An allergy is a condition of abnormal sensitivity of a person to one or more substances which would be harmless to the majority of other people. People can be allergic to a variety of substances including food, drinks, medication, materials, chemicals, and the external environment. From a conventional medical perspective, an allergy is an overreaction of the immune system. In Chinese medicine, an allergic substance causes blockages in the energy pathways of the body called meridians. The normal flow of energy or “qi” is then disrupted which causes imbalances in the organs which are connected by the meridians.

Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques are based on this holistic perspective of allergies. Dr. Nambudripad gives an analogy that describes this well. Start with two identical tomato plants that are planted in two different locations. A storm comes along and a stone falls on one plant. This causes it not to grow as well as the other plant. A gardener comes by and removes the stone which leads to normal growth of the plant again. The stone is the allergen and in performing NAET treatments, the doctor is the gardener.

Conventional treatments for allergies include anti-histamines, steroids or allergy shots which control symptoms and have only short-term effects. NAET is a painless, safe and non-invasive treatment that can be done on people of any age group as well as pets. It is based on treatment principles from allopathic medicine, acupuncture, chiropractic, kinesiology, homeopathy, and nutrition. Acupressure is used on kids or those who are not comfortable with acupuncture needles. The substance must be avoided for 25 hours after treatment. Allergens are cleared one at a time in a specific sequence. Any allergen can be treated using NAET.

If you would like more information, go the the NAET website www.naet.com. If you have allergies or have an illness that could be related to undiagnosed allergies, I highly recommend that you read Dr. Nambudripad’s book called “Say Good-Bye to Illness.”

Vitamin D comes from two primary sources, sunlight and supplementation. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the direct precursor to the active form and is produced in the skin in response to UVB radiation (from sunlight) and consumed in the diet. The other type, vitamin D2, is likely less effective and potentially more toxic than D3. In order to increase your levels of vitamin D, 20-30 minutes of sunshine on your face and forearms is ideal. However, topical sunscreens block vitamin D production by 97-100%. This is nearly impossible for those of us who live in a culture where we work indoors and have less hours of sunlight daily than we need. UVB tanning beds can increase vitamin D but are expensive and will also speed up the aging process in addition to promoting skin cancer, although less than their UVA counterparts. Adequate amounts of vitamin D are also difficult to achieve by diet. The best form is through cod liver oil but such large amounts would be required that adherence would likely be though and there may be a risk of other undesirable side effects. Supplementation with vitamin D (D3 form) is the most effective and efficient means of increasing levels in the absence of sunlight.

 Autoimmune disease has become an epidemic and the world health organization is estimating that it is the third leading cause of death in the industrialized world, surpassed only by cancer and heart disease. It’s no surprise, then, that vitamin D deficiency has also become an epidemic, albeit one that has not received a lot of media attention until recently. Studies in the United States have shown that 48% of patients with MS, 50% of patients with lupus and fibromyalgia, and 42% of adolescents and African Americans are Vitamin D deficient. This is a problem internationally, not just in North America. Similar studies have been done in Saudi Arabia, Finland, Austria, Japan and China. One researcher has said that we can prevent upwards of 23,000 cancer deaths each year in America if we raise Vitamin D levels. 

So what does this mean for you? Talk to a health professional who is nutritionally-minded to assess and monitor your vitamin D levels and supplement accordingly.