I honestly had no idea how bad allergies could get until I was in college. While many suffer all year long, where I live allergy season kicks in most during fall and spring, usually resulting from grass and tree pollen, air pollution, even mold under fallen leaves.
I’m happy to share some natural remedies that have helped me alleviate the itchy eyes, sneezing, and chronic runny nose that I suffered from for 12 years. I must remind you that this journey won’t result in instant relief but once you get a handle on these methods you too can enjoy being less symptomatic too!
….But first let’s share a little PSA about what causes allergies.
What Can Cause Allergies?
Your gut is the cornerstone of health and when it comes to allergies it has everything to do with the response from your immune system. As foods, environmental factors etc enter your body it creates a reaction. If over stimulated the bodies natural response is to act as if there is an intruder and try to expel it from the body.
How to Treat Seasonal Allergies Naturally
Probiotics
Allergies are usually due to imbalances in the immune system function and there is strong evidence that improving the bacteria in the gut can reduce the incidence of allergies.
How I use this: I love to eat fermented foods such as Kombucha, kimchi, and sauerkraut to boost gut bacteria as well as ingest daily high quality, probiotics with live cultures and a slow release capsule. These truly have made a massive difference for allergy relief.
Neti Pot
So this one weirded me out for a long time because I’m not really trying to see something go up one nostril and out another. However after trying it prior to adding some of these additional options I can say the benefits were evident.
How I use this: Use distilled or previously boiled water (warm water is ideal) and add a pre-made saline solution into the pot. While standing over the open sink pour the solution thru one nostril, letting it drain out the other side, lightly (and I mean lightly) blow your nose and repeat thru the other nostril. Although I no longer have allergies enough to use this method here is the pot I used to use.
Honey
The scientific evidence for raw local honey and allergies is a bit inconsistent, however many swear by it and I myself did see benefits from taking it daily despite not being a lover of lots of sweets. The idea behind this is to ingest a spoonful of local raw honey that is collected from an area close to where you live to help you manage the environmental allergens you are more often exposed to.
How I use this: About 3-4 weeks prior to allergy season is a great time to start this method. If you can find a local farm that supplies raw local honey in your area, take a teaspoon a day.
Dietary Changes
Dietary changes are a huge factor into removing inflammation in the gut and helping relieve allergy symptoms. Look to reduce and remove inflammatory foods such as sugar, dairy, gluten, soy, and corn.
How I use this: Adding in bone broth, more leafy greens and vegetables, and more natural herbs and spices helped me tremendously to reduce inflammation and allergy responses. For more info on bone broth check out my blog here.
Using Non Toxic Home Cleaning Products
This by far was one of the biggest game changers for me and my allergy relief and it way too often overlooked as the focus often remains on outdoor allergens. Let’s be clear-you’re indoor environment is just as or more toxic than the outdoors. Using plugins, aerosol sprays, bleach, greenwashed cleaners, and retail brand disinfecting wipes have known side effects to your respiratory system, hormonal system, and even your skin.
How I use this: After tons of research I ditched all my spray cleaners, candles, bleach based products, and cleaners for one household cleaner that is exclusively plant based and safe for all surfaces as well as a diffuser with high quality essential oils so my home smells fresh while helping my respiratory system. Total game changer! Make sure to start that ditching process so your home remains your sanctuary!
These were just a few of the most effective methods I used to get full allergy relief. For another tips take a sneak peak at my blog on MSM. The benefits were tremendous in helping heal my gut, allergies, and clear up my skin issues!
Growing up as a young black girl my idea of beauty revolved around long haired women with flawless skin! Little did I know that struggle to have that in my own life would be a long journey full of mistakes and trials galore.
Years of high stress, poor diet choices, and excessive medications for chronic allergies and sinus issues lead me to having massive gut problems and being diagnosed with Rosacea.
That was when my true quest for healing began and I learned about the benefits of MSM. This may not be the solution for everyone however the benefits are tremendous and worth a try!
What the heck is MSM?
Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is a naturally occurring compound which provides a natural source of sulfur. Sulfur plays a key role in daily cellular functions and is known to help reduce inflammation, help with gut lining, improve allergy relief, and help with joint pain, skin, and nail growth.
How does MSM work for Hair, Skin, Nails, and Allergies?
Hair and nails are made up of mostly keratin. According to this article “MSM may donate sulfur to keratin, which could help strengthen the bonds between keratin molecules in the hair and nails”.
For allergies MSM helps detox and eliminate free radicals as well as improve the cell permeability of the gut lining. MSM can also stabilize pH balance, preventing overproduction of stomach acids.
Skin and anti aging concerns are tremendous for many women and MSM enhances antioxidant usage by reducing free radicals which can accelerate the aging process. MSM also slows down the breakdown of collagen beneath the skin. Sounds like a win win right?
How did MSM change my life?
Honestly when I first started taking a recommended MSM and Wolfberry based capsule I didn’t see any changes (but I also wasn’t using it as directed). However after 4 months of consistently taking the capsules as designed, altering my eating habits, and taking a high quality probiotic not only did my nails grow like wildfire but my hair grew thicker and longer and my Rosacea fully cleared up!
Is MSM right for you?
MSM based supplementation can be phenomenal to add into your daily wellness routine and help with your hair, skin, nails, GI system, allergies and even joint health! It’s a great must have tool in your arsenal of holistic wellness tools that can provide you and your family amazing benefits including increased energy.
I love eating bone broth and soups during the winter months to help nourish my body but it’s not just a wintertime immune supporting option-it’s a great year round food choice for overall wellness support!
Used as a healing elixir, in soups, and even as a key component to gut healing in diets such as the GAPS diet the nutritional benefits from organic chicken or beef bones (and its gelatin and minerals dense properties) has been a staple in my home for a few years now.
What exactly is Bone Broth?
Bone broth is the liquid from slow simmered and brewed bones which in turn release nutrients from the bone marrow into the water. The nutrient dense broth creates a dish high in anti inflammatory and immune boosting properties.
Benefits of Bone Broth
2. Protects your joints: The collagen from bones slow simmered breaks down into a protein called gelatin, an amino acid that helps support joints. Bone broth is also an amazing source of chondroitin and glucosamine which have been shown to reduce joint pain.
3. Fights inflammation: Glycine and arginine which are amino acids found in bone broth have been shown to have high anti inflammatory effects². Chronic inflammation can lead to a number of diseases so consuming a diet high in anti-inflammatory foods is important to overall health and wellness.
Where to Get Bones
If you aren’t purchasing organic whole chicken, then ask your local grocer or butcher for grass fed bone in meat and you may just get some for free!
How Much to Drink
There are a variety of thoughts on this one however I have found having a cup of bone broth daily or a couple of times a week is quite beneficial.
The Bottom Line
Bone broth contains many nutrients which have great health benefits. Adding it to your families diet can be quite beneficial on many levels.
Have you tried it? Share your thoughts below.
In my journey to reverse my Rosacea and chronic sinusitis I had no idea how important it would be for me to learn more about the liver. In fact, for years I never even put the two together that my skin issues and nasal/respiratory concerns could be rooted from problems in my liver and stomach! That saying 'The more you know, the better' is true! The liver plays a vital role in your overall health and ability to remove the body from all the toxins, so let's talk about it!
The Lowdown on the Liver
The liver plays a role in hundreds of functions so ensuring that it is able to remove toxins efficiently can drastically help improve your overall health.
The main function of the liver is to filter toxins so that they don’t pass into the bloodstream. Another major role the liver plays is in regulating blood sugar and converting nutrients that are in your diet into something your body can use. This is a big deal because everything you ingest will eventually pass thru the liver.
Heed the Warnings!
There are many signs that can help you identify if it may be time to detox your liver but here are some of the common examples:
Irregular digestion
Sluggish and Fatigued
Negative emotions like anxiety or depression
Hormonal Imbalances
Weight gain
3 Common Things to Avoid
Alcohol: Avoiding social drinking can be a hard one to swallow (literally). Trust me, I love a good glass of wine but limiting intake was helpful in my reversal of leaky gut syndrome. Alcohol is processed similar to other toxins by the liver and although it sounds easy, it is quite taxing on the liver. Excessive alcohol abuse can cause destruction to the liver cells and lead to liver disease as well. Try to limit your intake if you do indulge.
