For Philip, skin issues weren’t just a phase; they were a three-decade-long battle. Starting with childhood eczema and escalating to severe psoriasis in 2015, Philip lived in a body that felt like it was under constant attack.
At his worst, over 50% of his body was covered in thick, scaly, psoriatic plaques. His scalp flaked constantly, and the skin on his hands and feet would get so dry it cracked and bled with every movement. “It’s hard to heal from that because you have to put band-aids on just to move your joints,” Philip recalls. The itching was so intense it stole his sleep, creating a vicious cycle of stress and inflammation.
The Steroid Trap
Philip followed the standard dermatological “step therapy” for years. He was prescribed massive amounts of topical steroid creams, oral medications like Otezla, and phototherapy. The side effects were often as bad as the disease; the oral medications made him vomit, and he began to worry about the long-term danger of thinning skin and hormonal disruption from the steroids.
When the specialists suggested he move to “biologics”—lifelong, expensive immunosuppressive injections—Philip hit a wall. He had already tried the “healthy” route, spending months on a whole-food, plant-based vegan diet, only to find himself constantly hungry while his skin continued to flare. He realized the system didn’t have a cure; it only had a more expensive way to manage his misery.
The Six-Month Shift
In 2022, Philip discovered the work of Dr. Shawn Baker and Dr. Paul Saladino. He decided to walk away from the dermatologist and take a radical leap: he cut out all plants, seed oils, and processed foods, committing to a diet of beef, bacon, eggs, and butter.
Unlike some “overnight” success stories, Philip’s healing required patience. While he felt more energized immediately and lost 20 pounds in the first month, his skin took time to catch up.
Month 1: Energy increased, significant weight loss began.
Month 6: The “lightbulb” moment. The redness faded, and the constant itching finally stopped. For the first time in years, he wasn’t experiencing new flares.
Year 1.5: His skin was fully cleared.
From Patient to Coach
Today, at 34, Philip is an engineer who has reclaimed his life from the “genetics” he was told were his destiny. He no longer hides his skin under long sleeves in the California sun. The “skinny-fat” physique and pre-diabetes he struggled with in his 20s are gone, replaced by a lean, athletic frame fueled by red meat.
Philip is now a certified health coach and a volunteer for the National Psoriasis Foundation, where he works to show the 12 million Americans suffering from psoriasis that they are not “pill deficient”—they are likely just missing the right fuel.
“They didn’t tell me how to treat the root cause… you just take this steroid, take this pill. Now, my psoriasis has disappeared. I’m a year and a half free of disease.”
