Rosacea-friendly diet - how to keep weight on?

[flemmo]

Hi,
Since I realised I have rosacea (last september) I have had to change my diet to ease the symptoms. I now eat mainly loads of veg, fish and white meats and very occasionally red meat. Because I also have seb derm I have had to cut out dairy and wheat. I feel I do eat really well - very health food, 3 good size meals a day (then a small supper) and snack on pumpkin seeds/almonds between meals.
The problem is since eating this way I have lost a lot of weight. I'm 5' 10" (178cm) and have always weighed 11 stone (154lb). I'm now down to 9.5 stone (133lb) which is a bit of a worry.
Any ideas how I can gain weight without compromising the rosacea/seb derm side of things?

[domo2727]

hey man....when i used to work out on a regular basis and eat normally, when my rosacea wasnt bad i was about 175 lbs or so.....now i eat much healthier like yourself, with lots of vegies and white meats and fish like salmon. I Don't eat all the junk and carbs I used to which probably put weight on me, although not healthy weight. Now, I work out 6 days a week and weight about 160-165. Its hard for me to keep weight on, but I eat tons of chicken, turkey and salmon. I also take protein shakes. I buy this organic product called Greens Whey. 20 grams of protein and tons of organic greens like wheat grass, alfalfa powder, spirulina, and tons of other healthy stuff. try to google it. Its made by Biochem and its called Greens and Whey. All different flavors but i prefer vanilla. I take it after workouts and in the morning....usually 2 times a day, sometimes 3.

[flemmo]

hi, thanks for the reply.
Excellent idea - As I have seb derm I think I'll try and find a protein powder without milk/lactose. Seems to be a huge range, so I'm sure I'll find something! Cheers.

[flemmo]

Can't find Greens & Whey in the UK, but I did find this:
http://www.detoxyourworld.com/acatalog/hemp_protein.html

The ingredients sound fine but I'm not sure it will help weight gain as it doesn't say how many calories it has. Is high protein enough to gain weight?

[milton]

When I started having problems with my skin I realized that it was mainly my diet that was effecting me. I cut out dairy, fried foods, alcohol and pretty much any other junk food you can imagine. In April 2006 I weighed 195 lbs, today I am 165 lbs.

I eat constantly what I can, but I think I found my target weight. I simply can't gain weight. I am 6'0 tall.

[flemmo]

I've bought some Greens & Whey and I'm about to give it a go. However I was wondering if the whey will cause any problems with my seb derm. I avoid diary because it makes it worse. Is whey protein considered to be diary?

More information can be found here:
http://www.biochem-fitness.com/pages/powders_main.html#greens

[glamormom]

If the issue is keeping weight on, a high protein diet will cause you to lose (the basis of the Atkins Diet and it does work). A very high fat diet (most of your calories) according to a German study will do even better if that is your goal.

I noticed just eating more fats in general in my diet will cause me to gain weight. Olive oil and walnut oil and the 2 best heart healthy oils, and only 1 tablespoonfull is 14 gm of fat, which is a lot. by adding that to your salads or cookied veggies you could add plenty of calories and see if that helps you. Don't go overboard, you could raise your cholesterol, but it's worth a try in moderation.

Taking fish oil as a supplement, which helps reduce inflammation, and also good for the heart, is another source of healthy fat. I use Pharmax brand, take it in bulk by the TBL-full. It's flavored with essential oil of orange, deodorized and refined so there is almost no fish smell at all and not burping it up all day. Amazing really. i get it on the internet. My friend's holistic MD started her on it, which is how I found out about it.

HTH
;o) Bridget

[flemmo]

Hi Bridget,

Could you provide a link to the fish oil? I'm just wondering what fish it's from/ingredients etc.
The weight-gain/loss thing is very confusing. I've read before that high protein diets help reduce weight AND gain weight... From what I understand those diets help people loose fat hence weightloss, but help build muscle. As muscle weighs more than fat the result can be weight gain. It all depends what build you are to begin with.
At the minute I'm pretty much skin and bone so I presume I need both more protein and fat intake. I wonder if eating lots of chicken, fish, eggs along with olive oil and fish oil is a better approach than protein shakes?

