With regards to preventing allergies each day, there are many helpful ways you can follow to help you keep yourself allergy-free. Options to be considered need not entail the taking of allergy medications like antihistamines. Antihistamines only mask the symptoms and are useless in healing the physical problem brought about by allergy.
Better ways to prevent allergy are to reinforce the body’s immune system, lessen negative responses to chemical or environmental irritants and lessen inflammation. Here are some helpful tips to achieve these:
Eliminate or reduce intake of refined sugars – Refined sugar or white flour oftentimes lead to inflammation. Sugar can also result in an imbalance of minerals in the body. Both the imbalance and inflammation weaken the body’s immune function making the body hard to repel an allergy attack. A strong immune system neutralizes allergies and sugar only weakens the body’s ability to ward of conditions like these.
Netti pot – A netti pot is very effective in filtering the sinus cavities of environmental irritants, pollen or any kind of impurities. Using a netti pot minimizes nasal congestion especially when you are suffering from a cold.
Distilled or boiled water – Regardless if you use unfiltered or filtered tap water, the water always needs to be boiled for 5 minutes or more then cooled to a temperature safe enough to be drunk. Boiling a large amount of water is more convenient since you can use it twice or more times in a day. The same is true with bottled spring water – you may need to boil it before you drink it. Never drink unboiled tap water since you will only be putting toxins and pathogens inside your body particularly your nasal passages that can lead to allergy reactions.
You can also add a quarter teaspoonful of salt to your boiled/distilled water and even add one more ingredient – baking soda, to neutralize salt’s drying properties. The salt you add to your drinking water should not be laced with anticaking agents or iodized salt. The salt you use needs to be labelled just plain “Salt.”
Place the spout of your netti pot into one nostril, and be in a position that enables the water to drain out the other nostril. Incline your head forward and towards the nostril’s side (the nostril where there is draining). Breathe with an open mouth while using the netti pot. After the treated nostril becomes uncongested, change nostrils and perform the same thing on the untreated nostril. After you’re done, slowly move your head in a circle to drain out the remaining fluid still in your nostrils, and then blow your nose.
Honey – You can eat local honey that is raw. Doing this slowly introduces tiny amounts of pollen to help you become immune to this type of allergen. Eating local raw honey works in the same manner as allergy shots. The body starts to build immunity to the allergen by regularly being introduced to it. Taking in two tablespoons everyday is a good amount to build allergy resistance. If you’re taking this honey for the first time, you should eat only small amounts initially because you may be very sensitive to its allergen that a small amount can give you serious allergic reactions.
Probiotics and fermented foods – Your gut is where much of your immune system is found. Taking in fermented and cultured foods increase the beneficial bacteria that helps strengthen your immunity.
Know the foods that trigger your allergy reaction – If you think that certain foods are giving you allergies or making you sensitive to allergy, abstain from eating these foods for about half a month. After that period, eat those foods again and observe how your body reacts. Eggs, soy, peanuts, dairy and gluten are the ones that often give a person allergy sensitivities. Do not belittle your food allergies as they wreak havoc to your body by compromising your immune system.
Eliminate stress – This factor weakens the immune system of the body and a person sensitive to a lot of allergens who suffers from severe stress can easily develop allergic reactions. Reducing stress implies a lifestyle change. You can lessen stress in so many ways: go for regular acupuncture therapy in Linwood, indulge in a recreation or a hobby, do some exercises or workouts, perform yoga, meditate or even pray.
Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids – This fatty acid is found in walnuts, chia seeds, cold-water fish like sardines, trout, herring or salmon and flaxseed oil. Grass-fed animals are also high in omega-3. Omega-3 fatty acids have been seen to fight inflammation.
Eat foods high in vitamin C – You can also take in vitamin C supplements. This type of vitamin is helpful in giving you a strong immune system.
Stinging nettle herb – This herb has great anti-inflammatory attributes and is commonly utilized by holistic medicine as a treatment for allergies.
Inflammation-reducing foods – The foods that have great anti-inflammatory properties include spices like turmeric, garlic onions and ginger as well as vegetables, fruits, olive oil, coconut oil, berries, walnuts and pineapple to mention just some.
Abstain from foods that can cause body inflammation – These foods can include trans fats, polyunsaturated fats, farm factory animals, refined grains, alcohol, table salt and processed foods among others.
The natural way to treat allergies often involves a slow and gradual process. Start by making good lifestyle and dietary modifications today. You can then expect to see improvements little by little during the progress of time. There may be improvements that can manifest much quicker than the rest and there will be improvements to your immune function that you will gradually experience over a certain period of time.