Category Archives: Psoriasis

Coping with Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis as a family. My husbands struggle with severe Psoriasis and resources my family has found. Options plaque psoriasis

Neutrogena Sunscreen MimicMommy and Win Giveaway

This post was sponsored by Neutrogena as part of an influencer activation for The Motherhood. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) guidelines concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review

neutrogena sunscreen skin cancer protection,mimicmommy choosehealthyskin

Neutrogena Sunscreen MimicMommy and Win Giveaway:  Skincare and protecting your skin is so important.  My family is my top priority like many moms. Teaching my children to care for themselves is an important because you cant replace it, your skin is no exception.  In our family we burn easily and studies have shown one or two bad burns can increase your chances by 40%.  All my life I have burned every time I go in the sun for any length of time.. If I walk into the sun for 20 minutes I will burn,  my husband thinks my burn factor is hysterical, for me it is no joke.

neutrogena sunscreen skin cancer protection,mimicmommy choosehealthyskin

Finally as a mom, I have learned the power of a great sunscreen to allow me to really enjoy the summer and outdoors.  I use a sunscreen every day all year because  Apply often and apply regularly. A true life lesson I am teaching my kids,  apply or pay the price, of being miserable with a burn.

neutrogena sunscreen skin cancer protection,mimicmommy choosehealthyskin

Therefore teaching my kids a respect for the sun is very important.  My daughter has been taught about the importance of sunscreen in school, I love the idea that school is teaching what we have taught at home.  I feel it is really important to teach the benefits of sunscreen at home by watching me use sunscreen daily.   I apply  a sunscreen every day,  because sun damages the skin.  I use it because I want to stay young looking into my later years, plus  avoiding skin cancer is also a benefit.. because health is just as important as my vanity.. lol.. Neutrogena is my top pick to use to protect my family.

neutrogena sunscreen skin cancer protection,mimicmommy choosehealthyskin

I recently watched Kristen Bell have “The Talk” check out her revision of “The talk”

I was so inspired I had “The Talk with my daughter.. who normally is a very good at using the  correct amount of sunscreen.

Check out these great products :

healthy skin sun screen care

Neutrogena Sunscreen MimicMommy and Win Giveaway !!

Here is our giveaway of these great Neutrogena Products

Three winners (within the U.S.) via a social media contest with the following products:

For Moms:

  • Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Face + Body Stick Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 70 (Kristen Bell’s Favorite)
  • Neutrogena CoolDry Sport Sunscreen Stick Broad Spectrum SPF 50+

For Kids:

  • Neutrogena Wet Skin Kids Sunscreen Spray Broad Spectrum SPF 70+ (Kristen Bell’s Favorite)
  • Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby Sunscreen Lotion Broad Spectrum SPF 60+

 

Share how you talk to your kids about sun protection. Share photos or videos of you and your children applying sunscreen together

 

24 hour Giveaway

 

starts Today 6/22 10:00pm ends 6/23  10:00pm

 

Want to win leave a comment below to enter- “Why you go into the sun? “

 

 

extra entry if you tweet: Want to win @Neutrogena Share your children applying sunscreen together Tag #MimicMommy 

 

 

Choose Skin Health Hub Page:

Neutrogena Facebook:

Neutrogena Twitter:

Neutrogena Instagram:

neutrogena sunscreen skin cancer protection,mimicmommy choosehealthyskin

 

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The Best Gluten Free Meatloaf Muffins

gluten free meatloafThe Best Gluten Free Meatloaf Muffins:  Since my husband diet has changed to Gluten, nightshade, red meat, and dairy free to help with his psoriasis diet.  I love making meatloaf my kids love meatloaf  it was imperative that I come up with a new meatloaf for all.  I have been making meatloaf muffins for my family because everyone likes the outside of the of the loaf,  you know the blacken caramelized meat, not pretty but super tasty.  Also when you cook a meatloaf muffin they cook in about 30 minutes.  This is a great meal to make with kids.  Pair with tater tots of homemade baked sweet potatoes fries (nightshade free) . Yummy

