One in five Americans suffer from allergies or asthma symptoms.  Many don’t seek help because the symptoms aren’t serious enough; however, many people with allergies find that allergies seriously impact their quality of life.  Allergic reactions can also be fatal.  Over the counter medications can help relieve allergy symptoms, but don’t assist the body in improving its defenses against allergies in the first place.

Allergic Reaction:

Immune response hyper-activity in response to allergens is on the rise as our bodies have a larger toxic burden from modern living – exposure to chemicals, polluted air, water, soil, foods with chemicals and car exhaust.   This means that our bodies have a harder time processing these allergens with no allergic response.  Also of note, if you have one parent with allergies, you will have a 33% chance of developing allergies.  If both parents have allergies, you have a 70% chance of developing allergies.

When exposed to an allergen, the body responds by producing congestion and mucus to seal off the allergen “Invader”.

The mucus is created through the following process:  The body creates antibodies to fight off the allergen invaders that attach themselves to the mast cells in the nose and airway.  Mast cells are immune system cells that detect foreign substances and initiate local inflammatory responses against them. In turn, the mast cells produce and release a chemical call histamine, which latch onto nearby blood vessels causing them to dilate and widen.  This results in the inflammatory symptoms of allergies such as watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, sinus congestion or infection, resulting headaches or asthma.  Sometimes the body tries to throw off this excess though the skin resulting in hives or rashes.

Allergens

Most allergies are protein based.  The body doesn’t recognize how to synthesize these proteins without an allergic response:

• Pollen – Trees, plants, grasses.  This is the most common reason for “hayfever”.  Consider staying inside on high pollen count days, look into air filtration systems if your allergies are severe enough.
• Dust – Dust includes molds, fibers, pollen, insects, insect feces, animal dander & dust mites.  Most often it is the dust mite.  They live on skin and flourish where we sleep.  2 million mites can live on one mattress.  Carpeting, upholstered furniture, draperies and air ducts all trap dust mites.  Bedroom and pillows are the first line of defense.  Use special coverings for mattresses and pillows. Avoid down comforters.  Get rid of carpeting.  Use washable furniture covers.
• Cockroaches & rodents– not the creature but their droppings..  37% of inner-city kids tested were allergic to roaches.  Keep foods wrapped-up, pet food too.  Always put trash in a container with a lid.
• Fluffy – your pet – Flakes of skin and animal saliva have proteins in them that are potential allergens.
• Mold & Mildew – Molds are parasitic, microscopic fungi that grows in damp areas- San Francisco is mold central. So is your bathroom and under your kitchen sink where water may be escaping.  Look for black mold around your tub or on the shower curtain or ceiling of your bathroom.

Herbal Support for Allergies

Herbal support for allergies would look at herbs to help support the body by using:

• Bitters to tone the immune system response.  Use daily 3-5 drops 15 minutes before each meal to strengthen the digestion and synthesis of protein allergens.  Probably the most important component of herbal allergy treatment.

• Decongestant herbs will help clear any mucus.  Remember to not east congestive foods such as dairy and sugar. Licorice Root, Fennel Seed, Ginger Root &Yerba Mansa

• Anti-inflammatory herbs to soothe inflammation: Echinacea, Reishi Mushrooms & Turmeric

• Anti-histamine herbs to tone the histamine response: Nettles & Bee Pollen

• Adrenal Enhancing herbs to ensure that there is enough cortisol in your body to counter the inflammatory process.  It is your body’s natural steroid: Licorice Root, Astralagus Root, Sarsaparilla Root & Kelp

• Anti-oxidant herbs to reduce inflammation: Rosehips, Elderberry, Bilberry, Garlic & Kelp

• Immune support herbs to avoid infection: Bupleurum, Echinacea (stimulates the production of interferon, a natural body substance that increases the body’s ability to defend itself against disease) & Goldenseal

• Liver support herbs to help clear out liver congestion so that the body can process the allergen more efficiently: Oregon Grape Root, Yellow Dock Root, Burdock Root, Bupleurum & Milk Thistle

• Respiratory Tonic Support: Mullein tea to strengthen the lungs.

