Many people have probably heard about the effects of diet on the body, including the skin. It is particularly important to monitor the diet of patients with seborrhoeic dermatitis. This will avoid severe complications and speed up the recovery of the epidermis.
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Why a diet for seborrhoea? – dietary considerations
In seborrhoeic dermatitis, diet is an essential part of therapy. This is because nutrition affects the gastrointestinal tract, on which the condition of the epidermis depends. A well-constructed diet can reduce body sluggishness, normalise metabolism and improve your general well-being.
A gradual adaptation to a diet is essential, otherwise you can only harm your health. For seborrhea it is advisable to eat frequent small meals and avoid junk food. If the condition worsens, you must be particularly careful with your diet.
If the symptoms become milder during treatment, the doctor may allow the patient to add new foods to the diet. However, it is important to observe the body’s reaction to the new food. If any food has caused a worsening of the condition, it will have to be given up.
What can’t I eat?
The following foods must be avoided during the treatment of seborrhoea:
- fast food;
- alcoholic beverages;
- smoked foods;
- fried foods;
- fatty and spicy foods;
- pickles;
- croutons, crisps and other snacks;
- quick-absorbing simple carbohydrates (soft wheat pasta, sugar, baked goods made from extra-fast flour, etc.).
In some cases the disease is caused by allergies to certain foods. If an allergy is suspected, these foods should be removed from the diet:
- strawberries, watermelon, jam;
- sweets, cakes, marshmallows and chocolate;
- coffee;
- cocoa;
- sodas, packaged juices and other sugary drinks;
- mushrooms;
- citrus fruits: oranges, lemons, etc.
- bee products, including honey;
- caviar.
By avoiding unhealthy and potentially dangerous foods, you can speed up your recovery considerably.
What can I eat?
In order to keep your diet simple, you need to make it a habit to be careful about the ingredients in your food.
The following foods are allowed for seborrhoeic dermatitis:
- Diet meats.
- Boiled, steamed or stewed vegetables: pumpkin (with not very bright flesh), broccoli, cauliflower and white cabbage, parsnips, courgettes, asparagus, kelp, etc.
- Non-allergy-inducing berries, e.g. white cherries or gooseberries.
- Dairy products.
- Milk porridge made from oats, pearl millet and buckwheat.
- Salads can be dressed with olive oil, linseed oil or corn oil.
Important: Do not stick to a mono-diet, you have to eat a varied diet.
A diet diet must be supplemented with intake of vitamin and mineral complexes. This will boost the immune system and strengthen the organism.
How to choose foodstuffs?
When choosing foodstuffs, you should carefully consider their expiry date, quality and composition. The producer is also important. Only fresh food, ideally from a farm, should be included. Most factory-made products are treated with harmful substances that do not benefit the body.
Drinking regime
No matter what type of seborrhoea you have, it’s important to keep your body hydrated. It is important to drink at least 2 litres of clean water per day. Additional drinks can also be consumed:
- freshly squeezed juices from approved fruits, vegetables, berries and herbs;
- herbal infusions and decoctions that do not cause allergies in patients;
- morsels without artificial additives.
Even dry skin becomes firmer if you drink enough water every day. Fluid deficiency makes the epidermis wrinkled and sluggish, so attention to drinking should be paid even after recovery.
The Pegano diet for seborrheic dermatitis
For patients suffering from seborrhoeic dermatitis, doctors often recommend following the Pegano diet, which aims to intoxicate the body. It includes the following foods:
- Sea fish, baked, boiled or steamed – 2-3 times a week.
- Lean meat boiled, baked or steamed.
- Vegetables and fruit should make up 70-80% of your total diet.
No citrus fruits, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers or aubergines. Apples can only be eaten baked.
- Lean dairy products: kefir, pasteurized milk, sour cream, cottage cheese and yoghurt.
- Grains
. High-fibre cereals are useful: rice, buckwheat, corn, barley and wheat.
- Eggs
– several eggs per week.
- Drink at least 2 litres ofwater per day. Must be purified, in some cases alkaline water is allowed.
The Pegano diet consists of two stages:
- Preparation. For three days, you have to eat only fruit. In addition, 1 tsp of unrefined olive oil should be consumed 3 times a day. It is recommended to perform purgative enema in the evening.
