When you have psoriasis, making changes to your diet could potentially help you avoid flare-ups. Extreme dieting is not necessary, but paying attention to what you eat is. Here are some foods that could be aggravating your psoriasis symptoms.

Gluten

Some researchers believe that there is a link between flare-ups from psoriasis and gluten. There is no definitive proof, but some people with psoriasis have longer remission times after eliminating or limiting the amount of gluten in their diet. People also reported improvement in their skin condition and less joint pain. To determine if you could benefit from avoiding gluten, the National Psoriasis Foundation recommends abstaining from eating gluten products for at least three months. At that point, you can slowly start to reintroduce it back to your diet. Pay close attention to your symptoms to determine just how effective it is in treating your symptoms.

Dairy

Psoriasis is a condition that results in inflammation. As a result, avoiding or limiting foods that are associated with inflammatory properties can potentially help avoid flare-ups. Dairy is one of those foods. It might not be necessary to totally eliminate dairy from your diet. Limiting your dairy intake by taking steps, such as opting for lower fat version of cheese and other products can help.  

Alcohol

When you consume alcohol, your blood vessels start to constrict and the flow of blood throughout your body is obstructed. When this happens and you have psoriasis, the restriction in blood can result in your body having an inflammatory response. The response then triggers a flare-up of your symptoms. Although there is no definitive link between alcohol and flare-ups, researchers believe that eliminating alcohol from your diet or limiting your intake to seven drinks per week can help your overall condition.

Red Meats

Red meats have inflammatory properties that can cause psoriasis flare-ups. To potentially limit flare-ups, you do not necessarily have to eliminate red meats from your diet altogether. You can opt for the leaner cuts of meat to reduce the amount of fats that you intake. The fatty portions of the meat not only can increase flare-ups, but also lead to the development of other related conditions, such as heart disease.

There are other foods which can cause a psoriasis flare-up. Work with your doctor to recognize which foods are triggers for you so that you can adapt a healthier diet. It can take a period of trial and error to find the foods, but identifying your triggers can help you avoid symptoms.

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