My Psoriasis Diet That Really Works (Before & After Pics)

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Last Updated on May 28, 2024

I was plagued with scalp psoriasis for about 30 years. I tried everything natural and even broke down and used steroid cream when I just couldn’t take it anymore. I continued searching for a cure and tried various diets to put my psoriasis into remission. I finally scored accidentally when I was treating a gut infection, and I’ve been able to cure my psoriasis through diet! Read on to learn about my psoriasis diet and how I put it onto 100% remission.

Psoriasis: My Story

I grew up on processed foods and had a terrible diet lacking nutrients. I was also genetically predisposed to autoimmune disorders, although we didn’t understand all that back then.

My first psoriasis patch appeared when I was about ten years old, on the back of my neck. My mom was instructed to buy OTC steroid cream, like Cortaid. I grew up putting cream on my psoriasis quite frequently (which I am sure resulted in further health issues).

Eventually when I became an adult it started to spread to areas beyond my scalp, but thankfully it mostly stayed hidden in my hair.

I was very self-conscious of wearing my hair short or pulled up because of the red patches. I also had to avoid dark colored clothing due to psoriasis flakes.

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What is Psoriasis?

Psoriasis is a common autoimmune disorder that speeds up the life cycle of skin cells. It causes cells to build up rapidly on the surface of the skin. The extra skin cells form scales and red patches that are often painful and itchy.

My psoriasis often burned and caused excruciating pain! The itch on top of it made it unbearable at times.

Normally your skin grows new cells, and old ones die off. Well, with psoriasis, this process goes into overdrive. Your immune system has started a chain reaction causing skin cells to grow too quickly.

Learning About Psoriasis

I was in my thirties when I learned that psoriasis was an autoimmune disease. I had binged on some spicy green sauce my husband made, pouring it all over everything for days. It was amazing!

My patch of scalp psoriasis spread like fire and felt like it too! My husband made the connection and wondered if spicy food could have caused that to happen. I wasn’t convinced, but I decided to look into it.

That’s when I discovered the connection to food, gut health and autoimmune disease.

Typical psoriasis treatment will have you taking medication that suppresses your immune system to stop it from attacking itself, thus easing your psoriasis symptoms.

But medication wasn’t something I wanted to take, and even if I did, we didn’t have traditional insurance (we belong to Christian Healthcare Ministries and love it!). Immunosuppressants are SO EXPENSIVE!

Autoimmune Protocol

After doing my own research I met with a nutritionist who started me on the autoimmune protocol, which is an anti-inflammatory diet with a focus on eating anti-inflammatory foods in hopes of healing my health conditions and
severe psoriasis.

I was a strict follower of the dietary changes and had high hopes my chronic condition would clear up, and it did a little, but it was always still there.

After years of trying different diets and supplements I still had psoriasis. When I tried a different way of eating or cut foods out, I never cheated. I guess I discovered I am not a quitter and have self-control!

Accidental Discovery

In late 2021 I started having stomach issues. I had also been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis along the way.

My functional medicine doctor ran a series of tests, and we discovered I had a high level infection of h. Pylori. So I started drinking Matula Tea for h. Pylori and taking some other supplements.

Once such supplement was BrocElite, which contains Sulforaphane. The gut infection also cause me to have terrible acid reflux, so I had to focus on eating alkaline foods and cut acidic foods out of my diet.

On top of my strict diet, within one week of following the regimine for h.Pylori, my joint pain disappeared and my psoriasis completley cleared up!

Pairing my existing healthy diet with cutting out all acidic foods plus taking BrocElite seemed to be the last missing puzzle piece in my healing of psoriasis.

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Psoriasis Before and After Photos

Here are my before and after pics. Sadly, I didn’t take a better photo ten years ago when the first one on the left was taken.

The inflamed red patches that you see on my neck extended into my entire scalp and creases of my ears. It was so terribly painful!

My Beginning Diet for Psoriasis

After being on the AIP diet to some extent for several years, I had reintroduced many foods.

Here’s what my diet looked like when I started:

Whole foods only, no processed food or junk foods
High-quality, lean protein and wild-caught, fatty fish
Organic vegetables and low-sugar fresh fruit, lots of dark leafy greens (I ate a lot of root vegetables)
Healthy fats like avocodos, olive oil, and grass-fed ghee
Nuts and plant-based milk, except cashews (triggered psoriasis flare-ups)
Seeds and seed spices
Beans and legumes
Raw cheese
Organic eggs
Beverages: filtered water, water kefir, kombucha, all types of tea

I had to avoid nightshade foods because it would cause psoriasis flares. Even whole grains caused my inflammatory condition to worsen, so I was strict with a gluten-free diet (no cheats!).

