If you believe that psoriasis is a super complex disorder and concepts like diet change and lifestyle change can’t help you, then I would request you to please check the real life experiences of people (posted on this blog) and discover how they are living a far better life with change in diet and lifestyle.
Click here to read: Real life story of Psoriasis healing of an Indian couple
The extent of healing would definitely depend upon a number of factors:
- Severity of the problem
- Family support
- Most importantly, your own will power and determination.
What is Dr Pagano’s treatment regimen
Dr John Pagano’s book Healing Psoriasis- The Natural alternative is a familiar name for most of the internet savvy people suffering from psoriasis. In this book, Dr John Pagano has proposed a natural way of healing psoriasis by suitable changes in your diet and lifestyle. We would be discussing in detail his treatment regimen, particularly the very famous Dr Pagano diet for psoriasis.
Understanding the treatment
I have always believed that we shouldn’t jump into any treatment regimen instantaneously; rather we should understand the principle concept of that treatment. And if convinced, only then we should give it a try. Understanding the concept will make sure that we would give it an honest try without quitting it in between. Otherwise, it is a common scenario that people (suffering from psoriasis) would just jump start a treatment regimen hoping for some miraculous results and then quit it in between without giving it proper time to show some results.
This story continues and you feel yourself at the same point from where you started or even worse even after trying so many things.
To avoid such an undesired scenario, I have tried to write a detailed article covering almost all the aspects of Dr Pagano’s treatment regimen which we all should know before starting the actual treatment.
Tips for getting successful results
- This diet program is not that easy. It is quite strict actually. Hence, it is not easy to follow it religiously. Actually, it is almost close to impossible to follow all the diet rules. But, we should not feel sad for that. Rather, we should make efforts to follow the diet program as closely as possible. After all, doing something is better than doing nothing at all.
- In my own experience, if you can follow the relatively easier 70-80% rules of this diet (and skip the most difficult rules), you would be getting more than 80% healing benefits. Hence, don’t try for perfection and try to follow the diet program as closely as possible.
- Patience is the key. One patient may start seeing visible results in a few weeks while for the other one, it may take a few months to show similar results. Hence, one of the most important ingredients for success with this diet regimen is PATIENCE.
- Some patients might experience worsening of their psoriasis symptoms initially. It might be due to flushing out of toxins from your body in a rapid manner. Hence, no need to panic and no need to quit the diet regimen. Just keep on walking on this journey of natural healing.
- The patient should not feel stressed or sad because of this somewhat strict diet regimen. They should think about people with diabetes or food allergy problems because these people also follow similar or even stricter diet regimen for lifetime in most of the cases. Hence, patient should follow this diet regimen with a positive frame of mind.
- Developing positive thinking is very important. From the very first day, patient should focus on positive things and should refrain from the influence of negative incidents and thoughts
What causes Psoriasis
According to Dr Pagano:
- The cause of psoriasis lies in the gut, not skin. Accumulation of toxins in your body over an extended period of time would increase the level of toxins beyond limit and your body would detoxifies through your skin causing psoriasis flakes to appear. Hence, Psoriasis is external manifesto of your body’s attempt to flush out internal body toxins.
Click here to read: Why detoxification is important for psoriasis healing
- Modern medical science (medicines that your dermatologist would recommend) mainly suppress the physical symptoms of psoriasis and don’t do much to heal the internal body matters because cause of psoriasis is still a mystery for them.
Dr Pagano’s 3 D’s approach
Dr Pagano explains these 3 D’s as:
- Detoxification– You have to eliminate all internal body toxins and then make sure not to accumulate any of those toxins again. The food that you eat along with your lifestyle generate toxins in your body which are flushed off by various body organs involved in the elimination of body toxins.
