Learn How To Control Your Allergies

News reports from this year and last tell us that increasing numbers of us are experiencing seasonal allergies. If you’re suffering and find that your prescription or over-the-counter medications seem ineffective, why not consider trying a natural remedy? Don’t stop taking your medications, although you’ll most likely want to let your doctor know what you’re doing. After a time, you may find that not only your symptoms, but your need for medications, are greatly reduced.

Here are a number of natural methods to help you gain control over your allergies:

Reduce dairy consumption – One of the most effective ways to ease environmental allergy symptoms is to completely remove dairy from your diet. Dairy is a mucus-producing food and is considered quite inflammatory. Try completely eliminating cow’s milk products from your diet for two months and see if it makes a difference.

Other food allergies – Many health practitioners agree that seasonal allergies may be related to food allergies or sensitivities. If you’ve tried removing dairy products from your diet and found no relief, you may want to try an elimination diet. This will involve eliminating from your diet for a period of time the foods that most commonly create an immune reaction. In addition to milk, these include eggs, nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat. A nutrition professional can help guide you through an elimination diet.

Honey – many allergy sufferers swear by eating honey that has been produced in an area local to them to reduce hay fever symptoms.

Omega-3 fatty acids – these help control inflammation and are available in a small number of foods, including cold-water fish such as wild salmon and tuna, walnuts, and flax seeds and flax seed oil. To be sure you’re getting enough of this important nutrient, eat two servings of wild salmon each week, or supplement with cod liver oil or fish oil capsules.

Limit your exposure; – If you are a chronic allergy sufferer, avoid exercising outdoors, especially in the early morning, when pollen counts are highest. Avoid the outdoors particularly on windy days if your allergies are severe. Keep home and car windows closed, and wear a mask while performing yard work. You can take this a step further by limiting your exposure to toxins that may cause sensitivity, such as perfumes, household cleaning and laundry products, and scented candles and room deodorizers.

Neti pots – These have been used in India for thousands of years to keep the sinuses clear and seem to be gaining popularity here in the U.S. They are shaped similar to Aladdin’s lamp, inexpensive, and available and health food stores and many drugstores. Instructions will be included in the box, but basically, you’ll fill the neti pot using a mixture of non-iodized salt and lukewarm water and, leaning your head over the sink, pour half the saltwater mixture into one nostril, let it drain, and repeat on the other side with the remaining mixture. Use your neti pot twice a day during allergy season, especially after you’ve been outdoors.

Supplements:

An herb called stinging nettle leaf reduces the amount of histamine the body produces, reducing sneezing and itching due to hay fever. Stinging nettle leaf extract in freeze-dried capsule form can be taken in a dose of 300 milligrams daily.

Quercetin is a bioflavonoid, a phytochemical found in plant foods such as apples, onions, berries, grapes, teas, and red wine that supports the immune system and acts as a natural antihistamine. A normal healthy diet will provide about 25-50 milligrams of quercetin; if you choose to supplement this, be sure to follow the dosage instructions on the bottle.

People can become allergic to pets suddenly at any time in their lives. The allergy is not so much to the pet but the allergens that cling to their hair, ingested by them or secreted naturally through their skin. We can develop pet allergies to any type of animal but the most common are cats and dogs. The allergic reaction varies in severity from person to person but usually attacks the upper respiratory system, resulting in red itchy watery eyes, wheezing or difficulty breathing, swelling of the face or upper limbs or a rash on any part of the body.

Seasonal allergies can make these symptoms worse and some individuals can find relief with over the counter medication. Some allergies are so severe that sufferers get a weekly injection or take daily medication. If you are a pet owner and suffer from allergy symptoms you should consider an allergy test to find out exactly what your allergies are. Our bodies are finely tuned machines, and most people live with allergies but never suffer any symptoms. When the body is out of balance the smallest irritant can overload the system and trigger an allergic reaction.

As long as your pet allergies are not severe, there are steps you can take to minimize your reaction before you find a new home for your beloved pet. Although you can’t change what you’re allergic to, you can control the symptoms and your environment. First of all start with a healthy balanced diet, and make some changes to your environment that could help keep your allergic reactions to a minimum.

1. Although I do not like the thought, you could keep your pet out of the house completely

2. Keep your pets off the furniture

3. Use an air humidifier to keep airborne dust and hair particles to a minimum

4. Reduce the amount of carpet you have in the home

5. Bathe your and groom pet regularly and keep him indoors as much as you can

6. Wash your hands after handling your pet

7. Keep furniture dusted and use a vacuum with a HEPA filter

There are some things you can do yourself that will lessen any allergic reaction to your pet. Unfortunately, you may need to find a new home for your pet if you can’t get your allergies under control. For most of us our pets are part of the family and we want to keep them with us so if you have allergies to animals I hope these tips help you.

