Managing Seasonal Allergies

Managing Seasonal Allergies
Give Your Body A Break!
Fruit has a cleansing, clearing nature. It makes us feel light and fresh when we eat it. Environmental allergies often make us feel irritable, edgy and inflamed, and are typically a result of dehydration (especially as the heat rolls in) and excess body acidity. Acidity is created from low alkalizing mineral levels in the body (such as magnesium). Alkalizing minerals keep our bones strong, muscles and mind relaxed, and reduce sensitivities - as in allergies. Processed and refined foods (such as floury and sugary foods) and animal products both deplete the body of alkalizing minerals easily causing stagnation, heaviness and irritability. Avoiding these foods can drastically reduce allergy symptoms and eating more fruit and increasing water consumption - as well as decreasing coffee and alcohol consumption, which is dehydrating - can really improve your sensitivity to allergens, and calm your body and mind.

Being a hay fever sufferer all my life, I battled June and September with itchy eyes, scratchy throat, runny nose and irritability. Last year I put my theories into practice and ate no animal foods, nor refined foods for the entire allergy season in hope that symptoms would subside - instead they went away completely, and have been gone since. I noticed that the body reacts quickly. Enjoying a plate of cheese and crackers when pollen is in the air would create symptoms, but eating fruit would drive them away. Other things that make the body sensitive to allergies are: overeating, which quickly takes away your energy, alcohol and caffeine which are histamine producing foods directly increasing sensitivities, and fats/oils - especially rancid or processed varieties. Overeating oily or fatty foods stagnate the body and worsen sensitivities, both mentally and physically. Eat mineral rich foods such as green leafy vegetables, fruit, legumes and whole grains (not brown bread, but grains in their unadulterated whole forms, such as brown rice, barley, etc), which calms the body and decreases sensitivities. And still, sugar and white flour are likely the worst for contributing to sensitivities and allergies as they aggravate the body, create stagnation, deplete our mineral levels, and paralyze our immune system!
Try it! If you are suffering from seasonal allergies, try these simple (but surprisingly difficult to implement) suggestions and see how you feel. My allergies disappeared the very next day that I discontinued the stagnating suggested foods. Instead, eat fruit - which mineralizes, clears, moistens, and calms the mind, and drives allergies away (unless you’re allergic to fruit!)

Here’s a Tip!
Orange and green coloured fruits and vegetables have high levels of Vitamin A which aids inflammation and allergies. Consume more green and orange foods when feeling inflamed or allergic (hot, stagnant, irritable, sometimes with redness - especially eyes, rashes, dandruff and dryness). Examples are: kale, peach, melon, cabbage, carrot, parsley, collard, etc.

Submitted by Whole Foods Nutritionist Michael Fisher, RNCP
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The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.