If your body is heavily loaded with toxins beyond accepted limits, then these increased amounts of body toxins would seep through your damaged intestine walls (damaged due to chronic indigestion and over activity) into your blood. It is called as Leaky gut syndrome. Purification of blood is carried out by the liver and kidney. If the toxin is too high leaving those organs (liver and kidney) overloaded, then your skin would come to rescue and flush off those toxins causing psoriasis flakes and rashes on your skin. Hence, a thorough detoxification of the body to eliminate all those deep rooted toxins from your body and then making sure not to add any more body toxins is the basis of this treatment. - Diet– Dr Pagano diet for psoriasis mainly focuses on eliminating all foods which are- hard to digest; allergic and highly acidic in nature. We have to replace these foods with easily digestible, alkaline foods which are non allergic in nature.
- Determination– A strong display of determination and patience is of prime importance in achieving the best possible results. Sometimes, a patient would show encouraging results within a month while another patient would need to stick to this regimen for more than 3 months to show some visible results. Hence, a deep sense of trust, determination and patience is required.
The six basic steps of treatment
Treatment regimen consists of 6 basic steps:
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Internal body cleansing
Eliminating toxins accumulated over the years in colon and other body parts (liver and intestinal tract) involved in the digestion process. Internal body cleansing is done by following a 3 day apple diet. You would be eating only apples for these 3 days. Eat reddish or yellowish sweet apples as much as you want for 3 days. After this apple diet, colon cleansing is done. You can take help from a medical professional for colon cleansing or you can opt for home enemas as well. The choice is yours. Home enemas should be done under supervision. Regular bowel movements are very important. You have to avoid constipation at any cost.
Click here to read: Constipation can worsen your Psoriasis
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Proper diet (Dr Pagano diet for Psoriasis)
You have to re-establish the optimum body pH level by eating alkaline and acid forming foods in the ratio 75:25. It means you have to eat more alkaline foods. Also, cutting down on food like white sugar, dairy products, citrus fruits, refined white flour. Complete elimination of nightshades (white potato, tomato, pepper, eggplant). Consuming fresh green vegetables and permitted fruits in liberal quantities.
Detailed instructions are explained below:
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Food products to be eliminated
> DO NOT OVER EAT
> Red meat and processed meat like pepperoni and sausage (lamb is allowed)
> Shell fish (shrimp, crab and lobster) and other dark colored fish (light colored and white varieties of fish are acceptable. Tuna fish is also allowed)
> Highly fried and fatty foods (use cooking methods which consume less oils like- baking, poaching, broiling. Stir- frying with little oil is also a good option. Deep frying is not allowed)
> Coffee, caffeinated drinks, sweetened carbonated drinks, soda drinks (if you are addicted to coffee, take decaffeinated coffee, but in small quantity)
> Refined white flour products like white bread and bakeries
> White sugar is strictly prohibited. All foods with a good amount of white sugar are banned (use honey instead)
> Canned flavored drinks are not allowed
> Nightshades- Tomato, white potato, eggplant, chili pepper, cayenne pepper, capsicum and paprika (Sweet potatoes and black pepper are acceptable in small quantity)
> Processed and artificially flavored food items
> Alcohol and smoking (tobacco is also a nightshade)
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Food products to be consumed in limited quantity
> We have to re-maintain Optimum body pH of around 7.4 (slightly alkaline) by consuming more alkaline forming food and less acid forming food (ratio 75:25). Hence, we have to cut down on the intake of whole grains like wheat, barley, white rice etc. These whole grains are acid forming in general. But they provide us necessary nutrients and energy. Hence, no need to eliminate them, but do consume them in controlled quantity. Brown rice is preferable over white rice.
> Consume dairy products in restricted quantities. Be smart by picking low fat or non fat varieties of milk, cheese and yogurt etc.
> Use little quantity of oil for cooking and frying.
> Use protein rich food like poultry, fish and tofu in small quantity. Vegetarian people do take a note that various cereals are also rich in protein. Hence, consume cereals in limited quantity.
