11 foods to avoid to help alleviate your seasonal allergies

For thousands of Ottawans, the arrival of spring is a bittersweet time of year.

After surviving another long cold, snowy winter interspersed with the occasional cold or flu only to replaced by itchy eyes, sneezing and runny nose from the arrival of pollens.

More than 1 in 6 Canadians suffer from seasonal allergies, which equates to nearly 6 million people. The highest concentration is found in Ontario while the lowest rates are in Atlantic Canada. Exact numbers for Ottawa are not available, but it is known, by some commentators, as the allergy capital of North America.

Dependent on what the person is allergic to, the allergy season can start in late March, with melting of the snow, and last all the way through to the fall, with the first frost. At the end of March, the chief culprit comes in the form of leaf or snow mold, which emerges from beneath the melting snow. Throughout the spring and most of the summer different grass and tree pollens take their toll. At the end of the summer, ragweed makes it's appearance and from my observation can cause the worst symptoms.

With the beginning of the allergy season, the majority of people reach for their favourite brand of antihistamine medication. Histamine is a chemical produced by the body when it comes into contact with an allergen such as a mold spore or pollen. The release of histamine causes the itchy red eyes, runny nose and sneezing. Taking the antihistamine helps to stop the production of histamine so reducing symptoms. For some people who suffer from seasonal allergies, their bodies have an excess of histamine. So when they are encounter allergens they experience much stronger reactions. 

There are some different reasons why your body might have an excess, one of the reasons is a problem with your friendly bacteria.

If you do suffer from seasonal allergies, an effective way to lessen your symptoms is to reduce your intake of high histamine-containing foods. These includes:

• Fermented alcoholic beverages, especially wine, champagne, and beer
• Fermented foods: sauerkraut, vinegar, soy sauce, kefir, yogurt, kombucha, etc
• Vinegar-containing foods: pickles, mayonnaise, olives
• Cured meats: bacon, salami, pepperoni, luncheon meats and hot dogs
• Soured foods: sour cream, sour milk, buttermilk, soured bread, etc
• Dried fruit: apricots, prunes, dates, figs, raisins
• Most citrus fruits
• Aged cheese including goat cheese
• Nuts: walnuts, cashews, and peanuts
• Vegetables: avocados, eggplant, spinach, and tomatoes
• Smoked fish and certain species of fish: mackerel, mahi-mahi, tuna, anchovies, sardines

If reducing the above foods helps your symptoms then the next step is to work out why your body has an excess of histamine in the first place.

Once you have identified and resolved that reason, you will be able to go back to eating the above foods without any adverse allergy symptoms.

If you would like help with this, I offer a free consultation where we can review your case.

To book your free consultation call 613 230-0998.

Disclaimer

This article in not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Is Histamine Intolerance the Key to your Chronic Health Problems

Trying to unravel some of my clients health issues is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Not that I am complaining, it was I love about my job. When trying to unravel somebody's health issue I am looking to identify certain trigger factors. You are probably all familiar with my old friend gluten. I have recently become better acquainted with a relatively new kid on the block, histamine.

Histamine is a chemical produced by the body, which is traditionally associated allergic reactions. If you have ever been bitten by a mosquito then the red reaction you see under the skin is the result of histamine. Histamine, unlike gluten, is essential to body and has many other important functions such as acting as a neurotransmitter. Histamine becomes a problem when there is too much of it in the body

There are two main ways too much histamine in the body can occur. Firstly, there could be a problem of over production and, secondly the body may not be able to break it down properly. There are two potential reasons for over production:

1. Dysbiosis

There are two types of bacteria in the gut, ones which produce histamine and the others that break it down. So when you there is an imbalance of bacteria, known as dysbiosis, and there are more bacteria that produce histamine then this could lead to an overproduction.

2. Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

Mast Cells produce histamine in the body. In some people their mast cells become overactive and produce too much histamine. The reason for this is not clearly understood but it is thought to do with a genetic defect.

There are three main reasons why your body may not beable to breakdown histamine properly:

1. Poor Methylation

Histamine is broken down in the body by an enzyme known as N-Methyltransferase. To produce this enzyme a process in the body known as methylation must be working properly. A large number of people however have a genetic mutation which hinder this process they have poor methylation and will produce less enzyme to breakdown histamine.

2. Dysbiosis

Not enough histamine degrading bacteria.

3. Poor Diamine Oxidase Production

Histamine is also broken down in the body by Diamine Oxidase. Due to a genetic mutation some people may not be able to produce enough or any of this enzyme.

So what are the common symptoms of histamine intolerance:

• Itching of the skin, eyes, ears, and nose; 
• hives; 
• tissue swelling, especially facial and oral tissues; 
• a feeling of throat constriction or tightness; 
• hypotension, like a drop in blood pressure, especially you get dizzy when you stand up quickly; tachycardia, so rapid heartbeat, increased pulse rate; 
• palpitations; 
• symptoms that kind of resemble anxiety or panic attack; 
• chest pain; 
• nasal congestion; 
• runny nose; 
• seasonal allergies; 
• conjunctivitis, which is irritated, watery, reddened eyes; 
• some types of headache, like migraine can be related to histamine; 
• fatigue; confusion; irritability; 
• digestive upset, especially heartburn and reflux; 
• and much more rarely, occasional loss of consciousness, blacking out just for a few seconds that’s unexplained by other causes.

Recommended diet for histamine intolerance

To help reduce symptoms it is useful to remove foods that are naturally high in histamine. These include:

• Seafood: shellfish or fin fish, fresh, frozen, smoked or canned
• Eggs
• Processed, cured, smoked and fermented meats such as lunch meat, bacon, sausage, salami, pepperoni
• Leftover meat (After meat is cooked, the histamine levels increase due to microbial action as the meat sits)
• All fermented milk products, including most cheeses
• Yogurt, buttermilk, kefir
• Citrus fruits – eg. oranges, grapefruit, lemons, lime
• Most berries
• Dried fruit
• Fermented foods: sauerkraut, kombucha, pickles, relishes, fermented soy products, etc.
• Spinach
• Tomatoes- including ketchup, tomato sauces
• Artificial food colors and preservatives
• Spices: cinnamon, chili powder, cloves, anise, nutmeg, curry powder, cayenne
• Beverages: Tea (herbal or regular), alcohol
• Chocolate, cocoa
• Vinegar and foods containing vinegar such as pickles, relishes, ketchup, and prepared mustard

While removing these foods will help resolve symptoms it also important to identify and treat the underlying causes as highlighted above. After treatment, it may be possible to reintroduce some of the foods.

Finally

 

I hope you found these ideas useful. More importantly, I hope you do something with them.