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Food Allergies – What Can You Do?

Diet and Nutrition

You eat strawberries. Hives. You eat shellfish. Your throat starts to close and you can’t breathe. You eat nuts. Your lips and tongue start to swell. You obviously are suffering from food allergies. Is there anything can you do to prevent them?

Food allergies are the result of the immune system’s inability to detect what is healthy and what is not in the food that you eat. It may see that strawberry as an invader of sorts, so it launches an all-out attack to get rid of the invader, or allergen. To do this, the immune system produces proteins, called antibodies, against the invader. These antibodies can then recognize the alien invader (strawberry) if it enters your body again.

Your body also responds to allergens by producing histamines; these histamines produce the allergic reaction to the food source in the form of a runny nose, hives, rashes, inflammation or swelling, difficulty breathing, and at its worst – anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that leads to difficulty breathing, a sharp decrease in blood pressure and unconsciousness.

Food allergies can also produce conditions such as ADD/ADHD, irritability, stomach and digestive system problems, migraines, arthritis, depression, seizures, irritable or inflammatory bowel diseases, colds and ear infections.

Obviously if you’ve had a bad reaction after eating a certain food, it would be best to stay away from it in the future. Some people have tried eliminating whole groups of food from their diets (i.e., dairy, gluten, grains, nuts, etc.) when it is difficult to pinpoint one cause.

Since allergies are the result of an immune system response gone haywire, improving immune system function may reduce or even eliminate allergies. Chiropractic care has been shown to improve the overall health of the central nervous system, which controls and properly regulates the immune system. Once stress to your nervous system is reduced, allergies often disappear or are far less bothersome.

If you, or someone you know, suffer from allergies, let us know. We have collected comments from allergy-free patients that may encourage you.

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Dr. Hassel Asks some important questions of interest to West Des Moines residents - Chiropractor West Des Moines Dr. Hassel Asks...

Can someone who has had back surgery receive chiropractic care?
Yes. Rest assured that we will avoid the surgically modified areas of your spine. However, what we find is that surgical interventions will often produce spinal instability above or below the involved level. This is will be the focus of your chiropractic care.
What's the difference between maintenance, prevention and wellness?
Maintenance chiropractic care is an attempt to keep a dynamic, ever-changing and adapting organism (you) in a static relationship with your environment. Preventive chiropractic care is mostly about early detection. Wellness chiropractic care is an attempt to optimize our health and be all that you were designed to be.