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Food products to be consumed a lot
> Dr Pagano’s diet regimen considers fruits as cleansers and vegetables as builders. Hence consume green vegetables, fruits and freshly prepared green juices extracted from permitted vegetables and fruits liberally. GO GREEN is the mantra here. This book recommends drinking carrot and celery juice every day. Fresh cucumber, carrot, broccoli, celery, onion, ginger, garlic, apples, avocado, ripe papaya, – all are good.
> For cooking, olive oil is highly recommended as it is good for intestine. Also, you can use olive oil for salad dressing and you can consume it directly as well.
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> Drink enough water. Water helps in flushing out the body toxins.
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Drinking herbal teas and omega 3 fatty acid supplements
Slippery Elm bark tea in the morning and Saffron tea in the evening is advised. Also, Mullein and Chamomile are good as well. These herbal teas help in intestinal tract cleaning and aid in the digestion process. Also, consume omega 3 fatty acid supplements like flaxseed oil capsules or fish oil capsules.
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Corrective spinal adjustments
This book recommends taking help of a professional chiropractor to get corrective spinal adjustments. These spinal adjustments would help in healing intestine wall injuries to rebuild muscles and hence, aid in the digestion process. It would help in proper digestion of the food that you eat and smooth elimination of body toxins.
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Using natural/herbal creams, oils and shampoos
Using nature based herbal oils, creams and shampoos for topical application (external application on psoriasis patches) as well as during bathing. Steroids based pharma creams and shampoos are not good. Use natural alternatives like virgin coconut oil, aloe vera, neem, black cumin seed oil instead.
Read more: How to choose a Scalp Psoriasis Shampoo
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Positive attitude and stress free state of mind
Deep breathing, yoga, meditation can help you to maintain a calm and balanced attitude towards psoriasis and your life as a whole.
From where to buy this Book
I have tried my best to summarize the Pagano diet and treatment in this article. But, I would recommend you to have a copy of this book. You know, it is almost impractical to cover each and every aspect of a 330 pages book into a blog post. Moreover, when we are dealing with a complex disorder like psoriasis, self empowerment with good books is always helpful.
Buy this wonderful book at Amazon and choose among different versions, including paperback, hardcover and kindle: –
| USA readers | India readers | UK readers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Pagano's book | Click here | Click here | Click here |
Dr Pagano’s Psoriasis healing cookbook
The first thing that comes in your mind before even thinking to attempt this diet regimen is- how would you survive with all these dietary restrictions? In today’s time, most of the people are attracted towards processed foods which are ready to eat and tangy in taste. But, unfortunately, these foods are low in nutrition and put a lot of burden on your digestive system to process them.
To get success in this diet regimen, you have to give up on all these foods for a significant period of time. To make it possible, you need a lot of discipline, will power and a lot of tasty recipes with the foods that are allowed by Dr Pagano. Obviously, there are thousands of resources available on the Internet for you to discover recipes. You can browse them and choose the best ones for you.
Alternatively, you can get a copy of Dr Pagano’s psoriasis healing cookbook. This book is a genuine companion of the above book- Healing Psoriasis: The natural alternative. This book has about 300 kitchen tested recipes with nutritional facts. Soups, salads, meals, beverages, desserts- you would get recipes for all these categories. We all have spent enough money on overcoming psoriasis, hence, there is no harm in spending some on buying this book also.
Click on the below link to visit the Amazon page of this book:
| USA readers | India readers | UK readers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psoriasis healing cookbook | Click here | Click here | Click here |
Conclusion
Dr Pagano’s natural healing treatment has three main pillars- body detoxification to eliminate the accumulated toxins and then re-establish the smooth functioning of internal body metabolism by positive changes in your diet and lifestyle. Dr Pagano diet for psoriasis includes consuming more alkaline foods which are non allergic and easy to digest. Most importantly, you need to feel too stressed if you can’t follow all the rules strictly. It is my own experience that you can enjoy more than 80% healing benefits by following the comparatively easy to follow 70-80% diet rules.
thank you so much for all these great recommendations.