Food intolerance and food allergy are both a type of food sensitivity.

FOOD INTOLERANCE

This doesn’t involve the immune system, isn’t life-threatening and is a slow onset reaction. It is an inability to process a particular food and can cause: abdominal cramps, bloating, flatulence, diarrhea or headaches. 

Indirect problems associated with food intolerances and poor absorption include:

• Skin irritations e.g. eczema, dandruff
• Catching viruses easily
• Becoming deficient in iron or calcium (suffering from anaemia or osteoporosis)
• Being underweight due to inability to get full nutrient value from foods
• Being overweight due to interference with the thyroid gland causing a disruption to normal metabolism
• Dry skin, hair and nails
• Tiring easily
• Respiratory problems e.g. bronchitis, breathlessness, sinusitis

TIP:  Biocare Prolactazyme Forte is designed to assist with the complete digestion of milk and milk products and provides enzymes to facilitate the digestion of dairy products.

FOOD ALLERGY

If you have a food allergy, your immune system reacts to a particular food as if it isn’t safe which could cause a life-threatening reaction.  Food allergy is a fast response (minutes) by your body’s immune system to a perceived invader. Signs are immediate:

• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Vomiting
• Migraines
• Watering eyes
• Rashes
• Swelling tissue, hives or in severe cases an anaphylactic shock (swelling in the tissues of the tongue, mouth and throat) which requires emergency intervention.

Foods known to cause allergic reactions include: eggs, strawberries, milk protein, wheat, soya, crustaceans e.g. crab and prawns, additives/colourings, celery, cereals containing gluten (including wheat, rye, barley and oats), lupin, molluscs e.g. mussels and oysters, mustard, nuts (including peanuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts), sesame seeds and sulphur dioxide/sulphites.

TIP:  To find out what food intolerances or allergies you have, consult The British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy to find a registered nutritional practitioner.

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Some tips to help relieve the inflammation and discomfort of sinusitis:

HERBS

Licorice
Root of the liquorice plant (taken in capsules) helps to reduce inflammation and works to energize the immune system to fight off sinus infections.

Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is helpful in treating inflammation that is associated with sinus infections. Eucalyptus oil can penetrate the mucous membranes and loosen up congestion. Use a steam inhalation once a day.

Echinacea

Echinacea is a strong immune system booster and helps it to function at a more optimal level. Start at the highest dosage possible during the initial stages of sinus infection and gradually taper off.

Peppermint
Peppermint has strong anti-inflammatory properties that help to calm mucous membranes. Steep peppermint in boiling water and breathe in the vapours.

Lemon Balm
Lemon balm is used as an infection fighter and can kill off infections and bacteria. Drink warm lemon balm tea twice a day for relief of symptoms.

SUPPLEMENTS

• Acai Berries (excellent antioxidant)
• Multivitamin and mineral
• Acidophilus
• Garlic  

DIET

Increase: jalapeno peppers, ripe grapes, raw and lightly steamed vegetables, fruit, whole grains e.g. brown rice, fresh vegetable juices, hot liquids e.g. soups and herbal teas (helps mucus to flow and relieves congestion and sinus pressure), cayenne pepper and raw onion.

Avoid:  sugar, soft drinks, white flour, white rice, all refined and fast foods, dairy except goats or sheep’s yoghurt, smoking and second-hand smoke.

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Home remedies have been around for hundreds of years and just like most things their popularity comes and goes.  At the moment the popularity of  natural products and remedies is on the increase and many folk are on the look out for the effective home remedies.  So just how do you start finding home remedies that are suitable for you?

The first thing to finding home remedies that work is to start off with the most basic and straightforward remedies that you can find.  If you have never intensively researched and investigated natural home remedies, then leaping in and trying to self-treat a major disease or medical condition without the advice and support of your GP is not advised and should be avoided.

Most commonly people will use natural remedies for more everyday injuries and conditions and that’s where you should start. Something like toothache for instance, an oral care complaint that because of the way it can quickly develop – sometimes in the middle of the night when seeing a dentist is not possible – is an ideal condition to try to treat via natural remedies. 

Start by lifting the head if the toothache developed in the night when you were sound asleep.  By simply sitting yourself up with some pillows you will relieve the pressure in the head and sinus regions and this could be all that you need to reduce the pain.  If that isn’t enough, then you can place an ice cube on the affected tooth and this will numb the nerves and reduce inflammation.  All great to help you through before you can get to the dentist.