Gluten Free  Meatloaf  Muffins

makes 5-6 muffins

  • 1 lb of ground Turkey
  • 1 lb of Ground pork
  •  1 1/2 cups of corn chips
  • 1 egg
  • Barbeque (for non psoriasis diet)
  • Honey (for psoriasis diet)
  • Onion soup mix  or  make your own below depended of gluten sensitivity

Make your own Onion Soupish mix

  • 3  tbl of dried minced onions or 1 small fresh onion min
  • 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
  1. Preheat oven to 375
  2. Spray 6 texas muffin tin with non stick cooking spray or line with parchment
  3. Place corn chips in a bag and crush
  4. Mix Turkey, pork, egg, crunched corn chips and onion soup mixture in a large bowl Go head use your hands
  5. Place a handful of meat loosely formed in each muffin (do not pack the meat will not be as good trust me)
  6. With your finger poke a hole down the center of the muffin (this helps to avoid shrink)
  7. In hole fill with barbeque or catchup (for those who can eat nightshades)
  8. OR   Drizzle on top Honey for Restricted diet person (I would NOT fill the hole with honey too sweet)
  9. Cook for 30 minutes or until dark on top
  10. Remove allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes

Printable version of this recipe Gluten Free Meatloaf Muffins

disclosure affiliate

gluten free red meat free meatloaf muffins

Sweet Potato Chicken Soup

Sweet Potato Chicken Soup : Sweet Potato Chicken Soup recipe that is Gluten free, red meat, night shade vegetable, and dairy free to help Psoriasis diet and Psoriatic arthritis. Also my weekly meal planning.  My husband diet has made me come with new recipes food that help is extreme  Psoriasis diet and Psoriatic arthritis by reducing inflammation. This soup satisfy the entire family and is east to make.

sweet potato soupSweet Potato Chicken Soup

  • chicken chopped 3 cups ( or 1 rotisserie chicken Picked)
  • 3-4 sweet potatoes pealed and diced
  • 1 onion diced
  • 4 carrots pealed and chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 10 mushrooms cleaned and chopped
  • 3 cups of water or chicken broth
  • 2 table spoon of oil
  1. In a 6-8 quart pot add oil  add onions cook fir 5 minutes
  2. Add carrots and mushrooms, cook until carrots tender   (salt to taste)
  3. Add 3 cups of water or broth
  4. Add bay leaf
  5. Add sweet potatoes cook for 20 minutes med low
  6. Stir often
  7. Add  chicken cook for another 20 minutes
  8. Potatoes will break down and thicken up soup add more broth if needed

Turn off  the heat alow to sit for 5 minutes  and enjoy

Printable Version of Sweet Potato Chicken Soupsweet potato soup

 Meal Plan

My meal plan we have been planning in the last few weeks is  that is Gluten free, red meat, night shade vegetable, and dairy free. We have a busy week planning birthdays and My son is starting water polo.

Monday : Corned Beef and cabbage (cook corned beef in a slow cooker 1 bottle or beer and 1 cup of water cook for 6-8 hours , hour 5-6 add potatoes and cabbage)

Tuesday: Rice Krispie chicken with roasted cauliflower

Wednesday : Shrimp with Spinach  cous cous   and polenta (gluten free)

Thursday: Linguini and clam sauce

Friday: Tacos, re-fried beans, rice

Enjoy your week

Linking up to Menu plan Monday at Organizing Junkie

Menu Plan Monday Combining Gluten Free, Red Meat Free, Nightshade Veggie Free

tacos My husband has been gluten free, red meat free, and night shade veg free (tomatoes) for the last month and 1/2  because he is trying to make restart his body because of severe Psoriasis.    Jeff- My husband has been struggling with Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis for the last 25+ years.  He has been in and out of remission,  the last few years he has reached the end of the auto immune drug list, so remission seems as if it is a dream.  He also has tried many different alternative medicine and treatments. We have done research on what can help with his body to reduce the effect  Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis. We found out that many people who suffer from Psoriasis have a sensitivity to gluten, and removing red meat and nightshade vegetables help with the inflammation caused by the auto immune diseases.

