Apparently, climate change and the resulting warmer temperatures and increasing carbon dioxide are extending our fall allergy season.  We can almost hear you groaning, and we’re right there with you.  Normally, the fall allergy season ends with September, but experts are predicting it to last through October this year.  So, what can you do besides run out for more Claritin?  You might just be able to hit your local farmer’s market!

Ever heard of the “Crucifer family”?  It’s not as scary as it sounds.  Some members of the crucifer family are cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and bok choy.  The cool thing about this family of veggies is that they’ve been to shown to clear up blocked sinuses.  The veggies contain quercetin, a natural antihistamine; and some of them, broccoli, for instance, also contain a nice amount of vitamin C.  The RDA of vitamin C/day is 500 mg; one cup of raw broccoli will give you 80 mg.  Not bad for a healthy, delicious side, huh?  Every fall and winter, we hear a lot about another crucifer—kale.  Kale can also be an allergy helper because, in addition to its great crucifer qualities, it also contains carotenoids, which are rich in a form of vitamin A that is thought to improve allergy symptoms.  Studies have shown that people with low vitamin A reserves are more likely to have allergies, so it can’t hurt to build those stores up with a nice green dinner (or lunch!).  You can also try some collard greens—they’re loaded with carotenoids as well.  For a bonus of nutrients, use the water you cook the greens in to make soups or even rice, so you don’t lose a drop of nutrients.

You might want to wear a warning label to use these next veggies to fight the stuffies.  Onions and garlic contain lots of that quercetin that we mentioned above, which acts as an antihistamine, as well as an anti-inflammatory agent.  Why is that a good thing?  Anything to reduce the swelling of tissues in your body when your nose is stuffy is a win!  Warn your friends, eat up or run out for some supplements of these two smelly saviors—you’ll reap the benefits.

Fall’s favorite color, orange, might also be your favorite color if you have fall allergies.  Two popular fall flavors, pumpkin and carrot, are also rich in carotenoids, the vitamin that we mentioned before when we talked about kale.  Pumpkin isn’t only used to flavor your coffee, either.  You can make soups with it, pair it with beef for a main dish, or (of course!) bake it in a pie!  Carrots are great just steamed and eaten (and this happens to be a GREAT way to get the most vitamin A and beta-carotene out of them), but you can also eat them raw, dipped in dressing or sliced on a salad.  And for a vitamin C boost, grab some celery!  You can eat it raw or cook it without losing nutrients (bonus!).

Some of these fall favorites, great as they may be, are on the Dirty Dozen list of fruits and veggies that retain the most pesticide residue.  Check the list to find out which ones you should always be buying organic, and then load up your diet, stockpile that vitamin A and power up with vitamin C!  May the force of natural foods be with you this allergy season!

There’s been a lot of talk lately about BVO (Brominated Vegetable Oil) in different packaged beverages; in fact, just last week, we blogged about food and drink ingredients that have been banned in many countries but are still legal in the US.  BVO happens to be one of those substances.  BVO is a vegetable oil that has the element bromine bonded to it; and it is currently used in many citrus-based drinks to keep citrus flavors from separating out.  The high density of BVO helps the natural fat-soluble citrus flavors stay suspended in the drink, and it’s been used in the beverage industry since 1931.

In 1958, BVO was “generally recognized as safe” by the FDA, but in 1970, that distinction was withdrawn.  There are currently restrictions on the use of BVO in food and drinks, but it is allowable.  Some common drinks that have contained (or currently do contain) BVO are Mountain Dew, Fanta, Powerade, Fresca, Squirt, and Gatorade.  Gatorade (a product of PepsiCo) was petitioned in 2012 to stop adding BVO to its sports drinks.  The argument was that since Gatorade is already sold sans BVO in countries where BVO is banned, there was already a formula for the drink; therefore, producing that same formula in the US would be no great hardship.  In January 2013, PepsiCo agreed to stop using BVO in Gatorade but still adds it to their product, Mountain Dew.

So, what’s the big deal with BVO?  It stems from the addition of bromine (which is also found in brominated flame retardants).  It appears that bromine builds up in the fatty tissues of the body.  There have been some reports of memory loss and skin and nerve damage by those drinking excessive amounts of soda containing BVO (2 liters or more/day), but more research is needed to confirm these reports.  At any rate, drinking 2 liters of any kind of soda/day is not recommended by anyone.  Early studies show that the build-up of bromine in the body can cause hormonal issues, which can lead to problems with the development of the brain in children, infertility, thyroid function, and possibly cancer.

There are alternatives that beverage manufacturers can use, but the better choice is to reduce (or eliminate) the amount of soda and sports drinks containing BVO that you ingest.  The better choice, as most of us know, is water.  At the very least, take a look at the ingredients on any citrus-flavored beverage that you consider drinking.  The effects of small amounts of BVO are still being studied, so for now, avoidance is your best bet.

How do you feel about additives like BVO in your food and beverages?  Go to our Facebook or Twitter pages and let us know!

There’s a lot of talk about foods preventing illness, and more and more people are trying to eat healthy.  But what about foods curing, maybe not illnesses, per se, but certain conditions?  Maybe you’re pantry is your new medicine cabinet.  It’s an interesting thought, right?  If you try any of these home remedies on for size, let us know if they work!

