Natural Hay-Fever Allergy Relief
If you have hay fever, you’re probably allergic to pollen. That’s why you get symptoms in the spring, summer or fall, when there’s lots of pollen around.
Hay fever can make you feel miserable. You sneeze a lot and your nose runs or feels stuffed up. Your eyes may be red, itchy or watery. And you may have a cough or a wheeze.
You may get hay fever so badly that you can’t sleep, can’t concentrate and find it hard to work. And at certain times of the year, pollen is hard to avoid.
Various prescription and over-the-counter drugs are commonly used to treat hay fever. Drugs such as anti-inflammatory steroidal nasal sprays, decongestants and antihistamines may provide temporary relief – but at a price. Nasal sprays can cause local irritation of the delicate mucous membranes and decongestants commonly cause sleeplessness and irritability.
Antihistamines can cause nausea, headaches and dizziness. Some people experience such extreme drowsiness while using antihistamines that manufacturers urge users to avoid driving while taking them. Antibiotics are commonly prescribed for hay fever and sinusitis. However these pose a problem, as resistance to antibiotics is building.
But do not despair; there are drug-free ways to help relieve your symptoms!
Yes, The good news is that you can control your hay fever symptoms without any kind of treatments whatsoever!
Although this might sound outlandish and well nigh impossible, the truth remains the truth no matter what!
It is clear that people with hay fever who are allergic or intolerant to some foods will benefit from excluding them from their diets. This has often worked for people who don’t respond to other treatments. By reducing the some of the load on your immune system your tolerance to pollen and other hay fever triggers may be increased.
Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen or fungal spores, most commonly grass pollen. The immune system mistakes the spores for harmful invaders and produces excessive amounts of the antibody I.e. to bind to them and fight them off.
I.e. stimulates the release of histamine to flush out the spores, and this irritates the airways making them swell and producing the symptoms of hay fever.
In an otherwise healthy person, common signs of a weakened immune system include frequent colds, as well as chronic allergies. Allergic reactions occur when the body perceives allergens (such as pollen, dust, molds) as poisons so it secretes histamine, creating familiar allergy symptoms. They’re not really poisons, but if your immune system is already compromised, your body reacts as if they were.
The obvious common-sense solution then, to controlling hay-fever symptoms is strengthening your immune system
The first step to fighting allergies and hay fever is to build your own immune system. By getting enough exercise, fresh air, sleep and proper foods you can build up your immune system to where it can increase its tolerance to eating well will usually increase your health to the point of being able to tolerate allergic foods, dust, pollen, etc.
Step # 1: Avoid Synthetic colors, flavors and preservatives
Avoid foods that contain sweeteners, additives and chemicals and preservatives.
Many people do not realize that common additives such as food dyes actually stimulate the body’s inflammatory pathways.
Chemical and preservative laden junk foods are prime contributing factors, so keeping these to a minimum is recommended
Reducing the toxic load in the body calms the immune system. A calmed immune system produces fewer antibodies. Reducing toxins decreases inflammation in the intestines, which helps the body and the immune system react less vigorously to potential allergens. Certain coloring agents commonly used in food and drugs, along with many synthetic preservatives, cause non-specific inflammation because they are dangerous and the body needs to eliminate them. The amount of work the immune system has to do is reduced when it is exposed to fewer synthetic food additives, such as artificial dyes and preservatives.
Step # 2: Avoid milk products
Many people have found that if they remove milk from my diet, and cut back drastically on milk products (cheese, yoghourt etc. – but without completely eliminating them), the problem was cured.
It is suggested that you try a milk and milk-product free diet for a few weeks. There is little chance of it doing harm, and there is a possibility that it will work the same magic cure that it did for me.
The problem is not the lactose it is the milk protein.
Milk allergies are often confused with lactose intolerance. Milk allergies occur when the body produces poisons to fight off the "invading" milk casein proteins. Sometimes a body with a Leaky Gut Syndrome (a permeable intestine barrier) allows too many toxins, bacteria and allergens into the blood stream. Lactose intolerance is when a body, usually an adult, no longer has the lactase enzyme needed to digest the milk sugar lactose. If you are only lactose tolerant, you can probably digest cheese as cheese contains a small amount of lactose.
Step # 3: Avoid refined white flour products
When you eat products made with refined white flour, which I like to call Styrofoam, you are eating a totally lifeless product.
In modern processing mills the wheat is milled and milled some more. It is bleached in order to make the flour more shelf stable. The only problem is, it does not add any stability to your body! All that remains is a powdery white substance, which has absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever!
White flour is what’s left after stripping virtually all the nutrients and fiber out of a whole grain of wheat. So what you’re left with is a dead, lifeless powder that no longer goes rancid and can be used as a perfect binding agent to hold together sugar, sodium, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, additives, and other chemicals
Current government regulations allow for more than a HUNDRED chemical additives to be added to the finished bread product without them being listed on the label. For example, to make bread a brighter white at the expense of consumer health, flour is treated with chemical bleach agents such as chlorine dioxide, which is similar to Clorox.
Avoid breads and pasta made with "enriched" flour. You’ll notice that it is difficult to find a true whole grain bread at the grocery store. The few brands that are available unfortunately add undesirable ingredients like hydrogenated vegetable oils and high fructose corn syrup. It is best to purchase quality whole grain bread from a reputable health food store.
Step # 4: Avoid Refined white sugar
Make an effort to avoid refined sugars. Sugar should be avoided as it reduces immune function and increases susceptibility to infection.