[Firefly]

That definitly must be a better approach!!! And maby you should eat more of everything. I used to be a vegetarian but began to eat meat to help me gain some weight. As I tend to just eat meat and veggies OR carbs and veggies (for better digestion: you can feel a big meal not being heavy) I didn't manage to gain the weight, in fact I lost some. Now I try to eat more meals like four or five times a day. And to be honest: I just finished a whole bag of potato crisps :lol:. I shall be punished for that tomorrow... :twisted:

[Froggirl]

It still comes down to how much energy your eating everyday. So one approach would just to keep eating what your eating but just up overall amount, either by eating more meals or eating bigger amounts.

I think high protein and low carbs can make you lose weight if your dieting and still not eating huge amounts overall. Diet like the atkins diet make you lose weight because without carbs which give the body energy, the body has to turn to it's energy stores, ie fat and muscle. But if your working out and wanting to put on muscle then an increased amount of protein is needed, as it provides the building blocks for the body to develop muscle, as well as carbs and good fats.

Protein shakes might work really well, just as long as they don't contain anything than's a problem for you, like dairy. I had a ulcer in my oesophagus a while back and couldn't eat solid food for two weeks, and i was amazed that one concentrate glass of hospital sustengen mixed with icecream instead of milk , which is all i could manage a day, kept me from losing any weight.

[flemmo]

I had a ulcer in my oesophagus a while back and couldn't eat solid food for two weeks

Me too! just got over it and its sooo nice to be eating solids again. I envy those that can just eat whatever they like! The media is so focused on people struggling to loose weight, people find it hard to understand me complaining about being skinny!
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. In theory if I'm consuming many more calories than I'm burning off I should eventually put weight on? I'll keep you posted!

[Froggirl]

Glad your feeling better, it is a very painful experience isn't it? Did you get yours from taking doxy like me? Once it healed I felt so excited to be able to eat again, made me realise how many mundane things i take for granted!

It is hard eating a really restrictive diet, particularly if it means cutting out all your favorite foods. My allergist gave me so good tips to reduce the reaction from foods, for occasions where it is really hard to avoid all problem foods (or when you just get sick of it and want to eat whatever you want), the first was to take an antihistamine an hour before eating, and the second to take a baby aspirin (which blocks naicin). I find it does help a lot.

[flemmo]

It is the most painful experience of my life! I tried to explain to people how painful it was but they couldn't really know. I had to liquidise my meals. To eat them I had to kneal on the floor and eat from the sofa, just to take the edge off the pain. I think the ulcer(s) must have been at the back of the gullet so by leaning forward some of the food avoided contact with them. Sounds funny but it really wasn't! I just had to power through it at work. I've now stopped moaning about eating the same 'dull' foods everyday :lol:

Yeah the ulcer was doxy-induced. Though to be honest its probably my fault. I was taking them in the evening I probably didn't leave enough time before bed. Also possible I didn't have anough water with them. Its nice to be off them, but I'm so worried my rosacea is going to get worse again.

I take 2 antihistamines a day as I've always had problems with alergies and urtacaria etc. They help tone that down. I've never heard of taking aspirin before. I thought aspirin had to be avoided because it thins the blood and can dilate capilleries? Might be wrong on that though - I've read so many do's and don'ts over the last few months it has become a bit of a blur!

[Froggirl]

Mine was the same in that i forgot the rule about not taking doxy for an hour before lying down, so i learnt the hard way why it carries that warning!

The pain was the worst thing i've ever felt, like you said it was impossible to explain, i couldn't function at all or eat or drink anything, so after 4 days i ended up in hospital with dehydration. They said it was rare to get an ulcer and that doxy usually just cause inflammation of the oesphagus but that i needed a gastroscopy to check. And it showed that i actually had at least 8 ulcers, so explained why i had been so bad. For two weeks i could only drink any hospital sustegen after first drinking liquid anaesthetic and it was still horribly painful, but i healed just in time for Christmas and then had such a great time eating everything in sight!

My doctor later explained that the pain from it is the same pain pathway as a heart attack, which is mainly nerve pain which is why painkillers can't help.

I've never heard of taking aspirin before. I thought aspirin had to be avoided because it thins the blood and can dilate capilleries?

I've never heard that but geeze anything is possible. Aspirin or NSAID's block niacin induced flushing, so can be useful to take if your going to eat foods high in niacin.
They also can help reduce the intensity of flushing or other inflammation through blocking prostaglandins. So quite a few doctors recommend low dose aspirin as a treatment for rosacea flushing so i assume they don't cause vasodilation. Either way not a good idea if your still recovering from an ulcer though!