Pork and Beans for PMS?  Thiamine and riboflavin are B vitamins and as such are said to help prevent PMS (according to research by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst), and pork and beans are rich in both of these!  And while you may be thinking that supplements are even easier, according to this study, supplements aren’t as effective at preventing PMS as natural sources.  Apparently, women who consume 1.9 milligrams per day of thiamine and 2.5 milligrams of riboflavin had a 25 to 35 percent lower risk of developing PMS than women who consumed less.  Interestingly, they didn’t see the same results when the women took supplements.  Luckily for you, pork and beans are a great source of both.  If you eat a 3-ounce serving of the meat and a cup of beans regularly, you’ll be getting the right amount to fend off cramps and other PMS symptoms.

Eat a Pomegranate, Save your Skin?  Pomegranates contain ellagic acid which can protect your skin from UVA and UVB-induced cell damage.  You’ll get more benefits from eating whole pomegranates than juices though, so hit the store and buy ‘em fresh!

Eat Liver to Help Your Head?  If you’re plagued by migraines, maybe it’s your liver—or lack of.  Studies show that B vitamin riboflavin looks promising at reducing the frequency of migraines.  Know any good sources of vitamin B riboflavin?  It just so happens that beef liver is rich in riboflavin.  Unfortunately, not rich enough to reach the 400 grams of riboflavin that you need everyday to fight migraines.  So, eat your liver, but dish up more foods rich in riboflavin too, like dairy products and veggies.  If you have lots of headaches, consider adding a supplement as well.

And finally…

Eat Asparagus, Prevent a Hangover?  Did you know asparagus contains enzymes that help break down alcohol and prevent hangovers?  If you have meal of asparagus before a night on the town, the benefits are two-fold: You’ll get all of those great enzymes and your stomach will be full before your night out.  So, steam it, grill, put it on a salad, but get your asparagus!

Did you know that everyday you’re likely eating foods that have been banned in other countries, mostly because they contain ingredients that other countries have deemed unhealthy?  It’s true, and while lots and lots of food choices contain ingredients that you don’t want to ingest, you may not be taking the time to check labels, etc.  It’s not always easy to know what’s bad and what’s just a more scientific name for an otherwise innocuous ingredient.  So, we’re going to give you a list of a few things to watch out for and hopefully avoid.

Farm-Raised Salmon:  You might be thinking, “Hold the phone! I thought salmon was good for me!”  It is, but in the case of farm-raised salmon, the fish are fed a diet that is unnatural to them and so it leaves their flesh a kind of grayish color.  In the wild, salmon get their pretty pink color from the natural carotenoids in their diet—and that’s how you recognize salmon, right?  So, if the fish don’t have that color because they aren’t eating food naturally rich in carotenoids, what do you do?  You feed them something (synthetic astaxanthin made from petrochemicals) that makes them turn a reddish-pink.  What to do if you want your salmon but you don’t want a fish raised on a cocktail of chemicals and antibiotics?  Look for wild caught Alaskan or Sockeye Salmon and you should be safe.  Most salmon labeled “Atlantic” salmon is farm-raised.  Another tip:  Sockeye salmon is bright red and very lean, so the white stripes of fat that you see will be very thin.  If you’re looking at a lighter pink fish with wider white stripes of fat, you’re probably looking at a farm-raised salmon.  Farm-raised salmon is banned in Australia and New Zealand.

Brominated Vegetable Oil (or BVO):  Originally patented by chemical companies as a flame retardant it now colors many common beverages.  It can be found in Mountain Dew, some other citrus flavored sodas and sports drinks.  This little chemical has been shown to  bioaccumulate in human tissue and breast milk; studies in animals involving large doses have shown reproductive and behavioral problems.  Do your research on this one; there are a host of other problems linked to this additive.  Originally, the FDA classified BVO’s safety as ‘generally recognized as safe’, but they’ve since turned back a bit and define it as an ‘interim food additive,’ a category reserved for possibly questionable substances used in food.  BVO has been banned in Europe and Japan.

Olestra/Olean:  A calorie and cholesterol-free fat substitute used in fat-free snacks like chips and French fries.  Lots of people look at foods that say “fat free” and get excited—they can eat junk food but it’s healthy.  Not so fast.  Remember those phrases, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” and “Nothing comes for free”?  Please apply them here.  You’ve dropped the fat, sure, but you’ve added synthetic chemicals.  Time Magazine called it “One of the Worst 50 Inventions Ever” and had this to say about Olestra/Olean:

“Not only did a 2011 study from Purdue University conclude rats fed potato chips made with Olean gained weight, there have been several reports of adverse intestinal reactions to the fake fat including diarrhea, cramps and leaky bowels. And because it interferes with the absorption of fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K, the FDA requires these vitamins be added to any product made with Olean or olestra.”

Olestra/Olean has been banned in the UK and Canada.

Next week we’ll bring you a few more foods to think twice about, but in the meantime, take a look, read some labels, do some research.  What do you think about foods that have been banned in other countries?  Should the FDA take another look at them?