Miracle or Minerals ?

After a near 10-year struggle, now I feel that I can control Psoriasis completely. No medicines anymore. No creams anymore. No embarrassments anymore. No sleepless nights anymore. I have been updating this blog with what all I have been trying. Here is something that will force you to consider what I did to control Psoriasis.

Well, most of the Psoriatics might have come across Dead Sea salts sometime or the other. Many people plan holidays in Israel to make use of the Dead Sea and get rid of Psoriasis, albeit temporarily. Many people use Dead Sea salt soaps/bars to control Psoriasis. Now, have you ever wondered what’s in the Dead Sea that’s NOT in any other seas ? It seems that the salts in most seas are Sodium salt (NaCl or common salt) where as Dead Sea mostly contains Magnesium salts (like MgCl₂), and many other minerals. So minerals (like Magnesium, Calcium, Manganese etc. And minus Sodium) are what make Dead Sea a boon for Psoriatics.

Now, what about alkaline-forming food ? As discussed previously, it’s the mineral content in the food that makes it alkaline as opposed to acidic. Again, alkaline-forming diet has proved very effective in controlling Psoriasis in many patients.

I started thinking…. When minerals are applied to the skin (from outside), as in the case with Dead Sea salt soaps, skin gets cleaner…. When minerals are consumed (inside), skin gets cleaner…. Is it mineral deficiency that’s causing skin to develop scales (=psoriasis) ??

Dietary Changes

So, I wanted to give it a try with mineral-rich diet. Minerals are present in different vegetables and fruits. But the major part of our meals is grains. So I started looking at ways to get more minerals from grains. I started malting the grains as discussed in the previous post.

I reduced the intake of rice to just one meal per day. Instead, I started consuming Raagi in the morning. I have been eating roti/chapati made of Sorghum (called “Jawari” in Hindi, “Jonnalu” in Telugu) for dinner. I also tried roti/chapati made of Wheat. But constipation was alleviated with Sorghum. So now I consume Sorghum only.

Remember, all the grains have undergone the process of malting (=soaking the grains in water till the grains start to sprout, drying and then milling).

Does it end there ? The answer is NO.

By consuming Raagi, we only get Calcium. What we need is a balanced diet. We need all kinds of minerals. We also need all kinds of amino acids (~proteins). So it’s important to consume different kinds of grains.

The dal that we use for preparing Sambar etc. are processed. Bran is removed which leaves limited nutrients for us. So I started using whole pigeon peas (called “kandulu” in Telugu, NOT “kandi pappu”… “tuvar” in hindi and NOT “tuvar dal”) for dal and other preparations. The whole pigeon peas don’t work for Sambar. That’s a problem. But it works well for other preparations like “palak dal” and all other “thicker” preparations, if I can call it that way. It may not look as good as the dal made of split peas. But who cares. In fact, our eyes may not like it. But our skin and internal parts do like it.

Similarly, started using whole Mung bean (called “pesarlu” in Telugu and NOT “pesara pappu”).

So basically, it’s like using whole grains. Now if you do a bit of browsing on whole grains diet, people will complain that mineral-absorption is poor with whole-grains. But remember, they are talking about using the grains as they are. But we are malting the grains before use. That changes the whole complexion.

If you are still not convinced with the advantages of whole grains, then try google searches like “whole grains heart” or “whole grains diabetes” or simply “whole grains”.

Now, getting back to balanced diet… I have searched a lot of books and webpages, but found inconsistent data about mineral composition in different grains. Probably, it’s something to do with the mineral composition of soil etc. So except for Raagi which is for sure has lots of Calcium, I can’t really say which grains have good amount of Magnesium or other minerals. So its good to consume different kinds of grains to get required amount of Magnesium, Iron, Manganese, Copper and other minerals.

Seeds & Nuts

Seeds & Nuts doesn’t need to be soaked in Water.

Some of them that I am regularly consuming are:

• Sesame seeds (rich source of minerals… esp. black sesame seeds seems to be good for hair too)
• Almonds (for Vitamin-E)
• Walnuts (for Omega-3 fatty acid)

Enemas

Many people seem to be confused about this. Do we need it ? Well, Enema is an artificial method of keeping our colon clean. If you consume whole grains, esp. Sorghum (called “Jawari” in Hindi, “Jonnalu” in Telugu), then our colon will be kept clean naturally. So we don’t need enemas anymore.

Exercise

Does this mean that we don’t even have to workout ?

Unfortunately, the answer is NO. We need to workout at least 4 days a week. I do it like 2 days of walking/jogging and 2 days of Yoga asanas.

I strongly believe that all Psoriatics, including me, are lazy people. We need exercise to keep the blood pumping, to throw the toxin out, to get rid of constipation, to…. the list goes on…

Also, the latest surveys seem to indicate the Psoriatics are more prone to develop Type II Diabetes, heart complications etc. We need exercise. Period.

Supplements

Lazy people may be already thinking of Mineral supplements. But I would NOT try supplements when naturals ways (meaning whole grains, seeds etc) are available in India. Also, remember that whole grains doesn’t contain just minerals. Whole grains contain many more nutrients. We need all these nutrients to control Psoriasis. So don’t look for easy routes or shortcuts, if you really want to get rid of Psoriasis.

More on this later….