When Springtime Turns Into Flare Season

Welcome and Spring Flare Overview 0:00

Hey team, welcome back to the eczema kids podcast. If your child's exima is flaring right now and you feel like you're doing everything right and You've cleaned up their diet and your outside more and Your doing your best to be healthy and their skin is somehow worse. I want you to hear this. It is not random It's not that what you are doing isn't working and it's that your is just sensitive and have to deal with it forever. There's a big reason that this is happening right now because spring, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is the season that is supposed to feel fresh and healing, but it's actually the most stressful season on the body.

You've got the pollen in air and the grasses in here, and you've histamine rising, you got immune system working overtime that Seasonal shift is a challenging immune time for everyone, but if you've noticed, maybe you caught a cold recently and my goodness, the weather has been so crazy. I'm in Denver, it was 90 degrees today in March. There's that. That's not doing our immune system any favors because it's going bonkers thinking, what am I supposed to be doing right now? And at the same time, our body's job in spring is to clear everything that was built up over the winter.

So if your child is flaring right, now this is not a coincidence and spring, is just a high load season on the body. And today I'm going to walk you through exactly what's, going on and how to feed your kids during the season so their skin can start to calm back down instead of spiraling further. Let's get into it. Is your child struggling with itchy nights and endless flare-ups? I'm Andrea McHugh, mom of four and host of Eczema Kids. Here you'll find natural solutions that actually work so you can heal your childhood eczemat without steroids, without the overwhelm and finally see calm,

Skin Comfort Trio Introduction 1:51

healthy skin again. Lets get in to it! Team, if your child's skin is flaring right now, I want you to start the Skin Comfort Trio. That's what I used when my own kids were in the thick of severe, severe eczema, bleeding head to toe, skin just peeling off by the pound, not sleeping, no smiling, now walking. They were up all night itching when their skin was red and inflamed. This is what started to do and that's when I started implement what's now known as the skin comfort trio and it made all the difference in the world.

First, we started getting a little bit more sleep every night and then longer and longer stretches. And then some smiles were brought back to their day to day. Then I could set down my baby for longer periods because she wasn't itching herself raw. It helps calm the skin so that their body can actually start to heal. Its not the full solution, but it gives their skin a break and that matters much more than you think. You can grab the Skin Comfort Trio along with all the other non-toxic organic eczema healing products at examakids.com or you can follow the link in the show notes.

Okay, I want to talk about what's actually happening during the springtime because we're circadian beings and we are 100% connected to the environment

Why Spring Triggers Eczema 3:04

and what is going on outside of our windows and doors. And so I want to zoom out because if you don't understand what's happening inside your child's body right now, you'll keep reacting instead of responding. In Ayurveda, spring is traditionally a heavy, damp, congested sort of season. Like, let's think about what is happening on the outside or what should be happening. Outside during this season, the snow is melting and the ground is wet. And then things are moving again. That same thing is happening inside the body.

Everything that was stored and stagnant in the winter starts to melt and move. Then you layer in modern life. The pollen is everywhere. Kids are outside more. Hooray. Histamine levels rise and the immune system gets hyper activated. And then we add in one more layer because kids with eczema have already a sensitive immune and a reactive gut and body that is overwhelmed systemically. So now we have environmental load, internal clearing, and external sensitivity. And that's a lot for a little body that is already in such a compromised state.

When the body can't process all of that efficiently, it pushes it out through the skin. And that's when you see more itching and more redness and random flares and reactions to foods that were fine before. Or it just seems like they're more reactive in general. And then parents get confused and they think, what changed? And where did I go wrong? The answer is the season changed. I mean, everyone is experiencing this. immune shift during every season change when it changes from winter to spring though specifically because of all the things that I just said is asking our bodies to adapt to a lot and unfortunately if you're experiencing eczema you just don't have the resiliency you don' have them mitochondrial energy to combat that shift.

So for right now, just while you're experiencing eczema, but it gets better because you can heal it naturally and then this won't be an issue anymore. But this is where I want you to shift your thinking because most families respond to this in one of two ways. They either clamp down harder on food when they start to see their child flare or they loosen everything because they're just overwhelmed and it doesn't feel like anything they are doing is actually working anyway. And neither of those solves the problem at all, because the problems isn't the food, it's the body that's overloaded.

So instead of, what else do I need to remove? I want you to think, how can I support my child's body best right now?

How to Support the Body With Food 5:57

Because when what's happening on the outside and what is happening inside don't match, they don' mesh, that is when symptoms show up, when they intensify. So while food isn't the whole story, not in the slightest, it's also one of the biggest levers you have during this season because digestion is already tied to immune function and histamine response and inflammation. And when the digestion gets overwhelmed, everything backs up. So what we're doing with food right now is making it easier for the body to keep up, so spring, is not the time for extremes.

And it's also not time the for raw foods. Raw everything, especially. Just not too much raw food, right? Not cold things. If you ask the body to digest cold, raw, foods, you're asking it to expend more energy than it has. Then these little bodies already have, if they're experiencing eczema and their body is working so hard to keep their skin barrier, intact and safe, and just by serving warm cooked food, you're doing the stomach acid such a service. The request on the body is so much less, just my cooking, by just serving things warm.

So we want to do that during this heavy cold season. and we don't want to overdo on super heavy meals that sit in the gut. No, this is the season where traditionally it's a little lighter in meat, especially red meat that's little heavier in vegetarian proteins like beans. We want to lighten the load, but certainly without underfeeding them. So what this looks like with real food, because I want make this super practical, cause I know you're feeding kids with, real preferences. And I do the same every day and I did the the while two of them were suffering from severe, severe eczema.

