How going Primal fixed my hayfever - how you can fix it too in threeeasy steps!

Hay fever ruins Spring
Ahh I am writing this blog as some of my friends have lately posted on social media saying how their weekend has been ruined by the dreaded hay fever!  I remember the symptoms well!  On the one hand you were so glad to be having the first spring days and on the other hand wanted to remain inside with the windows closed!  Itchy eyes that you can't stop rubbing, sneezing, runny nose, maybe you blow your nose so much you get a blood nose (that was me), breathing through your mouth, scratchy throat, maybe even skin rashes.  Bloody awful that is for sure.  But it doesn't have to be that way and you are not alone!

Having had hay fever all my life - I no longer get it anymore
I managed to 'cure' my hay fever by going Primal, it was one of those many positive side effects that I experienced like not having such sore feet or not having as many headaches.  For those of you who don't know, I went Primal (or Paleo) to cure chronic nausea.  Changing the way I ate fixed my nausea and my hay fever too.  I want to write this blog to help create awareness that we don't need to suffer with hay fever year in year out and to provide some alternatives to dealing with it, in the hope that this information will empower you to make the changes you need to make in order to start feeling a million dollars!  So  please read on, share with friends who have hay fever and if something isn't clear then please ask me for clarification!

Sciencey bit
It helps to understand that your body (as always) isn't working against you but trying to protect you.  Hay fever is really called "allergic rhinitis" rhinitis means inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose, caused by an allergic reaction. Basically your body is mistaking something harmless (pollen) as a threat and goes over board in it's reaction.  The reaction is inflammatory - think itchy nose, scratchy throat and sore itchy eyes.

The drugs don't work - they just make you worse
(Are you singing that Verve song now?) You can dose yourself up on antihistamines for the whole next six months.  I know I did!  Snort of Becanase every day and a Telfast or similar as well - I won't Google the potential side effects of such drug consumption! The drugs don't work - sure they relieve the symptoms but don't treat the root cause. Anti histamines basically work by tricking the body to misidentify the allergen as a threat.  So next year your hay fever will be back just as it is now.  What if you could treat the root cause and clear up your hay fever for good?  How cool would that be? I have to report that I would much choose to enjoy spring than to have another year with eyes like pee holes in the snow! So let me share with you what I did and how you can do it too - by the way it was easy and I didn't even know I was doing it! So is this the magic secret to potentially ridding yourself of hay fever?

Heal your gut
You gut is your first line of defence.  One way to modify how your gut reacts to things is to modify your gut!  Here is your three step gut healing protocol:

1. removing inflammatory foods
2. soothing the gut with gelatine, bone broth or L Glutamine
3. improving beneficial bacteria by including probiotics such as Kombucha, Kefir, fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut or by taking probiotic supplements

Going Paleo or Primal encompasses all of the three steps.  Even though there haven't been any studies of people on a Paleo diet and their allergic rhinitis there is much anecdotal evidence to show that going Primal can really relieve hay fever symptoms.  My suggestion would be to do your own N=1 and do your own science experiment on YOU!

Going Paleo includes removing seed oils, legumes, grains, gluten and dairy from your diet as well as reducing sugar and alcohol consumption.  Going Primal just means you can keep the dairy - if you can tolerate it, I would suggest an elimination period of at least 21 days before re introducing. Eating a standard Australian diet can cause chronic inflammation - your immune system is already on high alert before hay fever season even starts - it makes sense not to layer inflammation on top of inflammation right?

So there you have it folks, healing your gut can really help with hay fever - any much more too!  If you have kids be sure to let them get as much exposure to dirt as possible!  Studies show that our immune systems grow more robust over time and that farm kids - who have had much exposure to dirt and soil have less allergies than city kids in disinfected houses.

I am in my fourth hay fever season since going Primal and apart from the odd sneeze - it's nothing!  So why don't you give Primal a go?  Set yourself a 21 day challenge and see if you notice any changes? What do you have to lose?  I would love to hear how you go.  Be sure to let us know in the comments below or join our group on Facebook at The Primal Alternative.

Have a great start to your week! Love, H xx

Ecstatic dance & fear

On Saturday I danced my first ecstatic dance.

It's been a goal of mine to go and do this for a long time now, maybe even over a year or so I don't remember exactly how long.

To pluck up the courage to pull myself away from my man at the time of the night where he will have probably just poured me a champagne, from the children who don't want you to go out and leave them, to drive twenty minutes in to town, to pay money, to enter a dark room full of strangers and dance for a whole two hours.

