If you have spent a considerable amount of time scrolling through Instagram, then you must have come across Nara Smith's cooking videos, in which she makes everything from scratch while wearing over-the-top looks and speaking in a whisper. The 23-year-old model-turned-viral sensation has also been trolled for the same videos. Now, in an interview with Who What Wear, she revealed that a part of the reason why she started making her food from scratch was her struggles with eczema, eventual lupus diagnosis when she was pregnant, and other autoimmune issues.

‘Forced me to reevaluate how I eat’

Nara, who is married to model Lucky Blue Smith, with whom she shares three children, shared in the interview that after she became pregnant with her first child, she found her skin and autoimmune system flaring up. The model had severe eczema and was later diagnosed with lupus, which made her reconsider the ways food could be affecting her health and adjust her diet.

She explained, “It forced me to really reevaluate how I eat and what I put into my body.” However, it is not just her medical conditions; sometimes, it's demands from her family that make her want to cook such lengthy recipes. “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. People think that's just my tagline, which it is, but that's actually the truth. They actually do want these things,” she said.

Talking about her recipes and dishes she cooks from scratch, Nara added, “I feel like people think it's super hard or takes super long, which some recipes for sure do. Sometimes, I'm in the kitchen for seven-plus hours. 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.”

What are lupus and eczema?

Lupus is a chronic (long-lasting) type of autoimmune disease that can affect the joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs. For the uninitiated, autoimmune diseases happen when your immune system attacks healthy cells and tissues by mistake. Meanwhile, eczema is a condition that causes your skin to become dry, itchy and bumpy. This condition weakens your skin's barrier function.

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