Crestni – Health Advice

An allergy is your immune system’s abnormal reaction to contact with a specific substance. It is your body’s reaction and the chemicals it releases that cause the sneezing, rash or irritation.
It is not the foreign substance or organism itself that causes this but your body’s own immune system overreacting. Usually it is an overreaction to histamine, a chemical that the body releases to fight microbial invaders.
Hay fever season
We’ve all been sniffling and snuffling with the pollen this summer and it really is one of the most common allergies around. The reactions include sneezing, runny nose, wheezing, swelling or puffiness around the eyes, skin rash, hives, asthma and headaches.
Common ‘solutions’ don’t often work
When people suffer from an allergy of this sort, most people resort to taking decongestants and anti-histamines. Decongestants open clogged nasal passages and have a drying action. Anti-histamines suppress the body’s release of histamine.
However, both of these are handling only the symptoms of allergies, not addressing the cause, which is a confused immune system. Both do have side effects too: Decongestants can cause insomnia and raise blood pressure and antihistamines can cause drowsiness.
Diet and quality nutrition is an important factor
Another important factor to allergies is malnutrition. If your diet is lacking basic and vital nutrients you are more susceptible to allergies. Persons suffering from allergies have been found to be woefully deficient in ever body requirement except carbohydrates and when the missing nutrients are supplied the allergies often disappear.
A healthy cell can help prevent harmful substances from entering the body and a lack of almost any nutrient can increase cell permeability so valuable nutrients can leak from the cells and toxic material passes into them. Ensure a well balanced diet is followed, high in raw and unprocessed foods, fresh fruit and vegetables especially those high in vitamin C.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is very important in maintaining a healthy diet and without it people can come susceptible to allergens. Vitamin C decreases the permeability of cells.
It has a powerful anti-histamine action and detoxifies the body from foreign substances. Typical dosages can be up to 1,000 milligrams of Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids three times a day.
In fact the only known side effect of Vitamin C is the occasional diarrhoea if taken too much. If you develop this cut back on your dosage until you find the correct level for you.
Better than Vitamin C
Many studies have shown that natural vitamin sources are far better for you than synthetic man made vitamins. Vegetables and fruits are ideal foods that can really boost the amount of nutrients in your body. Eat fresh fish and nuts for extra nutrients and vitamins.
Other things that you can do
There are other things that you can try, either in supplement form or as part of your every day diet. Garlic, fresh papaya, fresh orange juice, bell pepper, cayenne pepper, poke weed shoots, guava and watercress are all high in vitamin C.

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