Striving4Zen

Small and crunchy, millet has more protein per serving than brown rice and contains no gluten, so it's a great choice for anyone adhering to a gluten-free diet or with allergies.

It works nicely when added to dishes, from bread to meatloaf, but also makes a yummy standalone dish.

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Labels: allergies, brown rice, eating healthy, gluten-free, millet, Whole grains

• Butterbur. The herb butterbur (Petasites hybridus), which comes from a European shrub, shows potential for relieving seasonal allergy symptoms. In one Swiss study, butterbur was just as effective as the antihistamine Allegra for reducing symptoms of allergic rhinitis.
• Quercetin. This flavonoid, which is found naturally in onions, apples, and black tea, has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown in research to block histamines.
• Stinging nettle. The roots and leaves of the stinging nettle plant (Urtica dioica) have been used to treat everything from joint pain to prostate problems. Although some people use freeze-dried stinging nettle leaves to treat allergy symptoms, there isn’t much research to show that it works.
• Nasal irrigation. Nasal irrigation with a combination of warm water, about a quarter-teaspoon of salt, and a quarter-teaspoon of baking soda may help clear out mucus and open sinus passages. You can administer the solution through a squeeze bottle or a neti pot -- a device that looks like a small teapot.

Just because a treatment says “natural” doesn’t mean that it is safe. Some herbal remedies can cause side effects or can react with medications you’re taking. Talk to your doctor before you start taking any herb or supplement.

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Labels: allergies, butterbur, herbs, holistic healing, nasal irrigation, natural therapy, neti pot, nettles

One of the simplest changes you can make is to your diet. The foods you eat play an important role in your body functioning and how you adapt to your environment. By adding or eliminating certain foods to your diet you can change how your body functions and adapts. With a little experimenting, you can learn a lot about how dietary changes can help alleviate your allergies.

Here are some natural nutritional solutions to reduce your allergy flare-ups:

- Eliminate Dairy – dairy causes a production of mucus in the nasal and throat membranes that can result in a sore throat, hoarseness, bronchitis, and ear infections. Try substituting soy milk, oat milk, rice milk, coconut milk, and hemp milk.

- Increase Your Omega-3s – omega-3 oils and fatty acids are natural inflammatory agents that can reduce inflammatory diseases such as asthma and migraine headaches. They can also help treat a variety of skin disorders. Try adding foods like fish, nuts, flaxseed, and hemp seed oil to your diet.

- Eat Red Fruits and Berries – red fruits and berries are rich in antioxidants that support cardiovascular and respiratory health. They inhibit inflammation which is an underlying factor in allergies and contain an ingredient that helps alleviate pain. Try raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, cherries, pomegranate, blueberries, and blackberries to name a few.

- Add Cayenne Pepper – high in vitamins, calcium, and potassium, this pepper aids in healing the digestive system, rebuilding the tissues in the stomach and intestines, and eliminating bloating or gas. Cayenne can be added to almost any savory foods and it gives an extra kick too!

This year, get your allergies under control naturally. Enjoy your days outdoors and eat the foods that keep your body healthy and happy!

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Labels: allergies, berries, Dairy, diet, natural health, Omega-3s

LONDON - A daily probiotic drink, such as yogurt, may help keep hay fever away, researchers said yesterday.

A small study by the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, England, reported in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy, showed that probiotic, or "good," bacteria in a daily drink can change the immune system's response to grass pollen, a common cause of allergies, and balance antibodies in a way that may provide relief to people with hay fever.

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Labels: allergies, hay fever, Probiotics, study, yogurt

ROBYN O’BRIEN designed a universal symbol to identify children with food allergies. She now puts the icon, a green stop sign with an exclamation point, on lunch bags, stickers and even the little charms children use to dress up their Crocs. These products and others are sold on her Web site, AllergyKids.com, which she unveiled, strategically, on Mother’s Day in 2006.

The $30,000 Ms. O’Brien made from the products last year is incidental, she said. Working largely from a laptop on her dining room table, she has looked deep into the perplexing world of childhood food allergies and seen a conspiracy that threatens the health of America’s children. And, she profoundly believes, it is up to her and parents everywhere to stop it.

Her theory — that the food supply is being manipulated with additives, genetic modification, hormones and herbicides, causing increases in allergies, autism and other disorders in children — is not supported by leading researchers or the largest allergy advocacy groups.

That only feeds Ms. O’Brien’s conviction that the influence of what she sees as the profit-hungry food industry runs deep. In just a few dizzying steps, she can take you from a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese to Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds to Donald H. Rumsfeld, who once ran the company that created the sweetener aspartame.

Ms. O’Brien encourages people to do what she did: throw out as much nonorganic processed food as you can afford to. Avoid anything genetically modified, artificially created or raised with hormones. Don’t eat food with ingredients you can’t pronounce.
Once she cleaned out her cupboards, she said, her four children started behaving better. Their health problems, which her doctor attributed to allergies to milk and other foods, cleared up.

NYTimes

Labels: allergies, children, fight back, food, Robyn O'Brien