Sugar: We’re talking mainly refined sugars (including high fructose corn syrup). The liver mainly uses fructose and eventually converts it to fat, however too much can create fatty deposits leading to liver disease.
Processed Foods: The pesticides, chemical additives, and artificial ingredients often found in processed foods can be very taxing on the liver so aim for non GMO, organic food options instead.
3 Common Things to Consume
Fruits and Veggies: This is an easy one for me but not for some. There are many fruits and vegetables that are great sources of antioxidants and also help reduce inflammation and encourage detoxification of the liver. Some examples include: sweet potato, beets, carrots, avocado, broccoli, bok choy, and banana.
Tumeric: With its amazing anti inflammatory and antioxidant healing properties, turmeric is great to help protect the liver. The main property in turmeric, curcumin, has so many healing properties that this is a great one to add into your diet. I prefer to use organic tumeric and add it to food.
H20: And I mean LOTS of it! Water is crucial to flush out toxins but it’s important to recognize the source of water you are drinking as well so you don’t ingest more toxins in the process. Aim for filtered and purified water. If you aren’t a lover of water consider adding fresh lemon to it-lemon is known to help detoxify the liver! I carry water with me almost everywhere I go and love my Corkcicle insulated bottle-it’s a perfect fit to also add fruits in to have infused water on the go!
This is just the basic beginnings on some things to avoid and consume to help support your liver. Adding supplementation into your diet, including healthy omega-3 fatty acids, is another great way to help support liver function. Regardless of what you try first just know consistency and quality of products/foods matters so start slow and keep going. You’re liver will not only be happy but you will also feel great and find yourself more energized!
For more tips on natural ways to help increase your energy go on and check out some ideas here.
Folding clothes is NOT my jam but from a very young age I’ve been obsessed with the smell of freshly dried clothes. The scent in fabric softeners and dryer sheets are created with synthetic fragrances and chemicals not ideal for the home environment and once I found this out I was on a serious hunt to find healthier options that would keep my clothes soft and smelling good.
Sniff this…..
I used to love me some April Fresh scent however years of chronic sinus and respiratory concerns left me unable to tolerate the smell. Did you know each time fabric softeners are used and exposed to heat, vapors are often released? These chemicals when inhaled can have a major impact on your overall wellness.
Remember that cute snuggly bear that made you want to do laundry all day long? Me too, and I used to beg my mom for those dryer sheets. Now I’m glad she didn’t listen to me. Each time you throw dryer sheets in with your clothes, the heat releases chemicals from the sheet not only into the fibers of your clothes but also through the vents and into the air within your home.
These are some common health concerns that can be related to such exposure (for more even more deets on this, check out info here):
Headaches
Skin Irritation
Central nervous system disorders
…… Sounds lovely right?
Safe and Natural Alternatives
It can be overwhelming not knowing what to do when you want clothes that are soft and smell good. Trust me, it’s possible and the switch is not only easy but crazy cost effective too! Here are some of my favorite suggestions:
Air dry your clothes - grab yourself a great set of drying racks and let nature do it’s thing!
Use wool dryer balls (you can totally add some top quality essential oils for smell) to use in place of dryer sheets. Pro tip: grab a safety pin and put in the wool ball to help reduce any potential for static.
Grab a cloth, spray it generously with vinegar and toss into the dryer. (If you’re like me you’ll throw that vinegar in a glass spray bottle with some quality essential oils to create a fresh and airy scent for your homemade dryer sheets).
Which one is my go to? Yep, you guessed it..... wool dryer balls! Although I was convinced my clothes were going to have wool pill all over them, I noticed my clothes dried in a faster time and when I added the essential oil onto the wool balls the clothes had a light but noticeable scent. They are the bomb-not to mention easy and economical….my kinda living!
Which option is your favorite?