I don't know exactly why I wanted to try this, but I do love dancing and have been a well known kitchen dancer for years, but I was pissed, unless it was the odd song to dance with the kids, then back to the chores. The main reason I wanted to try this was because it was pushing me incredibly out of my comfort zone, which somehow, had become more and more constricted and narrow over the past years. 

Poor gut health results in poor mental health

I believe that my gut health has affected how I lived my life.  A lot of things seemed a bit too hard for a long time.  I didn't notice anything wrong with this at the time, and lived what appeared to be a normal full life.  But on reflection, we didn't have friends over as much, we didn't take holidays we just kept a fairly predictable routine which is great when you have children, and maybe some of this is to do with them being older and now both in full time school.

Often, when I did something out of my comfort zone I would become incredibly nauseous.  I didn't feel anxious, I wasn't worried about the situation, but I got nauseous.  The lowest point was booking to go on a Maggie Dent parenting course with Carolyn.  I felt a bit flat and nauseous as the time to leave approached but pushed on, only to become incredibly nauseous on the way there in the car with Carolyn, that I had to turn back and come home.  I'll never forget Carolyn who despite saying "well I think we were almost there!" turned back with me and then got into her car and drove there again.  She has never mentioned it again, or held it against me.  Good friend.  At the time, the thought of feeling so sick and to be stuck in a room with a group of strangers unable to leave without attracting lots of attention was a revolting thought.  So you can see why the ecstatic dance was a similar challenge for me.

Why am I telling you all this?

The reason I am writing this, and this entire blog is because I didn't think it was weird at the time, you hear a lot of people 'losing their confidence' after having children or from growing older.  I think there may be a lot of people out there who can relate to these very present yet too sketchy to be taken seriously symptoms.  The Dr can only put you on anti depressants and you know it isn't that.  Whilst at the time, even going on a swing made me feel all sick and dizzy I couldn't help wonder what had happened to the 27 year old me who went travelling around the world fearlessly.  Where had she gone? I haven't been on a plane for eight years and the thought of flying, being stuck with lots of people and smells and I can't get off has been a prominent problematic fear for the whole time.  Fears are like a practice in themselves, you re think the situation and re confirm your fear and before you know it, the fear of flying on a plane has grown and spread out to include any group situation and strange place.

So, back to the story, so you know how I started eating primal to cure the nausea and then that went and a few other things mysteriously healed themselves too?  Well my confidence is back and so is my curiosity, it's been a lovely thing, having that come back.  A while ago when I thought my nausea was all in my head I read a book my Auntie Lynne told me about called 'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway', what a great book it's a classic, if you haven't read it, give it a go. The book basically taught me that EVERYONE has fears and the only way to overcome them is to, you guessed it, feel the fear and do it anyway. Often being squashed down by a fear is much much worse than confronting the fear itself.  Once the fear is confronted, and it's often not as scary as you thought, you stand way much taller and lighter, not having the burden of the fear anymore. I heard a tale about a King who received the gift of two beautiful birds.  One of the birds would fly graciously around the castle courtyard all day and delight the King, the other bird just remained on it's perch.  The King wondered about the bird who couldn't fly and called for all types of healers to come and help the bird to fly, none succeeded.  Until one day a lowly farmer came and told the King he could make the bird fly.  Later that day to the King's delight the bird was soaring graciously in the air.  He called for the Farmer and asked him "how did you make this bird fly?".  "Well that's simple your Royal Highness," the Farmer replied "I cut the branch the bird was sitting on".

So I have taken a few baby steps towards my flying fear: I hosted a primal group chat at my house where I invited anyone to come and chat primal with me on my deck, that was amazing, I am doing that again on March 10th if you want to come?  I started contemporary dance classes, now that I am not all consumed with attending the gym every morning I have more spare time to try these things, dance is amazing, I love it.  As much as starting the dance class sounds scary - dancing around in front of a mirror with amazing women, it is choreographed and you are told what to do.  Escatic dance is free form!!  WTF!  I only have two moves, a side to side shuffle and a little fish big fish cardboard box!

Will I or won't I?

So on Saturday I umed and ahed.  I made a million excuses in my head why I didn't want to go: it's been a busy day, we had a party last night, Milly needs me here etc etc to the point where I decided ok maybe next time.  I settled into the usual routine of making dinner.  My yoga sister Helena who has an amazing business called Dreambirth check her out here asked me on Facebook if I was going and I said 'tonight is not my night' and she said 'if you go tonight WILL be your night'.  Oh damn that woman for being so inspiring and supportive! So just as I got an excited rush of 'oh maybe I will?' I tuned into playschool which is normally just a background noise and I heard:

' dance dance dance all together, dancing is the thing to do'

 

 

 I walked out to Mike and Sam playing cricket and announced "I'm going!"