But my go-to meal for this time of year is khichri. It's warm, it's simple, its easy to digest, and it is incredibly calming for the gut. If your child is flaring or things feel out of control, this is such a good reset meal. Its commonly baby's first food in India. Basically, just split mung beans with rice and then digestive spices. So easy. You can add in lots of other vegetables. You could add some coconut yogurt and some lime. It tastes really good when you add a little extra stuff. I mean, the Kitcherie Bowl is your oyster, guys.

And if you haven't ever heard of it, look it up. A whole bunch of recipes on my Instagram and social channels, my Facebook page. Like I said, it's very easy and it really is calming. Lamb meatballs is another one because I love that they're grounding without being overly heavy. And lamb, while it's, I mean, seemingly red meat food, it digests differently than cow. It's in season during this time, because this is when the babies are born, right?

Spring-Friendly Meals and Foods 9:00

There are lambs, so these are great. They're really easy to work in a little bit of extra nutrition. You can always sprinkle a My voice just intuitively went softer when I said that. I don't want, don' t tell my kids I do this all the time. And onion and garlic and some really good mineral salt and you can make this into a really healing solid good meal without overwhelming the digestion by any means. Pesto pasta is another easy, quick, spring-friendly meal that goes over really well around here.

It's super easy to make. I love the jovial brown rice noodles. And you can make a pesto with green peas and tahini and some garlic. You can add in some hemp seeds for protein. This comes together really, really fast. Again, it goes Chicken and herbs is another one. It's just simple meals like chicken and zucchini and carrots and Herbs like basil, thyme, garlic. That's what we're going for. We don't want these big complicated meals. So other really great spring foods to lean into asparagus, zucchini, fresh herbs, Garlic scapes are a really good one just light fruits like berries those naturally support the body during this season and Like I said, if you are reacting to the change in season, bringing in these foods really does help the pendulum come back toward neutral by just incorporating these seasonal balancing foods into your meals.

So with that, we're pulling back on, If you haven't already, heavy dairy, certainly extra sugar. I know Easter's right around the corner. It's one more holiday where it's just a sugar fest. We're going to do our best there. Processed foods, we're gonna do your best to have just fresh nourishing foods and not too many foods at once. And this is, again, a bonus. For us mere mortal parents, it doesn't need to have a lot of ingredients. You don't have to a recipe. It can be just simple, dependable. Warm food is honestly the best you can do here.

And I'm well aware, I live in the real world too, and I know that sometimes this comes with a lots of pressure, but you aren't. doing this in a vacuum. I just want to reassure you, I know you have school and activities and birthday parties and all the other things, but this isn't about perfection at all. It's about being intentional most of the time, that 80% of time you can cook this way.

Eczema Elimination Method and Next Steps 11:45

The 20% won't matter as much. You know, your child is just in need of enough structure so that their body can actually start to stabilize in the face of this super big immune assault that is spring. That is the season change. And I want to let you know guys, this is exactly what we do inside the eczema elimination method. We don't say, Don't eat this, do eat that. We show you exactly what to feed your child, how to structure your meals, How to work in routine stacks that work for you, for your schedule, your family.

How do we adjust with the seasons, move them, most importantly, out of this reactive cycle. This can't continue. You can continue to live in this state of exhaustion. Your kids can not continue in the state misery anymore. We need to have a plan. we have to stop guessing and we need a secure plan that doesn't have any long-term consequences. Everything that I ask you to do is never going to be something that one, I haven't done myself and two, it's not going be unhealthy. I know the lore of pharmaceuticals and steroids is it can fix it fast, and sometimes it does.

And then once you wean off of that prescription, a lot of times the eczema comes back even stronger with more vigor. I knew when I was handed my steroid prescriptions for my kids, as miserable as our lives were in that moment, I knew applying them that we were kicking the can down the road if we we're to use them. And every case is different and everyone's circumstances different. When you sign on with the eczema elimination method, you get three one-on-one calls. They're spaced out a month apart.

You get a full-size healing box. you Get full access to the method.You get an individualized plan, a holistic plan for every area of your life, because that's what it demands. Because no two cases are the same, but there are patterns. And my guarantee to you is that I will work with you until you are out of this itch-flare cycle. That we will continue to refine and adapt and observe and test when needed. We will do everything that we need to do to get your kid from itchy and miserable to clear, calm skin and the energy to just be a kid.

So if your child is playing right now, start with the Skin Comfort Trio. It helps calm the skin immediately, so everything else you're doing can actually start to work. And if you are really ready to tackle this, to get ahead of this so this no longer plagues your children or your family any longer, That's all inside the eczema elimination method. You can find both of those links inside The Show Notes or you can go to examakids.com directly and you'll find it there. And if this episode helped you in any way, friends, I would love it if you left a review.

It helps more parents find this and start healing their kids too in a natural way without any long-term consequences. If you do take the minute to leave a review for the podcast, I will personally send you a 30% off coupon that you can use inside the eczema shop. Take care, friends. I'll talk to you next week. Thank you for helping with my eczema. Love you. Thank You for listening today, friend. I know healing your child's skin isn't easy, but you're doing it one smart step at a time. If this episode gave you a little hope or a better night's sleep, leave a quick review so more exhausted parents can find exima kids and finally rest easy too.

Follow, share and let's help more kids heal. Take care.