Do you struggle with summer allergies? Are you finding this season tough with irritated eyes, a runny nose, congestion, irritability, or even foggy thinking?
If that sounds like you, allergies might be taking over your life and stopping you from living your best life.
Today, I want to discuss how you can support your immune system to bring it into balance.
It’s not about “taking control” of your immune system—it’s about helping it find its balance. That’s the beauty of the naturopathic approach: supporting the immune system to reduce overreactivity.
You see, it’s not really the pollen, dust, or environmental triggers that are the problem. It’s your immune system. Your immune system is what’s causing all that chaos and reactivity.
Here’s a simple way to think about it: picture two people walking down the same street. One person can’t stop sneezing, rubbing their eyes, and struggling to finish a sentence because of all the sneezing. Meanwhile, the other person walks along like nothing’s wrong.
What’s the difference?… It’s the response of their immune system.
They’re both walking through the same amount of pollen, trees, flowers, dust—you name it. But their immune systems are reacting entirely differently.
By bringing the immune system into balance, you can stop that overreactivity. You can calm the storm so your immune system stays steady, even when environmental triggers are around.
That’s what the naturopathic approach is all about. You can’t live in a bubble—free of pollen, dust, or environmental triggers. But you can help your body handle it all in a calm and balanced way.
It’s really about balancing your immune system.
When I work with my clients in the clinic, there are four key principles that I focus on:
1. Address gut health
The first one is to address their gut health. Probiotics—We know from scientific research that probiotics can influence our allergic response, and we also know that the gut influences 80% of the immune system.
Having a balance of beneficial gut microbes, healing leaky gut, and removing dysbiosis will help support the reduction of an allergic response.
2. Reduce inflammation
The second area that I look at is reducing inflammation. When someone is highly inflamed, their immune system is more likely to react to the environment.
We can reduce the inflammation. We can reduce their reactivity rate.
With my clients I recommend lot of foods like turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and quercetin-containing foods like onions, leafy greens, and apples.
These kinds of foods can help to reduce inflammatory response.
Omega-3 fatty acids play a beneficial role in reducing the inflammatory response, which then supports and balances the immune system.
3. Address Diet
The next area I look at is their diet: Revealing food intolerances or histamine-triggering foods.
Eating plans that are high in salad, fruits and vegetables with minimal refined sugar, trans fats, and food additives support gut health, beneficial microbes, and a healthy, balanced immune system.
4. Balance the immune system
The fourth area to address is about balancing the immune system.
It sounds funny that I’m saying that as my fourth tip, when it’s the main aim.
However, we need these other foundational areas to work simultaneously. When working to balance the immune system of my clients, I use medicinal herbs because I’ve found over time that they’re very supportive in helping to balance—not take over, not control the immune system—but balance the immune system. Some of these herbs can include perilla, skullcap, reishi, nettle, and elderflower.
I had a client present with severe allergies – so bad that he would go through 10 boxes of tissues per week.
A nightmare, right?
Imagine trying to live your life needing that many tissues.
He wasn’t able to live his life properly or concentrate. When I worked with him and looked at his diet, I uncovered a food intolerance. The offending food was removed from his diet and I prescribed a herbal remedy to help support.
Within 2 short weeks, he was down to 2 boxes of tissues per week, and at the next consultation, he was no longer feeling the symptoms of his allergies and didn’t need the tissues.
I caught up with him a few years later, and he still didn’t respond to any allergic reactions.
That’s fantastic, right? This young boy, now a young man, has been able to live life to the fullest by reducing his allergy response and balancing his immune system.
So here’s the good news: you don’t have to dread spring, summer, or the allergy season because with the right support, your body can handle the triggers, and you can enjoy the season without feeling like you’re stuck in a fog.
You can enjoy the life you want to live!
And that brings me to another scenario involving myself. It comes to mind when I talk about not living in a bubble or getting rid of all your environmental triggers.
Several years ago, I got a Husky. Beautiful animals, aren’t they? I love Huskies, but anyone who knows them knows they have a long coat and shed a lot. After getting this seven-week-old puppy, I found out very quickly that I was allergic to him. My immune system was responding to his coat, triggering my allergies.
I wouldn’t get rid of the dog—I had just got him! He was beautiful, and we enjoyed so many walks and fun together. So, I wasn’t going to give him up. I needed to change my immune system, and I did. We lived with him for another eight or nine years, walking, playing, rolling, and wrestling with him, and I didn’t get my allergies back—just by balancing my immune system.
So if you’re ready to explore how a balanced immune system can transform your allergy response, let’s connect. 😊
Get in touch now because I’d love to help.
What’s your “aha” moment from what I have covered today? What have you found that you could put into your life to help reduce your allergies? Or, even better, what is your biggest challenge with allergies? I’d love to hear about it.
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This is how gut microbes can influence weight!
Probiotics can help you gain weight or lose weight by interacting with our genetics, food and metabolism.
And yes, I did say lose or gain weight……..
Firstly, let me explain that the trillions of microbes in the gut need to be varied, meaning that there should be a large variety of species. There are many different species (or breeds) of microbes, and they all have their place in aiding health — the more variety and balance, the better health results.
Back to the weight loss or weight gain issue….
Do you eat yogurt and berries for breakfast? Thinking that it’s helping you lose weight?
Well, Lactobacillus acidophilus (like the species found in yoghurt) has been connected to weight gain.
I am not saying throw your yoghurt and berries in the bin. Instead, I am suggesting looking at the overall picture. If Lactobacillus acidophilus is the predominant micro-organism of the gut, then weight gain can result.
It is about the variety of species of gut microbes. Imagine if we only have trained german shepherd guard dogs in the world. It may be a safe world, but I am sure that other breeds may be more suitable as a family pet.
While Lactobacillus acidophilus is associated with weight gain, other Lactobacillus species correlate with weight loss.
Species like Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Bifidobacteria animalis have been found to support weight loss.
Want to lose weight?
Look at your gut flora to support your goal.
Tests can be performed to identify the predominant species of the gut, and specific species can be utilised to support weight changes.
Want more information about your gut health?
Or want to look at all the factors contributing to weight gain, I’d love to be able to help.
