Opinion
4A
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Other Views
Health care
essentials:
Allergies
e are all sailing in a sea of microbes.
Allergies to pollen, dust, fumes and foods
can sink us. Spring is especially rough for
allergy sufferers. Millions of different viruses exist,
a couple hundred of which cause illness.
Our skin is
covered with
microbes,
mostly
JOHN WINTERS
friendly. Our
NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIAN
gut is pop-
ulated with
trillions of bacteria, most of which are beneficial.
Healthy soil teems with all sorts of microbes.
The daunting and crucial task for your body is to
keep out the bad guys while leaving the good guys
alone.
This task is made more difficult by the addition
of new triggers in our world. There are more than
85,000 chemicals registered with the EPA. Ironi-
cally, over-sanitization and overuse of prescription
antibiotics weakens our immune systems.
Toddlers have a habit of putting everything in
their mouths, which may seem disgusting, but
this actually trains and strengthens their immune
system.
Early exposure to microbes reduces problems
later.
Allergies have increased in recent decades; 30%
of adults and 40% of children currently suffer from
allergies.
Spring’s pollen adds to the load, causing red eyes
and sneezing. Allergies occur when the body over-
reacts to a harmless substance. Coughing, sneezing,
and watering eyes are the body’s attempts to remove
the irritant. Intense reactions are unnecessary and
can even be unhealthy.
So why do some people’s immune systems
make such a big deal out of minor irritants? There
are many reasons someone may have allergies.
They may be eating foods that trigger a reaction,
breathing dust or pollen, or coming in contact with
molds or chemicals. Triggers can assault us from
any direction.
The other variable here is your general state of
health — how full is your boat? Science under-
stands the many allergens that exist, how they affect
us, and how our bodies react.
Healthy skin, sinuses, liver, immune system and
even the gut all contribute to smooth sailing.
When treating allergies you can take a couple
different tacks. You can identify and eliminate the
irritant, or improve the body’s response with mitiga-
tion. I suggest you look at both and do what is eas-
iest first! Various allergy tests exist, but the results
aren’t always helpful.
I found a particular “Food Intolerance Test”
most useful. It’s always smart to improve your gen-
eral health, since your skin, sinuses, liver, gut and
immune system interact in so many ways.
Other easy steps include putting a HEPA air
cleaner in your bedroom and cleaning up your home
environment. Rugs, curtains, stuffed toys and bed-
ding all harbor pollen and dust mites.
Consider removing the rugs and curtains and
cover the pillows and mattress with mite-proof
cases. Buy a water filter for access to plenty of
cheap chlorine-free water.
A clean diet is an important factor in allergies,
but is harder to attain.
Modern diets are often filled with processed
foods, which are in turn filled with artificial ingre-
dients new to the human diet. The most common
food allergies are dairy, soy, corn, wheat and eggs.
You could use a “Rotation Diet” and perhaps find
the problem food.
Keep in mind additives like artificial colors, fla-
vors and preservatives can also cause problems,
which is why minimally processed, preferably
organic foods are healthiest. You can use an app
called “Content Checked” to scan the package bar-
code for product details.
Allergies are a symptom of an overloaded boat.
All “cargo” onboard determines its seaworthiness.
Springtime pollens add to the load of all your other
challenges, be they foods, poor sleep, stress or an
inactive life.
Allergies can further load a system, leading to
more significant, deeper problems.
Any irritant you throw overboard will help you
float better.
———
John Winters is a naturopathic physician,
who recently retired after operating a practice in
La Grande since 1992.
W
Other Views
Fighting off the cyberscammers
TOM PURCELL
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
veryone is at risk of being
scammed now.
The recent ransomware
attack on Colonial Pipeline was a
wakeup call for everyone in America.
Ransomware is malicious software
that cyberscammers use to encrypt
a company’s or individual’s data and
block access to it until a hefty sum of
money is paid.
Google the words “ransomware
attack” and you’ll see a sizable list of
big companies and entire cities that
have been completely shut down by
increasingly sophisticated scammers.
But it isn’t just businesses and gov-
ernment agencies that are at risk.
In the digital world we all live in,
cyberscammers are working over-
time to come up with ever-more-clever
schemes to defraud us.
As I was writing this column, my
email queue pinged.
I opened Outlook and saw a spe-
cial credit-card offer from my bank —
except that it wasn’t from my bank. It
was from an internet address that had
nothing to do with my bank.
“Click here to apply” is what the
email urged me to do. I didn’t click it,
of course, because this is a common
E
Letter
Republicans need to oust Hansell
I’ve been waiting breathlessly
for the Union County Republican
Committee to file a recall peti-
tion against Sen. Bill Hansell for
his failure to do what we reelected
him to do when he refused to walk
out of the legislative session, which
tactic that scammers use to gain access
to your computer.
By clicking the link, I would have
downloaded a malicious code onto my
computer that would have given cyber-
scammers the ability to root around,
hoping to find login and password
details to gain access to my banking or
credit card accounts — and take me to
the cleaners!
Here’s another recent cyberscammer
attack that happened to an elderly
family member.
She hired a paving company to
resurface her driveway. We checked
out the company and it came highly
recommended by several customers.
The paving company emailed her
a copy of the contract, asking her
to complete it, scan it and return it.
The terms were simple: no payment
until the job was completed to her
satisfaction.
But the next day, “the paver” sent
her another email request:
“Please send a 50% deposit and
kindly snap the check and send to my
email.”
I knew this was a scam right away.
The telltale words were “kindly snap.”
The term “kindly” is a word cyber-
scammers commonly use. The word
“snap” is awkward, and awkwardness
is another telltale sign of a scam email.
It turned out the paving com-
pany owner’s email account had been
hacked and the scammer had contacted
several other customers hoping to pull
the same scam.
How did the cyberscammers breach
the company’s computer? The owner
may have clicked on malicious code
in a fake email from his bank or some
other institution he trusted.
Or he may have made the mistake
of creating an email password based on
his telephone number, address or birth
date — details a cyberscammer could
easily guess.
The key takeaway from this scam
is that all of us are now under attack
every moment of every day.
Regrettably, we now need to be sus-
picious of every email, text and phone
call we receive. We especially need to
protect elderly family members and
friends who are far too trusting in an
untrustworthy era.
There are steps everyone needs to
take to stop cyberscammers.
The federal Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency offers
basic cyber tips that we can begin
today. CISA offers additional tips to
protect older Americans.
Everyone is at risk of being
scammed now — and everyone needs
to know how to fight back.
———
Tom Purcell, author of
“Misadventures of a 1970s
Childhood,” is a Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review humor columnist
and is nationally syndicated.
allowed the Portlandites the quorum
they needed to ram through legisla-
tion that violates our constitution-
ally protected rights.
A betrayal that ranks right up
there with Benedict Arnold. He
failed to understand the Oregon
Firearms Federation has a very large
base of supporters in his district,
and the OFF has identified him as
one of two Republican senators that
need to be gone. To borrow a term
from our former president, he’s a
member of the swamp that needs to
be drained.
So what about it, Union County
Republicans? When are you going
to put forth the recall petition, and a
viable candidate to replace him who
won’t sell us out?
David Thiesfeld
La Grande