5 Tips to Help with Spring Allergies

I see so many people suffering with their spring allergies.

There are definitely steps you can take to knock them back so you can suffer less and enjoy the beauty of spring.

Here are some of the tips that have help my clients and students over the past 25 years of helping family’s build their confidence in using natural remedies

1) Stay hydrated by drinking water

Drinking enough water is a foundational aspect of any allergy elimination program. It is important to drink ½ your weight in water. If you weigh 120 pounds, drink 60 oz water. To make sure you drink enough water, measure it out first thing in the morning.

Be familiar with how many ounces your water container holds and set aside the amount of water you will drink for the day before the day begins. If you don’t drink enough water then the body creates more mucus to counteract the dryness.

Getting enough water is the first step upon which you can build other changes to reduce your allergic symptoms and susceptibility.

2) Nourish your beneficial bacteria

The beneficial bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract play an important role in your inflammatory response. You can reduce the severity of allergic reactions by increasing the integrity of your gastrointestinal tract.

Your healthy beneficial bacteria are compromised by anti-biotics, medication, stress, birth control pills, chlorine in your tap water and excess coffee and sugar consumption.

Nourish the beneficial bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract by eating fermented foods such as raw sauerkraut, kim chee, whey, whole plain kefir and whole plain yogurt. Don’t be fooled by high sugar yogurts like Danon and Yoplait. Healthy yogurt is plain and has a little bit of a sour taste.

These foods contain the beneficial bacteria that feed your gut. Half of the immune cells in your body are found in the digestive tract. Keeping your immune system strong and your allergic reactions to a minimum require a strong digestive system full of healthy beneficial bacteria.

3) Love your liver

Your liver helps to mediate the inflammatory response to whatever you are allergic to. The liver has more than 600 different functions; including figuring out what to do with any chemicals and pesticides you put in your body. If the liver is backed up and bogged down with daily toxic exposures, it is less able to help you with your allergic reactions.

Don’t underestimate the negative effects of accumulated exposure to daily chemicals in your household. Everything adds up and gives the liver extra work to do. Read the labels on all of your body care products, you will be shocked at how many chemicals you are putting on your body.

Make a commitment to using all natural body care items. I am talking about detergents, the soap you wash with in the shower, your shampoo, shaving cream, lotions; make up, hair care products, etc. The personal care industry is unregulated and many of products contain known cancer causing ingredients. If you have allergies, don’t stress out the liver by using body care products with chemicals.

4) Drink elderflower tea

Elderflower tea

• 3 cups water
• 3 tablespoons dried elder flowers

Put water and elderflowers in a pot with a lid on it. Bring tea to a boil and turn off the heat. Let steep for two hours. Strain out the flowers, re-heat and drink 2 cups a day during acute hay fever season. Elderflower tea will last for two days in the refrigerator. It is best to drink it warm. You can drink this tea several times a week for a month.

5) Use saline nasal rinse

If you already have allergy symptoms do saline nasal rinses to tighten and tone your mucus membrane and help to reduce the inflammation

Saline nasal rinse

• 1 cup warm water
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Mix the salt and warm water together and then put it into a Neti pot (Nasal Rinse Cup 1 cup) or nasal rinse plastic container that you can purchase at any drug store. Make sure that the water is warm and not too hot. Let the warm water go all the way back into one side of your nose through your nostril and let it drain out of the other side. Do this on both sides.

If you have never done this or cannot visualize what I am talking about, read the directions on the box and ask around to see if you know someone that can show you how to do it. This simple technique is a life saver if you have acute allergy symptoms; you can do this one to three times a day.