vegan/vegetarian patties and sausages, and other meat substitutes as they can contain additives, soy sauce and/or natural flavourings and herbs so they are not eczema-safe.

Gluten intolerance

If you cannot eat gluten, there are gluten-free meal suggestions within the menus and these are marked with ‘GF’ in the recipes. The 3-day Alkalising Cleanse is gluten-free.

Rate your eczema

At the bottom of the menus where it says ‘Rate your eczema’ you have the option to make notes about your skin as you progress through the diet. If you suspect an adverse reaction to a particular food or an environmental exposure, write it down on the lines provided. You can also rate your eczema from 1 to 10: a score of 1 (shown as 1/10) means your eczema is at its worst and covering a large part of your body, a score of 10/10 would indicate that your eczema is no longer present. Before beginning the program, you may also like to take photos of your eczema so you can document your skin condition before and after.

The menus

The following menus are guides only: you’ll need to adjust them to suit your allergies and appetite. These symbols appear at the top of each column in the menus as a reminder to have some vegies, fruit, wholegrains, protein or liquids at that particular meal break. You don’t have to strictly follow these suggestions, but if it becomes a habit for you to think ‘Lunch time is when I serve wholegrains’, or ‘I’ll serve protein with dinner’, it will be easier to have a balanced diet.

The following menus are free of wheat, dairy, nuts and eggs, and contain alkalising foods and drinks. The menus can be made vegetarian or vegan with a few minor changes (read vegetarian and vegan information), and choose gluten-free ingredients if you are gluten intolerant. You’ll see there is a ‘treat day’ every seventh day and every food break there are several meal choices (also refer to the lists in this chapter and the Eczema-safe shopping guide: Stage 1).

When following the meal plan, you can eat more or less food depending on your appetite and health requirements. For example, if you are very thin or frail you may need to add some baked goods such as Pear Muffins into your daily routine or eat Omega Muesli for dessert. Do not go hungry. This is not a weight-loss program although weight loss may be experienced if you are accustomed to eating high-fat or sugar-rich processed foods.

Rate your eczema

Rate your eczema the day before you start the program.

Date: __/__/____ Skin condition: __/10















Continue with the Eczema Diet by repeating this two-week program for eight weeks, or by designing your own program using the eczema-safe ingredients and recipes. For best results take the eczema supplements during the program and for a minimum of twelve weeks. If your skin has not shown signs of improvement within fourteen to 28 days read Chapter 21, ‘Problem-solving’.

Recommendations

Before beginning the Eczema Diet read Chapter 12, ‘Getting started’.