I’m very interested to hear that your psoriasis has improved, I do hope it continues to improve. I have psoriatic arthritis and the psoriasis is playing up a little just now. I’ve started the fast diet today so will let you all know how I and the psoriasis gets on!

Hi Annette52 and all you other psoriasis sufferers (and ex-sufferers). I also have had psoriasis since age 28, small patches, but so-ooo itchy, on knees and back of neck at scalp line, with a couple of more major breakouts over the years. The last couple of days I realized it has been gone for about 3 months, along with arthritis (possibly psoriatic, I’m not sure). Kind of amazing, considering it has “no known cure”.
Oh yes, that coincides with when I started 5:2 3 months ago. I wonder what’s going on, any ideas?

Hi Annette
I’m just wondering, aside from 5:2, have you changed your diet in terms of what you eat?
I’ve been low carb, but won’t pass up any tempting sweet that comes my way. I’m still (happily)
puzzled by the psoriasis disappearance. One less thing.

Hi all, I’m in the fourth week of the diet and seeing good improvements with psoriasis.

Could it be that, if only for 2 days a week, I’m eating less starchy carbs and eating much more broccoli and drinking much more water?

I’m consuming occasional beer, bread, dairy and caffeine on non-fast days – all of which I thought were part cause of psoriasis – but I’m still seeing improvements.

I do wonder if it may be the fasting itself doing the good, perhaps by forcing the body to repair other things rather than the skin (patches are caused by the skin over-repairing itself). It may be apocryphal but I’ve heard that some holocaust survivors lost all psoriasis whilst in concentration camps. I always thought it was because they were not getting the particular food that triggers it for them, but perhaps it was the near starvation itself.

Strange how there’s another thread that suggests the diet may have been the trigger their newly developed psoriasis (or ‘the heartbreak’ as its sometimes known).

I have lost 20 lbs in 4 months and just recently noted that my psoriasis is almost gone. It was mild, but I used to take daily Vitamin A (10000 IU) to control it. Still, almost always had a patch on my knee. I wonder if IGF 1 levels have something to do with causing psoriasis. Will have to research that

I also have psoriatic arthritis (age 66). Had not thought about this diet having any effect on the arthritis, but really interesting reading these posts. Have only been doing this about three weeks, and will start taking note of any difference in the arthritis. Am on humira injections 3 years.

Hi All

I’ve just started on the fast diet (second week) and have chronic plaque psorasis all over my body. Havent noticed a change as yet in my skin condition in either quantity or redness. I currently use a combo of moisturisers and steriod creams from dermatology consultant at my local hospital

Just wanted to get peoples experience of when they started to see improvement in their psorasis ?

started the programme really just with the intention to lose weight but am now feeling hopeful it might also help my psorasis!

Hi,

I have mild psorasis and been on the 5 2 diet now for 6 months. Whilst I was optimistic that the diet would help, I would have to say that after 6 months the most honest thing I could say is that there is no change (good or bad).

So whilst this is disappointing, I have lost over 10kgs, bouts of sleep apnea have gone, snoring is less and I enjoy the new set of clothes I had to buy! Even feel better generally.

Kind Regards,
Philip

My name is Stu, ive had psoriasis since I was 5 years old, I started taking a drug called acetretin 10 years ago , its an oral drug, I take 40mg thats 4 capsules a day, most of my skin has cleared over the last two to three weeks but I put it down to a permanant fast of 600 calories a day, I am sure doing this extreme diet has worked as a detox and a means of loosing a lot of weight quite quickly
I intend to start the five two diet in the next few months, I did try it at the begining of the year but with little sucsess! I think I may of been over eateing on my non fast days, anyway thats where I am at the moment, I find, the 600 calorie diet is susstainable for the time being and is a means to an end, and probably at the start of july I will start the 5 2 diet

stu

I have re-read the posts on this topic from the beginning, and it seems to me that most found an improvement in psoriasis from 5:2. BUT, it takes time. I continue to be free of plaques, itching etc. I have religiously followed 5:2 since Aug 16, 2013. Lost about 20 lbs and, to my surpise, have maintained that weight despite continuing the diet. Is there some sort of “set point” which the body will not cross? Regardless, psoriasis is a thing of the past.

Stu – it sounds to me like you have not really been able to follow 5:2 for any prolonged period and have now progessed to a 600 calorie diet every day. While I understand that this may be sustainable for you, as a physician I worry about ill effects of prolonged calorie restriction and rapid weight loss. I would suggest that you get expert guidance before continuing. My own experience is that slow and steady wins the race. I would suggest at least 6 months of 5:2 before you come to judgement about the positive/negative effect on psoriasis. It is a lifestyle, and after a few months you just grow into it and it’s not so hard.

