How Changing My Diet Finally Stopped My Eczema Flare-Ups

In July 2023, we completely changed how we ate.

Every meal was cooked at home — breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The foods I had eaten for most of my life were replaced with whole foods: legumes, brown rice, steel cut oats, grains, vegetables, nuts, and fruits.

At the time, I thought the goal was simple — improve my cholesterol, lower my blood sugar, and get my health markers back under control. I didn’t realize this change would also help me discover the missing piece I had been searching for with my eczema.

The first 30 days were mostly about my body adapting.

My energy started improving, the afternoon crashes became less frequent, and my digestion began to change. The cravings for the foods I used to eat were still there, but something felt different.

My eczema, however, took more time.

After dealing with flare-ups for more than twenty years, I realized my body was not going to change overnight.

Around the 90-day mark, I started noticing small changes in my skin.

The flare-ups became less aggressive. The redness and irritation started calming down, and the constant feeling of heat I carried around my eyes, neck, and arms was slowly improving.

For the first time in years, it felt like my body was finally moving in the right direction.

My weight stabilized, and my relationship with food changed. I was no longer eating to excess but eating until I was full. Food was no longer just something that satisfied a craving. I started to understand that everything I consumed created a response.

My body was constantly giving me feedback.

At the 1-year mark, the difference was undeniable.

The dark patches on my back, inside my arms, and behind my legs started to fade. The intense itching at night was gone, and the chronic heat I felt under my skin had finally started to regulate.

Then I remembered what the gentleman in Chinatown told me almost twenty years earlier: “You need to cool your body down from the inside — it’s too hot.” At the time, I didn’t fully understand what he meant - now, I finally did.

My eczema did not permanently disappear, and I still experience flare-ups.

The difference now is that I learned to listen to my body and understand that my eczema was a signal — a way of communicating that something was out of balance.

After more than twenty years of searching for answers, I took my power back.

-- Coach GC

Why My Eczema Wouldn’t Go Away

For years, I tried to manage my eczema the only way I knew how - from the outside.

The herbal tea I received in Chinatown did provide a reprieve, but it didn’t last. Before long, I was back on the same cycle: some good weeks, some bad weeks, and no clear understanding of why.

Doctors gave me topical creams. I tried different oils and moisturizers. I switched to fragrance-free detergents; I experimented with cold showers and even sun exposure.

At times, these approaches helped manage the symptoms, but nothing ever truly solved the problem.

The flare-ups always came back. I was trying to solve my eczema externally when the issue was happening internally.

Sometimes I would close my eyes, and it felt like parts of my body were burning from the inside - around my eyes, my neck, and inside my arms.

Years passed like this, then in July of 2023, something changed....

I went in for my annual physical and the results showed elevated cholesterol, increased visceral fat, and something that immediately caught my wife’s attention - I was now showing pre-diabetic markers.

The A1C test reflects your average blood sugar over the prior 2–3 months. What we were looking at was my baseline - and it was elevated.

The next day, my wife made a decision.

❌ No more sugar

❌ No more eating out

That was the moment everything changed - we committed to cooking every meal at home: breakfast, lunch, and dinner - simple, fully plant-based, no shortcuts.

The goal was simple - bend the curve. We knew that with the right eating and exercise, it would realistically take the next 6–9 months to bring those numbers down.

At the time, I thought this was about my weight, my cholesterol, and my long-term health. I didn’t realize it would also have a big impact on my eczema.

In the next post, I’ll share what happened when we completely changed my diet and how it finally stopped my eczema flare-ups after more than 20 years.

-- Coach GC

My 20-Year Struggle with Eczema (And the Advice That Stayed with Me)

For more than twenty years I struggled with eczema. The flare-ups started in my late teens and followed me well into adulthood. Doctors told me this was simply something I would have to live with. They prescribed topical creams to help manage the flare-ups, but the underlying issue never seemed to improve. Some of my symptoms included red rashes around my eyes and neck, scaly skin, dark patches on my back and legs, and intense itching that often affected my sleep.

So, what exactly is eczema? According to the Cleveland Clinic, it is a type of dermatitis - a group of conditions that cause skin inflammation. Approximately 31 million Americans are impacted. The good news is that about half of all infants diagnosed with eczema eventually outgrow the condition or see significant improvement as they get older.

Well, I was not part of that lucky half.

As the years passed, I remember feeling demoralized watching my skin gradually get worse. I kept trying to rationalize why things seemed to be going backwards. Was it because I was getting older? Was it stress? Was it something I was eating? Or maybe environmental allergens? It was difficult to find the root cause because I would have stretches of good weeks followed by terrible weeks. There was no predictable pattern.

An Early Clue I Didn't Understand

Let’s go back in time for a minute.

In mid-2004 I took a trip to Los Angeles, my hometown, and visited Chinatown. At that point my eczema was completely out of control. I had a dark patch covering almost 40% of my back and shoulders.

Eastern alternatives were not exactly mainstream in the early 2000s, but I was willing to try anything to relieve my flare-ups.

I walked into an herbal medicine store on North Broadway where they sold and prescribed all kinds of teas and remedies. The store owner directed me to the back of the shop where I met an older gentleman who described himself as a doctor.

I explained my symptoms and showed him my skin. He examined it briefly and then said something very simple: “You need to cool your body down from the inside — it’s too hot.”

He prepared a tea package and instructed me to drink it for the next 14 days. At the time, I didn’t fully understand what he meant. The tea did provide a reprieve, but it didn’t last long. Eventually the flare-ups returned, and I found myself back on the same roller coaster of good weeks and bad weeks.

What he said stayed with me, but it wouldn’t fully make sense until many years later when I had access to more information and began learning about inflammation, nutrition, and how the body actually works.

For years I continued searching for answers.

In my next post, I’ll explain why none of the treatments I was trying were actually solving my eczema — and how I eventually realized the problem might not have been on the outside at all.

-- Coach GC