Seasonal Allergies?

It's that horrible time of year again. No, not holiday shopping time or tax time ... it's seasonal allergy time!

Allergies are something I never suffered from as a child, although my mother and sister have always been plagued by them. Like a smug brat I would tease them about it and brag that it was something I didn't have to deal with. But, after moving to Idaho as an adult; I began occasionally suffering from them. At the age of 28, after having a child, I suffered my first major case of seasonal allergies. The first spring after I had my daughter I broke out in rashes, I was sneezing, my head was all stuffed up - it was awful! My mother gave me some gentle ribbing about it - after all, she never had allergies until she'd had me!

I started doing research on natural remedies for allergies, and I found some interesting information.

One that really stuck with me is using local, wild, honey. When you use honey from local bees that are exposed to natural plants, the bees are likely gathering from the plants that are causing you problems. The small amounts of pollen you will be exposed to from the honey can act almost like a natural immunization - reducing or eliminating the allergy symptoms.

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, honey is a wonderful health food. It is both an anti-fungal and an anti-bacterial, it can be used on wounds to aid healing and it makes a great cough syrup. Besides that, it tastes amazing and is lower on the glycemic index than sugar. I often use it to sweeten my tea, smoothies, and other items.

Not only does buying local honey help you with allergy symptoms, it has the added boon of stimulating your local economy and decreasing your carbon footprint. Check your local farmers markets and health food stores for local honey from "free range" bees. Ask how the bees are kept though, and ensure the bees are not fed dry soy flour.