Are Your Allergies Making You Fat? (Page 3)

To keep bad allergies from ruining your summer beach body, here are a few tips:

• Opt for newer antihistamines.

“In the old days, there were sedating antihistamines that some would claim would make you hungry,” adds Dr. Eghrari-Sabet. Those antihistamines, most common in older over-the-counter medicines like Benadryl and Chlor-Trimeton, are being replaced by newer drugs like Zyrtec, Allegra, and Claritin. Though Zyrtec and Allergra were the most common drugs in the Yale study linking antihistamine use to weight gain, Dr. Eghrari-Sabet says that increased appetite is not a common side effect she’s seen in her patients.

Need spring allergy relief? Avoid these 5 common mistakes that make allergies worse.

However, Zyrtec may make you more tired than the others. It’s considered a minimally sedating antihistamine, unlike Allegra and Claritin, which are non-sedating. So if you want a medication that won’t make you prone to skipping workouts, choose one of the non-sedating medications.

• Get diagnosed.

If over-the-counter medications are making you hungry, tired, or just generally miserable, see an allergist. Knowing what you’re allergic to makes it easy to find prescription medications without all the side effects, says Dr. Eghrari-Sabet. And, she adds, “the most important thing an allergist has access to is an allergy shot. Allergy shots don’t have side effects like antihistamines do.”

• Grab the water.

Make sure you keep yourself well hydrated whenever you’re taking allergy medications, to prevent your mind from confusing thirst with hunger. Add fruit, cucumbers, or herbs to your water to make it a more interesting drink.

• Fight allergies with food.

If you do find that allergies or allergy medications are causing you to overeat, try to indulge in healthy food. In fact, there are a number of healthy foods that provide allergy relief and fight back hunger pangs at the same time.

For ideas natural allergy relief ideas, see Soothe Spring Allergies: 10 Food and Herb Fixes for Allergy Relief.

3 of 3
back to page 1

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

KS G.

6:04AM PDT on Apr 11, 2012

Thanks for the article.

April 11
send a green star

Teresa W.

10:01AM PDT on Apr 7, 2012

I'm allergic to so many things that I take Zyrtec most of the time.

April 7
send a green star

maybe

Robert O.

12:20AM PDT on Sep 19, 2011

Thanks.

September 19
send a green star

Shawn P.

8:05AM PDT on Aug 4, 2011

I'm allergic to just about everything, but gave my body a vacation off antihistimines, and wella! I'm losing weight, though my nose is running!!! Will have to start them again soon as fall is my worst time.....

August 4
send a green star

Monique D.

12:59PM PDT on Jul 21, 2011

interesting

July 21
send a green star

Maria F.

11:21AM PDT on Jul 15, 2011

critisism is easy but what about a pallative for allergies?????
there are thousans of "allergies", but what do we do??
we need to stop having antialergis(hope it´s well spelled), where can we find the answer?

July 15
send a green star

Khairieh A.

3:01PM PDT on Jul 13, 2011

My sister was dubbed as an "encyclopedia of allergies" by her doctor, she takes a multitude of medications to survive and looks great in a bikini at 54 years of age. She took me to her doctor as she was worried I may be have allergies like her, the doctor took one look at me and said "obviously you have no problem with food", ok I am (more) round and chubby and no I do not take all the allergy medicines she does, although must admit I take the occasional Zyrtic when my sneezing gets bad :(