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{Note from Jessica: Today’s post is shared by my sweet friend Renee, author of Raising Generation Nourished. We became friends several years ago and I am continually impressed with her desire to help change the world, starting with our newest generation. Real food has to be core of our health and should start in the womb. Considering this is the first time in history that our children are expected to die before us, something HAS to change. I’m honored to call her a friend. I hope you’ll stop by her site, Raising Generation Nourished, and say hello!}

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Reversing Seasonal Allergies Through Addressing Gut Health // deliciousobsessions.com

Reversing Seasonal Allergies Through Addressing Gut Health

(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor claim to be one! I am a real momma whose momma bear tenacity has driven her to a lot of research on what would be the best natural methods to caring for her children. This is my story and what worked for us and I can’t wait to share it with you in hopes that it might inspire you to question mainstream methods for looking at seasonal allergies too!)

It all started when we moved from the city to a small, rural beach town. It was our dream. Some people are city people…we just aren’t. Our quiet, old neighborhood is surrounded by huge oaks, maples, and pines. So many trees, that our older neighbors told us that this particular neighborhood was referred to as “The Shire” back in the day. As in Robin Hood’s woods.

We moved into our home in the fall and that late spring our daughters were 3 and 1. I had noticed that both of them were quite stuffy in their noses around mid to late spring. I didn’t give it a ton of thought because the symptoms were very minimal, only lasting about a week or 2. I chalked it up to a cold bug and we went about our summer.

Last spring, the girls were 4 and 2 and we spent a lot more time outdoors. They were just that much older and my baby wasn’t a baby anymore. That spring, when the huge oak and maple trees surrounding our home started blooming we couldn’t even play outside. We would literally be indoors playing just fine and within minutes of setting foot outdoors they couldn’t see their eyes were so watery. They couldn’t breathe, their noses were so drippy. We would go inside, clean them up and within an hour they were completely fine. We spent the next couple weeks avoiding outdoor play at our home. Once the trees were fully bloomed, the girls played outdoors the rest of the summer with no issues.

Reversing Seasonal Allergies Through Addressing Gut Health // deliciousobsessions.com

That summer I had done some reading about seasonal allergies, and how the majority of the time they are related to gut issues. Around this same time I was having major sleep and mood issues with my 2 year old. I’m talking up all night long, crying for no reason, barely napping. And uncontrollable outbursts over the smallest of things. Yes she was 2. And 2 year olds get up early and sometimes don’t nap great. But this was up multiple times per night crying over nothing. And 2 year olds are pretty good pushing buttons and freaking out over little things. But this was more than that. A “broken banana” would lead to an hour of crying. That is not normal. And I knew it. This is not a kid that has had any trauma or life events that would cause sleep disturbances or mood issues.

I started paying more attention to what she was eating and how it affected her. Because although my kids are fed a practically 100% WAPF, clean diet, sometimes even “healthy” or “nutrient dense” foods can cause problems if the gut isn’t right.

Earlier that spring I had completely took our family off gluten. We didn’t eat much of it, but I did make a loaf of soaked wheat bread once a week that we would all eat. I had started noticing how lethargic and emotional my oldest was on days when she would have the bread, and she was also sick about 3-4 times that year – at age 3, her first times ever being sick. She had never been sick before I started making our own bread, and she had been gluten free up until then. Her health changed almost immediately coming off gluten. Her energy was back, her mood was improved, and since then she has only had one (1!!!) cold. Peroid.

So with gluten already off the table, I started paying more attention to the rest of the common food allergens. I started with taking milk out for 3 weeks to see what happened. We drink raw milk and eat raw cheese. I saw no improvement in her sleep or moods in the 3 weeks she was off the milk. Next was eggs. The week after she was off eggs she slept through the night about 3 days of the week. That was HUGE. And meltdowns were still there – but not an hour long recovery. We went 3 weeks off eggs this way, and just to test out my theory, I gave her eggs on the 4th week to see what would happen. Meltdown city. Sleepless nights. And I had never noticed it but she had a few red eczema looking bumps on the backs of her knees that got redder and itchy on days she had eggs. No more eggs for her.

So that fall, I focused on rebuilding all of our guts. Sometimes it pays to just get back to the basics. I *know* that fermented foods, bone broths, and probiotics are important. But in my busy toddler days, I had gotten lazy about it. I don’t think that summer we had bone broth more than a handful of times. I hadn’t been giving the girls fermented foods or probiotics as much as I should have been. And we live in Michigan – where it is dark and snowy a good half of the year – we need to take extra vitamin D if we want immune systems that work. Even in the summer to rebuild our store for the winter. So I got busy staying on top of getting all of that into my girls. Daily.

And I kept my 2 year old off eggs. Strictly. I tried other common food eliminations with her but she was still getting up about half the week during the night and would still occasionally have terrible meltdowns.

What I did start noticing, however, was that during the full moon this was all majorly amplified. We could all tell when there was a full moon and my husband and I would joke about her howling at the moon during a full moon week. I happened to ask a good friend of mine Jessica from Simply Healthy Home about what she thought. She mentioned that parasites lay their eggs on the full moon and suggested I use a kid friendly herbal parasite cleanse (sorry I can’t give you a link here. The FDA and FTC don’t like it when we recommend non-approved drugs).

I put it off for a month – I mean come on. Parasites?! You have got to be kidding. How could my sweet little girl have a parasite? As it turns out, most people would benefit from a parasite cleanse yearly as they are very easy to pick up. Especially in kids. By the next full moon I had HAD it. I was ready to try anything. I had to wait for the next full moon to try it out, and the protocol was to do this cleanse over 2 full moon cycles.

The December full moon was our first round, and during that full moon I would say I saw minimal change. However the rest of that month she slept through the night about 5-6 days per week! During the January full moon we had ZERO issues. No meltdowns. She was up in the night maybe one day that week and went right back to sleep. And during the rest of the month of January night sleeping, naps, and moods continued to improve.

Claire has been sleeping through the night since February. Every night. And, while she is still 3 years old and 3 year olds get upset about weird things, she doesn’t meltdown uncontrollably anymore. I have since tried eggs with her since it has been a year off of them, and while she does fine with an egg here or there or baked into things, if she has eggs day after day she does break out on the backs of her knees and that is enough for me to keep her off them.

SO. What does all this have to do with seasonal allergies?!

Everything.

dandelion 2

This spring we had ZERO allergies. No drippy eyes. No runny noses. We have been playing out in the backyard for HOURS while the huge trees are blooming. Green pollen is covering our yard, cars, and toys, and the girls are fine. No spring colds. Zero allergies.

And it all begins with addressing the health of the gut. Is it easier to pop a Claritin? Yep. Or if you are a “crunchy” momma just give some raw honey to appease the symptoms?

Absolutely it is easier. Gut healing is work. It stinks! Food eliminations are not easy. But truly letting the body heal so it can work right is so worth it. Your kids are worth it. YOU are worth it.

So tell me! Have you attempted to reverse seasonal allergies by addressing the gut first?

And if you are ready to get started on your healing journey, here is some great reading for you to get started!

Preventing the Misery of Spring Allergies by Divine Health From The Inside Out

Pollen is Not the Problem from Healthy Home Economist

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