Nara Smith Opens Up About Struggles With Eczema and Eventual Lupus Diagnosis: 'It Forced Me to Reevaluate How I Eat'

11/20/2024 04:11 PM

Nara Smith revealed why she started to make her food from scratch

Nara Smith revealed that one of the contributing factors to her making her food from scratch was her struggles with eczema and other autoimmune issues.

The 23-year-old internet star — who is best known for her elaborate, home-made recipes — opened up about her health struggles in her interview with Who What Wear on Nov. 20. She revealed that a part of the reason why she started making her food from scratch was due to a flare-up of her eczema and eventual lupus diagnosis when she was pregnant.

Related: Nara Smith Has a Cheeky Response to Commenters Saying She Should Be 'in the Club Living It Up' Instead of Cooking in the Kitchen

"It forced me to really reevaluate how I eat and what I put into my body," she explained. According to the Mayo Clinic, lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that "attacks your own tissues and organs" and can cause inflammation in a person's "joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs."

The Lupus Foundation of America also added that while there isn't a specific diet a person has to follow when they're diagnosed with the disease, "healthy eating can make a big difference in your lupus symptoms and your overall health." 

Nara explained that when she began making her own food from scratch, she also explored making some of her kids' and husband Lucky Blue Smith's favorite snacks from scratch as well. "A lot of times—believe it or not—Lucky's actually craving something, or he's like, 'I want you to cook this,' or my kids ask me for random things," she continued. "People think that's just my tagline, which it is, but that's actually the truth. They actually do want these things."

While several commenters on her viral recipe videos joke about her kids waiting to eat because she made everything from scratch, Nara revealed that she will feed them off-camera in an instance when a recipe takes a longer time to complete.

Related: Nara and Lucky Blue Smith Hint They Found a Home They 'Absolutely Love' on East Coast as They Give a Peek Inside 'Elaborate House Hunting'

"I feel like people think it's super hard or takes super long, which some recipes for sure do," she said. "Sometimes, I'm in the kitchen for seven-plus hours [and] sometimes, some things are so much easier to do than one might think. It's fun to show people that they can actually make mozzarella if they want to at home in like 30 minutes."

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Along with her elaborate recipes, Nara is also known to dress up for her videos, which she said adds to the fun of it. "I don't get to leave my house that much to work," she explained. "I don't have a normal 9-to-5 job where I get to go to the office and maybe wear something fun, so my way of just feeling cute and feeling kind of fun is dressing up in the kitchen."

"I feel like my videos are me but just more enhanced, more polished," she continued. "It doesn't feel like I'm playing a character because, technically, it's just me, right? [I'm] just speaking quietly and dressed well, but it's me."