Chapter 12
Part 1 is the theory. Part 2 is the non-diet information. And Part 3 is where the practical application begins. Here are some steps to get you started.
Before beginning the Eczema Diet it’s highly recommended you read Part 1 and do the mini questionnaires in Chapter 2 to help you identify problem areas in your diet and environment. See Part 1 and the first questionnaire.
If you have a baby with eczema, start by reading Chapter 13, ‘Infants with eczema’, and if you have a child with eczema, aged between one and seventeen years, read Chapter 14, ‘Children’s meal plans + lunch box menus’. Adults with eczema should have a look at the suggested adult/family menu and familiarise yourself with the 3-day Alkalising Cleanse starting from Chapter 16.
Before beginning the diet, check your pantry and fridge and compare it to the Eczema-safe shopping guide: Stage 1. Photocopy the shopping guide and cross off anything you already have.
Useful appliances and utensils include a salad spinner and a water filter jug (no need to install expensive water filters unless you want to). A food processor mixes muffins, grates vegetables and whips up tasty dips. It is quite important to have a juicer to make fresh vegetable juices as this will speed up skin recovery time (I’ve had eczema patients heal their eczema without the addition of juices so you may be fine without one, but juicing does speed up results).
Other appliances and kitchen gadgets you may need include beaters, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a basting/pastry brush, a 12-hole muffin tray, a large baking tray, saucepans, both a large and small non-stick frying pan and a large casserole or roasting dish/pan with a lid. You will probably have most of these already. If you already have a slow cooker or a pressure cooker you can use it to make soups, broth and casseroles if you choose (though it is not essential to have one).
Photocopy the Eczema-safe shopping guide: Stage 1, choose some recipes and go shopping. You may need to visit a health food shop to get some of the ingredients. Adults with eczema can do the 3-day Alkalising Cleanse so write down the ingredients for these recipes. You will need to buy your supplements before you begin the cleanse program.
You will make your life easier if you have a cooking day one or two days before you begin the diet. The Therapeutic Broth is a key recipe throughout this diet and you will need to allocate time to let it simmer and gather richness (6 hours+). Then you need to let it cool down overnight in the refrigerator so it’s easy to remove all the fat from the top (if the fat is not totally removed it will sabotage your diet, so don’t skip this step). The broth will stay fresh for up to six days so you may need to freeze the leftovers.
It is handy to freeze 1 tablespoon-sized portions in an ice-cube tray, covered in plastic wrap. Then you can run the back of the tray under hot water to release them when you require them in a recipe for your child’s dinner and so on. The soups and casseroles all require 3 cups of Therapeutic Broth so you can freeze portions of 3 cups of broth in freezer-proof containers for later use (though if you are an adult doing the 3-day Alkalising Cleanse you will use up the broth within the three days).
If you have a child with eczema you might want to bake some muffins for your child’s lunch box and make Sesame-free Hummus—these two recipes are not essential to the diet but they are handy. Also soak some oats or quinoa grains at the end of day 3 in preparation for breakfast on day 4 (for breakfast on day 4 I recommend making Omega Museli, or if you are gluten-intolerant try Quinoa Porridge).