- Diet. Allowed foods from the approved list may be eaten. It is important to eat whole grain cereals and vegetables daily, to cleanse the skin and the intestines. You can eat young cheeses, almonds, fresh herbs, egg yolks, baked fish and chicken meat, and dairy products. It is important not to forget to drink water, in which lemon juice, honey and herbal teas can be added.
Weekly and daily menu
The following is a rough guide to a healthy eating plan for the week:
Monday
- breakfast: buckwheat or wholemeal porridge;
- second breakfast – pear or apple;
- lunch – stew with steamed vegetables;
- afternoon snack – natural yoghurt without sugar and fillers;
- dinner – cottage cheese casserole and chamomile tea.
Tuesday
- breakfast – cottage cheese;
- second breakfast – salad with fresh carrots dressed with sour cream or vegetable oil;
- lunch – buckwheat porridge with chopped boiled egg;
- afternoon snack – 200 ml of ryazhenka or kefir;
- dinner – steamed fish with stewed vegetables.
Wednesday
- breakfast – cottage cheese with kefir;
- second breakfast: peach or apricot;
- lunch – boiled lentils and hard-boiled egg;
- afternoon snack – bran bread and sugar-free drinkable yoghurt;
- dinner – boiled chicken with stewed cabbage.
Thursday
- breakfast – porridge with 5 cereals;
- second breakfast – salad with apple, celery stalk and fresh carrots dressed with sour cream;
- lunch – pumpkin porridge;
- afternoon snack: low-fat ryazhenka or sour milk;
- dinner – fish baked with vegetables.
Friday
- breakfast – milk soup with durum wheat pasta;
- second breakfast – any fruit or vegetable from the allowed list;
- lunch – veal stew with rice;
- afternoon snack – cottage cheese;
- dinner – vegetable salad with an egg.
Saturday
- breakfast – pearl porridge;
- second breakfast – salad with boiled beets and vegetable oil;
- lunch – steamed chicken breast with vegetables;
- afternoon snack – kefir;
- dinner – fish with a side dish of buckwheat.
Sunday
- breakfast – herb porridge;
- second breakfast – fruit salad with natural yoghurt;
- lunch – boiled chicken with Hawaiian mixed vegetables;
- afternoon snack – cottage cheese with sultanas;
- dinner – vegetable salad with rye bread croutons cooked in the oven.
In addition, it is allowed to drink weak tea without sugar and to eat rye and wholemeal bread. If the dermatitis is not allergic, you can diversify your diet with mushrooms, nuts and citrus fruits.
Help! In the presence of allergies, eggs can be replaced with lean meat.
Cooking advice
It is important to understand that even healthy food, if improperly processed, can cause harm to health. For this reason, the following recommendations should be followed:
- Do not fry food during the treatment.
Fried food may damage the gastrointestinal tract and contains carcinogens that increase the risk of cancer.
- Food should be boiled, stewed or steamed.
This way, the maximum amount of nutrients in the food is retained.
- Food should be wrapped in foil or a special bag before being placed in the oven.
This will improve the motility of the bowels and make the food more nutritious.
- For seborrhoea, regular meals based on gelatine or agar-agar, such as fish cakes or fruit jellies, should beconsumed.
Caution! A healthy diet reduces the burden on the liver, which is essential in the treatment not only of dermatitis but also of other skin diseases.
Recipes
Even with a limited amount of food you can experiment. This makes for a tasty and varied diet.
Salad “Fresh in the morning”
Boil one chicken fillet until tender, cool and chop in slices. Slice 2 small cucumbers into julienne strips. In a deep bowl, tear 3-4 lettuce leaves, add the poultry and cucumber, salt a little, dress with sour cream.
Country fish
clean 700 g of Pollock, wash, make incisions on the skin, salt. Dice 1 small courgette and 2 carrots into medium sized slices. Dice 200 g broccoli into florets. Place the vegetables on the foil, put the fish on top and brush with 1 tbsp of sour cream. Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Cheesecake casserole
Mix 400g fat-free cheese until smooth. Pour 100g sultanas and dried apricots over the boiling water and leave for 10-15 minutes. Add sultanas, dried apricots cut into strips, 1 egg. add 2 tbsp sour cream, 50 g wholemeal semolina and salt.