There is strong evidence that sugar has a negative effect on the function of the immune system. When white blood cells are exposed to high levels of sugar in the bloodstream, they have a decreased ability to engulf bacteria and have weakened systemic resistance to all infections.
Step # 5: Improve your digestive health
The health of the body’s immune system is directly related to its ability to digest and utilize food.
Every cell in the body is dependent upon digestion for the nutrients needed to function properly. If the digestive process is less than optimal, parasites, Candida, leaky gut and food allergies can develop preventing absorption of nutrients. Nutritional deficiencies can cause inadequate function of cellular and organ systems leaving the body vulnerable to health problems.
Poor digestion can result in allergies. Undigested food can find its way into our bloodstream where the immune system views it as foreign “invaders.” These “invaders” bind with antibodies and form substances called “circulating immune complexes” (CIC’s). These CIC’s circulate in the blood and lymph where they are consumed by macrophages. When the CIC’s are overlooked by the macrophages, they can grow larger and attach to bodily tissue. From here, immune components, T and B cells, can start destroying healthy tissue while attempting to eliminate the CIC’s. This immune response can create the inflammation, redness, and other problems that lead to more serious health issues in the future.
To optimize your digestive process:
1. Avoid high fat and deep fried foods
High fat and fried foods, hydrogenated, oxidized and processed oils or by-products can cause Hay Fever symptoms in some people.
High fat foods are difficult to digest, and stay in the stomach longer. Instead, eat easily digestible, high fiber, low fat foods, which are processed much more quickly by the stomach, and therefore are much less likely to cause problems.
2. Take digestive enzymes
Many practitioners of alternative medicine believe that digestive enzymes can be helpful for food allergies and autoimmune diseases.
Our pancreas produces digestive enzymes in order to break down the nutrients contained in the foods we eat.
Digestive enzymes are secreted along the gastrointestinal tract and break down the food in the body so that the nutrients can be absorbed.
Enzymes are essential for the digestion and absorption of food, for it’s conversion into body tissue, and for production of energy at the cellular level.
Taking digestive enzymes at the same time as an allergenic food can reduce the severity of the allergic reaction, according to a recent study published in Inflammation Research (2002; 51(Suppl 1):S13–4). This report is good news for many individuals who must follow a restricted diet because of food allergies.
To digest food (breaking the solid food into liquids for absorption),the body uses digestive enzymes, usually produced by the pancreas. Digestive enzymes require a liquid acid base (gastric acid) to digest the food. If there is not enough of gastric acid, or a shortage of enzymes, allergies such as hay fever may appear. Take an anti-acid is a sure way to not have digestion occur.
Bromelain, a protease enzyme helps to dissolve the foreign proteins called antigens that are responsible for allergies. Bromelain also helps to prevent diarrhea by inhibiting certain bacteria (Detrimental Bacteria) from adhering to the lining of the small intestine and accelerates the healing of gastric ulcers.
Papaya contains proteolytic enzymes that enhance the digestion of protein. In addition, papaya is the only known food to contain papain-a powerful enzyme that enhances the digestion of protein. Papain enzyme is also available in delicious all natural chewable caplets.
3. Take Probiotics
A daily dose of probiotics can change the immune status of people with hay fever.
A major component of the immune system is based on the digestive system’s delicate balance of “good” and “bad” bacteria
The word ”probiotic,” means ”for life” in Latin, and has come to characterize a large family of bacteria and microbes that are beneficial for healthy immune and digestive function.
Naturally fermented probiotic foods and liquids contain the necessary good bacteria to rebuild the microflora and are pre-digested so that the body can absorb the nutrients more easily. When food is cultured or fermented it is more nutritionally dense providing B vitamins, minerals and amino acids, all of which are needed for proper functioning of the various organ systems including digestion. The re-establishing of the microflora, in the intestine, is vital for the health of the immune system. The microflora helps the body detoxify, digest food and create certain necessary nutrients in the colon. Probiotic foods include unsweetened, plain yogurt, kefir, cultured vegetables, kombucha, beet kvass and naturally fermented probiotic liquids.
By building up friendly bacteria in your intestines, you will avoid the build up of harmful bacteria, which in turn produces histamines which bring on allergies. Keep your gut healthy and your sinuses will thank you for it.
Probiotic bacteria appear to modify the immune system’s response to grass pollen, according to experts at the Institute of Food Research.
In the first human study of its kind, scientists at the Institute of Food Research found that probiotic bacteria in a daily drink can modify the immune system’s response to grass pollen, a common cause of seasonal hay fever.
The researchers found that people who had taken probiotics for five months had lower levels of the antibody IgE – which is usually over-produced in hay fever sufferers in response to pollen – than people who had not.
"The probiotic strain we tested changed the way the body’s immune cells respond to grass pollen, restoring a more balanced immune response," explained researcher Dr Kamal Ivory.
Research leader Professor Claudio Nicoletti conceded that the study was only based on a small number of patients, but said that he was "fascinated" by the results. "The probiotic significantly reduced the production of molecules associated with allergy," he added.
For immune function, Eastern European researchers took the friendly bacteria a step further and broke it into tiny fragments. The researchers found that the microscopic cell pieces stimulated an immune response and helped protect the body from foreign invaders like flu and cold germs. These cell fragment products, sometimes called “immunobiotics,” are emerging in the United States as a new type of dietary supplement.
