Spring has sprung in full force in my neck of the woods, and wow, is the pollen ever thick!
Sounds of people sneezing and blowing their nose fill the pollen laden air. Boxes of tissue, allergy pills and bottles of eye drops are flying off the shelves fast and furious in pharmacies all across town.
While pollen does indeed make you sneeze if you get a noseful of it, is it really necessary to dread spring every single year knowing that Visine and allergy meds will be your constant companion to deal with watery eyes and congestion for at least a month or two? Is this something you just have to resign yourself to and live with?
The truth is that seasonal allergies are much more than a nuisance. They are one of the mildest forms of autoimmune disease. It is a gentle warning by the body that more autoimmunity problems are on the way if the dietary flaws and gut imbalance that is causing them is not dealt with effectively.
Hippocrates noted that “all disease begins in the gut”. This includes seasonal allergies like allergic rhinitis or hay fever.
Dealing with seasonal allergies using over the counter or prescription meds is like cutting the wire to the flashing oil light on the dashboard of your car and pretending that the car is no longer low on oil. Such an approach guarantees that the problem will get worse over time and most likely lead to more serious autoimmune problems in the future such as asthma, eczema, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, lupus, celiac, migraines, MS, diabetes, arthritis and the list goes on.
For example, it was recently reported that babies with eczema even if mild are much more likely to develop asthma. In fact, 40% of babies with eczema go on to develop this much more serious autoimmune disease later in childhood.
A healthy balance of beneficial gut flora in our colon is the ultimate gatekeeper of health. Gut flora is the major regulator of the immune system for better or for worse. When the gut environment is out of balance, a malfunctioning and overreactive immune system is the result.
How Seasonal Allergies Originate in the Gut
When the gut is out of balance, opportunistic and pathogenic microbes overgrow and take over dominance. These pathogens produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. Some of these toxins actually play an important role in the body when the pathogens in the gut are controlled and kept in check by good flora. But, when the good flora is absent or not playing a dominant role, these pathogens can overproduce these toxins.
One such toxin produced by several types of gut pathogens (Proteus, E. coli, Staphylococci and others) is histamine which is actually an important neurotransmitter in the body.
When these microbes grow unchecked in the gut due to a lack of beneficial flora, they overproduce histamine. This causes many functions in the body that react to it to go haywire as excessive amounts pour into the blood.
Is Benadryl your best friend? If so, you know you potentially suffer from an overgrowth of pathogens in your gut that are overproducing histamine!
Parents Pass Gut Flora to Their Children
Conventional medicine likes to point to genetics as the cause of allergies. This is the case for only a small percentage of cases. The fact is that parents pass on their gut imbalance problems to their children. This causes gut dysbiosis to worsen with each successive generation. This and oversterilized environments that gives children little access to probiotics in nature is the main reason why seasonal allergies have skyrocketed in recent generations.
According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, children with autoimmunity issues almost without exception have a mother and most likely also a father who exhibit signs of chronic gut dysbiosis. Most women have been on the gut destroying birth control pill for years before having children. They also have taken many courses of antibiotics throughout their lives. Almost every single one has a health problem that is associated with chronic gut imbalance. The most frequent being digestive disorders, hay fever and other seasonal allergies, migraines, PMS, chronic cystitis (UTIs) and vaginal yeast infections.
Do you wish to have children free of allergies? If so, it is imperative as a mother to be to get your gut health in order before birthing them. Ensuring the infant microbiome at birth is properly seeded with a diverse population of beneficial microbes is another important step.
Gut Imbalance Can Develop Later in Life
Have you ever noticed that a lot of adults say that they developed seasonal allergies all of a sudden one year where they never had them before?
Well, the pollen hasn’t changed has it? The excuse that “the pollen is really bad this year” is not the reason either.
Development of seasonal allergies all of a sudden or those that get worse each year is a sign that gut health is deteriorating with age. At that point, steps should be taken quickly with the diet to rectify the situation.
The good news is that even if you or your children have seasonal allergies now, you can deal with it effectively with a change in diet!
Steps to Eliminate Seasonal Allergies From Your Life
Here are a few simple steps for combating seasonal allergies with diet:
- Eliminate pasteurized dairy from your life in all forms. Pasteurization of dairy denatures fragile milk proteins and renders then allergenic among other problems. Grassfed raw dairy would be an excellent alternative here. If you have problems digesting dairy, try healthy milk substitutes such as homemade coconut milk tonic.
- Source the best, raw, unfiltered local honey in your area and use a teaspoon or two everyday during allergy season. Note that heated honey does not confer any health benefits and is actually toxic according to Ayurvedic tradition. If you prefer creamed honey to liquid, be sure it is free from any additives and GMOs.
- Look to significantly reduce or eliminate grains and sugars in all forms from your diet. Many people with seasonal allergies report nothing short of miraculous improvement when they take steps to avoid gluten containing grains. Even more effective is avoiding all grains and sugars particularly during allergy season.
- Look at the GAPS Diet as a long term solution for rectifying gut imbalance. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MDs book Gut and Psychology Syndrome is a primer on this subject. She not only describes in detail how gut dysbiosis develops in the first place but outlines a comprehensive plan for rebalancing gut flora and putting autoimmunity into remission for good.
- While you are healing from the inside out, use herbs to find natural, nontoxic allergy relief instead of meds. This article details which allergy relieving herbs are most potent for this purpose and how to use them.