My Psoriasis Diet That Worked

I made some changes to my original psoriasis diet by cutting out acidic foods. Honestly, that wasn’t easy, but I was committed to healing my gut microbiota and curing this horrible skin condition!

I was already been convinced that the role of diet was huge in my healing journey, so it didn’t take much to convince me to make more changes.

I had to cut out:

garlic (including garlic powder)
tomatoes and peppers (I already avoided these nightshades)
onions (all types)
all types of vinegar
citrus fruits
red meat
pork
coffee
alcohol (I wasn’t a drinker anyhow, but do enjoy a good glass of red wine)
carbonated beverages, including water kefir and kombucha
all fermented foods (highly acidic)
dairy

I stuck to that diet for over a year without cheating. My psoriasis remained gone and never came back!

If you are confused about what I ate and didn’t eat, I included a summary below to help you understand.

Psoriasis Diet in Maintenance

After a full year of no symptoms of psoriasis, I slowly reintroduced acidic foods, except nightshades.

If you read the beginning of my story, you’ll recall that a binge on a spicy green sauce loaded with nightshades was what made me realize psoriasis was influenced by foods.

I remained afraid of nightshades!

I tried to bring back grass-fed, organic beef but my body just doesn’t like it. Sadly, I blow up with inflammation.

After about one year and nine months of being psoriasis free, I tried tomatoes. To my surprise, I did NOT get a psoriasis flare up! I waited a month and had tomatoes again without flaring it up.

Since then I have had tomatoes about five times and I continue to remain psoriasis-free!

Today this is what my psoriasis maintenance diet looks like:

Whole foods only, no processed foods (an exception would be Simple Mills boxed baking mixes)
Organic chicken, turkey and wild-caught seafood (no beef or pork)
Organic vegetables and fruit (I don’t watch the sugar as much)
Nuts and plant-based milk (I can even eat cashews in moderation now!)
Seeds and seed spices
Beans and legumes
Raw cheese
Organic whole milk yogurt
Organic eggs
Beverages: filtered water, water kefir, kombucha, all types of tea
Acidic foods (YAY!) I was able to bring them back!

Psoriasis Diet Summary

Here’s what I did and recommend when starting the path of putting psoriasis into remission through diet.

Cut out all processed foods.
Go on an elimination diet for at least three months, but not longer than six months, to find your food triggers. Everyone is different, and an elimination diet can help you find trigger foods that cause a worsening of symptoms.
Get a food intolerance test done and eliminate the foods your body doesn’t like for a time. I prefer Genova or ALCAT tests.
Eat a diet rich in vegetables and low-sugar fruit.
Stick to organic chicken, turkey, and wild-caught seafood.
Eliminate gluten and all grains.
Eliminate nightshades (tomatoes, white potatoes, and peppers). We have a free nightshade foods chart.
Eat an alkaline diet and avoid all acidic foods. You can print a free acidic and alkaline food chart to help you get started.
Take a good probiotic to help reapir your gut. My healthcare provider had me taking Mega Sporebiotic.
Drink LOTS of water!

When cutting out acidic foods, I found the Acid Watcher’s Diet to be helpful! An alkaline diet encourages you to consume foods that are alkaline in nature, meaning their pH level is above 7, as opposed to those which are acidic.

Supporting Your Body Through Psoriasis

Some of the other things I found to be helpful are doing a full-body detox, a parasite cleanse and taking Earthley’s Black Liver Oil and BrocElite.

Also, colon hydrotherapy can be super helpful in clearing out toxins from your body.

I encourage you to keep a food journal as you make these lifestyle changes. It can be helpful in determining what foods your body doesn’t like.

It’s also great to make sure you add regular exercise to your daily routine, get adequate sleep, and reduce stress.

In addition, be sure that you read the labels on any dietary supplements that may contain trigger foods.

Final Thoughts on Healing Psoriasis Through Diet

Keep in mind that foods that cause flare-ups of psoriasis can be unique to each individual. It’s important to find out if anything you are eating could be making your skin condition worse. Food intolerance tests are a great place to start!

It’s also important that psoriasis patients address any underlying conditions such as gut infections and out-of-whack microbiomes that could prevent healing from taking place.

Speaking with your health care provider or registered dietitian and having some tests done is a great place to start.

Conventional medicine will tell you there is no cure for psoriasis. That may be true, but I am super thankful that changing my diet worked to heal my psoriasis!