do you believe this picture is from the first week of march – LAST YEAR?!
and here i was thinking the beginning of march this year was unseasonably warm… i guess i thought wrong!
anyways – spring has a sprung up all around us, from the bulbs to the trees to the bees starting to work their pollen-ey magic all over the place
are you finding yourself caught up with the usual symptoms of spring allergies?
check out THIS POST from last year on natural ways to relieve spring allergies
OR
THIS POST from the fall on foods to fight allergies
AND
to add to the goodness going on in the posts mentioned above, here’s some more foods that fight allergies:
Citrus Fruits
500 mg a day of vitamin C is the magic number to hit a day – incorporate oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and limes into your diet, a large orange contains nearly 100 mg of C, half of a large grapefruit contains about 60 mg
Stinging Nettle
it helps stifle inflammation with the histamine that it contains. keep it easy to obtain by taking the 500-mg freeze-dried nettle capsules, three times a day, found in your natural health store, and take three times a day. heed the warning labels though, long-term use of this herb is not recommended, it can deplete your potassium stores
Butterbur
leaves and roots of the butterbur shrub contain petasines, which can block some reactions that spark allergies. its use is not generally recommended for young children, people older than 65, or those with ragweed allergies. since the roots of the perennial shrub generally contain high levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (which are damaging to the liver) herbalists recommend looking for butterbur products that specify “no pyrrolizidines”, or ones that use a CO2 extracting process. researchers have found that butterbur was just as effective as “Zyrtec” after two weeks of treatment and has been shown to relieve sneezing, itching, runny nose, stuffiness, and watery eyes in just five days
Elderberries
immune-strengthening, often hailed as a natural flu treatment, but also aid in natural allergy relief. try the wine, juice, or jam to tap the fruit’s beneficial flavonoids that reduce inflammation
Parsley
inhibits the secretion of allergy-inducing histamine
Anti-Allery Soup Recipe
Boil an onion (with skin) and a clove of garlic. Add ½ cup chopped leaves and diced taproots of evening primrose. After boiling for about 5 minutes, add a cup of nettle leaves and a cup of diced celery stalks, and boil gently for another 3 to 10 minutes. Before eating, remove the onion skins and eat the soup it’s while still warm. Season with wine vinegar, black pepper, hot pepper, turmeric, curry powder, or celery seed.