Protocol for allergies

• Use bitters before meals
• Review the allergen list above to look at the environmental factors that may be affecting you – use pillow covers etc.
• For sinus congestion use nasal irrigation: Use a neti pot – 15 drops of yerba mansa and one drop peppermint oil in neti pot with warm water (make sure to stir the peppermint oil in as you don’t want to burn your nasal cavity.  2-3 x a day.
• Eat Local Raw Honey. Pollen is produced by trees, flowers & grasses. The bees gather these pollens, which are then brought back to the hive and become blended in trace amounts with the honey that the bees produce. When you consume honeys that are both LOCATION-SPECIFIC, about a 50 mile radius from where you live and work, and/or from an area where the vegetation is similar, when the honey is also SEASONALLY-CORRECT (harvested during the season that in “Now”), you are ingesting just enough of the pollens currently airborne to help your system build up a resistance to the pollens that are causing your allergic reaction.  (Adapted from http://www.marshallshoney.com)
• Foods to include in your diet:  Bee Pollen, Ginger, Turmeric, Rosehips, Burdock Root, Kelp, and Garlic
• Avoid congestive foods such as dairy and sugar

Feel free to contact me for additional information:

Blythe@CommunityHerbalist.com

415-505-3115

Caution: Please check herbal side-effects or contra-indications before using herbs to make sure that they are safe for you.  For example, Licorice Root should not be used with folks that have High Blood Pressure.  Echinacea should be avoided with auto-immune disorders.

J. Blythe Adams        CommunityHerbalist.com ©

Strengthen the Immune System

The flux of the temperature from warm days and cold is ever changing. When you are cold, your body shifts its resources into keeping your body warm, and takes energy away from your immune system. In addition, school season starts and there are more bacteria and viruses being traded among people as re-group. You are also indoors more of the time where these pathogens get trapped and swapped more easily.

There are simple things you can do to strengthen your immune system for fall and winter to avoid getting sick and to strengthen your healing process when you do get sick.

Wear a scarf

It is a good idea to use scarves to keep your neck warm to help our bodies stabilize with temperature.  In Chinese Medicine this is known as protecting the “Wind Gate”.

Eat or take a Tincture of Shitake Mushrooms

Shitake (Lentinula edodes) has been used medicinally for hundreds if not thousands of years. You can use Shitake to increase your stamina, circulation, control cholesterol, improve your immune function and to protect yourself from viruses. Shitakes are a good source of protein and have high levels of antioxidants.

Eating Shitake Mushrooms:

• Cut up and add a few Shitake mushrooms to your soup
• Stir-fry with tofu and snap peas and onions – add raw garlic at the last moment.

Onions and Garlic are both anti-microbial, acting on bacteria and viruses.  Cooked Onion retains these qualities but you want your garlic as raw as possible to reap the medicinal benefits.

For those of you that don’t like the smoky flavor of mushrooms, you can take as a daily tincture.

Drink Elderberry Tea

Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) is an enchanting berry tea that strengthens your cell walls to resist invasion of bacteria and viruses; it is an immune system stimulant. Elderberry also comes to the rescue when you get sick, easing aches and pains, coughing, nasal congestion, and fever.

Dosage:  Make 1 cup of tea with 1 Tablespoon of the dried berries, several times daily.

Adding a wedge of lemon and some raw honey makes a very tasty tea.

What to do for your cold or flu?

If you do happen to come down with a cold or a flu, you want to continue eating and drinking your immune strengthening Shitake and Elderberry.  In addition, it is important to drink lots of fluids, and “sweat” out your fever if you have one or feel one coming on.

A fever is your body’s natural way of killing any virus or bacteria it encounters.  If you speed-up the fever process by using herbs that make you sweat (diaphoretic herbs), you can “sweat out” the virus more quickly, and reduce the symptoms as well as the duration of your cold or flu.

To sweat out a fever, you want to take a very hot bath (or shower if you don’t have a bath), and drink your Flu Tea while in the tub. Soak as long and as hot as you can then jump into bed with as many covers or layers as possible. Have water by your bedside as I am certain that you will sweat and get thirsty during the night. Many people use Hot Tubs regularly during the winter to avoid getting sick. The idea is to get your core temperature above 102 degrees for at least 20 minutes to be effective.

Flu Tea Recipe

Equal parts Sage, Peppermint Yarrow, Ginger to taste (don’t be shy) and a sprig of thyme.   Make a pot of this up at a time and drink every few hours. Raw Honey is also great to add as it is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and is a great antioxidant.

This tea has a mixture of herbs to assist with sweating, relieving muscle spasms, clearing mucus, microbes and increasing circulation.  All these actions helps your body feel better and clear the fever sooner. Make sure you are covered-up in layers when using this tea as it opens up your pores.

Garlic Ear Oil for Ear Infections

So many people get clogged ears when they get sick. It is also one of the most common reasons antibiotics are prescribed. Here is a classic, simple and safe remedy to relieve the pain and congestion of ear infections.

Mince a few cloves of garlic and simmer with olive oil on the lowest heat that you can.  Make sure not to brown the garlic.  After simmering the garlic as long as you can without it turning brown, remove from the heat.  I generally simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Strain garlic out and cool the oil.  Put into a clean dropper bottle.