Another of the home remedies that you may be interested in is an allergy treatment such as a remedy for Hay Fever.  Hay Fever, that periodic burden on so many lives as the pollen rises, can be managed and kept at bay by following some simple steps.  Have you tried lining the insides of your nostrils with petroleum jelly?  You should try it if you suffer with Hay Fever!  What this does is to trap and stop the pollen from entering through your nose and setting off your allergies.  For Hay Fever you can also add a tea spoon of local honey, along with a tea spoon of apple cider vinegar to some hot water and drink as an early morning tea.

So, as you can see finding yourself some home remedies for you does not have to be a huge undertaking of mixing complex potions and concoctions. all it takes is a little common sense and a little research and before you know it, you’ll be using these remedies without giving them a second thought.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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The long-term effects of suffering from stress are well documented. They include cardiac disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, diabetes, heart attack, immune mediated diseases and more. In order to be able to reduce stress it is important for individuals to recognize the symptoms of stress in their lives. Only by recognizing the symptoms of stress will people be able to identify causes because without a symptom you won’t look for a cause.

Researchers believe that 12 million people in Great Britain suffer from mental health problems which include anxiety and depression and those numbers are even greater in the United States. Many of these mental health problems are related to the long-term effects of experiencing stress in your life. Psychologists believe that it is important to recognize early symptoms of stress in order to decrease the likelihood that there will be physical or psychological damage.

Physical symptoms of stress will include headaches which are repetitive and nature and different from the variety which we all experience now and then. In other words, it is following to have the occasional headache but getting them most days is important to take note of.

Other physical symptoms of stress can include muscle and back problems as well as general aches and pains and even skin issues. Acne is often the result of a change in hormonal balance which will be affected by the amount of stress and individual suffers. Weight gain is another warning sign of stress because many people are "stress eaters". This means that is when under stress people turn to food in order to comfort themselves. Unfortunately, most of these foods include cakes, chocolate, sugar and high processed snacks. All of these things will pile on the pounds.

Other physical symptoms include grinding teeth, heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, and nausea, increased pain, frequent illnesses and increased sweating. Stress will negatively impact an individuals immune system which will cause them to become ill more frequently. Individuals who are stressed may also breath more shallow which results in frequent yawning as they are starving their body of oxygen.

Stress will also become evident in the emotional irritability and heightened sensitivity. This means that a person may find themselves crying more easily and more often than usual or may suffer from a general lumpiness that is unusual for them. In other people stress may cause them to withdraw or make less of an effort to keep up with their friends. Stress can also cause an individual to take less effort with their personal appearance and feel less bothered by their home environment as well.

The final type of symptoms are behavioural and psychologists believe that these are more likely to be noticed because they are more obvious. Some of these behavioural symptoms include the inability to make decisions, even trivial every day tasks which would normally be executed without hesitation are suddenly mind-boggling. Stress will also decrease the persons natural confidence and may results in a person who wavers on unimportant and important choices.

Other behavioural symptoms include breathlessness, irritability, frequently bored, worrying, nightmares, apathy and sexual problems or loss of libido. Individuals who find themselves getting angry easily and experiencing mood swings or having more problems in their relationships should consider the likelihood that they are feeling the physical and emotional results of stress in their lives.

It is important for people to identify the symptoms of stress that they are experiencing in their lives in order to recognize the necessity of identifying a cause. By decreasing stress people can improve their productivity, their time management skills and decrease the risk of experiencing any long-term physical effects which may place their life in danger.

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There may be some respite for hay fever sufferers according to the New Scientist. Seemingly a team of British Scientists have come up with a vaccine that can alleviate the symptoms of pollen allergy in just four weeks. Most hay fever vaccines have to be administered gradually over a long period of time due to the risk of extreme reaction. The new vaccine, however, has been specially adapted so that it won’t over-stimulate the immune system, allowing larger doses to be given immediately.

Don’t get your hopes up too much though as the improvements were steady rather than drastic. In a study of 1028 hay fever sufferers an average improvement in symptoms of 13% was recorded after 4 weeks, with a 27% increase noted in a few hundred sufferers who kept more complete records.

For people who have gone down this line of treatment there is no doubt that, if nothing else, the new vaccine will prove a lot more convenient than having injections over extended periods stretching years. But if you’re interested in allergy remedies then don’t forget we carry several alternative products, including AllergiClear Tablets.

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