The aim of a hay fever diet
The average Western diet is nowadays very poor. It is estimated that we eat approximately 17 per cent of our daily calories as processed foods, 18 per cent as saturated fats, 18 per cent as sugar and 3 to 10 per cent as alcoholic beverages. When you add this up, more than half of our foods are high in calories and low in nutrients. So it is little wonder that over time many of us develop chronic health problems.
Eating a lot of refined carbohydrates, junk foods, additives and so on can cause stress to the adrenal glands, which eventually weakens them – and weakened adrenal glands are capable of producing a multitude of symptoms and disorders, which can include the inflammatory response that characterizes hay fever. However, if you already suffer from hay fever, your adrenal glands must be weakened already. It is advisable, therefore, that you do all you can to prevent their function from deteriorating further. The advice in this many hay fever book in the library should help you to undo the harm and add strength to the adrenal glands and immune system.
In brief, a diet tailored for hay fever sufferers focuses on helping you to do the following:
• Reduce mucus-forming foods that may stimulate the excessive production of catarrh. Such foods include dairy, wheat, gluten and sugars (see below).
• Reduce consumption of foods to which your body is sensitive and which may either cause additional reactions or worsen an existing allergy reaction
• Reduce your intake of toxins, particularly the colourings, flavourings and preservatives contained in most processed, prepackaged foods. They cause problems in many bodily systems.
• Reduce your consumption of stimulants which, among other things, cause stress to the adrenal glands.
• Eat a low-acid diet, to reduce acidosis in the body.
• Eat more organic ‘wholefoods’ (see below).
• Increase your intake of vitamin C, which can strengthen the immune system. In addition, the adrenal cortex requires a lot of vitamin C to synthesize the hormones it produces
• Take supplements to boost your nutritional intake (see below).
It’s also worth noting that changing over to healthy eating, which this diet basically is, can help to counter the depression and fatigue experienced by many people with hay fever.