Being diagnosed with a corn allergy is just the beginning of a new, and often troublesome life. This is because corn or any of its derivatives can be found in so many places in our everyday life. One of the most important though is in the foods you eat on a daily basis.

When you first hear about the corn allergy, most people do not get very anxious – at least, not yet. Most people’s first impression is well, I really liked corn on the cob or cornbread but I can do without. There’s plenty of other stuff to eat. But then someone hands you a list of all the places you can find corn and you will become instantly dismayed.

Common Items You Need To Avoid

Cooking can be a minefield when it comes to corn. Thickening gravy, casseroles and soups and stews uses cornstarch, HFCS (or high fructose corn syrup) is just processed corn. Candies, cookies, cakes and pies are some of the most obvious. But what about ketchup, chili sauce, salad dressings, steak sauce, pasta and meat entrees (from the freezer case), or the same type of food products from a box. Deli meats, ground sausage, bologna, ground beef or ground ham may have HFCS in as a shelf stabilizer and food preservative. There is so many more selections off limits when you start reading ingredient labels while you are in the grocery store.

Some of the not so obvious names also on the ingredients labels can also contain corn without you realizing it. Anytime you see any of the following, that item must be checked with the manufacturer as one of the hidden ingredients may be corn. Always look out for:

artificial flavors or artificial colors
artificial sweeteners
baking powder
frozen blueberries (often use corn to prevent clumping)
caramel color or caramel flavor
fresh chickens (chicken feed is often corn)
iodized salt
many types of pickled products

This is just a very short list of some of the troubled areas you may find you must learn to avoid. So to best learn to keep safe, start training yourself of the many places each day you may be running into corn without you even realizing it.

Reading the ingredient label on foods sounds so easy and normal but from now on you must also check the contents of some of the strangest things. Postage stamps and envelopes (the glue label often uses corn-based glues and sealants.) Many room aerosol sprays, garden hoses and garden chemicals, some vitamin supplements and medications plus plastic containers, paper cups and paper plates often have corn as a base ingredient. This is a short-list of “beware” everyday household products.

What Is Safe With A Corn Allergy

Learning how to prepare everything in your own kitchen is your best defense against corn allergy. Cooking from scratch means you are aware of every item that goes into your meal. As long as you have control of the ingredients, you can control your allergen also. So learning to cook the corn-free way includes using many of the following:

potato flour or potato starch
rice flour or rice milks
some of the alternative grains not from a wheat source (cross contamination concerns)
100% fruit juices or fruit syrups
whole fruits and vegetables, preferably organic (avoid many frozen varieties because of cross contamination issues)
pasture-fed meats (verify corn was not part of their food source)
sugar cane or sugar beet on the label means it is OK

So although reading the ingredient label may be your first line of defense, this plus is only common in relation to food products. Also, because a corn allergy is not considered one of the major allergens, many of the sourced products on a label (such as citric acid or caramel flavoring/caramel color) may contain corn and you do not even know it. There also is no way you can tell it from reading that label.

Essential oils are great for allergies and can be used as anti-allergenic and in fact, they can be the best solution for allergies for many people. I suffered with chronic allergies for years and essential oils have been the only thing that have kept them under complete control. That said, how exactly do you use essential oils for allergies?

1. Identify why you are having allergies. This is a crucial step in controlling allergies no mater what method or product you use. Are you suffering because you are allergic to a certain food? or is it hay fever? seasonal allergies? A sinus infection? or something else? The exact oils that you use will vary according to the kind of allergy so it is important that you know this first.

2. If you have a common food allergy such as wheat, gluten, corn, or soy, the best combination is a special blend by Doterra called Digest Zen. You can also use peppermint oil by putting a couple of drops in a glass of water and drinking it or by rubbing a few drops on your stomach or under your nose.

3. For sinus or seasonal allergies, the best combination is lemon, lavender and peppermint. You can take these in one of two ways. The first way is to mix a few drops of each in water and drink. (Note: you need to make sure that if you do this you are using a certified therapeutic brand that is safe to take internally and not just any kind of essential oil.) or the second way is to put a few drops in capsules and swallow with a glass of water. I personally hate the taste of lavender and so that is the only way I can handle it. For sinus and nose congestion, you can rub a few drops of peppermint under your nose and deep breath to inhale.

4. For hay fever, you can try the same strategies as in number three. Only you may want to increase the amount of lavender oil that you use.

5. If you are having heart burn from your allergies then the Digest Zen blend works well but you can also use a wild orange oil.

In summary know that essential oils are a great anti-allergenic but you will have to do some experimenting since not everyone reacts to them in the same way. You may need to dry a few different oils and use a few different methods before you find what works to you.