I am encouraged by all the interest in this topic, and hope that everyone continues to share their experience.

Hi Philip
I am still on the oral med and also I apply some Dermovate once a week to the areas, but to be quite honest its just about cleared up completely,
they main reason for the diet primeraly was to loose weight, and ive managed to loose just over two stone in five weeks but could of lost a lot more had I not cheated, eating Carbs at my daughters engagement party
but heho I started again last week and have dropped another ten pounds since sunday

Philip and Stu and anyone else who is reading this – Philip asks if I think it is a worthwhile exercise. My feeling is yes if it is done properly. Simply getting people who are reading this thread to agree to something (like permanent 600 calorie diet for a fixed time period) without having data about other medical conditions, drug therapy, specific demographics about age, smoking, alcohol etc. I could go on and on, and other things like outcome measures would not really prove much. Medical research and “studies” are prone to all sorts of problems in interpretation even when done by a team of people with support from statisticians and laboratories. Without that infrastructure, it become a nightmare to do it. I hope that Michael monitors these posts and can comment on my feeling about this. Also, given the anecdotal evidence that is coming out of this thread, I think it would be worthwhile presenting the idea to an academic researcher with the tools and support to carry out such a study. I would hope that Michael would know where to take this.

My other concern about having people on 600 cal/day for weeks/months is that it really does change your metabolism and, depending on your age/general health could put some people into a state of malnutrition, acidosis and other undesirable situations. In short, to radically change your diet (as opposed to 5:2 which in my mind is not radical and safe for just about anybody) is not something I would support without close medical supervision. If any individual wants to give it a try and has the support and help of their physician, I think that’s fine. I think it would take some careful planning in terms of the types of foods you eat (whereas with 5:2 you only have to count calories) and for some people it could be not advisable at all.

I hope that helps.

Rocke

Just to re cap, I am 55 I have been suffering from psoriasis since I was 5 yrs old, ive used a variety of creams , lotoons and potions. I have been on 600 calorie diets on and off for the last six years, everytime I go on these diets, my skin condition completely clears up, what more can I say ? Yes I am still taking the oral medication, but that only lessend my condition, it never ever eradicated it as the diet has done

stu

Hi Rocke and Stu,

Been thinking through and chatting with a few doctors. My guess is that enough volunteers and preliminary evidence it should be possible to contact the research community by simply following the links in the referenced papers. An issue that we may face, is that diet and lifestyle based approaches are unlikely to attract research funds as there is no drug development and something to sell at the end of the studies. Recent treatments are very expensive and restricted to severe cases.

Prior to taking up peoples time, however, to do properly experimentation it will take quite some discipline for participating volunteers to partake in an experiment where you fast for a month or something like that. Before participating, you might like to know the odds that it could work or not. Similarly, it will be an easier sell to a research group if there are a statistically valid number of ready and waiting research volunteers with some case history.

So I am doing a bit of a guinea pig on myself, as the Fast Diet has had no change on my psoriasis. What I am looking to do is remove as many controllable risk factors from my environment to see if this makes a difference. For example, for the last couple of weeks I have moved to fasting 2.5 times a week – and if nothing improves I will switch to full alternate day fasting. If this doesn’t work, I will take the extra hard yards and stop drinking for a month. Hopefully between then and now, stress factors in my work may have abated and I am no longer overweight – and my disease goes into remission. I don’t smoke and I exercise.

Basically I think if enough people can “tweak” their lifestyle factors in a doable way and a group of interested people with enough case histories it may help to attract researchers.

If people think this is a good idea, I am happy to set up a wiki where people can document their experiences and hopefully through a group process of trial and error come up with a doable set of lifestyle changes that warrant a bigger trial.

Thoughts?

http://www.cutis.com/fileadmin/qhi_archive/ArticlePDF/CT/066050348.pdf
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/251567922_Do_patients_with_mild_to_moderate_psoriasis_really_have_a_sedentary_lifestyle/file/3deec5284c4dd5380a.pdf

Hi Nick,

Thanks very much for posting this. The source paper this link refers to is fabulously interesting. As per the original BBC documentary, Prof Longo is trialling extended (72 hr) fasts. On this occasion, however, this is repeated each week for an 8 week period. The paper indicates shorter (24 hr) fasts fail to elicit immune system regeneration effects.

