3 steps to be Hayfever-Free this Summer with the GAPS Protocol

Hayfever is for many people a miserable affliction, every summer you learn to dread the next door neighbours mowing their lawn and those really hot windy days when you can see the pollen blowing in the breeze. Medications make you drowsy and hayfever symptoms make you irritable, I know I’ve been there!  I also know people suffer with far worse conditions than these but there are some important reasons NOT to ignore these symptoms.

For many people antihistamines offer little comfort, nasal sprays perhaps a little more but you have to remember to take them religiously. I suffered with hayfever from the age of 5 years old, add to that an allergy to any animal that molted and dust, I can fully empathise with 25% of the population who now experience this.  The NHS will spend £50 million on hayfever medications this year and up to £900 million on allergy-related illnesses, hayfever also accounts for 2-3% of Doctors visits, so it’s also a big burden on the health system too.

 What is Histermine?

Histermine is a neurotransmitter (sends messages between the cells) and has the required function of reducing inflammation and allergic responses.  Histermine is released by the immune cells to work against pathogens and toxins.  If your body becomes too toxic by an imbalance of beneficial bacteria or inflamed, histermine up-scales to counter.  The resulting hayfever or allergy is a signal that your body doesn’t have enough beneficial bacteria to remove the excessive histermine as exemplified in studies where probiotics are introduced. Hayfever is therefore one of the first signals that you have a gut imbalance. 

It’s not the Pollen

Pollen is not the problem, if it were we would have experienced hayfever related issues from birth but the reality is most people incur symptoms later in life only to get progressively worse.

Some of you will want to blame genetics but the reality is although you have a genetic predisposition to these types of allergies, whether you switch on those genes is determined by outside influences (health, external environment etc), which you have ultimate control over.  It is important to note that you will also inherit the gut microbiome (your gut flora of bacteria) from your parents so their health at pregnancy will determine your health at birth.  These explanations help to determine why you may experience these symptoms but what can you do about it?

Hayfever Relief

You need to find the route cause which is based in the gut.  Introduce plenty of beneficial bacteria to remove the pathogens and toxins and allow histermine to rebalance .  Support gut healing by eating foods as close to nature as possible – organic fruit and vegetables, grass-fed meats, bone broth, fish and healthy natural fats such as olive oil and avocados. The good news is that relief can be found pretty quickly, I did the GAPS introduction diet and stopped having hayfever within a couple of weeks. I have not encountered hayfever for the last 3 years and summer is now bliss, I want to share the secrets with you so that you no longer need to fear pollen.

3 steps to Hayfever Relief

1. Take out food groups that are inflammatory and difficult for the gut to digest, predominantly grains and sugar
2. Introduce probiotics, either in tablet form or fermented foods such as fermented kefir or sauerkraut, this will rebalance your gut flora and help remove toxins from the body
3. Consume plenty of bone broth to heal and seal the gut.  Bone broth contains many critical amino acids which repair and protect the cells in the gut lining while detoxifying the body.