Finally  1st week in January : he woke up and decided to do a Juice / smoothie cleanse… I will blog more about that, I did not want to share the pictures on a food post.  He is 100% covered in Psoriasis, so you can get a mental picture.   I wanted to work through it as a family before sharing the progress on my blog.  Now he is back on solids, and I feel it is a good time to share because it appears to be a permanent lifestyle change in our family.

I have found it to be be extremely hard to decided what to cook for him and the kids.  I am a fully loaded food  girl,  who loves tomatoes,meat, cheese, if I can cook it I will make it.  I am sure  could use some of the healthy eating Jeff is doing.    I am trying to combined meals but I am have little or no success and basically he has been cooking his own meals.  I decided, my hang up has been with the more dishes and pots,  or least I am going with that.  This week I am going to try to be considerate and combined more Gluten Free Meals.

I am sure your other question to me is this drastic change to eating helping???  Yes, things are calming down in his skin. I will post more about it on a separate post.

What he is eating:

Meat

  • Chicken Limited
  • Fish Limited

Milk

  • Cream Only in his coffee (almond milk)
  • Cheese- trying to stay goat cheese not milk

Flour/grains/carb

  • Non gluten pastas
  • Rice

Sugars

  • No Refined
  • Honey
  • Monk Fruit
  • Agavae
  • Maple Syrup

Veggies:  all but the (NO NightShade Veggies)

 Meal Planning For Psoriasis

  • Monday: Chicken Noddle soup (noodles on the side)
  • Tuesday: Pizza: Make my own crust for us and Gluten Free Pizza dough  I will have tomato sauce for us and hot sauce for his I might do a garlic spinach pie for Him
  • Wednesday : Linguini and Clam Sauce (2 different noodles)
  • Thursday : Fish, mushrooms, spinach, rice (Make extra Rice for Taco night)
  • Friday: Tacos Reef for kids and lentil “meat”   Homemade re-fried beans gluten free, rice

 

Tip : Use rice in your Tacos My kids cant have Taco Night without Cuban white rice.   I will share my Cuban rice method next week.

Also forks can hold the tacos up. tacos with rice

I am working on next weeks menus already and excited to find the best of the web..

I am linking up to Organizing Junkies Menu Plan Monday

Any Suggestions would be great.

 

 

7 Good Days- Coping with Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

canes on the groundCoping with Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis: My husband Jeff was 39 when it happened.  His bio meds started to fail after 3 years of good results.  We were Disney World in Florida the 1st time we went as a family, it was  December 2008. My husbands  arthritis came back with vengeance.   He was on Remicade at the time $3200 per bag of the Biologic Drug to keep the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis away- Thank god for insurance.  My husband limped through Disney as his joints and muscles ached from the arthritis.

When we got home Jeff went to the Doctor  they decided to up his Remicade and put the treatments closer together. So every 4 weeks Jeff would go for 8 viles of the Drug $5600.  The remicade stops his over active immune system to hopefully slow down the affects of  the arthritis.

At first the drug infusions would last 2 weeks.. then Jeff would suffer for 2 weeks, until he could get another infusion of the drug. During this period we would schedule our family plans during the 2 weeks  knowing  that Jeff would be mobile enough to participate in our family’s lives.

Then the drug only lasted 7 days..

7 good days to be a family not affect by arthritis.

7 good days..  he could spend time going to his kids events.

7 days of living..

….then the other 21 of pain.

Then April came  drug failed and my husband had a reaction and could no longer get a remicade.  He went in to severe allergic reaction while getting his infusion , oxygen was required.

