As the environment changes this fall, those of you who struggles with seasonal allergies may be reaching for your antihistamine supplements more regularly. What if I told you that your diet can play a role in mitigating environmental allergies this season? Here are some useful tips to try even before the leaves start changing!
- Start incorporating local honey or bee pollen ahead of time. Many allergy sufferers have found that when you ingest small amounts of local bee pollen or local honey each day before allergies even start, it can help lessen the severity because you are micro exposing your body to the pollen ahead of time to get it well adjusted. I recommend discussing with your provider on the amounts to start with, as everyone is unique, and you may only tolerate a certain amount to start with.
- Get tested! We offer environmental allergy testing here at our lab through a quick blood draw, or if you know what you are allergic to, be aware of certain foods that correlate with those pollens/grasses and when they are in the height of their season, be a bit more cautious of consuming those foods.
- Reduce high histamine foods that may flare up or worsen your symptoms if you are already in an allergy flare up. The most commonly consumed foods that have higher histamine contents are spinach, banana, tomato, avocado, fermented foods, alcohol, cured or aged meats and cheeses, and preservatives.
- Boost foods high in quercetin which can calm allergy reactions. This includes foods such as onions, asparagus, broccoli, kale, red leaf lettuce, green peppers, apples, grapes, and blueberries.
- Eat a low inflammatory diet all year round! If you work on keeping inflammation low in your body on a regular basis, it will have a higher defense system to mitigate reactions as they come along during allergy season. Do your best to fill your diet full of a variety of high-quality whole foods, local and seasonal, to ensure your immune system is as strong as iron going into the higher pollen days.
For more nutrition tips and tricks to help you restore joy through diet, be sure to check out our other nutrition blogs, or call to learn more about our onsite nutrition services for you and your family!
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
