Dry Eyes and Skin

nickymaire

I'm currently half way through a whole 30 but I've been having issues with dry skin and eyes.

I went on holiday before my whole 30 and ate a lot of sugary treats :blushing: . As a result I had dry skin, patches of eczema on my hand, dry eyes and bad acne breakouts.... no surprises there. So I got back home and in the few days of cleaning up my diet before starting my whole 30 I notices advanced improves in my skin. Since starting whole 30 my acne is gone yay ....but after a week all the problems started coming back.

Today my skin is dry, my fingers are like prunes, and skin on my body is tight, itchy and flaky. I have been using coconut oil and fatty cream as moisturiser and I have been eating plenty of fats. No other issues apart from the dry skin and eyes. Diary is open.

My BF is currently overseas but also doing a whole 30 (so eating totally different foods to me) but he is having similar issues.

Ideas....

justaspoonfulofsugar

I would post on the whole 30 site and ask the forums there.They have really good moderators or you could like their page on fb and ask them there.
I have eczema as well but during whole 30's I have never had an issue,mine has only improved.
Do you take coconut oil internally aside from eating it in cooking?
Perhaps something is working it's way through your system,maybe it's something you are eating and you are sensitive to it and it's only coming out now?
Enough water?

nickymaire

I did check the whole 30 forum before I posted here, someone else had the same issue but no one bothered to respond to their question.

justaspoonfulofsugar

Ah,that's crappy.I hope you get it figured out soon..I am feeling overly dry skin atm but I think it's from the heat coming on..hate the electric heat in winter

justaspoonfulofsugar

I posted on the fb page and no replies yet…let's see if anyone gets back to me

degan2011

In light of what you have said, I would imagine that your skin issues have nothing (or very little) to do with your diet. i would seek medical assistance.

justaspoonfulofsugar

The whole 30 team responded to my query and this was what they said
" - take a look at what has changed since you started your Whole30. Have you cut back on your fats without meaning to (many primal folks get a lot of their fat from dairy sources, which are removed during a Whole30)? Have you added in more nuts or eggs (both known to be skin-issue triggers for many)?"

Akimajuktuq

I developed some skin issues this year. 1. a rash in my eyelid crease. 2. skin bumps. They happened before W30. I think the rash was fungal and the skin bumps contact dermatitis. I suspect I may be too low in a certain nutrient. In the last week the skin bumps cleared up and the rash is improving.

I agree about fats; make sure you get enough. Also some people suggest that sometimes skin problems are toxins leaving the body.

kerrylee54

I am on day 16 - and have had similar problems the last few days. I had similar problems at this point in my first Whole 30 as well - it did clear up within a few days.

I did closely examine my diet - and I think the amount of fat I have been consuming the past few days is lower - also, my water intake has diminished over the past week. I am going to refocus on those two issues and think/hope the skin issues will clear up.

Dragonwolf

I'm currently half way through a whole 30 but I've been having issues with dry skin and eyes.

I went on holiday before my whole 30 and ate a lot of sugary treats :blushing: . As a result I had dry skin, patches of eczema on my hand, dry eyes and bad acne breakouts.... no surprises there. So I got back home and in the few days of cleaning up my diet before starting my whole 30 I notices advanced improves in my skin. Since starting whole 30 my acne is gone yay ....but after a week all the problems started coming back.

Today my skin is dry, my fingers are like prunes, and skin on my body is tight, itchy and flaky. I have been using coconut oil and fatty cream as moisturiser and I have been eating plenty of fats. No other issues apart from the dry skin and eyes. Diary is open.

My BF is currently overseas but also doing a whole 30 (so eating totally different foods to me) but he is having similar issues.

Ideas....

It might be worth cutting out the eggs, nuts, and tomatoes for a while and see if that makes a difference. Eggs and nuts are known allergens for some people, and tomatoes are nightshades, which some people don't tolerate. If it makes a difference, you can reintroduce them, one at a time and about a week apart, and see if you can find which one is the trigger.

Another thought may be to drop the protein goal a little bit, and add the difference to fat. I see in your diary that you're weight lifting, which is great, but you should only need about .8-1g per pound of lean body mass (given your calorie intake even with working out, I suspect that you're not 150lbs and at 20% body fat, which is about as low weight as you can get to require 120g of protein, and larger sizes need more calories in general, but with no other data point, I could very easily be wrong). This will give your body more fat to naturally moisturize your skin with.

nickymaire

Thanks guys,

Dragonwolf, I never both to worry about my protein I have no idea if i eat enough or too much but it's normally always well under. And I purposely make sure I'm in the red with fats...i've set my fats goal as a minimum and every day I go over.

I am eating a lot of nuts but nothing has changed there I always eat them. I am trying to avoid nightshades... I was limiting myself to 4 cherry tomatoes in a day but I won't be having any more cos I've run out.

Skin is starting to get better I added coconut oil/milk to my tea to add fats.