A series of strange events lead the way. The next thing I knew I was completely engrossed listening to an hour-long talk by someone claiming to know how to completely heal eczema naturally. No ointment. No pills.

Earlier that day, I was listening to Dr. Zorba Paster on NPR, tell a long-time sufferer of eczema that maybe she needed to try a new doctor. The caller’s current doctor had been pushing the same ointment on her forever, even though she wasn’t getting better. The same steroid ointment that she must not use much or her skin may become too thin. Dr. Zorba usually has numerous ideas for callers, and he seemed stumped. I felt the callers pain as complained of a lifetime of suffering with eczema and she didn’t know what else to do.

As I listened to the interview of holistic practitioner Emily Bartlett, and author of ebook The Eczema Cure: Heal from the Inside Out with Real Food, I couldn’t stop listening. My body was vibrating along with the wisdom she was revealing because it made total sense.

“Using cortisone cream to fix eczema is a bit like painting a rickety house that’s about to fall down. It makes it look better, and you may feel better for a short period of time – but ultimately the underlying issues must be healed.” Eczema Cure, pg 6.

It turns out that eczema, like many other skin issues, is just a symptom of a deeper internal problem in the body that’s gone out of whack. Typically, this imbalance is originating from poor digestion, and results in a  leaky gut (leaky gut syndrome).

Emily’s daughter had a nasty case of eczema as soon as she started to eat solids. It took about six months to heal her daughter’s internal system, but she is now healed and can drink milk (which before was a trigger). See her pictures below.

So many people I know suffer from gut issues and skin issues. I am on my own healing journey, so the knowledge she shared is helpful to me to make sure my internal system is operating at full speed so I can avoid nasty complications. My best success at staying healthy and healing is keeping my body in balance. I already told you how much better I feel after fixing my allergies naturally. Now it is time to get my gut in order.

Here is a summary of what I took away from her FOUR ACTION STEPS for getting getting your gut back into health, and curing eczema. (You are supposed to do all at the same time).


1. Eliminate Triggers
-This means environmental triggers or foods that triggers flare ups of skin or gut. Go to allergist if you can, or try the elimination diet. She prefers the elimination diet because she feels it is a truer test of how food effect you internally.
– Eliminate petroleum products (especially creams, because skin can’t breathe and then becomes dependant on the petroleum product).

2. Clearing Inflammation
– I believe eliminating inflammation is key so it doesn’t bog down your gut, and immune system.
-Fish oil (reduces inflammation). You need to take a lot of it. She recommends a good cod liver since it has extra vitamins and nutrients.
-Vitamin A rich food. (Liver is one).
-Anti-inflammatory foods like dandelion, cherries, berries, dark leafy greens.
-She didn’t mention this in her talk, but modern wheat contains super-gluten which triggers an inflammatory response, so best to avoid wheat altogether.

3. Cultivate a Strong Immune System.
-Take a good oral probiotic pill. Good ones for eczema are l. raminosis (sp?) and l. luteri (sp?). There are a lot of probiotics that don’t do anything. Type is REALLY important. Make sure you take it each and everyday. If it doesn’t do any good in the first three days, then try another one.
-Eat fermented food, as much as possible. Kombacha, kimchi, sauerkraut (not the canned kind but the kid you get at a health store or make your own).  Make your own yogurt because it can have more probiotic in it.

4. Eating Right to Heal
– Bone soup heals the intestine walls! (For example, the broth from cooking a whole chicken). She recommends eating a cup (or if its a child 1/2 cup) bone soup every day. You can use the broth when you cook rice, make jello with it, or freeze in icecube trays to add to other foods.
– Eat cultured food, raw milk.
– Eliminate the junk! Sugar and refined foods reek havoc on your internal system!
– Live Food! Eas those veggies, especially raw. There are great micro-organisms and live enzymes that foods that come straight from the soil contain.
– Go back to old fashion fats: butter, animal fats, bacon, coconut oil, ect. These are better on your internal system.

Random Fact: Did you know the birth control pill disrupts your gut health! So you need to be really mindful in taking your probiotic pills, eating fermented foods and eating healthy.


Now, go and get that gut power in order!