Herbal Health

If you want to modify your diet after you have been on it for a while, or change the days of allocation because you are bored with the combinations of foods, there are a few tricks which help in planning.

Step one

Most people find that the core of their diet, around which the rest is organised, are the proteins, milks, and grains and starches. Start with these, using the headings of the chart in Table 6 if you like, and allocate the proteins, milks and grains that you tolerate to the number of days that you want for your rotation.

Observe the food families unless you know that you have no tendency to cross-react. Allocate related foods either all to the same day, or keep them at least two days apart.

Step two

The next step for most people is to allocate other carbohydrate-rich and filling foods to balance up days on which there is not adequate proteins, grains or milk. Foods which are important here are potato, sweet potato, parsnip, swede, turnip, soya, lentils, nuts and seeds, mushrooms, avocado, and vegetable grains such as buckwheat, sago and tapioca, if these are not already allocated. Follow the food families.

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Some chemicals are very inert, and do not cause reactions. They do not give off vapours at all. Substances such as glass, china clay, cement, ceramics, clay, stone, marble, cork and non-resinous woods do not cause reactions. If other chemicals (such as varnishes) are used on them, then they can cause reactions, or if you are exposed to heavy levels of dust, you can get irritant reactions, but they virtually never cause sensitivity.

Metals can cause allergy, but do not cause sensitivity. Some chemicals are extremely simple in their chemical structure, as well as being inert, and again do not cause reactions – for instance, sodium chloride (ordinary salt), sodium bicarbonate, Borax and washing soda. Additives in table salt sometimes cause reactions, but pure sodium chloride dcas not.

There are three prime characteristics of those chemicals that commonly cause reactions. One category includes chemicals that are highly toxic at high levels of exposure, such as chlorine, ammonia and benzene. The second category is chemicals with complex structures, which appear more prone to cause reactions than other chemicals, for instance, complex hydrocarbons, such as organic solvents or many fragrances. Thirdly, and most important, are chemicals that release vapour or are more volatile so that they are readily inhaled or absorbed into the system.

It is worth emphasising that natural chemicals can be as troublesome as synthetic chemicals. Some natural chemicals (especially those that are volatile, give off fumes and have complex structures) can be very troublesome. These include natural plant oils and fragrances, such as menthol, lavender oil, oil of wintergreen, oil from orange or lemon peel; resins such as natural turpentine or rosin; terpenes such as grass sap; and other natural vegetable and plant products such as latex, acetic acid (vinegar), Balsam of Peru (a flavouring and perfuming agent), pyrethrum and derris (used as pesticides in organic gardening).

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Most people with allergies find that they can tolerate cotton, linen and silk reasonably well and are better off avoiding synthetics. Some people, however, are very sensitive to natural fibres and find they are

Formaldehyde-free cotton Chlorine bleach-free cotton Organic cotton Cotton jersey Cotton fleece Cotton corduroy Cotton shirts Soft collar cotton shirts Cotton casual clothes Cotton tailored clothes Cotton sweaters Cotton outerwear Cotton workwear Silk & cotton sweaters Silk polos & T-shirts Silk shirts Linen clothes more comfortable in nylon and purely synthetic fibres. It is now quite difficult to find sources of nylon clothing, although polyester, acrylics, viscose and polycotton blends are very easy to obtain.

Celic sells a range of nylon clothing (men’s and women’s nightwear, men’s nylon shirts) by mail order. Seymour’s Shirts sell men’s nylon shirts by mail order.

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Many chemicals in building and decorating materials will cause sensitivity at the time when they are applied or for a short period of airing thereafter, but will not cause reactions, even to the very sensitive, once they are aired. It is important to bear this distinction in mind as you read the advice that follows.

If you are extremely sensitive, you may not be able actually to use the materials suggested below yourself, or you may need to avoid the room or building where they have been used for a while. If you are less sensitive, you will probably be able to use the materials yourself and a little airing will be sufficient for you to be able to use the place.

All the alternatives proposed are ones which are well tolerated in the long term, once aired, even by the extremely sensitive, and which, importantly, actually do the job required.

Avoid Known Hazardous Materials

Some chemicals are particularly associated with chemical sensitivity, and give out fumes and gas at a low level for a long time after they have been applied. Even small levels of such vapours can be enough to cause reactions. These persistent chemicals include organic solvents which have a wide range of building uses (notably in gloss paints, varnishes, stains, some paint strippers, various wood and damp treatments) and formaldehyde, found in particle board, melamine, paper, and some types of cavity wall insulation. Other persistent chemicals – such as organochlorines, used in fungicides and pesticides; plasticisers; vinyls; rot treatments; some coal-tar based chemicals, such as asphalt and creosote – also give out fumes over the life of the over the life of the building.

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Skin tests are relatively reliable at detecting allergy to pollens and your doctor can refer you for these.

You can also use the description of when and where pollens occur to help you work out any pattern to your reactions. If you live in a city, for instance, and get reactions in mid to late evening in summer without any apparent cause, then windbome pollens may well be the reason. If you only get symptoms after a drive through specific crops or plants, then again pollens could be the cause. If you feel better after a shower of rain at tree pollen time from February to April, or at peak pollen times in midsummer, then pollens will be the reason.

Some people are also sensitive to plant fragrances and flower scents, and to grass sap (grass terpene). These can irritate or exacerbate reactions to pollens, or be mistaken for them.

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