The winds are up—well they’re almost always up in Kansas and Oklahoma. The Cottonwood trees have long ago shed their “snow,” but we’ve had so much rain this spring and summer, between the ragweed and the mildew, allergy season is becoming a year-around thing. Ah chew!
We can tell at GreenAcres when sinus season descends, sometime just before the trees start to leaf out. People flock to GreenAcres with migraines, sniffles, watery eyes, even upset digestive systems. There must be a correlation between the sniffles and the tummy. Customers are just plain miserable.
Our market team members have their favorite products, but we’ve noticed that several are quick to point out one of supplement founder and educator Terry Lemerond’s go-to remedies—a special bark resin called “boswellia.” In fact, Terry has put it in several of his supplements, Bos Med 500 being the one GreenAcres recommends to many customers.
In ancient times, this special resin extract used to be called frankincense. Today it’s better known as boswellia and is used in treating everything from asthma to irritable bowel syndrome. It’s one of Terry’s miracle tree resins, and it has helped many with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and emphysema.
Plants and their products have always been a source of food, shelter and clothing. People in Asia and the Middle East as well as the earliest indigenous peoples made medicines out of the earth, and you’ll notice in GreenAcres, supplement founders continue the practice today. Frankincense is in soaps, fragrances, but most importantly it is an essential oil that helps with inflammation, muscular and joint problems.
Our ancient ancestors used fragrances in daily rituals and in religious ceremonies for their different curative powers. Hindus, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Chinese and Greeks used natural resins for embalming and the smoke from frankincense for healing and ritualistic cleansing. When the Magi presented gifts to the Christ Child, frankincense was said to be among them and considered most precious.
Terry, in his weekly newsletter, Terry Talks Nutrition tells us that many anti-inflammatory medicines have their genesis in the scrapings of tree bark. The Boswellia tree is native to India, and thrives in arid environments. Terry tells us that harvesting the resin is a very hands-on, labor-intensive occupation similar to tapping sugar maples for their syrup. When the bark is stripped from the trees, the resulting sap begins to “tear.” The gum from the tears is what is harvested for medicines. Boswellia assists in a broad spectrum of respiratory illnesses. It opens airways and reduces bronchial and sinus swelling. The particular kind of boswellia Terry uses in his formulas has no side effects.
Treating asthma and allergy symptoms can be tricky. Allergies change from state to state and city to city. We have a customer who had a whole series of the old “scratch” allergy tests done in California, and when she arrived in Kansas had to have another series done since the allergens were entirely different.
Terry explains asthma as “…a chronic condition that is all too common. There are multiple causes of asthma, and they often work together in ways that aren’t completely understood. An asthma attack can be triggered by a number of things: pollen and allergies, dust, cold air, nervousness or tension, exercise, or pollution. Some individuals are more prone to asthma than others, so genetics may play a part in this, too.
“When someone has an asthma attack, their bronchial airways narrow and tighten. The inflammation produces mucous, which adds to the ‘out of breath’ feeling. Severe attacks can be very frightening, and unfortunately, the anxiety over possible attacks can make even mild symptoms much worse. While there are medications that alleviate symptoms, they can also bring about a number of side-effects, including agitation, aggression, or depression.”
Boswellia helps in a variety of ways, the number one being its anti-inflammatory effects. Most diseases have inflammation as their genesis and therefore, anything that helps inhibit inflammation gets to the root of the problem.
As with any botanical compound, not all boswellia acids are created equal. Since Terry is a supplement formulator responsible for creating the Curcumin supplements which (no surprise!) contain boswellia, we, at GreenAcres, have had good luck with BosMed 500. If you try it, we’d like to know how you respond to it. Matt in our GreenAcres-East store is keen on Terry Lemerond, so naturally, we recommend products created by Terry Naturally.
As an aside, while speaking with our supplement teams in all eight of our stores, it is universally agreed that “going gluten free” is the absolute best way to keep asthma symptoms under control. In fact, says Barb Mainz in our GA-Bradley Fair store, “all inflammatory diseases start in the gut. Keep that digestive season free of inflammatory allergens. Gluten is one of the biggies we see doing damage in our industry. EAT GLUTEN FREE IF YOU CAN!”
Our lead grocery guy, Dave, can attest to that. Five years ago, while stocking groceries, Dave had a life-threatening asthma attack resulting in a visit to the hospital. Barb, our CEO, confronted Dave about his illness and encouraged him to “get serious” about his eating habits and his health. To his credit, Dave took Barb’s suggestions to heart, and today, he hasn’t had an asthma attack in several years and feels 100% better.
Other products you might ask our supplement teams about:
