Miss Dimples (Hong Kong, Prc) on 05/20/2013

Some background info: I'm 33 yrs old, female. I'm not on any supplement or medication. My weight is normal, my health has been good and never had any serious disease, except cold and flu once in a few year. I'm also a runner and did several marathons in the past. Quite a healthy eater to start with, low salt, no sugar, no MSG, no junk food or no fast food, no dairy product, eating meat once in awhile. Lots of salad and slightly cooked veggies, and fruits.

My skin had been flawless until 4 years ago. I got psoriasis on both cheeks 4 years ago due to skin infection (i spot treated some flat warts with tea tree oil and that burnt my skin) while I was going through a very stressful period of my life, ever since, I had tried many different approaches, internal and external remedies (including ACV and baking soda), the best they could do was to temporarily improve the condition, but once the treatments were stopped, it tended to come back. My condition was not very serious but my skin flaked like crazy and the patches turned red and burned every once in awhile, especially after running. I could only wish it was grown elsewhere instead of my face.

3 weeks ago, I have started using sesame oil (regular sesame oil from grocery store, not cold pressed and organic) for oil pulling (swishing oil in the mouth for 20mins and spit it out) every morning and before bed, also started to avoid high GI foods, quit rice and noodles, eating soy pulp and soy milk (homemade) made out of soaked soy beans and black turtle beans bough from the local markets in China as my staple. Occasionally I would have rolled oatmeal once a day. Just doing this out of curiosity and see what this change can bring to me, and hopefully it would make a difference to my skin. I started to notice the difference the next day. My skin was all cleared nice and supple at the first 3 days, then when I ran on the forth day on, it flaked, turned red, itched and burn, I thought it got worse but wanted to give it a bit more time. The flaky patches was a bit different than then the flare ups. It all flaked at the same time (evenly) and a few spots where I had warts also bulged out and turned red. After the big initial "flare up", I had also had a few flaky patches afterward, but can tell it's been significantly improved, the patches have been healed and lightened, some areas are all cleared up already. 90% healed by now. Skin completely regenerates itself every 28 days, and also depends on your age, the older you are, the longer it takes. I expect it would be all gone and healed, back to normal in two more weeks. I run almost everyday, 5K minimum, sometimes 15K. Personally, after running is the best time to examine the condition. No flare up now, lesser and lesser redness I can detect from my face. My skin is even and radiant now, I think I must had done something right.

Black turtle beans have very powerful anti oxidation and anti aging effects loaded with goodies, great for the skin. Same with soy, get the organically grown ones. I know there are tons of mixed opinions about soy drinks in US, but I believe the problems mainly come from the commercial manufacturing process and GMO. Asians have been eating lots of soy products and other beans. Personally I see no reason of quitting it.

How I make soy drink: I grab a handful of black turtle beans and soy beans individually, soak them overnight, drain the water and wash it slightly, before pouring into a soy drink maker. I do it twice, I put half of the beans and add 1.8 liter of hot boiled water, the machine grinds and cooks the beans, all done in 20 mins. Filter the pulp with a cotton bag that I sewed. Eat the pulp 3 times a day, drink soy milk throughout the day. Slightly lesser than 3.6 liters, that can last me for two days.

The benefits of oil pulling are many, you might want to check it out. Possibly, the cold pressed organic extra virgin sesame oil would work out best, but I'm happy with the roasted sesame oil, it does the job well.

I'm not a naturopathic doctor, or a TCM doctor, I don't know why it works, or maybe it only works to me, but I really think I must have done something right, and I hope this would help you too!