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There are over 40 million Americans that suffer from seasonal allergies, and what’s worse is that most of the medications that help alleviate these symptoms have harmful side effects. Fortunately, there are some answers hiding in nature that are much safer than drugs, and have little to no side effects.

Quercetin
Quercetin is a plant pigment that can inhibit cells that produce histamine.  It’s naturally occurring, and can be found in various foods like citrus fruits and onions. Don’t plan on getting enough of it through your diet though, the amounts found in foods can be minimal. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, take up to 600mg of a quercetin supplement either preventatively or once your symptoms start. It has minimal side effects like headache or upset stomach in some cases.

Stinging nettle
Stinging nettle is a flowering plant that reduces histamine production when ingested. The average dose is between 500mg to 1000mg depending on the severity of the symptoms. Consult your doctor or allergist first, as some people can be allergic to stinging nettle. Rare cases can cause upset stomachs.

Fish oil
The same omega 3 fatty acids that can reduce inflammation that leads to heart disease also helps with allergies. When buying fish oil, be sure to read the label carefully. Make sure you’re getting mercury free fish oil that is either purified or pharmaceutical grade. This will ensure that what you’re buying is potent enough to have positive effects and has had any and all potential toxins removed. Typical dose is 2000mg a day.

In September of 1969, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) gave a speech in Seattle, WA.  During this speech, and an identical one 6 days later in Atlantic City, NJ he announced his idea for a nationwide day to raise awareness of and inspire appreciation for the Earth’s environment.  Today, 40 years later, we still celebrate and advocate proactive solutions to our planet’s needs.

Denis Hayes founded the Earth Day Network to promote the first Earth Day in 1970, and their work continues today.  Their international network coordinates with over 19,000 organizations in 192 countries to plan and carry out millions of community development and environmental-protection activities throughout the year.

For the 40th anniversary, the Earth Day Network has created a number of worldwide programs that they expect at least 1.5 billion individuals to participate in.  These programs include:

Global Day of Conversation
A day of worldwide conversation between mayors that will focus on building a green economy

Athletes for the Earth
Olympic, professional, and local athletes will promote solutions for climate change

A Billion Acts of Green
Bringing together the millions of initiatives and commitments that organizations and individuals across the globe promise each year.

Artists for the Earth
Artists and art institutions all around the world take part in a campaign to raise awareness of environmental issues.

Sudden Dizziness or Chest Pain
Either of these scenarios could signal a serious cardiovascular problem stemming from lack of blood being pumped to your heart or brain.  If you experience these symptoms, you should stop exercising immediately and if they don’t subside then you should seriously consider visiting the ER.  Sometimes symptoms like chest pains or shortness of breath can be caused by sudden pains or muscle cramps, so be sure to have your doctor evaluate you to be sure.

Chills, Headache, or Blurred Vision
If you experience any of these symptoms while exercising in hot weather or inside a hot building, stop immediately.  These symptoms could be a sign of heat stroke, which is potentially fatal.  If you don’t feel better right after stopping, your body temperature could be so high that it needs to be cooled right away to prevent possible brain damage.

Feeling the “Burn”
In order for muscles to gain strength and endurance your body breaks down carbohydrates into lactic acid.  This makes your muscles acidic and causes the burning sensation.  The longer you’re in the burning zone, the longer it will take for your muscles to recuperate for your next workout.  When you start to feel the burning, slow your pace and exercise at a low intensity until it subsides.

Pain or Tenderness That Doesn’t Subside
Overuse injuries to bones, tendons, and ligaments are often preceded by localized soreness on one side of the body.  This soreness will generally get worse with continued exercise, so stop immediately if you feel this sort of pain.  This is different than delayed onset muscle soreness which will typically occur 8-24 hours after intense exercise.  This will usually take a few days to completely subside, so exercise at a lighter intensity until you’re fully recovered.

Eat Low Glycemic Carbohydrates
The Glycemic Index (GI) measures how quickly carbohydrates in food become sugar in the blood.  Foods high on the GI cause spikes in blood sugar and dips later on, which cause you to crave more sugar.  Foods with a low GI rating will stabilize your cravings and blood sugar.  Fresh, whole foods are best for maintaining your blood sugar.  Low GI foods like green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and asparagus are full of antioxidants that promote healthy skin as well.