My GP has given me the OK to run a self-experiment where I significantly reduce my alcohol intake (mostly to zero if I can) and start each week with a 3 day x 600 calorie diet for 8 weeks and see how this affects my psoriasis. Work permitting I will also get blood tests done to see how this changes, in addition to monitoring my skin condition. Obviously, if I was being completely hard core, I would only have a miso-soup each day during the fast – but I will try the easier option first.

Will let you know how the experiment goes.

Hi and welcome to 5:2 Aussie:

Here are some tips for those just starting 5:2: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

Thanks everyone for your interesting posts. I have had psoriasis since my mid teens,37 years ago but have been controlling it effectively through diet for about 30 years. For me,not eating meat and eating unprocessed food most of the time has been key. I also moisturised affected areas with E45 twice daily. I am on the fast diet and it has been easy (20 lbs since the end of April) with another 7 lbs to go. So happy to hear that people are getting great improvements with this diet.

Miss LuLu, I am also starting tomorrow, and also have psoriasis. Please post your progress, I would love to share journeys. This thread is an unexpected bonus – I am starting 5:2 for weight loss, mental clarity and to resolve emotional eating – it didn’t occur to me that it might heal my skin also!

Hi Folks & welcome to truegem72 and Miss Lulu. It’s been almost 3 weeks since my last posts on this forum and almost 6 weeks since I commenced the 5:2 Diet, so I thought I’d provide a progress report.

On the positive side, I’ve already lost 4.2 kilograms (9lbs 5ozs), 2 centimetres (almost 1 inch) from around my waist, and 1 cm (approx. 1/2 inch) from around my neck. My blood sugar levels have dropped from 8.2 to 5.5 mmol/L (on waking), which is terrific. I’m feeling better, have more energy, and am not as short of breath as I was one month ago (note that I also have several other medical issues, such as AF, arthritis, sleep apnoea and NIDD, etc.).

On the other hand, while one psoriatic plaque has improved (gone from flaky skin to red patches), another plaque has become worse (gone from red patches to flaky skin).

So, for me, I am very happy with the 5:2 diet and subsequent results, including a general overall wellness; but the jury is still out, regarding improvements for psoriasis. Nevertheless I’ll continue with it & report back again in a few weeks’ time.

One curious observation that I’ve made – and I wonder whether anyone else has observed this – is that when I weigh myself the morning after a fasting day, I always weigh more than the day before! However the next morning, 2 days later, is when I first notice the weight loss from the fasting day. That’s probably why they say: not to weigh yourself every day!!! 🙂 Cheers.

Hi Calr,

Your are being very disciplined! Given what you are doing shouldn’t have too much trouble with 5:2.

After a couple of years on the diet I have had no change to my psoriasis except when I recently did a few self experiments under Dr supervision using topical anti-biotic creams and for a short time pills (under the theory, like ulcers, there may be bacterial inflammation aspect to the condition).

Kind Regards,
Philip

Hi calr,

Have just read a little bit on psoriasis which is always a dangerous thing. If you are getting an improvement after 3 days then it may be related to the amount of glucose you have. But you say you are a strict vegan with no sugar. Perhaps you need to try a ketogenic diet which may be very difficult if youre vegan! Are you on a vegan diet for health reasons or philosophical reasons? What about fats from cheese and milk? Where are you getting the bulk of your protein from?

Most cells are able to use two energy substrates, glucose and ketone bodies. The modern lifestyle and eating habits means that VERY rarely does one rely on ketones for energy. We are always glucose topped up. This means that when cells undergo autophagy they are replaced by cells that are well adapted to run on glucose. This makes perfect sense. Since you have psoriasis you may want to try and develop cells that are well adapted to running on ketone bodies. The only way of doing this is to go for a ketogenic diet or to regularly water fast AND keep sugar and any grain based foods to ZERO. It will take about 2-3 months before your liver is able to access fats easily and for you to run well on ketones. Once you start doing this autophagy will ensure that cells that are good at running on glucose will be killed off first and cells that are good at running on ketones will be preferentially replicated.

It has taken me a full 9 months but I now am able to water fast with ridiculous ease. Where as it would take me a full 60 hours to enter ketosis I now enter a ketotic state after 24 hours. I only do 6:1 and the one fast day is water. In fact I have to make sure I eat enough to maintain a constant weight and not lose any more. I water fast for health benefits, not to lose weight. My only psoriasis was when I was a child and on my right shin during winter as an adult. It is very mild though. Since doing 5:2 and now 6:1 I have not had a return of psoriasis on my shin, but winter has only started and we shall see what happens.