The 7 good days were lost

Jeff was at the end of the arthritis drug list.  He taken everything the doctors had available and built up immunities to all the current drugs.

He was 39.

The true darkness set in.  My husband went in full arthritis mode.  The “dark days”  or months as I like to call them.   Jeff’s arthritis got so bad he could barely walk.  His feet became huge,  he wore slippers 2 sizes to big,  he could not close his hands,and  Jeff could not climb stairs.  His inflammation levels were off the charts.

Jeff dragged himself to work everyday.. which is why I think,  people believed he was ok. The reason Jeff worked, he was paranoid about loosing health insurance.  At no point during “the dark days”  were things ok.. he would parking Handicap (he had a tag at this point) drag his body to the door with a cane, ride the elevator up and sit at his desk all day.  His co-workers assisting and picking everything up from him at his desk.  They watched him suffer too, his smiling personality gone.

Another reason he worked besides the insurance?  Jeff thought he was too young to stop working and go on disability. He wanted to contribute somehow,  he needed a reason to continue,  and providing for us was it … he wanted to live somehow.

Jeff no longer slept in our bed or tuck in his kids since he could not do stairs.

Jeff asked that he no longer drive or watch the kids.  The reason was he could not help or react if something went wrong, he could not save his own children.

He lost 50 pounds because it he could not cut his food and  hurt to eat,  the arthritis was every where.

The cane was in full use to assist him so he did not fall and the walker was ready to go when he needed  it..

He was 39

Arthritis Affects on our Family:

During that time  I was trying to keep everything “normal”.  I went to hockey practice, dance, worked, and more.   I made dinner every night, cleaned,  did everything.  Including taking care of Jeff.   He need help dressing, showering, and in the bathroom.   I did it all like it was ok, Me ..I normally speak up if I am unhappy,  during this time I existed  never saying a word about how terrible it really was, feeling as people never really got it.  I was dieing inside watching him suffer.

During this period as Jeff’s arthritic caregiver  I questioned everything:   My marriage, my family, my friends, our home, and beliefs.

While Jeff was at work ..I would cry and cry, not want him to see the tears.  I hated the feeling I was having 38 years old destine to be a caregiver for this arthritic man with no end in site.  I gained weight 298lb, stopped taking care of myself,  and existed as a mother. I was also diagnosed with diabetes.. the doctor told me with the stress it could have made me flip the switch from borderline to full Diabetes.  It also explained the depression.  Then the guilt of I am not suffering like him.. so it was not ok to feel sad.

My son age 8 at the time .. who was always close to his father felt pushed away he wanted thing to go back to normal.  He wondered if he would get this .. what Daddy had.  He acted up in school and was good at home to not upset is fragile dad and crumbling mother.   He grew up so fast during this time,  he became more responsible.  That is not the way you want your child to be come responsible  because he has to.   His only wish to go camping and fish with his father..

Jeff saying  “Buddy I cant do it.. I cant walk through the woods”

My heart died a little at the little boys request.

My daughter 3 at the time,  begged to sit on her dads lap , but she could not.   Jeff’s arthritis  set into his rib cage, where the tendons meets the bones,  which also made it hard to breath.  His arthritis was in all his tendons making it difficult to be touched.  I watch as Jeff was crushed telling his little girl she could not sit on his lap.

Hope:

One Sunday in June  after 6 months,  I cracked emotional  at church someone asked me how was Jeff, I lost it, Crying in the hall in front of everyone.  I told the truth.. he was not having anymore 7 good days. We were existing.. I was worried about him, our kids, and I was sad.  The people at church stepped up .. they brought meals to us for 2 months.. hope and happiness returned to our lives.

We started seeing  many of the best doctors in the area,  finally a doctor gave him a newly approved  drug.  It took 6 months to work but Jeff got back in to remission.  He has a better diet, reducing stress, and tries to work out. All which help.

