How to Naturally Treat Allergies

Over half of the Americans suffer from allergies. This is because in some people, their immune system overreacts to foreign substance such as tree pollen or mold and releases chemicals in the body that cause the unpleasant allergy symptoms.

There are a wide variety of natural supplements that you can take to help ease allergy symptoms.

1. Astragalus – A traditional Chinese remedy for allergies by supporting the immune system.
2. Butterbur – The herb butterbur (Petasites hybridus) shows potential for relieving seasonal allergy symptoms.  In one Swiss study, butterbur was just as effective as an over-the-counter antihistamine for reducing allergy symptoms.
3. Evening Primrose – The evening primrose oil acts as an anti-inflammatory to decrease the reaction and stimulates the white blood cells that regulate the production of histamines and antibodies.
4. Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) – GLA has a long history in folk medicine for treating allergies. Studies have found that women and children who are prone to allergies have lower levels of GLA.
5. Green Tea – It delivers EGCG, an antioxidant that blocks production of histamine and immunoglobulin E, both of which trigger allergy symptoms.  
6. Probiotics –Probiotics benefit the immune system and hence reduce allergies.
7. Omega-3s – Studies have shown fish oil can help alleviate hay fever, sinus problems and allergic skin conditions.
8. Quercetin – This flavonoid, found naturally in onions, apples and black tea, has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to block histamines or reduce the release of histamine, which decreases symptoms.
9. Skullcap – This herb has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine to treat hayfever. It has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antihistaminic properties.
10. Spirulina – This algae can boost the immune system and protect against allergic reactions.
11. Stinging Nettle – The roots and leaves of the stinging nettle plant (Urtica dioica) have been used to treat everything from joint pain to prostate problems. Some people use freeze-dried stinging nettle leaves to treat allergy symptoms.
12. Vitamin C – Found mainly in fruits, its immune-boosting antioxidant lowers histamine levels in the bloodstream, which could prevent the onset of allergies.  2,000 mg of vitamin C can cut histamine levels (which trigger allergy symptoms) by up to 40%, improving breathing and airway.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and count our blessings!

   

Close-grip Pushups

In everyday life, strong triceps at the back of our upper arms help us pull open heavy doors. To develop the muscles, close-grip push-up is one of the most effective exercises. And so if you want to tone and strengthen your triceps, making close-grip push-ups as part of your strength-training routine.

 

Exercise Instructions

1.         Warm up to get your blood flowing and to prepare your body for the work to come. Set up by placing your palms on the floor in a triangle position with your thumbs touching on another. Position your hands directly under your shoulders or slightly narrower. The closer your hands are together the harder the exercise and the greater the emphasis will be on your triceps.

 

2.         Tighten your abdominals to support your back and then extend your legs out behind you and prop up on the balls of your feet. Don't sag your torso to the floor or push your hips up. Contract your glutes and quadriceps to help keep your body straight as a plank.

 

3.         Bend your elbows, keeping them firmly at the sides of your torso, and lower your chest toward the floor. Stop lowering when your chest is about two inches above the floor and your upper arms are nearly parallel to the floor.

 

4.         Extend your elbows and push yourself up to the starting position in about half the time it took you to lower yourself. Make sure to contract your abdomen and gluteals. Immediately go into the next repetition 12 to 15 times.

 

Exercise Tips:

• Inhale as you bend your elbows on the way down, and exhale as you straighten your elbows on the way up.
• Make close-grip push-ups easier by doing them on your knees, against a wall or with your hands on an elevated surface.
• On the other hand, for a greater challenge, perform close-grip push-ups with your feet raised on a bench or on a stability ball.
• Keep your elbows tucked in at your side while you do it.  It is tempting to lock them out, but doing so takes some of the strain off your arms, making the exercise less effective.

The American Council on Exercise ranks this move as the "gold standard" for triceps exercises, reporting the greatest muscle activity among all triceps exercises.

 

Are you worried about midlife?

Midlife doesn’t have to be a time of crisis. It can be a catalyst for purpose, impact, and growth. It is actually an opportunity to begin the better half of your life.

Bob Buford has written a good book encouraging the reader to approach the second half of life as a quest for significance instead of success.

 

Among the points covered in the book include:

1. A challenge to think about what you believe and to find the one most important thing in your life and build on that.
2. How to continue to learn in the second half of life.
3. Practical ways on how to regain more control over your life.
4. Questions to ask and answer as you "go in to the locker" and prepare for the second half of your life.
5. Find something that fits within the following 2 questions: What have you achieved? What do you care deeply about? 

Bob Buford provides the encouragement and insight to propel your life on a new course away from mere success to true significance—and the best years of your life. The first half of life is busy with "getting and gaining, earning and learning," doing what you can to survive while clawing your way up the ladder of success. The second half of life should be about regaining control and calling your own shots. Do not allow the second half of life to be characterized by boredom and decline.

Buford focuses on this important time of transition—the time when a person moves beyond the first half of the game of life. It is halftime, a time of revitalization and for catching a new vision for living the second half, the half where life can be lived at its most rewarding. Bob Buford believes the second half of your life can be better than the first, much better. But first, you need to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. 

As Buford explains, “My passion is to multiply all that God has given me, and in the process, give it back.” 

Are you ready to move into the second half of your life?

Read and be encouraged to believe that the second half of your life need not be a time of waste or past memories!

Stick-up

Stick-up is a very good variation of the Scapular Retraction exercise and is particularly good for anyone who suffers from a slumped forward posture. Not only does it help mobilise the upper back and shoulders, but also it develops the muscles needed to pull the body back into an upright posture, and it teaches us how it actually feels to be upright. 

Ways to do it:

• Stand with your back against a wall or any flat surface.
• Have your feet a few inches away from the wall.
• Keep your belly tight throughout.
• Have your bum, shoulder blades and back of head touching the wall.
• Keeping these 3 points of contact at all times, put your arms up.
• Squeeze your shoulder blades back together until your elbows touch the wall.
• If you can, try to get your wrists to touch the wall also.
• Keeping these 5 points of contact with the wall at all times, slowly slide your arms up and down to the count of 4 seconds.
• When pulling your arms down, think about squeezing your elbows in tight to your sides.

If this move feels very alien to you, it means your posture is off at the moment.

Some ways to prevent cancer

• Drink hot lemon water can prevent cancer. Do not add sugar. Hot lemon water is more beneficial than cold lemon water. Hot lemon water kills cancer cells and can control cancer tumor growth. The bitterness in hot lemon water is the best substance to kill cancer cells. Cold lemon water only has vitamin C, no cancer prevention. Clinical tests have proven that hot lemon water works. In addition, hot lemon water can prevent blood clots.
• Both yellow and purple sweet potatoes have good cancer prevention properties.
• Taking supper often at late night can increase the chance of stomach cancer. No food 3 hours before bed time.
• Eating pope’s nose (chicken backside) can cause stomach cancer.
• Drinking 10 glasses of water a day can prevent bladder cancer while drinking a glass of plain water every morning before food can prevent gall bladder stones. Drink more water in the day, less at night.