how i got 'rid' of my pesky allergies naturally

85mm @ ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/640 sec (cropped in almost 1:1)

same image (zoomed out)

Bee's scare me a little and I definitely don't like being chased by them.  If you could imagine how close I had to be to this guy to make his picture with an 85mm.  This bee and his friend tried to run me off a few times.  It worked since I took about 6 or 7 images and was out of there!

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'Nature' allergies had never effected me until 7.5 years ago when we moved to North Carolina.  Each spring we receive that lovely yellow pollen that covers everything.  Then for weeks I would be plauged with those pesky allergies and then once more around October.

This past November, I started drinking 8 ounces of warm water with 1/2 of a fresh squeezed lemon, 1 tablespoon of local raw honey (raleigh area honey) and a dash of organic ceylon cinnamon.  I do this first thing in the morning when I wake up and try not to eat or drink anything (except water) for at least 30-60 minutes.

So why these particular elements?  There are a kazillion benefits to drinking all of those things, but I started with warm water with fresh lemon to help my skin from the inside out.  Then shortly thereafter I started adding local raw honey and organic ceylon cinnamon for other health benefits (primarily skin).  

I was very curious if local raw honey would really help with my spring allergies this year (we'll see about the fall later).  I read it takes awhile for your system to build up to the allergens with the local pollen the bees use to make honey, but low and behold it's truly pollen season and with almost 5+ months of it in my system daily I have not had to take any allergy medicine!  Once in a while if I'm outside for an extended period of time I will get a little stuffy, but I don't stay stuffy for long at all once I'm back inside.  Even after really long runs!  Poor Joe, who never has allergies has suffered this year through them.  I am thinking he is now going to be effected from the pollen and assume he may eventually adopt my morning health regiment to prevent this from happening to him next year.

You can read many articles, but here are a few to get you started:

-Why Fresh Lemon?

-Why Local Honey?

-Why Ceylon Cinnamon (and not the ordinary kind)?