Five Tips to Make Your Life Easier During Allergy Season

 1. Drink Plenty of Water:

Why is water important?  Water makes up such a big percentage of your body, and is essential for every function it performs.  It helps with hydrating the lungs, digestion, metabolism, waste removal and so much more.  I recommend 1 quart of water per 50 pounds of body weight or portion thereof.  So if you weigh 175 lbs., that would be 4 quarts of water.  If you weigh 149 lbs., congratulations, you only have to drink 3 quarts of water!  This is the amount of water your body needs to heal and perform at its maximum capacity.  If you have trouble drinking this much water, you may need to add a little salt to your diet to ensure proper water/sodium balance in your body.  I personally notice that my allergies flare up when I have not drank my water requirement for even a day or two.

2. Eat plenty of protein.

 Protein helps stabilize your body's blood sugar control mechanism.  When someone has an illness or symptom like allergies, it is almost always after being dehydrated and creating imbalance in their body's blood sugar control mechanism.  Eating every 2-3 hours and having protein several times a day helps improve your blood sugar control.  Having refined carbohydrates, lots of sugary drinks and desserts, waiting too long to eat, or eating too much can all trigger unstable blood sugar.  Many years of poor blood sugar control will usually spiral into diabetes.  This is why diabetes has become such an epidemic around the world today.  People tend to eat too much processed high carbohydrate foods which damages their blood sugar control mechanism and contributes to illness. 

What foods are best?  Protein sources including meat, eggs, and dairy (unless you have a food allergy), vegetables that are green or brightly colored with a low glycemic index (foods that don't trigger a big insulin response in your body), fresh fruit, and high protein grains/sprouted grains.  Many people need to limit their grains if they are carbohydrate sensitive or have a family history of diabetes.  Each person is different, and it is important to have a well-trained health coach (like a Chiropractor) helping guide you along the process of which foods best support your body!

3. Minimize sugar, or eliminate it completely for fastest results.

As I hinted to in #2, excessive sugar and highly refined carbohydrates can trigger poor blood sugar control, which contributes to allergies.   The precursor to any loss of health is dehydration and poor blood sugar control.  Take control of your body's health by reducing or eliminating sugar from your diet.  This includes soda, anything with artificial sweeteners, sugary desserts, alcohol, potatoes (especially white), and white flour.  I give my patients an even more extensive list in my office, but this is enough to get you started.  If you have bad allergies, chances are if you ingest a lot of the items I just listed above, the next day you will have a flare up of your allergy symptoms.  I even know of a person who can eat a cookie, or a sugary Starbucks drink during allergy season, and in less that two minutes they start sneezing.  They were amazed at the drastic decrease in their allergy symptoms when they reduced their sugar intake and increased their protein intake.  No more allergy medicine!

4.  Get enough sleep/rest.

Getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night leaves most people feeling rested.  Unfortunately, many people deprive themselves of sleep in order to "get everything done".  Here's the problem.  If you don't take the time to get regular sleep, your body will pick a time for you to be forced to rest, more commonly known as "being sick".  "Being sick" can look like allergies, a head cold, the flu, back or neck pain, or severe fatigue. You won't get to choose the time or place.  It could be right before Christmas, when you've already been running around too much and still have gifts to wrap.  How about just before a vacation you've saved all year to take?  Doesn't that sound like a great time to feel miserable and not have the energy to get off the couch?

Your body is designed for 10-12 hours of work a day.  If you abuse/overexert your body long enough, it will start talking back.  The only question is, how will it talk back?  Allergies? Back pain? Heart problems? Asthma? Chronic Fatigue?  Fibromyalgia?  Depression?  Diabetes?  These are all symptoms of a body that is out of balance and is screaming for help.   

5. Invest in yourself, find a GREAT Chiropractor

A Chiropractor can be such a valuable resource for you.  We are trained to detect misalignments in your body that interfere with the nervous system communication in your body.  For example, if your neck and the base of your skull (occiput) are misaligned, it can contribute to allergy symptoms like headaches, itchy and watery eyes, sneezing, heaviness in your head, and sinus congestion.  By realigning the vertebrae, we take the pressure off the nervous system in this area. This allows the body to communicate more efficiently in regards to boosting your immune system and draining excess fluid and mucous out of your head and nose.  The result is  feeling better and less symptoms because we are addressing one of the contributing factors to your allergies.

 A Chiropractor that is trained in Acupuncture is even more valuable because combining healing methods often results in even greater improvement and results.  I have seen patients come in to the office with a terrible allergy/sinus headache and leave nearly pain free with bright eyes and energy to take on the rest of their day.  It is very common that during an Acupuncture treatment, a patient will tell me that their sinuses are already draining and their head pressure is reducing.  This is 5 minutes into their treatment!  Once I start adjusting them, many times the congestion in their head breaks loose and they need to blow their nose mid-adjustment!  It is amazing how quickly the body starts to respond and heal itself once pressure is taken off the nervous system!

Chiropractors can help with much more than allergies and sinus problems, and are an important part of your health care team.  Finding a Chiropractor that can encourage and coach you in regards to your lifestyle choices (work/rest/water/diet) can save you enough sick days and vacation days to go on a vacation, instead of the forced "being sick" vacation at home on your couch.  What would you do with an extra vacation a year?

Let's talk about that at my office!

If you are looking for a Holistic Chiropractor that looks at you as a whole person, and spends time listening and really getting to know your needs, please call me. 

Better Health is Just a Phone Call Away!

Dr. Kristine Baker

816-256-3603

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