How Your Diet And Health May Be Affecting Your Psoriasis

Posted on: 2 February 2016

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Living with psoriasis can be painful, uncomfortable, and embarrassing; however, there are ways to reduce the common symptoms this skin disorder causes. Many people turn to medications and ointments for help, but what you may not realize is that your weight could be causing your symptoms to worsen. Losing weight and keeping your body at an average weight might actually help your psoriasis symptoms go away or at least lessen.

How does weight affect psoriasis?

Studies on the subject of how weight affects psoriasis show that overweight people tend to have more flare ups than people that are within normal weight averages. This is why your doctor might recommend losing weight as a way of treating your psoriasis if you are currently overweight.

There are two main steps you may need to take to achieve this. The first is changing your diet, which typically involves cutting out foods that are bad for you and eating more foods that are good for your health. The second step you may need to take is exercising, which is also a great way to lose weight.

You should realize that you can experience a decrease in psoriasis systems from exercising, even if you are not losing any weight from working out. Exercising is also good for your heart, and it may help improve your overall health, which in turn could help with the psoriasis symptoms you are experiencing.

Can certain foods trigger psoriasis?

Many people also believe that the types of foods you eat may affect the severity of psoriasis flare ups. For example, increasing the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables you consume may actually help decrease your psoriasis symptoms. Increasing the food items you eat that contain Omega-3 fatty acids could also help. Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids are helpful for improving the functions of the immune system and decreasing inflammation.

Another option is to eliminate dairy and gluten from your diet. Dairy foods are known for increasing inflammation in the body. Psoriasis symptoms worsen with inflammation, so cutting dairy products out of your diet might be extremely helpful.

Making certain lifestyle changes like these may help you control your psoriasis a little easier. In addition, you should also visit your doctor regularly to find out what else you can do to help ease the painful and uncomfortable symptoms you have from psoriasis. To learn more, schedule an appointment with a doctor or dermatologist like Henry D. McKinney M.D.