Limit Refined Sugar
Controlling sugar is the biggest trick to shedding years by just changing your diet.  Knowing how they affect you and where they most often hide is key.  Most processed, packaged foods contain sugars that cause a process called glycosylation.  This causes the skin to become discolored and stiff over time.  If a foods list of ingredients has sugar in the top 3, then avoid it.  Remember that different types of sugar like dextrose, high fructose corn syrup and caramel may be listed instead of sugar, so beware.

Eat Antioxidant Rich Foods
Free radicals, or oxygen based molecules from toxins are the biggest culprit to advancing the aging process of your skin.  Antioxidants can repair the damage done and help reduce wrinkles and chance for skin cancers.  Some of the more powerful antioxidants can be found in the omega-3 fatty acids of fresh cold water fish like salmon and sardines.  Other good sources are quercetin, found in broccoli, onions, cranberries, and apples, lycopene in tomatoes, watermelon, and pink grapefruits, and beta-carotene in carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and squash.

Drink Water
Water can literally plump the skin from the inside out and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.  Be sure to drink at least 8 tall glasses of water a day, more if possible.  Drinking plenty of water will also help detoxify your body and flush out any excess wastes.

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism has just recently published a study in their March issue regarding the now epidemic level of worldwide vitamin D deficiency.  This new research has found that 59% of the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D, and almost 25% of those studied are extremely low on the vital mineral.  While certainly staggering, these numbers gain even more weight when combined with another study from the University of Copenhagen and the Department of International Health, Immunology, and Microbiology.  Their studies have determined that vitamin D is linked directly to the body’s immune function by actually arming it.

T cells are white blood cells, or lymphocytes that play a large role in immunity.  This research has shown that without vitamin D, they often lay dormant and provide little protection against viruses.  When optimal levels of vitamin D are present, these cells are much more active and seek out these foreign bodies.  With such a large part of the population affected by this deficiency it’s entirely possible to say that the H1N1 flu epidemic could have been avoided by supplementing vitamin D rather than vaccines that caused a plethora of other problems once administered, especially when taking into consideration that nearly all who died from H1N1 flu were chronically deficient in vitamin D.

This new research may not seem like a real breakthrough on its own, but again when combined with other information it gathers steam.  The fact that nearly all patients suffering from kidney failure, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and multiple sclerosis are dangerously low in vitamin D says that the deficiency could single handedly be the determining factor in so many diseases.

You should already be getting plenty of vitamin C for immune health, so pairing this with more vitamin D could help activate the immune response you’ve been fortifying already.  The best source for vitamin D is of course direct sun exposure, just be sure not to shower right away as it can take a few hours for your skin to properly absorb and process it.  The best food sources are fresh fish like salmon, mackerel, and tuna, fortified dairy products like milk, and cheese, and eggs.  There are numerous supplements on the market to help as well, but be sure to check the labels because some of them like cod liver oil remove the vitamin D.

As technology advances and medical research moves forward, more and more links to deadly diseases are unearthed.  Recently, a number of factors for heart disease have been discovered, but did you know that one of them could be your mood?  The International Journal of Epidemiology has published research that suggests that chronic boredom can lead to an early death.

The research doesn’t say that strictly being bored is a killer, but rather symptoms associated with it.  For example, people who are bored tend to eat more.  In these situations, they’re probably not running for the healthiest snacks either.  Boredom can be associated with depression in some cases, which also has been linked to heart disease.  People who are bored, depressed, or both are often in poor health already.  In part, this can be due to lack of motivation to live a heart healthy lifestyle including eating well and getting regular exercise.

Questionnaires that were filled out between 1985 and 1988 by 7,500 people aged 35-55 were studied in this project.  The questions centered on whether they had felt “bored at work” during the previous month.  In 2009, researchers followed up on the forms and found that the people who had stated that they had been very bored were more than twice as likely to have died from heart problems as those who weren’t.

Boredom has also been linked to anger suppression which elevates blood pressure and suppresses the natural immunity of the body.  Winter months are the hardest to cope with because of low temperatures and low amounts of vitamin D we get from limited sun exposure.  As we begin to thaw out try to get outside and get active to help live a healthier and more content life.

Keep it dark
If you’re having trouble sleeping already, be wary of turning on the TV or the computer to try to make yourself drowsy again.  The light from the screen can actually reset your internal clock and make it much harder to fall asleep again.  Keep this in mind too if you get up to go to the bathroom or to get a drink in the middle of the night.  Avoid turning on overhead lights at all costs.  Try keeping a book light or small flashlight next to your bed, or put night lights in the areas where you may need help seeing in the dark to limit your eyes light exposure.

