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Hay Fever Free
It’s hay fever season and how many times have you moaned (and sneezed) about that darn pollen! So why is it that your swollen eyelids and other allergic responses get worse every year but the amount of pollen remains constant? While pollen may be the trigger, it’s taking the bum rap for the underlying issue which is inflammatory foods.
Pollen is neither a universal irritant nor a primary culprit of allergic rhinitis or other inflammatory responses, like bloating or arthritis. Let’s examine in greater detail why pollen doesn’t cause hay fever and then move on to the cure.
An allergic response is an inflammatory response. When there’s inflammation in, for example, your upper respiratory tract, then a speck of pollen further aggravates an already irritated system. In a heroic effort to shed irritants, your body produces sticky mucus and phlegm in an attempt to catch and trap those irritants and then to expel them with a sneeze or cough.
While conventional treatment with antihistamines or steroids may ease hay fever, their side effects are a high price to pay, and drugs don’t address the underlying problem. Natural treatments like acupuncture or herbs can ease symptoms and support overall well-being, but—and here’s the good news—you can give yourself a far more powerful daily “treatment,” as I’ll explain.
Mentally compare a microscopic speck of ragweed pollen with several platefuls of the inflammatory foods that you typically eat in a day. The common foods that create an inflammatory response include: bread and other baked goods, breakfast cereal, dairy products, pasta, margarine, packaged snack foods, soft drinks, fruit juice, candy and chips. Eat these highly inflammatory foods and your body will likely produce copious mucus and “that darn pollen” takes the rap.
Are you ready to pass on the sneezes or other allergic responses this year? Then upgrade your diet. Favor non-inflammatory foods: freshly prepared vegetables, meat and fruits. Yes, three times a day you can feast on foods that are actually your best prevention-—what a pleasurable solution.
This is astounding. After suffering for the last few weeks with terrible classic hayfever symptoms..I’ve gone gluten free for twenty four hours and I am cured. No tablets, nasal spray or eye drops today and I’ve just been outside and I am cured. I know I must keep this up now. It is not even a choice.
Good work, Sarah! You’re right, once you “get” the connection, then it’s just common sense and easy to go gluten free.
I lived for years with the most debilitating allergies until I experimented with a food exclusion for entirely different reasons. Six months later, I noticed I hadn’t had to take off work from not being able to stop sneezing or inability to see straight for I didn’t realize how long, my husband said how quiet it was around the house recently, and my boss noticed I hadn’t had a sneezing fit in a while as well. I was also able to go to visit my mom and have few ill effects in her shuttered, dark house filled with little furry animals.
It was gluten the whole time. Two years later after going completely strict even off starches, I can occasionally sneak a cookie or two once a week so things don’t accumulate, but overall, I have to avoid gluten. I find that also keeping on top of my hydration and being wary of how much coffee to water I intake is vital. One small salad a day has also been made an automatic way of life for me now.
After everything, my landlords, coworkers, friends and family are all suffering intensely this allergy season with terrible headaches, sinus issues, etc., and I feel that for the first time ever in my life, I’m the only one like them who dodged the bullet. It’s changed my life. Telling them to try this experiment themselves to see if it’ll help? That’s the true impossible task.
Sarah,
Thanks for your testimonial and kudos for your good work.
Oh, how we wish we could help everyone adapt the diet that serves them best! But then, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
What we can do is set an example, appropriately offer relevant information and pray.
Oh my I am so impressed with Rebecca Woods wisdom!! Why oh why do doctors not know these things.
It has taken me 30 years of chronic hayfever & sinus issues to understand what is really going on. I now have almost no problems (unless I start drinking too many wines or eating wheat, sugar etc when the inflamation set in).
Yes, yes, yes! One of the many curious side effects when I went gluten free was no hay fever or cat allergies. This was huge because the cottonwoods produce a lot of pollen around here. It was miserable. It seemed to feel better when we had to go dairy free, too, for my son.
We can now indulge occasionally, but now we know what our body is saying via the inflammatory symptoms.
Hi Rebecca,
I am a big fan and have recently bought your book ‘Food Encyclopedia’ .
kind regards,
Sharmeen