January 2025
allergies
Let’s talk about Allergies… because NOW is the time to start working on spring allergies.
First of all, the immune system is mostly in the gut!! So, tackling gut health is key. Interested in a 30 day ‘food and move’ challenge in March? If so, message me for updates on that!
Gut aside, here are my recommendations now that Ive seen make a huge impact when spring comes around. Please note - im not finding supportive research, this is just my anecdotal suggestions and of course consult your PCP like always :)
Go to your local honey shop (copocos here in NOCO) and get :
a jar of honey collected as close to where you live as possible
a small bag of bee pollen
Purchase allergena’s zone to where you live (for NOCO, this is Zone 6) and start taking that by the end of february
Purchase Chinese formula yu ping feng san and start taking it NOW. Stop taking this if you get sick or if allerges present themselves
Make sure you are not low in vitamin d. This is my preferred vitamin d supplement if you need one
Have quercetin supplement on hand as a natural anti-histamine
Consider limiting dairy and sugar - extra credit points
Ok, so for #1 - this is a supplement, you’ll do a small spoonful of honey and put 1 bee pollen ball (yes, just 1) on the spoon and start taking that daily. After 1 week, go to 2 balls. After 3 weeks go to 3 balls. Get up to 5 balls and hold there, no need to do more than that. This is a like treats like phenomenon. You’re stimulating your immune system to be ready for the local pollen in your area.
***if you have risk of serious allergy - talk to your PCP before doing #1 ***
Ive been on a podcast pause recently, so nothing to share there. Although a patient reminded me of a book called Breathe by James Nestor. I hope to write a bit about the amazing insights from that book next month.
Toddler FM ~
Is this health related…? It’s ALL health, isnt it?
Over the holidays we ended up with a lot more toys for our son then I would have imagined or really wanted. In the whole Mari Kondo vibe we started a new thing that’s working VERY well.
In our home we’re lucky to have two play areas for him, our main livingroom and the downstairs basement. So basically I got about 3 large tubs and have his toys organized in the storage with a movement tub (anything with wheels), a music tub and a pieces tub. Each week, I fill a box with about 10 toys from each of the tubs and bring that box upstairs and unload it. While hes stoked to see all his old toy friends, I load up what we have had and take it downstairs, unload there. Then load up whats been downstairs and put it back into storage. I also got baskets for our upstairs livingroom to put his toys in so which keeps things feeling tidy (even if its all just thrown back in there at the end of the day).
Life is already so ADD, so see if this helps keep things a little less chaotic and gives them an opportunity to really connect with those toys for extra meaningful play.