Itchy Eyes, Tears flowing, runny nose, irritating throat and the symptoms go on during allergy season.. Some foods and drinks help allergies, and some make them worse. Here's what you need to know.
A Cup of Green Tea
Tea, especially green tea, with or without caffeine, is very good for people with allergies. Tea contains natural antihistamines, which makes it a great addition to your diet to reduce allergy symptoms. Histamine is a chemical that your body releases during allergic reactions. Especially a morning cup of hot tea just when you get up to help prevent morning sneezing.
Avoid Spicy Foods While Pollen Count is High
Some of those with seasonal allergies - you can enjoy a diet of spicy Thai and scorching Mexican foods during part of the year, but not when high pollen counts are triggering their allergy symptoms. That's because spicy foods create an "outpouring of histamine" that only bothers you when it's added to the histamine produced by your seasonal allergies. When your allergy symptoms are acting up, step away from the spicy food!
Note: You can check from the met office, or other sources in regards to the pollen count in your area of living!
Have Probiotics like Yogurt
People with allergy symptoms should add yogurt and other sources of probiotics to their diet. Probiotics are known as "friendly bacteria," according to the National Institutes of Health. Typically these are listed on labels as lactobacillus or bifidobacterium and are similar to bacteria found in your digestive tract. Probiotics, which you can get from yogurt, miso, fermented milk, and dietary supplements, can help regulate your immune system so you'll have fewer allergy symptoms.
Increase the Omega-3 Intake
Some research indicates that eating a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids may be helpful for reducing asthma symptoms. In one study, researchers had 23 adults with asthma take an omega-3 supplement or placebo for five weeks. Those taking the omega-3s had lower levels of a marker of airway inflammation. You can get more omega-3s in your diet by eating fatty fish such as salmon, herring, sardines, mackerel, and albacore tuna.
Sinus clearing spices
Spicy foods and with a little kick can help kick out allergy symptoms. Anise, fennel, horseradish, and hot mustard can all act as natural decongestants — they offer allergy relief by stimulating the mucosal cilia to help break up congestion. Look for recipes with those ingredients or add them to your favorite standbys when you start feeling stuffy.
Vitamin C Rich Fruits
Blame itchiness, hives, and other discomfort you feel during an allergic response on histamine. Vitamin C can help you with that. Vitamin C indirectly inhibits inflammatory cells from releasing histamine as studies have shown that high levels of vitamin C reduce histamine and help it break down faster, once it’s released, and therefore providing some relief of symptoms.
As many Allergy medicines are - they are antihistamines, why not gain that from your foods, rather than taking a pill that may cause reliance, and may have long term side effect.
A final tip would be, do not wait till the season comes around to add the above to your diet, introduce it some time before the season kicks in, so that your body starts preparing and so that you can get through the beautiful bright days without the need to run away from nature :).