Energise Blog: Natural Health & Alkaline Diet

As I am very much in a Q&A mood today, I am going to post my thoughts on another question that I frequently get asked: can an alkaline diet help with rosacea?

What is Rosacea

Pronounced roh-zay-sha, Rosacea is a skin condition that affects many millions of people around the world. It is a condition that leads to the appearance of redness around the cheeks, forehead, chin and lower nose. It often resembles acne, and as such it is often confused for this (and is sometimes referred to as Rosacea Acne). However, it is an important distinction to make that Rosacea is not acne. It does not have the same causes, effects, treatments etc and as such should be treated differently.

According to Rosacea.org - symptoms include:

• Redness on the cheeks, nose, chin or forehead
• Small visible blood vessels on the face
• Bumps or pimples on the face
• Watery or irritated eyes

According to the organisation, there is no known cause and no known medical treatment available. Frequently used medical interventions have included topical and tablet antibiotics, steroid ointments and light/laser treatments. However, none of these treatments fight the cause, only the symptoms - which is why so many people have turned to nutrition as a way to lessen the effects of Rosacea.

Alkaline Diet and Rosacea

Due to its cleansing nature, many people have turned to the alkaline diet as a way to combat Rosacea. The alkaline diet consists almost entirely of cleansing vegetables, low sugar fruits, pure water, soups and juices, salads, omega oils etc and as such it provides the skin with all of the nutrition it needs to remain healthy.

It has been widely recognised that Rosacea is in the large part a vascular problem whereby Rosacea blood vessels change in terms of their function and their structure.

As ever, when assessing the potential for an alkaline diet to lessen the problem it just so happens, once again, that acids such as sugar, coffee, tea, alcohol, trans (and other bad) fats and cigarettes are predominantly the cause of vascular dilation/flushing. For instance it has been noted that
fizzy drinks and junk drinks containing aspartame and or artificial sweeteners cause excessive redness in approximately 30% of rosacea sufferers and should be cut out entirely.

Stimulants such as coffee, tea, alcohol, cigarettes, and excessive sugar from sweets and soda are vascular dilators, the cause of vascular dilation or flushing and should be avoided as they are all “aicids” or “toxins” or we could call them “plague” once they are in our arteries, or “fat” when we see it in the mirrow or better yet on someone else. Obviously you have figured out that they are very acidic and you need alkaline foods and drinks to neuralize the acids given off naturally by exercise, walking or any movement (lactic acid) and to neuralize the large amount of “acidic foods and drinks” that we “like or are used to consuming” and wish to continue. Sodas (soft drinks, pop) containing aspartame and or NutraSweet cause excessive redness in approximately 30% of rosacea sufferers and should be avoided. Anything that affects the entire body, brain, and nervous system to awaken it in the morning or stimulate it during the day can easily stimulate the sebaceous glands to secrete more oil that has to leave the body via the pores. Also, stimulants create stress, redness, flushing, rosacea papules and acne pimples.

In their book Rosacea: Your Self-Help Guide Arlen Brownstein, Donna Shoemaker highlight nutrition as a prinicple piece of the jigsaw in fighting Rosacea. They recommend a series of suggestions that sound eerily like embarking on an alkaline diet for rosacea:

• Eat a diet high in fibre, with plenty of raw and lightly steamed vegetables, and whole grains such as brown rice, millet, buckwheat, oats, amaranth, quinoa and spelt.
• Use fresh vegetable juices. Consider buying a juicer and a book on juicing.
• Eat berries, e.g. bilberry, blueberry, blackberry, etc. for vitamin C and bioflavonoid content.
• Avoid foods which cause flushing, e.g. hot drinks, spicy foods, alcohol, coffee.
• Avoid beef, pork, lamb and the skin of chicken and turkey, as well as dairy produce. These promote inflammation.
• Avoid fried foods for the same reason.
• Avoid salt and sugar.
• Allow food to cool slightly before eating it.
• A vegetarian or vegan diet may be best suited.

They also go on to suggest:

• A multivitamin and multimineral
• An antioxidant formula
• Digestive Enzymes, and
• An omega oil blend

So if you experience Rosacea why not give this a try? Admittedly it will look a little daunting to you at first, but why not try a transitional approach to starting the alkaline diet? First concentrate on breakfast: have an alkaline breakfast every day for one week or until you are happy with it, then move on to lunch. Alternatively you could first try to transition the acids out of your life. Switch from coffee to herbal teas, then switch from dairy to soy milk etc.

For more information on the alkaline diet, read my alkaline diet posts here on the blog or read through our alkaline diet resources here.

Further resources:

Rosacea Organisation
Rosacea Books
BBC Health Q&A on Rosacea