Bee Pollen-Friend or Foe?

 

I went over to the local farm-market today and was chatting with the bee-keeper from Berry Ledges, John Baker. We were looking at his autumn honey which has a deep red color from the Japanese Knotweed that was in bloom this August. It was first introduced as an ornamental and for erosion control but now is known as an invasive plant and it is growing along my road. In late August the bees flock to the fragrant white flowers. I had a taste of the honey- delish! Bought a jar.

I also tasted bee pollen for the first time. I have heard that people with allergies use bee pollen to build immunity – but I had a bad reaction- my throat swelled up first with blisters and then just one big welt, turned red, and my mouth tingled, my lips went numb- all within 15 minutes- I was very concerned that I might not be able to swallow. I took a claritin and waited as calmly as I could and the symptoms seemed to stabilize and slowly improve. Freaked me out, though. I have since read a great deal about bee pollen and there are mixed reviews. Some people consider it the perfect food. And some people warn us to use it carefully. There are no documented studies showing that bee pollen improves performance or helps relieve allergies. If you have seasonal allergies- try one or two pellets of bee pollen to see if you are sensitive to it before you try using it in any quantity. There have been cases of anaphylactic shock reported. 

I’ll stick to using honey in my tea and leave the pollen to the bees.

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Fall Allergies?

Anyone sniffling and sneezing from seasonal allergies? It’s time to pull out my ceramic neti pot, fill it with warm salty water and soothe my sinuses. Use of neti pot has been practiced for hundreds of years in India. Also known by a more clinical name as nasal lavage (I prefer neti) a saline solution washes dust, pollen, mucus gently from the sinus cavities as well as hydrating  Sound strange? It is, the first few times I attempted this I was very worried that it would be uncomforatable, like getting water up my nose from swimming. What I can tell you is that now it feels great, I can’t wait to get to it when I have allergies, the beginnings of a cold, post-nasal drip or have just returned from a long day in NYC or a long and dehydrating plane trip.

You can find neti pots online and often in your local natural food store. Here is a youtube demonstrating how to use!  There are numerous video’s- wish they were around when I was fumbling trying to figure out how to use it. You do ot have to use special “neti” salt, just finely ground sea salt with no additives is fine.

I have my Nikken Air Power 5 Pro right next to my bed every night. I run it 24/7. It senses pollutants and changes speed to accommodate dust and voc’s. Research shows that negative ions have a positive effect on our health.  Negative ions also clean and allow our internal environment to perform better. Negative ions neutralize positively charged pollutants in the air. Now that California is banning the use of air filters with ozone, Nikken stands alone as the air filter with a patented and safe process to create healthy negative ions.