Spring is here, the flowers and trees are in bloom, and allergy sufferers are looking for relief from itching eyes and runny noses. Naturopathic treatments are effective for symptom relief, while avoiding the rebound effects that occur with conventional allergy medicines. Adopting a naturopathic approach to improve your health in the longterm will lead to freedom of allergies, or provide you with effective solutions to control them.
Is diet a factor?
Yes. The foods we eat are a double-edge sword for allergy sufferers: they can give some relief, but they can also be an underlying problem.
Here’s the positive side of foods and allergies. Spring is an ideal time to do a healing cleanse that reduces the burden of toxins that accumulated over the winter. Cleanse programs also help with the transition of the diet to lighter foods, typically from vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes. If you commit to doing a cleanse, the increased intake of vegetables and fruits (while reducing meat and starch/carbohydrate intake) can give your body a rest from toxins left behind by food reactions. In turn, the burden on the immune system is lifted and is better able to manage allergies.
Ideal foods for a cleanse are beets (roots and tops), carrots, celery, parsley, artichokes, dandelion and spices like tumeric, licorice and cinnamon. Vitamin C rich foods should be increased since Vitamin C provides an antihistamine effect. Examples here include peppers (red sweet/chili), kale, asparagus, collard leaves, broccoli, cabbage plus berries, papaya and mangoes. Onions are the most common source of a bioflavonoid called quercitin, which in turn stabilizes mast cells against releasing histamine. It’s not going to hurt to increase onions in food but it won’t likely meet with the therapeutic effect of a quercitin supplement (see below).
Now let’s look at the problem side. Food intolerances are associated with a variety of symptoms and health conditions: asthma, colitis, arthritis, ulcers, hives, migraines and obesity to name a few. These intolerances place a stress on your health, overwhelming your immune system in the process. If you were free of food intolerances, you would have a 30-40% lower chance of not suffering from seasonal allergies at all.
You are probably thinking, “I don’t know of any foods that I react to”. Most people don’t. Most food intolerances are masked by the body’s ability to adapt to stress. If you do experience symptoms from food reactions, they may not occur for 48-72 hours after eating the problem food(s). This delayed reaction makes it difficult to figure it out on your own. Allergists and conventional health practitioners don’t accept that these types of intolerances exist, nor offer methods of testing that would help you. It therefore is difficult to know what you should do. And it becomes even more complicated when food intolerances might be caused by combinations of foods (versus single foods). These combinations don’t have to involve eating the foods at the same meal: they can occur if the foods are eaten within 4-6 hours of each other. Such combination reactions would explain why you have problems with a food at one time, but not another: if the combination factors aren’t the same, you won’t have a reaction.
The foods that most people are intolerant to are also the foods we eat often: wheat, dairy (milk, cheese), corn, egg, sugar, food additives and colourings, peanuts and citrus fruits/juices (especially oranges). It’s also important to be cautious with soy products. While soy provides many health benefits, intolerance to soy is on the rise in people of all ages.
If you don’t know what foods you have intolerances to, try avoiding the list of foods given above as well as any food/food item that you eat three or more times per week. Cravings or strong aversion are other clues to food intolerances. If you want to be more certain of your intolerances, consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or holistic practitioner with experience in food sensitivity testing (IgG, or electrodermal screening).
Naturopathic Supplements:
Antihistamines: In this category are Quercitin, Bromelain, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin C. Quercitin stabilizes mast cells in the bloodstream that release histamine when an allergen is present. Quercitin is also an antioxidant that inhibits formation of inflammatory leukotrienes which can aggravate allergy symptoms more than histamine. Bromelain is recommended to increase the poor absorption of quercitin. The recommended dose of each supplement is 250 to 500 mg, taken 10 minutes before a meal. Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) or pyridoxal-5-phosphate (the active form of B6) can reduce the constriction of airways that results in wheezing or asthma. Use 50 mg, 2-3 times per day. Vitamin C, a potent antioxidant, will also stabilize mast cells to prevent histamine release, and helps the liver detoxify histamine. Adults should use 500 to 1000 (preferably with bioflavonoids like rutin and hesperidin), 3 to 4 times per day.
Other Ideas: Homeopathic remedies such as Sabadilla, Allium cepa or Euphrasia have proven track records for alleviating allergy symptoms. You should consult with a practitioner to determine which remedy is best suited for you. As mentioned earlier, a cleansing and detoxification program is also ideal at this time of year. Herbal or homeopathic remedies can improve the function of the liver and kidneys to eliminate allergens and thereby reduce your reactions.
Acupuncture treatments provide quick relief of nasal or sinus symptoms. It is best to receive 2-3 treatments per week for the first two weeks, and continue with maintenance treatments every 2 weeks after that. NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technque) is an effective desensitization program that eliminates allergies to foods, pollens, chemicals and other allergens – often within 25 hours.
If this is the year that you would like to get control of your allergies and stop trying to manage them with injections or prescription medicines, please consult with a naturopathic doctor who has experience in this field.
Spring is here, the flowers and trees are in bloom, and allergy sufferers are looking for relief from itching eyes and runny noses. Naturopathic treatments are effective for symptom relief, while avoiding the rebound effects that occur with conventional allergy medicines. Adopting a naturopathic approach to improve your health in the longterm will lead to freedom of allergies, or provide you with effective solutions to control them.
