It’s worth repeating: Since I have identified my top inflammatory foods and eliminated them from my diet, my seasonal allergies are 95% reduced as well! Yes, the food you eat DOES affect your seasonal allergies.
Every Spring since I was elementary-school aged, I suffered from horrific seasonal allergies from March-June. As soon as the trees started budding, my body started a pattern of severe reactions from horrible itchy-eyes (the kind that makes you have to put a cold cloth over your eyes for an hour) to hives, runny nose, 100x daily sneezing, asthma…you name it I had it. I had to be on a multitude of different medicines during this time so that I could even walk outside–many of which were steroids. I typically had sinus infections, strep throat, and various other ailments during the Springtime as well, My body was taxed with so much inflammation it affected my immunity to other viruses.
Fast forward to my 40’s: I met an amazing Integrative Medicine doctor who introduced me to the “elimination diet” to see how the food I was eating affected the inflammation I was experiencing daily -GERD, asthma, allergies, itchiness (all the time), swollen lymph nodes in my jaw/neck area, frequent nausea/big D/stomach cramping, food allergies and anxiety. (See my other blog about how to do the elimination diet-eliminating Dairy, Corn, Soy, Wheat from your diet for 6 weeks).
The 3rd day on the elimination diet my asthma was 90% reduced! I wasn’t so itchy anymore (I didn’t realize how itchy I was all the time – from head to toe). I was sleeping better. My stomach felt great AND I wasn’t nauseous after eating. And guess what? MY SEASONAL ALLERGIES THAT SPRING were 95% reduced. NO STEROIDS NEEDED FOR SEASONAL ALLERGIES ANYMORE. No inhaler. No anti-histamines. No asthma steroid inhaler.
I like to imagine the inflammation in our bodies like a glass of water. When the food you are eating is filling your cup too high, all it takes is a bit more irritant to cause your cup to run over. In my case, DAIRY & CORN (I was already allergic to Soy & Nuts as a kid) were adding much inflammation to my body, so much so that when it came time for Spring, my cup ran over and boom – my entire body was in protective/attack mode of inflammation.
I hear people tell me all the time – “oh, I should try the elimination diet too because of my issue” but then they don’t. I have figured out that your motivation to try this all depends on your level of suffering. How bad do YOU feel? Are you full of inflammation too? Do you want to suffer from these issues forever? Are you listening to the signs your body is giving you?
If you slow down and listen, your body tells you when something doesn’t agree with you.
You are what you eat, right? 