Is Rosacea an Inflammatory Disease? AID (Anti-Inflammatory Diet) - Let's Try It!

If you've done any extensive research on the rosacea question, I'm sure you've come across the demodex mites, the trigger foods, the sun exposure, hormones, temperature changes, vascular, genetic, and inflammation theories. My question is always "Why can't anybody figure this thing out!!!!" Yeah, the frustration level is pretty high. I've thought to myself and have heard others say, "Count your blessings. It could be worse. All you're dealing with is red skin." And I truly believe that. But when your skin is inflamed, you do experience chronic pain due to the inflammation. You become self-conscious because if you can feel it, surely everyone around you can SEE it. I totally get the psychological implications of what to us seems to be a very visible disease. I even find myself searching for other rosaceans in public. Does she have rosacea? Look at his skin, hmmm. I wonder if they can eat chocolate and drink coffee without worrying about how it will make them look or feel?

So I decided several months ago to follow the inflammatory condition angle of the disease and began an inflammation free diet (see The Inflammation Free Diet Plan by Monica Reinagel and visit http://inflammationfactor.com/). I have modified my diet extensively to remove "trigger foods." The whole idea of trigger foods is an anomaly to me so I'll get to that later. So what am I doing to try to control the inflammation of rosacea by diet? I'll start with the supplements: acidophilus, curcumin, and fish oil daily. As far as food goes, Monica Reinagel recommends a combined IF rating of 200 or above for the therapeutic inflammation free diet. If you want to check the IF (Inflammation Factor) of the foods you are eating, you can refer to Monica's book, or check out Self's Nutrition Database at http://nutritiondata.self.com/.

When I first began eating a low inflammatory diet, I thought I would die from malnutrition. No joke! I scheduled an appointment with a dietician because I was already borderline underweight and sure that I would be missing key nutrients and calories by limiting my food choices. As I cut out processed foods however, I realized that cooking from scratch was a lot easier than I ever thought it would be and the food actually tasted pretty good. Also, when I cut sugar out of my diet, I suddenly didn't crave sweets anymore. Has the low inflammatory diet cured my rosacea? No. But I have noticed that when I reach a higher IF rating on a regular basis my rosacea is less inflamed.