About 20-30% of Canadians suffer with seasonal allergies. I was one of them several years ago, to the point where I couldn’t handle wearing my contact lenses because my eyes would water up, get so red and itch so bad I wished I could toss my eyeballs in ice cold water.

Allergies normally come from an underlying ROOT CAUSE. So if your nose does more running in the Spring than you do, keep reading!

Allergic reactions are symptoms often due to imbalances with your immune system response. Your immune system has an important job: to defend your body from invaders such as bacteria and viruses that mean you harm. However, if there’s an imbalance, your immune system mistaken something harmless in the environment like pollen as a threat which sets off an alarm, creating an inflammatory response to attack. 

Cue the sneezing symphony. 

So if we want to address the root cause, we’d have to get straight to the source of where about 80% of your immune system lives. 

IN YOUR GUT.

Repairing your gut will restore your immune system’s balance to help banish seasonal allergies naturally! 

Here’s the 5 Step Gut Healing Roadmap to Banishing Seasonal Allergies:

  1. Remove any food sensitivities, possible intestinal infections and toxic exposure (personal care and cleaning products, etc)
  2. Restore by improving digestive secretions (HCL, digestive enzymes, supplemental bitters, upgrade eating habits) 
  3. Reinoculate with probiotic and prebiotic rich foods and a high quality probiotic supplement (avoid fermented foods if you have a histamine intolerance)
  4. Repair with gut healing formulas (GI Revive by Designs for Health has an amazing blend of nutrients and herbs)
  5. Reduce stress! (immune system takes a big hit when you’re stressed and stress management should really be prioritized during all phases, not just as the last step)

Don’t wait until after allergy symptoms start, you’ll experience the greatest success pretreatment!

If you’re already working on addressing root causes and healing the gut with a practitioner and interested in looking for practical ways to naturally alleviate some of your symptoms right now, here’s what I recommend:

  • always stay hydrated (1/2 your body weight in pounds is how many ounces of water you should drink)
  • wear sunglasses whenever outside to block out pollen
  • don’t hang your clothes outside to dry
  • saline rinse when you come home from being outdoors
  • don’t wear your shoes indoors
  • shower when you come home
  • use a HEPA indoor air filter
  • diffuse peppermint, lavender and lemon essential oils or use them in a roller
  • supplement with: Vitamin C (high dose if you need quicker relief), quercetin, combo formulas, natural alternative to over-the-counter medications would be AllergyRF, stinging nettle, NAC/glutathione, medicinal mushrooms, elderberry and butterbur (especially good for sinus headaches), DAO enzyme, high quality probiotics (to name a few)
  • avoid common food sensitivities that cause inflammation like gluten, dairy (thickens mucus), alcohol and other fermented foods and drinks that might increase your histamine in your blood making you WORSE! (I know, the perfect picnic food, but trust me, when offending foods are removed, the body has more ability to deal with the environmental stuff)
  • consume antihistamine foods (ie: onions, cabbage, apples, fennel, watercress)
  • consume anti-inflammatory foods (turmeric, garlic, ginger, herbs)
  • increase your intake of vegetables and fruits for vitamin C and phytonutrients to fight inflammation.
  • determine if you have Oral Allergy Syndrome. This is when there is some cross reactivity between the outdoor things you’re allergic to and the foods you eat (ie: if you’re allergic to birch pollen you might be more sensitive to stone fruits)

For deeper healing do a comprehensive stool test like the GI MAP to help improve your gut health. Things like leaky gut can worsen your seasonal allergies.

If seasonal allergies are negatively impacting your quality of life then you may want to address your gut! Sign up for a free call with me to learn more about how I can help you banish them!