4 STRATEGIES TO STOP SNEEZING, ITCHING AND WHEEZING
Allergies, asthma and eczema are referred to as the atopic (allergic) triad in medicine. Not everyone who has one has the others, but they often go together and they have many overlapping root causes and therefore many shared solutions.
1) Optimize Your Vitamin D
Vitamin D is crucial for balancing the immune system. When it’s deficient, you are more prone to swing toward the allergic triad. Vitamin D is also crucial for staying healthy during cold and flu season. You should get your levels tested because even though many people in this part of the world are deficient, we all absorb and utilize vitamin D differently based on our digestion, absorption and genetics.
2) Increase Polyphenols (Plant Antioxidants) in Your Diet
There is good evidence that increasing antioxidants in the diet is very helpful for allergies and asthma. We get exposed to oxidative stressors all day long and one of the effects of this constant barrage is to make our immune systems more likely to swing toward allergic tendencies. Some examples of oxidative stress include air pollution, meat consumption, exposure to environmental toxicity, chronic health conditions like diabetes, being sick with a cold or flu, cigarette smoke, alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, emotional stress and more. One of the main ways we can protect ourselves (and calm down allergies) is to bathe our bloodstream in polyphenols all day long. What does that look like? Eating and drinking brightly colored and nutrient dense plant foods throughout the day. There are many good sources, but some of the best include organic berries, red and black beans, apples, dark leafy greens, purple cabbage, green or herbal teas like hibiscus, nettle or rooibos, and herbs and spices.
3) Take Fish Oil or Eat Wild Caught Fish
Fish oil, like vitamin D helps tilt the immune system away from allergic tendencies. I recommend taking a good quality fish oil in a dose that provides at least 1000 milligrams daily of EPA and DHA combined. You’ll need to look at the nutrition facts label of your fish oil, add up the total milligrams of EPA plus DHA per serving and calculate how many capsules or teaspoons you need to get to that 1000mg number. Always take your fish oil with a meal for better absorption. Alternatively you can eat a serving of fatty fish three times per week. Some of the best fish for EPA and DHA content (while having low mercury content and generally being more sustainable seafood sources) include herring, salmon, mackerel, sardines and trout.
4) Detox Your Home
Our world is full of unregulated chemicals and many of them irritate the immune system and cause or worsen allergies, eczema and asthma. They are found in our air, our water, our foods, our furniture, and most especially in our cleaning products like laundry detergent, dryer sheets and cleaning sprays, and in our body care, hair care and beauty products. A kind gift to your body, your family and your neighbors is to methodically detox your home.
Don’t know where to start? Ditch artificially scented perfumes, colognes, dryer sheets, plug-ins, laundry detergent, cleaning sprays and candles. Artificial fragrances are a soup of unregulated chemicals that are particularly likely to be immune-toxic and allergenic.
Use the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database to look up your personal care products to see how they rate. Aim for a rating of 3 or below and avoid the ingredient ‘fragrance’ or ‘parfum’ in particular. Use non-toxic, unscented laundry detergent and cleaners. Most people do better with products scented with essential oils, though allergies to particular essential oils are also possible.
Dr. Jennea Wood is a naturopathic physician practicing with Tummy Temple in Greater Olympia/Lacey. Her goal with every patient is to identify and address root causes of disease. Her areas of specialty include helping people who are struggling with gastrointestinal diseases of all kinds, thyroid and adrenal dysfunction, anxiety and depression, atopic diseases including asthma, allergies and eczema and autoimmune conditions. To learn more, please visit https://www. tummytemple.com/jennea-wood-nd.