So how was it?

It wasn't as nerve wracking as expected!  The initial entering of the room left me a bit dry mouthed, but Theva explained to us all what to expect and led us through a gentle warm up of moving our bodies and then guided us into the dance.  Usually when you are out dancing it's social so you are forever making faces, having a swig of your drink or shouting over the loud music.  Ecstatic dance is a drug free, alcohol free space where you don't talk, the sign on the door said "Dance Now, Talk Later".  So there is no eye contact so you can just relax as you would if alone not having to make an effort.  When I did that something weird happened, the dance came through me, I had all these moves, who knew.  My body moved in many different ways, I didn't get tired or bored, it was a relaxing, uplifting and truly ecstatic experience.

You know how amazing it is that you can get pregnant and grow a baby without really doing anything (ok well apart from THAT part gutterbrain) or how you feel when you look up at the stars, or watch a sunset, or how you feel when you get that wave of love for your man or your children, or when you've had such a good laugh that you cry, or how that baby you grew managed to make it's way out of your amazing body, or how the  flowers burst forward again in the spring, or when you truly marvel at the rhythms of the earth, the seasons, night and day, that connection you experience through massage or yoga or mediation or intimacy, how swimming in the ocean feels. Ecstatic dance felt like all of these things. That feeling that there is something greater than you guiding you, that you are connected to everyone and everything around you, within and without.  It's that reassuring, comforting space, that even though you think you have this thing, someone else is actually at the helm, the true you, your essence.

So it's Monday morning as I write this post, and I am still high as a kite for ticking this off my fear bucket list but also for everything else the experience gave me.  I'll leave you with this quote from Pat who facilitates the dance...

Reflecting on the bashing I've given my gut over the years, how much of this can you relate to?

When I was diagnosed as having Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and a leaky gut (determined by live blood analysis and presenting symptoms) I looked mainly at my diet as the culprit.  I was eating a diet version of the Food Pyramid, the CSIRO diet, which, on reflection was too low in fat and too high in carbs (glucose) to sustain me. I was running on grain and sugar highs with massive crashes, mood swings, needed to nap for up to three hours daily and used caffeine and alcohol as my crutches. I was a good girl and went to the gym 3-5 times a week.  This lifestyle on top of having two children, moving to the country, building a house and my husband starting his own business was a recipe for adrenal burnout! It wasn't particularly stressful, it was actually an enjoyable time of my life, it was just super busy busy busy.  I was always (am still) on the go. I was tired but couldn't sleep well at night and I was pretty jumpy and sensitive. (Hello cortisol).

Over the past eight months or so, since I started this primal journey I have read lots about gut health and started to think about mine for the first time in my life, it's obvious to me now that the above lifestyle would wreck even the most stellar of guts but I am now starting to realise that the big crash probably slowly accumulated over the decades.  I want to take you back, way back, back into time... How much of this seemingly normal life can you relate to?

Heavy Grains and Sugar consumption
So I was born in 1975, natural birth and breast fed.  Well done Mam, I know they encouraged you not to. My parents are very healthy and have always eaten wholesome food cooked from scratch.  My babyfood was food my parents ate and then zizzed up to baby texture.  Both parents worked but still prepared a family meal every night -  that's when I ate at home or when I didn't turn my nose up and proclaim 'yuk! Why do you eat such weird food?'  Since around the 1950's chemicals were put into our foods for the first time.  My Dad used to work at a chemical plant and came home and marvelled to my Mam that they had made a yoghurt taste like strawberry that didn't contain any strawberry - such progress!  My Mam's wise intuition told her 'that's not right' and she steered from that in the supermarket but even with all the good will in the world I remember my eating habits from school age as being less than great.  I remember eating a Mars Bar three times a day, I drank fruit juice, ate museli bars, ate processed meats like Corn Beef, drank 2L of diet caffeine coca cola daily, ate chemical cocktails like Angel Delight (a packet mouse) not to mention the white toast with treacle on.  When I left for Uni my diet revolved mainly around bread, lots of bread, it's healthy right? 8-10 serves of healthy bread a day.

Antibiotics
When I was teenager I started to get bad zits.  It was mild acne really but it made me self conscious and the spots started to leave scars.  The Dr prescribed an antibiotic called Oxytetracycline which works by interfering with the ability of bacteria to produce essential proteins, without these proteins, the bacteria can not grow.  Oxytetracycline is active against the bacteria on the skin that causes the acne. I took this antibiotic for YEARS. I can't remember how many years it was but I just got repeat prescriptions and I took it faithfully.  I can't remember any other antibiotics that I took but I remember going with Mam to the Dr whenever I was ill (tonsillitis was a regular one) and always coming away with a prescription for something to 'fix it'.

