Spring Allergies

Spring Allergies - Trace Minerals

Dr. Starkey: Hi, this is Dr. Starkey. Welcome back to Trace Your Day.  

It is the season where we find ourselves sneezing and sniffling during the spring and, of course, we often times ask ourselves is this a cold or hay fever? Both evoke an immune response.

A cold, of course, is caused by a virus that attacks and kills cells which release chemicals that cause inflammation. A cold usually resolves itself in 5 to 7 days.

And yet when it comes to allergies, here is the result of our immune system overreacting to a harmless irritant. The response is as though it’s a deadly invader. As a response to these irritants the immune systems send out histamine. This leads to inflammation, most commonly in the mucus membranes of our eyes, our ears, our throats. And yet allergies usually resolve themselves once an individual's no longer in contact with that irritant.

Since sneezing and runny nose are both symptoms of a cold and spring allergies, it can also be difficult to distinguish between the two. With a cold we experience general malaise, upper respiratory track congestion, which usually begins with watery nasal discharge and sneezing followed by a thicker secretion of liquid that becomes discolored. Sneezing comes one at a time and yet we fever. When you have that fever, headache, those are pretty good indicators that you’re dealing with a cold.

Yet hay fever also comes with nasal discharge, usually clear, itchy nose, frequent or repeated sneezing closer together, and of course watery and itchy eyes. The most common irritants that cause spring allergies, of course this time of year we’re going to find pollen, air pollutants, pet dander, dust mites, perfume.

I think that it’s interesting that the studies of US citizens, 1 in every 6 Americans suffer from hay fever. Yet while antihistamines will relieve the symptoms of hay fever, they will only provide temporary relief. And that’s what I really wanted to focus on today. That they don’t address the underlying problems. But oftentimes we overlook the pillars of health that can boost our immunity and sometimes be the most helpful in combating seasonal allergies.

Those 4 pillars that I’d like to discuss today are hydration, nutrition, movement, and sleep.

When it comes to hydration, again I sound like a broken record here but nothing, absolutely nothing replaces water. Water helps flush the body of toxins which improves our immunity. We have to make it a point to drink water today, throughout the day and we can’t rely on whether or not we’re thirsty to determine whether or not to drink.

I love setting a time clock on our watches, on our phones, reminding us to reach for our water. I think it’s important. Yet, we lose a ton of fluid throughout the day just through respiration, perspiration, urination, and defecation, so we have to constantly be hydrating.

When it comes to body loss of fluids we tend to in our society, we don’t reach for water when we’re thirsty. There’s just so many options to choose from and that’s where we can ultimately run ourselves into a crisis. Yet, I always ask the same question and you’ve heard me probably on past podcasts ask the same question, “Were we ever designed to live on bottled, filtered, distilled, or RO water?” I think we all know the answer to that. And I think the answer of course is no.

We were designed to live on ground water, spring water, creek water, and river water. Yet at the same time, when’s the last time you thought about dipping a cup in any of those sources and saying, “There’s my hydration for the day.” I don’t think we do that.

We’re scared to death to drink out of our own taps within our homes. So it’s an environment issue that we have to reach for clean water and that’s where of course we do. Again, that filtered, distilled, RO water, and we have to re-mineralize it.

That’s a key point here is that water is just not enough today. We have to re-mineralize it. Especially with the ConcenTrace Trace Mineral Drop product, that is the key to putting hydration back into the equation of our ultimate health and hydration is putting those minerals back into the water.

Yet, now we come to nutrition. When it comes to nutrition, I think that diet plays a significant role in our immune system. When we’re eating that raw fruit, vegetable, nuts, seeds, grain, legumes type diet, it should be providing us that proper support for our immune system.

Yet, again, here I go, I have to bring it back up. When it comes to soil I love this French surgeon/biologist by the name of Alexis Carrel back in 1912, and again, if you’ve listen to our past podcasts you’re going to remember this statement: “Soil is the basis of all human life and our only hope for a healthy world. All of life will either be healthy or unhealthy according to the fertility of the soil. Minerals of the soil control the metabolism of cells in plants, animals and man.”

Now listen to this next statement by him. “Diseases are chiefly created by destroying that harmony reigning among mineral substances presented in infinitesimal amounts in air, water and food, but most importantly soil.”

When it comes right down to it, our ultimate health begins in the soil. And if our soil is deficient of these minerals, remember, if its not in our soil, it’s not in our food. If it’s not in our food, it’s not in our body. If it’s not in our body, we call that deficiency. If we don’t resolve that deficiency, that’s called dis-function or dis-ease.

It really comes down to that basic concept of what’s found in our soil. When it comes to nutrition, I think that an important piece of this health puzzle is putting those minerals back in, whether it be taking it breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Putting those trace minerals back into our diets and of course our multivitamins and our fatty acids.

We have to supplement our nutrition today. There’s no way around it. I think there’s some marvelous products that we can help with our nutrition and putting that balance back in so that we can get that proper immunity protection with our nutrition.  

Now, I have to say the next pillar is movement. I say movement because if I say exercise, oftentimes I lose a lot of listeners. But let’s just call it movement. When it comes to keeping our bodies moving, remember that movement helps that lymph system within our bodies to help keep and boost our immunity.

So, whether we start slow in the moving process just by stretching daily, bouncing our toes, walking is one of the best things we can do for our overall health. Again, that concept of body in motion stays in motion, comes down to movement. We have to keep these bodies moving. And yet, when it comes to movement and keeping the fluids moving through the body, that is a huge aspect of our immune system.

Now the last pillar of course is sleep. With the amount of emotional stress that we’ve been under as a society as a whole, I think that disruption in our sleep pattern is a huge issue when it comes to our overall immunity today.

Some of the ways that we can prepare our bodies to get proper sleep, turning off the tv, turning off our electrical devices hours before we prepare ourselves to go to sleep, helping that mind calm down before you go to bed I think is a wonderful way of preparing our bodies for sleep.

And yet, at the same time when we’re giving our bodies that added sleep or, of course, that proper amount of sleep gives our bodies the time to repair and regenerate which allows our immune system to work at its best. When it comes to sleep, I think that there are some marvelous products out there that can help support that and of course I’m a huge proponent of magnesium.

You’ve heard me say that on multiple occasions, it’s not only one of my favorite elements,  it’s the tranquil element. It’s the element that calms our nerves, calm our body, calm our muscles and of course prepare us to receive that proper sleep that our bodies are in need of.

Again, when it comes to the basics those are the basic pillars. I think there’s some wonderful things we can do to, of course, help benefit each pillar to help keep our proper immune system alive and well. I think it’s one of the greatest pieces of our health puzzle that our experts aren’t talking about today, that if we keep that immune system built, our bodies have an amazing defense mechanism to keep ourselves protected from not only adverse health effects but also keeping our ability to combat whether it be a cold virus or allergen – to me the key piece is keeping our immunity strong and healthy.

I hope you enjoyed this time that we’ve spent together today but ultimately keeping it basic, keeping it simple, keeping our bodies hydrated, keeping our bodies nourished, keeping our bodies moving, and of course, sleeping these bodies is a wonderful way to protect our overall health.

Thanks for listening in. If you have any topics you want covered let us know of our Instagram page @tracemineralsresearch. We’ll see you back here next week on Trace Your Day.

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