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Allergies – Top Natural Remedies & Treatments
By Dr. Coby Hanes
Part 2: What Causes Allergies?
In the last post, we covered some basics about allergies, some of the causes, as well as some of my top natural remedies for seasonal allergies. The link to that post is here http://www.center4wellness.com/top-allergy-remedies/
In this post, we are going to go much deeper into what really causes allergies and how to treat the root causes of most allergies as opposed to just covering up symptoms.
To recap – a normally functioning immune system protects us from foreign substances by producing antibodies and other chemicals to fight against them and usually ignores harmless substances, such as food and pollen… However, the allergic person’s immune system has learned inappropriate and exaggerated responses to ordinary things and often overreacts and releases chemicals like histamine to attack harmless substances. And the histamine produces many of the symptoms associated with allergies.
Leaky Gut
Why would your immune system learn such inappropriate and exaggerated responses? Leaky Gut! And what caused the Leaky Gut? The indiscriminate use of antibiotics and antacids, along with our diets full of processed
, dead and packaged food. These processed dead foods putrefy (rot) in your gut causing inflammation and overgrowth of harmful bacteria. Feeling sick, with heartburn, indigestion, gas, bloating and you name it, one would hope that we would wake up and say “Wow – I shouldn’t eat that!” Sadly, most people have been hypnotized to think, “Oh well…I will just eliminate the symptoms with a drug (anti-acid, gas pill etc…).”
Meanwhile, the dead, rotting and inflammatory foods causing the problem are ignored, and then we make things worse by thinking we can continue eating whatever we want and cover up the symptoms with a pill.
It’s no wonder; drug companies spend billions making you believe they have a solution to all your problems. They use beautiful pictures and video with celebrities or models to make you think that the acid in your stomach is the villain causing you so much grief.
The truth is that you need the stomach to produce lots of acid.
This acid, called hydrochloric acid or (HCL) is the trigger which starts most other digestive functions. Many other digestive enzymes and hormones will never get secreted in adequate amounts, nor will they become active unless the acidity (pH) of the stomach becomes very acidic and reaches a pH around 2.0.
That’s right, the pH of your stomach is supposed to be extremely acidic, and if you have a healthy stomach lining it will be thick and coated with mucus to protect you from the acid. A very intelligent design wouldn’t you agree?
A pH of 2.0 is acidic enough to eat through your kitchen counter, and yet this inhospitable environment is essential for health because it breaks down proteins, kills most all harmful bacteria and stimulates the entire rest of the digestive cascade.
So if your stomach is designed to be extremely acidic, what causes heartburn?
That is a topic for another discussion, but let me just tell you that it is NOT Too Much Stomach Acid! It is eating dead and overcooked food with no living enzymes, eating too fast and a host of other things. Bottom line – the food begins to rot and the gases of putrefaction actually cause your brain and stomach to begin pushing the contents up instead of down. Gross, I know! All these inflammatory, dead foods, antibiotics and antacids lead to a massive overgrowth of bad bacteria, yeast and parasites in our gastrointestinal tract.
Leaky Gut Syndrome leads to the Hyper-Sensitive Immune System
Normally the lining of the gut only allows properly digested food and nutrients to enter the bloodstream. However, when the intestinal lining becomes too leaky, large proteins, bacteria, yeast and other substances can get through the lining and into the circulation. This is known as “Leaky Gut Syndrome,” and it puts the immune system on Red Alert! Once the immune system becomes overwhelmed, it begins reacting to all sorts of things it ordinarily would not. This state of “hyper-reactivity” sets the stage for a multitude of mixed signals, and the immune system begins to create antibodies to various foods, environmental substances and even your body’s own tissues.
Left unchecked, this process will worsen as the body continues learning inappropriate, conditioned responses to all sorts of normal everyday things. This may explain why many people don’t develop allergies until later in life, once the nerve and immune systems have become hyper-sensitive.
Making Informed Decisions
It’s a proven fact that children who are breastfeed are less likely to develop allergies and immune problems because they have healthier guts teaming with good bacteria. Children fed formula, or who have been on antibiotics at an early age show a higher incidence of allergy, asthma and immune problems – precisely because they do not have healthy guts and good intestinal flora.
Look around at the skyrocketing incidence of asthma, allergies, autism and autoimmune conditions and ask yourself – are we as a nation becoming healthier or sicker?
Have all these pesticides, herbicides and prescription drugs contributed to better health?
You can’t change what the media reports or what anyone else thinks or does, but you can sure as heck make better and more informed decisions for you and your family.
Remember, only dead fish swim with the current!
In part 3 and the final part of this article, I will give you the step-by-step of our exclusive protocol for successfully eliminating many allergies and sensitivities.
If you’re ready to get started addressing the root causes of your allergies, call our office today: (541) 447-7230
Feel free to share this and any of our articles with family and friends. The more we educate and empower everyone about the intelligence of the human body, the less we need to rely on Medicine and it’s Drugs!