Contraceptive Pill
I thankfully, only had a brief period of time taking the contraceptive pill.  Again it was prescribed for acne.  I took Dianette for an unremembered short time in my life but long enough to remember it's name.  Maybe from 19-21 years old.  I Googled Dianette to check I had the correct spelling and it brought up these searches "Dianette: My beautiful cheerleader daughter dies in agony..." "Dianette and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome..." "Dianette...linked to the deaths of seven British women..." and my stomach fell.  I feel like our generation has been a serious guinea pig to not only new strangisms like the pill, but also antibiotics, GMOs, chemicals, pesticides, herbicides. 

I remember a few girlfriends at the time would keep taking the pill even when they were due to have a bleed (lets not pretend it was a period) as it was an inconvenient time.  Maybe they had a night out planned, or were travelling, anyway, it was easier not to have the hassle of a regular normal part of being a woman.  That seemed very strange to me and I am glad I listened to my intuition and didn't do that.  I came off the pill because it made me feel 'weird'.  I was at Uni and wanted to do well, travel the world et cetera and the pill made me want to quit Uni and have babies.  *what a thought*.  Recent research shows that the contraceptive pill affects the gut in the same was as antibiotics, that is destroys it.

Depression and feeling not that great
All through my teen years and into my 20's I had periods of feeling utterly flat, what's the point, can't be bothered.  It wasn't a constant depression but it came and went and was often lurking for me in the background.  I remember spending most of my six month exchange at a Uni in The Netherlands crying endlessly.  I could never pin point what the cause was and never took an anti depressants other than a few Health Shop off the shelf numbers such as St Johns Wort.  I just assumed there was something wrong with me and I had to pull myself together.  I wish I could take this gut knowledge to my then 19 year old self.  Poor Helen Of The Past!  The depression and mood issues which to me are now so obviously linked to impaired gut health were a blessing in disguise as my well meaning Mam would send me Self Help Books, prescribe hot baths and early nights and have I tried yoga, meditation and deep breathing, all of which are wonderful assets in my life now.  Thanks Mam.

Toxins
I remember my dressing table as a teenager: deodorant, body spray, hairspray, hair moose, gel, perfume, body lotion, face lotion, hand lotion, make up oh the list goes on, all chemical shit storms applied daily until I was about 30.  I was living in Australia by now and a work colleague Tania who is now studying to be a Naturopath told me about Sodium Laurel Sulphate. I thought it was criminal that they could make something so harmless as soap out of this shit and sell it to us without us knowing. From then I cleaned up all of our personal and cleaning products to less endocrine disrupting stuff.  The toxic load doesn't end there though, I was smoking cigarettes during my 20's, drinking more than my fair share of alcohol, drinking chlorinated water (kills the bacteria in the water and in your gut) and lets not forget about my Diet Coke habit.

NSAIDs
Ah my good old Ibuprofen pal Nurofen.  I have always had Nurofen in the bathroom cabinet for as long as I can remember.  Nurofen was there for me when I had drank to much wine the night before, worked too hard at the gym, worked too hard in the office, had my numerous headaches, tooth ache or period pain.  I wasn't addicted to them but I definitely took too many of them.  I have cleared my chronic head ache issues through ditching Gluten and excess alcohol and healing my gut. Taking nonsteroidal drugs like Advil, aspirin, Motrin and Nurofen on a regular basis damage the gut lining allowing microbes, partially digested food particales and toxins to enter the blood stream (leaky gut). NSAIDs block pain by blocking eicosanoids and cytokines that promote inflammation but they also block the ones that also promote healing.  By doing this the body doesn't allow for the health maintenance growth and repair of gut cells.  If you have chronic headaches it's better to look at the root cause.

Other factors that have affected my gut health over the years include lack of and inadequate sleep, overtraining and not including enough time for pleasure in my day - a sleep when I'm dead sort of attitude.  Tsk.  It's the accumulation of the chronic stressors in our lifestyle and environment that can damage our health.  The gut is vulnerable to the presence of stress and demonstrates stress induced changes.  But really stress and gut health is in itself a whole nother blog post!

Thanks for listening, can you relate?  How did the way you lived your earlier decades contribute to your health today?  Let me know in the comments below or email me at primalsoapbox@gmail.com