Hay fever: natural remedies to ease the sneeze

Natural juice diet

This approach is based on Chinese medicine philosophy. The natural juice fasting method is a blood purification and cleansing diet to promote a strong immune system and good digestion. Holistic health experts recommend a juice fast using raw carrots, celery and apple juice.

Magnesium-rich foods are also believed to help prevent allergies. Holistic doctors suggest munching on these snacks: cashews, almonds, sesame seeds, lima beans, white and red beans, millet, or bananas. You can add sprouts, green, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, and yellow fruit and vegetables to the diet and even occasionally eat wild and brown rice.

To achieve maximum allergy relief, it's recommended you avoid dairy, bread, pasta and any foods that clog the system.

Eat garlic

Even traditional western medicine acknowledges that eating garlic can cure a multitude of sins. In fact, recent Japanese studies have found that aged garlic extract stimulates potent antimicrobial action that fights bacteria and yeasts.

A note of caution: garlic and other alliums can raise or lower blood sugar levels, so you should consult your doctor if you are diabetic or hypoglycaemic.

Vitamins

The theory here is that by taking the right vitamins, thus supporting the body's functions, we can achieve allergy relief. And it makes practical sense to use nutrition as a natural allergy treatment instead of conventional drugs. Studies show that vitamins, minerals and herbs enhance the immune system without weakening the body's defences in the long term.

Try these supplements to help control your allergies:

• Vitamin C - a natural antihistamine, improves adrenal function (up to 5000mg daily)
• Grape seed extract - an immune booster (100mg twice daily)
• Magnesium - relieves brochospasm (400mg daily)
• Vitamin B12 - reduces inflammatory response (1000mcg daily in the morning)
• Vitamin A - an anti-inflammatory, improves immune system (10000 IU two or three times daily)
• Liquorice Root - This is a popular herbal remedy for allergy relief. It works by encouraging the production of certain hormones in the adrenal glands. It also reduces inflammation and enables your body to fight off viruses.

Acupuncture

According to traditional acupuncture, allergens can cause blockages in the flow of the body's energy, creating imbalances in the energy supply of different organs or systems, thus diminishing their function.

This can cause physical, physiological and psychological symptoms, including pain, inflammation, emotional stress and other ailments.

Acupuncture treats allergies by eliminating the block to restore energy flow and normalise the state of health. The larger the blockage, the more time and treatments are required for the body to recover.

There are a host of other effective holistic remedies that are slowly gaining acceptance in the form of alternative medicine. So if your allergies are driving you crazy, get hip and go holistic.