Use 5 drops in each ear, hold head sideways for a bit to make sure that oil sinks in as deep as it can.  Tug on your ear lobe to open the canal.  Stuff part of a cotton pad in your ear to keep the oil in place.  Do the other side.  Keep in cotton pads in place for an hour or so.

Use this oil at first sign of ear congestion.  Use as needed.  It generally takes a few nights of use to clear the congestion.

Sinus Congestion

Using a Neti pot to clear sinus congestion is a classic remedy.

Use 10 drops of Yerba Mansa tincture and one drop of peppermint oil in some warm water.  Irrigate each nostril. If you don’t have access to Yerba Mansa, use a pinch or two of salt and a drop of peppermint oil. It is always less painful to use the Neti pot at the first sign of congestion.  Use Neti pot 3x a day until sinuses clear.

Immune Support Soup

Soups are a great way to nourish and support our bodies as the seasons change. The changing weather challenges our bodies, and we can become more prone to illness. Soups help to keep us warm as the winter chill begins and can nourish us with herbs, seaweed, and mushrooms for wellness and vitality.

Bone marrow is a critical ingredient in my homemade stock. My Slovenian grandmother Antonjia would suck the marrow out of the bones after our roast chicken meals. She was a bastion of health and wellness her entire life. So rather than having a clarified stock, I have my butcher cut the chicken bones up so the marrow extracts more easily into the soup. This leaves a cloudy stock that I believe has more nutrients than a clear stock. However you can also start from an organic stock and go straight to the soup recipe.

If you don’t have all the ingredients list below – don’t worry – use what you have.  Be creative.

Stock recipe:

5 lbs organic chicken parts or chicken from a butcher (If using a whole chicken, remove chicken meat just after stock is brought to boil and reserve.)

10-12 cups fresh water

3 carrots, cut into thirds

2 parsnips, quartered

5 celery stalks, cut into thirds

2 onions, quartered

1 oz astragalus root

4 inches of kombu seaweed, leave as a large piece

3 bay leaves

1 leek (optional), cut into thirds

1-2 tsp salt

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Skim the top layer of the stock and discard. Then cover and simmer for at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Strain and keep stock. Discard veggies and chicken carcass. Transfer astralagus and kombu to stock.

Soup recipe:

Add to stock:

Reserved chicken

Reserved astralagus

Kombu from stock, cut into small pieces

8 – 12 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms

1-2 burdock roots, sliced into bite-sized rounds

2 inches grated ginger root, or enough to taste

6-8 cloves garlic

Simmer 15 minutes to ½ hour. Serve immediately.

You can freeze extra stock for times when you need a boost. I tend to eat from the same soup for several days. I simply add the veggies and herbs I like for each bowl. Carrots, corn, broccoli, tomatoes, and cabbage are among my favorites. Some immune herbs you can add to soup are fresh or dried sage, thyme, or parsley. These herbs can be added generously for their antioxidant and antibacterial properties.

Copyright ©2006 Jennifer Blythe Adams, Community Herbalist

Dandelion greens (Taraxacum officinale) help gently clear our liver of the excess of winter eating and nourish us with vital nutrients and minerals. Calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc, vitamins B₁, B₂, B₃ & C can all be found in Dandelion.

Dandelion has been a food and medicine for all of time. Some other names for Dandelion are blowball, lion’s tooth, swine’s snout, priest’s crown & puffball.  It is used medicinally as a diuretic, liver cleanser, & digestive aid. The high iron content can help prevent anemia.  Potassium is abundant in Dandelion unlike other diuretics which leach potassium from the body.  Certainly those with high blood pressure should look into ways to integrate eating Dandelion into their lives.  Check with a clinical herbalist before using Dandelion medicinally if you are on prescription diuretics.

Though Dandelion is often bitter, I have found that making a salad and mixing in a crumbled hard boiled egg is a great way to cut the bitter of the fresh greens and eat a great meal.

Dandelion & Egg Salad

Makes 2 servings

1 Bunch Dandelion:  Cut out bulky stems and then cut the bunch crosswise into very, very thin slices  and place in a bowl

1 Hard Boiled Egg:  Crumble in with Dandelion

Vinaigrette:  Olive Oil, Rice Wine Vinegar, Dijon Mustard, Salt & Pepper.  Keep in mind, any white vinaigrette will do.   Some traditional recipes call for using a hot vinaigrette to help wilt the salad, but this version usually calls for crumbled bacon and drippings…

Feel free to play around with your Dandelion Salad.  Some folks like to add some romaine lettuce in to cut the bitter.  You can also add other types of greens such as young dock leaves, sorrel, plantain, watercress and young cleavers & chickweed.  Some of these are available at your local Farmer’s Market, others are not grown commercially and can be found in your local woods.

Contact the BayAreaHerbalists.Net to find out about upcoming Herb Walks and Classes in the Bay Area.