Eczema and Wheat Products

Let me start off by saying that this post is not any type of medical treatise; I am simply going to share with you my own experiences regarding eczema and wheat products. I am of the very humble opinion that the phrase “You are what you eat” is more than just a cool saying that reminds us to watch what we’re putting in our mouths; I believe that you can take it quite literally and be reasonably on track in terms of how you should conduct your eating habits.

I used to eat a gaggle of wheat products—I’m talking all kinds of stuff, from sliced bread, to bagels, to muffins, to focaccia bread, to various “hot pocket” type meals with heavy bread exterior, on and on. During this same time, my thighs would constantly break out in eczema, along with my waist (right around the belt line), and my rear end. It would be like fire on my skin, very uncomfortable. I sometimes felt like my diet may have too much bread, and I often wondered what would happen if I simply left off from eating all of those wheat products, but I simply loved them too much to actually do it. Meanwhile, the eczema stayed.

After a while, I started noticing that every time I would eat this certain kind of bagel—cinnamon raisin bagel from Lenders—not only would the eczema situation seem to flare up, but I would have what I called “lightning headaches”—it would be this extremely sharp, shooting pain going through my head. Sometimes it would be so intense that I would physically respond by grimacing or gritting my teeth. It was then that I started putting things together.

I decided to cut the bagels loose, along with the majority of the other wheat bread products I used to eat. Interestingly enough, my lightning headaches stopped, lo and behold, my eczema flare-ups became fewer and farther between. 

Image Source: Talk Health Partnership

Nowadays, I have almost completely cut wheat out of my diet, and I have very little (if any) eczema whatsoever. It has completely disappeared from my thighs, and I have one very small patch on my waist, on the back side, not even an inch in length. Now, I’m no expert, and I know that correlation may not equal causation, but hey, the bottom line is that once I cut out the majority of the wheat products, my eczema flare-ups greatly diminished.

If you think this might help you, I encourage you to try it. This is NOT medical advice, but it is just something to consider. That’s all. :)