Mix well, place in greased baking tin, flatten out and bake at 170-180 0C for 20-25 minutes.
Basic food principles for children
Dietary food for seborrheic dermatitis should take into account the age requirements of the child, the state of his immunity.
When breastfeeding, the mother’s diet should be adjusted, and with artificial feeding – give the baby only hypoallergenic formulas based on split proteins.
A complementary food can be made up of minced boiled meat, mashed fruit and vegetables without salt or sugar.
The menu for children over 2 years of age is similar to that for adults. Sweets should not be given; they can be replaced by dried fruit.
Folk treatment for seborrhea
Treatment of seborrheic dermatitis with folk remedies depends on the form of the disease.
Recipes for oily seborrhea:
- Oak bark. pour 1 tbsp dry bark in 500 ml water, boil for 15 minutes and leave to infuse for half an hour under a lid.
- Burdock. 2 tbsp. dried ground root pour a glass of boiling water, insist 1 hour, then strain.
- Aloe. Squeeze the juice from the aloe leaves and mix with alcohol in a 1:5 ratio.
For dry seborrhea:
- Sea Buckthorn. Crush 1 tbsp of the berries, combine with 6 tbsp olive oil and heat through diluting with fresh sea buckthorn juice until the mixture turns orange. Apply to skin 1 time 3 days for 1 month. Repeat if necessary.
- Pimson. grind 2 tbsp. dried flowers of tansy to powder and brew with a glass of boiling water. Infuse for 30 minutes, then massage into the skin. Wash off after 40 minutes.
- Meadowsweet. pour 100g of rhizomes, soak for 5 hours. Rinse your hair with this infusion 3 times a week after washing. A course of 15 treatments.
The resulting compositions should be applied daily to the affected area for 3 months. Herbal decoctions can be used to rinse hair after washing.
Good nutrition is an important part of the treatment of seborrhoea. Even after recovery, you should not abuse prohibited foods, especially in the first 1-2 months. This will prevent a recurrence.
I was fortunate enough to never suffer from acne or any of its associated issues. I had a pimple here and there during my teenage years, but after that, my skin was remarkably clear. Even as I entered my 20s, I was still blessedly blemish-free – the good skin genetics lottery had apparently paid off in full for me.
That all changed when I turned 30. For some reason (the jury’s still out on why), a few weeks before my birthday last year, I woke up with an angry red rash all over my face. It looked like a combination of eczema and rosacea (spoiler alert: it actually was both). My dermatologist diagnosed me with seborrheic dermatitis, aka seborrhea or SD for short. In this post, we’ll explore what seborrhea is; how to tell if you have it; how it can be managed through diet and lifestyle changes; and finally, what your treatment options are if you choose not to make those dietary shifts first.
remove all dairy
You should remove all dairy from your diet. Dairy products are commonly known to be a trigger for seborrheic dermatitis, and many people are not aware that these triggers can be hidden in many foods. In fact, some people find that they are able to tolerate small amounts of dairy but not large amounts. It is best to avoid all forms of dairy while you try this diet because it’s easier than figuring out what works and what doesn’t work on a case-by-case basis.
remove eggs, poultry and meat
- Remove eggs, poultry and meat from your diet. Eggs, poultry and meat are all inflammatory, which means that they increase the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the body (36). Ovoalbumin is a protein that is found in the white of an egg and is a known allergen. This means that it causes an immune response, leading to inflammation in your skin (37).
- Drink plenty of water every day – at least 2 liters per day
- Avoid sugary foods or beverages – these can trigger seborrheic dermatitis flares on the face or scalp
remove peanuts, nuts, seeds and all products with them
If you have seborrheic dermatitis on the scalp or face and are trying to get a handle on it, there are several things that you should do. One of those things is to remove peanuts, nuts, seeds and all products with them. It’s important because these foods can trigger an inflammatory response in the body which causes flare-ups of seborrheic dermatitis.
Conclusion
What is seborrheic dermatitis? It is a type of skin condition that occurs when the body produces too much oil or when there are dry areas on the scalp. In some cases, it can be caused by a bacterial infection such as staphylococcus aureus which causes pimples and abscesses to form under the skin of people with this problem.
