Ah…. the glories of spring! The budding of the trees, the singing of the birds, the blooming of flowers, and, if you’re a seasonal allergy sufferer, the toting around of a personal pharmacy stocked with pill bottles, nasal sprays, and tissue boxes.
If you prefer natural health alternatives, or if the idea of “pollen” and “pills” just doesn’t mix, today we have three recommended natural strategies from Doctor Ariel Policano for coping with your sniffling season allergies:
How To Treat Season Allergies the Natural Way:
1. Clean up your diet!
If you do a program like the Green Smoothie Detox, you are doing just that. The immune system becomes hyper-reactive when presented with processed foods or common allergenic foods (think of dairy and wheat as examples).
Upon removing these foods, the immune system calms down. Interestingly, this balancing of the immune system helps seasonal allergies to be less severe or to a point where they may not occur at all.
2. Improve your digestion.
Undigested foods, particularly proteins, can also overstimulate the immune system. The green smoothie detox program also helps to improve digestion by allowing more elimination (fiber and greens), liver detoxification (greens), and improvement in stomach acid (chlorophyll from greens).
As digestion improves, complete digestion and elimination of food will also help to balance the immune system.
3. Focus on foods that are high in flavonoids.
Flavonoids, while also helping to protect plants from microbes and certain insects, are the components in plants that give them their vibrant colors. Many plants use vibrant colors to attract the attention of pollinating insects, so you may find it pleasantly amusing that these same flavonoids will now be of benefit to you in reducing the effects of pollen. 🙂
Flavonoids help to minimize allergic responses by assisting the immune system. In particular, a flavonoid to focus on for seasonal allergies is quercitin. Quercitin is in the following foods:
- Leafy greens (Yay! Green Smoothies)
Broccoli- Cherries
- Raspberries
- Red Grapes
- Tomatoes
- Onions
All berries in general are very high in flavonoids and will still be very beneficial. So, this includes blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. So, yum it up with all these amazing foods and I believe you will find that allergies bother you less and less!
With love,
Ariel
About the Author: Dr. Ariel Policano has been studying live food nutrition for over 15 years. She is a licensed naturopathic physician and a graduate of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Ariel helps people to optimize their health with a balanced diet of living foods, superfoods and other cutting-edge nutritional interventions. She is the creator of the Body Bliss Cleanse, which is an effective 14-day supplement program. Dr. Ariel is available for phone consultations and works with clients around the world.
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Whether you find yourself sniffling in the spring or feeling wretched in the fall, you can improve your seasonal allergies any time of year with the Self-Study version of the 21-Day Green Smoothie Detox!