How I changed my diet during steroid withdrawal

When entering the topical steroid withdrawal process, I was determined to heal as quickly as I could. This may sound ignorant — I know the most important factor in healing is time, and some recoveries take longer than others. This can range from a few months to even years, and I'm not suggesting the difference between those extremes is within our control.

At the same time, surely there are things we can do to aid the body — one of the most important things being the nutrients we provide it with. As an example: l-histidine is an essential amino acid we get from our food (from proteins which are broken down into amino acids) and plays an important natural moisturising role in the skin barrier. Research suggests that a statistically significant number of people suffering from eczema benefit from increasing their l-histidine intake. L-histidine can also be taken as a supplement (which I started doing during TSW and still do), but I'll go deeper into supplements in another post. For now, I'll focus on the foundation: food.

I already had what I then considered a relatively healthy diet and lifestyle. My entire life I've been reading ingredient labels due to a severe nut allergy and around the age 20 I became increasingly interested in what I was actually putting in my body. This was a turning point where I started reducing my alcohol intake, experimented with gluten-free, and cut down on junk food.

But now, I was looking for the optimal diet to aid my healing process. I did a ton of research, which left me more confused than before. I spent days reading up on other people's suggestions and experiences, but there's a lot of contradictory advice. (I realise my writing about this only contributes to that problem. Everyone is different and what worked for me, may not necessarily work for you. Diet changes are difficult and require experimentation.)