Eat This, Not That, For Allergies

Eating to live means being cognizant of what you're consuming and what it's doing to your body. Add in some real food fighters (not the rock band) to protect against seasonal allergies. 
Here's a short list of some food pros and cons to know about during allergy season. 

Eat More Of These Foods

​1. Eat More Omega-3 

​Herring, mackerel, trout, and salmon have the some of the highest amounts of omega-3. Enjoy 1-2 servings of fish a week for better protection against allergies, plus reap all the other benefits to your skin, hair, nails, and heart.  

​2. Go Nuts!

​Two handfuls of nuts and seeds a day like walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and cashews help boost magnesium levels to reduce allergic sensitivity.  

​3. Eat Histamine Reducers 

​Find ways to add natural histamine reducers like onions and peppers into your diet. Just don't go all crazy and get too spicy because hot peppers can trigger specific allergies. 

​4. Pineapples for Mucus 

​I know everyone hates the word mucus, but if you got it, pineapple is one of the best ways to get rid of it. Pineapple contains powerful bromelain, an enzyme that breaks up snot, goo, and you guessed it- mucus. Enjoy fresh pineapple every day and have healthier sinuses, less coughing, and less inflammation. 

​5. Strawberries and Broccoli 

​Strawberries are high in an antioxidant called fisetin and broccoli is high in the antioxidant glutathione. The fisetin in strawberries increases the quality and strength of the glutathione in broccoli which binds to toxins and flushes them out of the body. Fewer toxins in your system mean less inflammation during your allergy season (or any other season) so eat more of both of these....just not together cause that'd be gross. 

​6.  Try Probiotics Like Kefir and Kombucha

​Every Tom, Dick and Harry health professional wants to remind you that the immune system is found in your gut so I'll spare you the pain of rereading it from me. Kefir and Kombucha are both loaded with bacteria to help your stomach and immune system thrive. The more effectively your immune is working, the better you'll feel; have a glass and know it's doing your body good. 

Eat Less Of These Foods

​Which specific foods you want to avoid really depends on what precisely you're allergic to, but these foods are a good start.  

1. Don't Eat Histamine Promoting Foods 

Tomatoes, eggplant, avocados, and mushrooms all promote histamine, so the last thing you wanna do is eat a tomato and mushroom omelet for breakfast with avocado toast. Tomatoes are the worst offender, but all four of these should be avoided or consumed less during allergy season.  

2. Don't Create More Mucus 

Dairy products, especially milk, create more mucus, so ease off the warm milk before bed; it's just gonna make you wake you up congested tomorrow anyway.  

3. Don't Feed The Mucus

​Even if you've stopped drinking the milk out of your cereal bowl, you could still be feeding goo through the overeating of sugar. If there was a villain in every disease, I swear it'd always be sugar. Sugar just feeds your snot factory, so try to eat under 25 grams of it a day, which means you'll have to read labels, sorry about that. 

4. No Shortcut Foods 

​If you feel exhausted enough to stop by McD's on the way home, just know, you'll feel worse tomorrow because of it. Fast foods, in general, are loaded with chemicals and materials that can't be processed by your body. It's a shortcut to overburdening your body and making allergies worse. Foods like crackers, bagels, and cereal (even without the milk) will just make congestion worse so no more shortcuts. 

​Each food you consume can be a powerful ally during your allergy season, so choose to eat to live and be empowered by your food choices!  

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