Bottom Line on Healing Pollen Allergies
Seasonal allergies need not continue to annoy you year after year during what should be one of the most beautiful and enjoyable times of the year.
Spend some time and energy fixing your gut environment and reap the rewards by breathing freely again no matter how thick the pollen may be!
When you say eliminate all sugars, do you mean fruit as well?
Fruit is ok in moderation … always eat with some fat though like cream to lower the blood sugar spike.
Hi just came off the GAPS diet. I was on for 2 1/2 months and had enough! I was on it for my food allergies and was up to 4 biokults per day and eating lots of fermented foods. With my food allergies I get weird itchy red bumps on my face and neck but nowhere else and dairy gives me acne. I couldn’t figure out why my face was getting worse! Then I found out I have a histamine intolerance! Soo anything fermented is a no no! Lots of the foods on GAPS are high in histamine, once your food isn’t fresh (as in leftovers) it goes up in histamine and forget about FCLO its fermented plus fish is very high histamine once its not fresh. I’m so frustrated! I just want to eat without my face breaking out in weird itchy bumps!!
Does anyone have experience with histamine intolerance?
I am on GAPS and developed a histamine too! I found a Neurolink Dr who found my brain was having trouble communicating and hleaing this. He “re-set” this…and I have been fine since! Amazing.
Thanks for responding. I had a histamine intolerance before I started GAPS. What is a neurolink Dr.?? Are you still on GAPS??
I only eat raw dairy, but what do you think about melting raw cheese, or using raw cream to make soup? Do you think it destroys the benefits and enzymes?
Melting cheese makes it quite ama producing, which in Ayurveda means mucous forming. Not good for those with seasonal allergies.
I would add cream after the soup is made .. at the table for example. Cooked cream can be mucous forming as well which you want to avoid during the spring when pollen is everywhere.
We’ve followed a mostly WAPF diet for almost 2 years and our dd is having allergies this year. Usually no problem or very little with pollen. She has been gluten free for over 2 years and rarely has sugar, but we do use maple syrup, honey. Only raw milk, cream and butter for 2 years. I think this IS a particularly bad year for pollen. We’ve been giving her nettle leaves capsules and seeing some improvement but not much/enough yet. It’s frustrating as we are trying to do everything right.
I would suggest lots of bone broths. A small cup with every meal would be highly beneficial.
::sigh:: I have had allergies (seasonal and cats) since I was about 8 years old. I also have keratitis polaris on my arms (relative of excema) which started when I was about 10. I have looked into GAPs but doesn’t it take YEARS?? I have a young family with a very picky husband and many small children and it just does not look doable.
Stacy, many folks on GAPS find immediate relief after a period of days or weeks of detoxing. There was a post last week about a gal who healed from lifelong ulcerative colitis using GAPS for only 1 year.
Stacy, you definitely have a challenge if your husband is not on board. Determination would definitely be required. Maybe now is not a good time … sometime later might be better for you. You will have to be the judge of that.
My allergies wer so bad as a child, I “had to have my adenoids removed”. I tried countless pills and still had an unbearable stuffy nose. 95% of the summer I couldn’t breathe through my nose. Now, after changing my diet to one modeled after the nourishing traditions book, I’m allergy free. I can actually enjoy summer now. Thinking back on it makes me want to cry. Not one doctor told my parents to change my diet.
Here in Fayetteville, NC is one of the heaviest pollen areas. My bright red truck is yellow during this time. The drs recommend eating a tsp of honey every day that is made here in Fayetteville with the pollen here and we have much less symptoms.
I’ve been unable to find a source of raw milk as it is prohibited in Canada. Can you suggest an alternative?
Go to this blog and click on the graphic for Cowshare Canada.
http://thebovine.wordpress.com/
Thanks – unfortunately cow shares are also prohibited. Do you suggest avoiding milk altogether over drinking pasteurized milk?
I’m in Canada, what province are you in?
I’m in Calgary, you?
Cowshares are ok … I know several folks in Canada who get raw milk this way. Click on the Cowshare Canada and send in the application.
If I could not get raw milk, I would not drink milk. Just me. Pasteurized milk is just another processed food that should be avoided.
Saskatchewan 🙂
Different provinces have different rules, as do the states. I have discovered that it is not legal in my province for a farmer to keep a cow for the purposes of a cow share. The link that you sent to me is focused in Ontario which is 1800 miles from where I live, a long drive for a cow share 😉 However I do appreciate the effort and the answers. 🙂
Thanks for the advice on the pasteurized milk.
I believe as I get older I don’t have as many allergies as I did when I was younger.
I’m grateful for posts like these! I have suffered allergy issues for as long as I can remember. It startedin childhood with food allergies. For me, this has been a very debilitating disease. I am severely allergic to Live Oak pollen and like Sarah live in the Tampa area. Spring is not merely unpleasant but debilitating. My entire life doctors never seamed to offer anything useful. Now I have two young daughters with allergy and asthma issues. I would have done anything to gave prevented this disease from progressing as far as it has for me. Now, with the knowledge I now posses, I have the opportunity to make a difference for my girls. Thank you again, Sarah, for posts like these.
Jessica, you go girl. A Mom armed with information can rock the world. We can’t change what we didn’t know in the past, but we most certainly can change what we do in the future based on information and wisdom we have gained.