Healing allergies all naturally

By Lindsay Carlton

Say goodbye to cold frigid weather and hello to warmer temperatures because spring has finally arrived!

But for many of us, the blossoming season can only mean one thing–allergies.

Instead of reaching into your medicine cabinet, consider these natural solutions to get rid of your allergies once and for all.

According to Dr. Susanne Bennett, a natural allergy specialist and author of the new book, “The 7-Day Allergy Makeover,” uncovering the root cause of allergies can stop symptoms from recurring.

“Medications only minimize the symptoms— it does not get to the root cause. Let’s go beyond popping a pill and heal the body by going in and finding out what the root of the problem is,” Bennett told FoxNews.com.

To create an allergy-free lifestyle, Bennett recommends her 7-day holistic program:

Day 1- Nutrition

The first step to restore your health from the inside out is by eliminating allergenic foods and beverages from your diet.

“I believe that what you eat has a big impact on the rest of your body because our immune system and our gut can be inflamed from the foods that we eat,” Bennett said. “Heal your gut by eliminating certain foods so you can see how your body feels without them.”

Bennett has found that many people are sensitive to dairy, gluten, sugar, fungal foods, alcohol, peanuts and eggs.

Day 2- Water

The more water we drink, the better chance we have at breaking down and flushing out harmful allergens and toxins from our bodies.

“The more hydrated your body is, the fewer allergies you will have; but drink purified water!” Bennett said.

Studies have shown that the drinking water in the U.S. contains thousands of chemicals and contaminants. Even though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitors the levels of containments in our water, some people may be more sensitive to potential harm caused by chemicals.

“Over time, the chemicals we ingest from our water build up and [this] puts more stress on our immune system, ultimately lowering our ability to handle allergens,” she said.

Bennett recommends using a reverse osmosis (RO) filtration unit to get 100 percent clean water that’s free of heavy metals, natural and synthetic toxins, microbes, debris and minerals.

Day 3- Air

To clean up your air, Dr. Bennett suggests three basic tips:
1) Block out what you can by shutting doors and windows on windy, foggy days.
2) Invest in a proper air filter for your home.
3) Don’t add anything that can make allergies worse like plastics and synthetics.

“We don’t realize that there are a lot of toxins in our indoor air quality, so we want to make sure that we have an air purifier to get rid of those allergy triggers like pollen and dust-mites. You don’t want the type of air purifiers that are called ionizers, you need a HEPA (high-energy particulate air filtration) [purifier],” Bennett said.

Day 4- Living environments

Keeping your home as clean as possible will help remove airborne allergens circulating around your house.

“Allergy-proof your bedroom by getting dust mite covers for your bed and pillow covers,” Bennett said. “And get rid of any allergens you can clean out like pet dander, mold from magazines and books and dust from window treatments.”

Bennett also recommends using a natural cleaner and dusting regularly.

Day 5- Kitchen

Kitchenware can also affect your allergies. When scratched and heated, non-stick pots and pans can release harmful chemicals that can affect your allergies. The safest pots and pans to use are glass, enamel and cast iron.

“Kitchens can be one of the worst allergens in the entire house. We have plastics that can actually burden our body and we have different types of pots and pans that are not as healthy as we think,” Dr. Bennett said.

Dr. Bennett also recommends buying glass containers instead of plastic.

“All plastics have the potential to leach into our food, especially if they are heated or used to store acidic foods like tomato sauces,” she said.

Day 6- Body

If allergens don’t enter our body through food, water or air, the next culprit is our skin.

Taking good care of your skin helps strengthen immunity because your body is not struggling with rashes, dirt or bacteria.

“There are about a million bugs growing on our skin so it’s important to wash our body properly- and that means no two-minute showers,” Bennett said. “I recommend a full cleanse by washing and scrubbing your body with a mild probiotic soap and cloth that will exfoliate your skin.”

Bennett also suggests showering before you go to bed to wash off the pollen, dirt and smog from your body before getting settled into your clean bed.

Day 7- Emotional health

A stressed and worn-down body has a more difficult time dealing with allergens.

“You don’t find an allergic person that is a calm person. People who are allergic and sensitive are more agitated and overwhelmed- you know life is a little more difficult. So what I suggest is calming your nervous system down with various tools such as deep breathing and going out and being in nature,” Bennett said.

To help your body relax, she also suggests creating a daily routine and making large to-do lists manageable by breaking them down into smaller lists for specific tasks.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/03/25/healing-allergies-all-naturally/

Exercises to Strengthen Bones

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

In general, activities that involve impacts with the earth, such as running and jumping, are the most effective way to improve bone health, according to Dr. Jon Tobias, a professor of rheumatology at the University of Bristol who studies bone health. They create ground-reaction forces that move through your bones and stimulate them to “remodel” themselves and add density, he said. They also entail strong muscular contractions that tug at and slightly bend attached bones, redoubling the stimulating effects of the exercise.

Sprinting and hopping are the most obvious and well-studied examples of high-impact exercises. In one recent study, women ages 25 to 50 who leaped like fleas at least 10 times in a row, twice per day for four months, significantly increased the density of their hipbones. In another, more elaborate experiment from 2006, women who hopped and also lifted weights improved the density of their spines by about 2 percent compared to a control group, especially if the weight training targeted both the upper body and the legs. Women whose weight training focused only on the legs did not gain as much density in their spines.

