Whether you are looking for instant relief or long term dietary changes that will give your body what it needs to deal with hayfever here are our top ten tips.
It’s that time of year – the sun is shining, the bicycle is back on the road and I am singing along to my Itunes…then my eyes start streaming, they’re stinging like crazy and spilling with water. I can’t see I have to pull over – I rub my eyes like sandpaper…. they sting some more! This is ridiculous!! How can I be so allergic to nature when nature is so good for me!? And the sun is out!?!
Hay fever aka allergic rhinitis is the profuse allergic reaction so many of us recognize when spring arrives. The allergic reaction can be to pollen (mainly in spring), grass and weeds (mainly in summer), mould spores (more common in autumn) and even house dust mites (associated with perennial – all year round hayfever).
What very few of us know is that hay fever is completely controllable by a range of natural remedies whether you’re looking for an instant fix or whether you want to make the long term dietary changes to overcome hay fever more permanently.
At our naturopathy allergy testing clinic housed at My Detox Diet we use a combination of approaches designed to bring immediate relief and initiate the longer term reprogramming and correction of your immune system.
Here is a list of our top 10 instant quick fix remedies and steps you need to take to make the long term dietary changes that have provided our clients with permanent relief from hay fever.
10 steps to permanent relief from hay fever starting with instance remedies.
1. Bee pollen or honey
Bee pollen actually reduces histamine, which is the same target over -the-counter medications act upon. It can desensitise your body to other pollens.
Increasing honey in your daily dietary intake should reduce hay fever symptoms significantly. Make sure you use local honey to your area to see the best results and take daily before hay fever season start. The granules have a sweet taste and powdery texture that can be used in smoothies, sprinkled on oatmeal or yogurt, or combined with granola.
2 Bromelain, quercertin and vitamin C
Bromelain is an all-natural enzyme derived from the pineapple plant. Bromelain breaks down unwanted debris in the blood stream such as pollen, dust mites and undigested food particles. Like a big bouncer dealing with a much smaller and undesirable guy at the night club this enables your immune system to handle the intruder more easily and kick them out the club or flush them out of your system. Quercertin and vitamin C are also natural antihistamines without any of the side effects associated with pharmaceutical medication.
3 Try herbal remedies
I like Vogel Luffa Complex Nasal Spray: this 100% natural product contains luffa alongside several other herbs that are known for their anti-allergy porperties, including heartseed, golden thryallis and chapparal. It effectively rinses and cleanses the nasal passage while soothing the membrane lining the nose.
4 Take activate charcoal.
Charcoal is so effective at binding to toxins that it was used in ancient medical practice as an anecdote to poison. It binds to up to 4 times its body weight in noxious substances in a process called adsorption! Empty 2 capsules into water and drink at least 2 hours after your last meal preferably before bed.
5 Try stress reduction therapy
This is state of the art technology from the USA utilizes a combination of acupuncture and energy medicine to correct the body’s immune response to allergens. Research has found that the ancient Chinese medicine of acupuncture can reduce hay fever symptoms, such as a runny nose and itchy eyes, dramatically. Full benefits achieved after 3-6 sessions. Speak to our naturopath at mydetoxdiet to find out more information.
6 Use the state of the art Iyashi dome
This advanced detox treatment from Japan was developed to help blitz away the build-up of these toxins, and to restore the body to its natural state of equilibrium. Toxins are perspired out through the body’s exposure to organic infrared rays inside the dome. Pollen is a toxin so why not sweat it out!?
7. Cleanse, alkalise and detoxify
Cleanse, alkalise and detoxify with a juice cleanse. For full benefit aim for three days minimum including a range of fruit and vegetable juices, plus teas and mineral water. Your blood wants to be an alkaline (pH7.35-7.45) and most of us eat foods that contribute to the acidity of our blood (meats, dairy, sugars, refined carbohdyrates, and alcohol). All toxins are acidic and allergies are an irritation/inflammation reaction appearing as allergy symptoms as a means of dealing with acid toxins. Alkalizing with mineral rich fruit and vegetable drinks support the bodies natural detoxification pathways to eliminate the toxins.
8. Know your triggers.
Find out if it is pollen, grass, weeds, or dust mites you are reacting to. Indeed around 50% of individuals we screen for hay fever are actually experiencing chemical sensitivities to pesticides, grooming products, car fumes, and/or cleaning products. At my detoxdiet we provide allergy testing to help you identify these.
9. Identify and correct food intolerances
Hidden food intolerances represents a huge underlying contributing factor to the severity and onset of allergies because they can overwhelm the immune system. Foods that the body reject can irritate the gut lining causing the lining to become more porous. When this happens the blood stream can become flooded with unwanted debris from the intestines – debris often times due for evacuation along with the faeces. As you can imagine this puts more strain on the immune system who is struggling to identify between friend and foe in the blood. When spring arrives the body is suddenly subjected to additional flurry of pollen. The body tries to process these extra toxins by flushing them out – through any moist orifice – like the eyes, nose, throat, and even your ears. Sound familiar!?
10 Identify and correct any nutritional deficiencies.
Take a vitamin and mineral screening. One persons requirement for vitamin A can be 30 times that of the next. Ensuring that you nutritional needs are optimised is the key factor in ensuring your system has the tools it needs to eliminate toxins day in day out. When the number of toxins entering your system outweigh the number of toxins that are leaving your system, your body becomes over whelmed. The usual elimination channels are your poo, wee, sweat, and breathing. If your nutritional status is not up to par these systems become overwhelmed and the body starts to release toxins from any moist orifice (hole) – i.e. your eyes, ears, nose and mouth. This is what you know to be hay fever.
So our overall approach to hay fever is to take natural remedies for immediate relief, clean out your system with a detox and invest in your permanent freedom from hay fever with long term dietary changes.