Here is the thing it will be back,  I am realistic.  it scares me terrible to go back to those days.. Arthritis always comes back.   It is a good chance my children will get it also.  We need the Arthritis foundation and researchers  to continue to discover relief and cures.   We need more research and more drugs .. because he is only 42 and He has to walk his daughter down the aisle in 20 years..

World Arthritis Day is Tomorrow October 12, 2012. Please help if you can and raise awareness.

 

 

Kim Kardashian & My Husband

Kim Kardashian and her Psoriasis diagnosis.  I am glad that Kim has shared openly about her recent psoriasis diagnoses. I hope that Kim finds some relief  from her psoriasis symptoms. Her concern is really because how she makes her living her looks which is a fine way to make a living and she has the right to do so.  Her Mother has the condition, she understands the affects of the psoriasis and how it can affect her life.   I do have some understanding of her discomfort, because the love of my life has Psoriasis.

Last week,  Sherri Shepherd from the talk show “The View” said openly she does not get what the big deal is psoriasis  is like dandruff.  I don’t normally comment on what is said by celebs.  But Sherri Shepherd,  you truly are ignorant on this subject and should have kept your mouth shut.

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease .   It is a disease that can be  debilitating –  psoriatic arthritis, is a disease that comes from Psoriasis along many other serious health conditions.

I have had the misfortune to see what the flake skin disease can do to a family. My husband has 90% coverage of Psoriasis and is inflicted with Psoriatic arthritis.  We have heard many, many treatments over the years.

So Sherri here is your education on effect of this simple skin issue aka  Psoriasis:

  • When my husband could not move for 6 months-  Sure it was a like dandruff.
  • When my husband could not limb the stairs to come to bed and slept in recliner- Yea the white flakes were annoying
  • When they gave a Handicap pass to a 38 year old man and he walked with a cane- A good loofah will scrub that away.
  • When you take cancer medications and expose yourself to treatments that can give you skin cancer- Have you rubbed the diaper from a new born baby on the spots? (really)
  • When I drag my husband off the toilet because he did not have the strength – Vaseline will clear that right up.
  • When you husband asks you not to leave him alone with the kids because if something go wrong he might not be able to move to help. We changed our diet.
  • When he lost 50lb in 5 months because it hurt to eat because of the pain- Have you drank the urine from a English donkey?
  • When we got to the end of all experimental drugs and had an allergic reaction to the last one- Soak in vinegar then wrap in plastic wrap?
  • When the drug to treat it cost $20,000 a month-  Have you tried Lestoil cleaner on the spots I hear it helps cost $1.89?
  • When I cried every day because I was not sure if I wanted to spend the rest of my life caring for an invalint at the age of 36-Calamine lotion take me away.
  • When my son asked my husband when they can go camping or fish again..then he just stopped asking- Yea the mayonnaise is a great moisturizer.
  • When you wake up with blood all over the sheets because he scratched himself raw in the middle of the night- Neutrogena t-gel with coal tar can help?
  • When you think at the age of 21 that you should have a vasectomy so you do not want to pass the disease on to your future children- Have you tried fish oil?
  • When my children wondered why Daddy could not hug them because he cant handle a squeeze-   Just don’t wear black clothing people won’t notice.
  • When you think you family will be better off without you when you are at your sickest- Because Head and Shoulders can fix it.

Believe it or not my husband has tried many of the suggestion above (I will leave you guessing)  because when there is no cure, you do get desperate and what else are you going to do but laugh.

So I ask people to understand Psoriasis is Not contagious. There is no need to get out of the pool when some one with spots gets in.

Psoriasis is a disease that affects 7.5 million Americans of that  30% get psoriatic arthritis (2.5 million Americans)  ,  there is no cure, just treatment, and affects my family.

My response to Sherri Shepherd:

So NO Psoriasis is not just dandruff.

To get more Information about Psoriasis  check out the National Psoriasis Foundation