Interestingly, weight training on its own does not seem to be an effective way to improve bone density. A 2005 study of adult female athletes, for instance, found that those participating in the highest-impact sports, including volleyball, hurdling, squash, soccer and speed skating, had denser bones than those competing in weight lifting. But the weight lifters did have healthier bones than those in the no-impact sports of bicycling and swimming,

Thankfully for those of us reluctant to take up speed skating or hurdling later in life, the amount of pounding required to stimulate bone remodeling in older people is probably less than it is for the young. Walking may be sufficient, if it’s speedy. In the large-scale Nurses’ Health Study of more than 60,000 postmenopausal women, those who walked briskly at least four times per week were at much lower risk of hip fractures (an indirect but practical indicator of bone health) than the women who walked less often, more slowly, or not at all.

Had the walkers occasionally jigged backwards and sideways, all the better. So-called odd impacts, created when you move in a direction other than straight ahead, can initiate remodeling throughout the hipbone and spine in older people, a few recent studies suggest.

So, too, may shaking up the bones by standing on a whole-body vibration platform, available nowadays at many health clubs. In a 2013 study, 28 postmenopausal women were randomized to use a vibration platform for five minutes, three times a week, or not to shake and pulsate. After six months, the vibrating women had 2 percent more spinal bone, while the control group had lost about half a percent. Not all studies to date of vibration training show bone benefits, but none have found harms, so you might investigate the option if, because of your health, balance or natural sense of dignity, you do not hop.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/ask-well-exercises-to-strengthen-bones/?_php=true&_type=blogs&ref=health&_r=0

Can Vitamin C Really Cure Your Cold?

How much vitamin C do we need, and what’s the real immune-boosting potential of supplements?

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin found in many multivitamin supplements and single-entity nutritional supplements. Vitamin C has an important role in the formation of collagen, carnitine, amino acids and hormones; is an essential component in the healing of wounds and burns; and aids in the absorption of iron. Moreover, vitamin C is classified as an antioxidant, and many clinical studies report that megadoses (500 to 1000 milligrams per day) of ascorbic acid may prevent, or shorten the duration of, the common cold.

While vitamin C is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of scurvy, vitamin C is most often used by consumers to boost the immune system. Results from a 2010 analysis of 29 clinical trials with an estimated 11,000 subjects reported that taking vitamin C routinely (at least 0.2 grams day) did not decrease the likelihood of getting a cold. However, the use of vitamin C supplements was associated with a slight decrease in the severity of cold symptoms and the duration of the common cold, and some studies report a reduction of 8 percent in adults and 14 percent in children.

A review published in 2009 presenting research on the effects of vitamins and minerals for treating colds concluded that supplementation with vitamin C does have some potential benefits for treating the common cold; however, because there are only a few therapeutic trials, more research is needed to ascertain the effective dosages and the treatment guidelines. Many clinical studies suggest that vitamin C is most effective for reducing the duration of upper respiratory tract infection symptoms in children and healthy adults, but it does not appear to be as useful once a patient exhibits symptoms.

In general, vitamin C is considered safe, but adverse effects have been reported when this supplement is taken in megadoses. When ingested in megadoses of four or more grams per day, vitamin C may cause diarrhea, nausea, stomach cramps and nephrolithiasis; therefore, megadoses of the vitamin are typically not recommended. Other potential adverse effects include headache, dizziness, flushing and fatigue.

To prevent the development of kidney stones, you should drink a full glass of water when taking vitamin C. People with diabetes, a history of recurring renal calculi and/or renal dysfunction should avoid prolonged use of megadoses of vitamin C supplements. Although most individuals in the United States obtain adequate vitamin C via dietary means, the NIH reports that certain populations may be at greater risk of not obtaining sufficient recommended daily allowances.

Individuals at risk for vitamin C deficiency:

• Smokers may need 35 milligrams per day more vitamin C because smoke can increase the amount of vitamin C that the body requires to repair damage due to free radical exposure
• Infants who are fed with artificial formula that does not contain vitamin C
• Individuals whose diets are low in vitamin C
• Individuals with severe malabsorption syndrome and individuals with end-stage renal disease undergoing dialysis

Nonprescription vitamin C dietary supplements typically contain ascorbic acid, which is considered to have bioavailability equivalent to that of naturally occurring ascorbic acid in foods such as orange juice and broccoli, but some supplements contain other forms, such as sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate, other mineral ascorbates and ascorbic acid with bioflavonoids. Adult multivitamin supplements typically contain doses of 60 to 100 milligrams, which are considered to be adequate if supplements are required. Vitamin C is available in several dosage formulations, including capsule, tablet, lozenge, syrup, chewable tablet, effervescent tablet, oral disintegrating tablet and gummy. According to the Handbook of Nonprescription Drugs, the recommended daily limit of vitamin C is 2 grams.

Examples of nonprescription vitamin C supplements:

• Alive Vitamin C powder
• Emergen C
• Ester C Vitamin C
• Halls Defense Vitamin C Lozenges
• Nature’s Bounty
• Nature Made Vitamin C
• Sunkist Vitamin C
• Vitafusion Power C Adult Gummies

Ideally, you should obtain vitamin C through dietary means. People who choose to use supplements should take only the recommended dosage unless otherwise directed by their primary health care provider. These people should also be screened for potential drug interactions, contraindications and therapeutic duplications. For example, vitamin C supplements may interact with chemotherapeutic agents, so talk to your primary health care provider before using these supplements. Some research indicates that vitamin C supplements may also interact with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) when taken in combination with other antioxidants, such as beta carotene and vitamin E. This combination may decrease the effectiveness of statins; however, it is not known whether vitamin C alone impacts the effectiveness of this drug class.

In addition, megadoses of vitamin C may decrease the effectiveness of some agents, such as protease inhibitors, warfarin, estrogens and niacin.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2014/03/14/can-vitamin-c-really-cure-your-cold