Stay on schedule
Your body’s internal clock, also known as circadian rhythm, is not only affected by light and darkness, but routine as well.  The biggest trap that most fall into is keeping later nights and mornings on weekends than during the week.  This can throw off your sleep schedule and leave you with insomnia on Sunday night, which will start your week off in a greatly exhausted state.  If you do sleep in, make sure that it’s no more than a couple of hours difference than you would normally get up to prevent your body from being confused.

Going problem or growing problem?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, 65% of older adults are deprived of sleep because of frequent urination through the night.  The body’s natural aging process can cause this as diuretic hormones decrease over time, but it can potentially point to prostate problems in men or urinary tract issues in women.  Talk to your doctor about those tests, but in the meantime try to limit liquid intake for at least 3 hours before bed, and cut back on coffee and tea because they can irritate the bladder.

Pistachios
Pistachios are high in a form of vitamin E called gamma-tocopherol that has been shown to be protective against certain types of cancer, including lung.  Participants of a recent study who ate roughly two ounces of pistachios a day for four weeks showed a significant increase in gamma-tocopherol.  Your best bet is to try to have a few handfuls daily.

Onions
When researchers compared the 10 vegetables that are most frequently consumed in the US, onions had the 3rd highest level of phenolic compounds, which are thought to be among the most potent anticancer substances in foods.  A Finnish study of men who frequently ate onions and other foods high in phenolic compounds showed that they were 60% less likely than those who ate smaller amounts.

Pumpkin
All varieties of winter squash are extremely high in beta-carotene.  A long running Japanese study of over 57,000 people found that the participants who ate the most pumpkin had the lowest rates of gastric, breast, lung, and colorectal cancers.  Alternatives to pumpkin are carrots, broccoli, and all winter squashes, including butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash.

Tea
A recent study showed that people who drank two or more cups of either black or green tea daily reduced their risk for squamous cell carcinoma by 30%.  This effect seems to grow over time, as some study participants who had drank tea daily for up to 47 years reduced their risk by 51%.  It is believed that anti-oxidants in tea can counter free radicals that are triggered by sun exposure.

Your Weight
Being overweight is the most well known risk for developing diabetes.  The more excess weight you carry increases the insulin resistance of cells, and that raises levels of blood glucose.  What may be surprising is that unexplained weight loss can be just as big an indicator for diabetes.  This can occur due to lack of glucose energy supplied to the body’s cells, and loss of calories related to glucose due to excessive urination.

Dehydration
Excess blood glucose draws water from the tissues of the body.  This can cause dry and itchy skin that is prone to flaking or cracking, especially in the legs, feet and elbows.  Fluids can also be drawn from the lenses of the eyes, blurring vision and making it more difficult to focus.  Typically, people will feel thirsty a large amount of the time when they’re affected like this.  This thirst is rarely ever quenched, which causes the person to drink more, and thusly urinate more.

Slowed Immune Response
A high level of blood glucose interferes with the body’s ability to heal itself and fight off infection.  This can result in slow healing cuts, sores, or bruises and frequent infections.  Because this healing ability is compromised, people who suffer from diabetes or pre-diabetes are more prone to poor oral health conditions as well.  Symptoms such as gum inflammation with red, swollen, tender, and even bleeding gums can and often does occur.

Sleepiness After Eating
Within an hour of eating, your body converts food into glucose.  In cases of diabetes or pre-diabetes the process is greatly exacerbated.  Levels of blood glucose spike, and the body releases a large amount of insulin to attempt to regulate it.  This surge is usually ineffective, and can cause drowsiness.

Drink Coffee
Though many will say to avoid coffee for a healthy liver, some recent studies have shown otherwise.  A study among people who had already developed liver disease, those who drank 1-3 cups of coffee a day were 40% less likely to develop cirrhosis than those who did not drink coffee.  People who drank 4 or more cups a day decreased their risk by roughly 80%.

Load Up On Antioxidants
Green vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, kale, and brussel sprouts are chock full of antioxidants, which help the liver and its natural detoxification functions.  They’re also loaded with nutrients that support the immune system like vitamin C, vitamin, E, B vitamins, zinc, and magnesium.  Load up on these mean greens to help stop tissue damage from free radicals.

Don’t Use Antacids
Your stomach is full of beneficial bacteria that help to eliminate toxins.  This decreases the work load of your liver by a great deal, and will help it perform more efficiently.  The natural acidity of the stomach is necessary for proper and complete digestion as well, so let it do its job whenever possible. Skip the chalky tablets unless you have serious issues with heartburn and indigestion, in which case you should consult with your doctor.