Do diets help??

I read one discussion and it said tht getting on a diet and not eat red meats culd benifit on the lose of your pigments.. I want to kno if I stop eating any kinda Meats and drinking cokes and junk food could it help out with my vitiligo.?? I think Ima try this but Im still going to eat fish so I guess that will give me enough protiens to cover from not eating meats(: well has anyone thought of this?

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  • Hey Jenny...Vitiligo is a complicated skin disease...I have it for over 20 yrs...mine is slow but becoming more noticable...I think the best approach here is to go see a doctor..get a blood panel and see if there is a deficiency in your vitamin intake..it mostly associated with your B12, folic acid and vit c...some studies say that people who suffers from vitiligo has a defeciency in this vitamins...check out the book VITILIGO: NUTRITIONAL THERAPY by Leopoldo Montes...it talks the nutrional approach and diet factor on it..my blood panel are perfect and Im not deficient to this vitamins but I have vitiligo...I tried it even my panels are normal and I did'nt see any improvement...I've tried a lot...PUVA, I stayed for hours in the sun..I tried some meds from the middle east, psoralen cxapsules that gave me headache...and back then you can barely notice my vit....I guess I just got crazy..I guess I need to see a doctor again( last time I went was 10 yrs ago)..I just accepted it...I know we're all waiting for the miracle drug...don't get me wrong I'm not giving up...I'm takling some herbal meds..from Merry Clinic..I saw some improvement but the color went back again...just keep trying maybe it didnt work for me...but it will work for you...God Bless friends and just keep on going...educate yourself to from the disease...vit wont stop us from enjoying life!!!
  • you can eat dark vegtables thats wat i was told, its like carotts live a tint on the skin, so eat alot of dark foods.
  • Aloha Jenny,

    A special vitiligo diet is supposed to help with our skin problem by increasing better digestion so that copper can turn to tyrosine and create melanin (simplified, but pretty close!). I know I am trying everything. The diet is not much fun but guess what, I am starting to see some definite repigmentation along the edges of the white patches and a few spots in the middle. I have been taking a brief treatment of cortisone steroids, use anti-vitiligo oil about four times a week, and get out in the sun for 10-20 minutes early in the morning here in Hawaii.

    Here's the diet: basically no alcohol or smoking, no junk food, no meat, eggs, milk, spices, coffee, tea, wone, grape juice, most juices inc. apple or other tannic foods (look them up), no blueberries, pears, strawberries, light on the sugar, and no wheat gluten, that means no bread, pizza etc. No food additives, food coloring or the same in cosmetics, esp. PPD in hair coloring.

    What's left: oatmeal, rice, corn, sweet, lighter-colored fruits, most green veggies, tofu, occasional goat cheese, lots of celery, nuts (but no almonds in shell,and no cashews, pistachios, or walnuts), light colored beans esp. garbanzos, tomatoes several times a week.

    Don't worry about protein. There is plenty of protein in beans, brown rice, corn oatmeal and nuts. I have a kayak tour business and am full of energy on this diet. If you eat fish, avoid farm raised fish. Eat shrimp, they're full of copper!

    I have heard and read of great successes with this diet..See Valerie's entries here and her longer story here for instance. This diet is supposed to calm things down and make it possible for the copper do its thing which is to produce melanin. Worth a try, right?

    Good luck to you! Let us know how it goes for you. We'll all support each other in eating better. It's hard for me to order just a big salad and corn chips instead of a pizza and a cold beer, but I say I'm doing it for my skin. If nothing else, we'll get healthier and lose a few pounds!

    Betsy
    • It's good to know about these things to avoid, but sometimes it's hard to avoid certain things, like coffee in the morning. If I don't take my coffee in the morning I do not feel revived to go through the day. Some vitiligo researched say to avoid milk and milk products, others say it's okay to consume these, and other stuff like fruits, some say avoid sour fruits but apple is okay. Now who do you beleive and who you don't. Some say avoid wheat and wheat products, others say only use wheat and wheat products. It's so frustrating that you do not know what to eat or not to eat any more.
      • Yes, it is very confusing. But from all I have read, I believe that high tannin ingestion is a factor robbing the skin of the ability to make pigment. Since tannin is found in coffee and black tea and some in green tea and many but not all other herbal teas, most bright-colored fruits and other foods, I am definitely avoiding those. One theory is the high incidence of vitiligo in India might be due to betel nuts which are off the charts in tannin, plus all the heavy tannin spices in curry.

        Something is making our pigment metabolism way off, and we don't seem sick! So maybe if it's a lack of copper minerals and B-12 and folic acid vitamins and too much tannin, I am ready to try this diet for one year. I am giving up all high tannin foods and wheat and meat, just to calm my system down and see if it responds, plus adding heavy vitamin supplementation including PABA and C/D to the B's. Other people have had success with this, so it might be you or me, right?
      • Hello,
        I am sure that being on a diet helps. If not in directly curing the disease, it definitely aides the treatment that you undertake. The diet intake depends on a number of factors like the treatment you are undertaking, the weather conditions where you live and so on. The baseline is that the diet you take should be inline with the treatment you are taking. I would recommend that you better get your diet listed from your doctor and keep reviewing it periodically. You can also take an opinion from a nutritionist, thats the best way to avoid all the confusion.
  • I think if you try and cut out junk and sugars that it will help your body as a whole and that in turn will help your immune system. Since vitiligo is an immune disorder, it could only help. There are a few posts about vitiligo specific diets on here, but improving your regular eating habits will make you healthier in general. :D
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