Elimination Diet to find source of dark eye circles

[NewBeginnings1]

Please help me determine if I have more than environmental allergies.

I am a Caucasian 25 yo. I've had dark eye circles for a long time. I'm wondering if something I'm eating could be a culprit. I do have environmental allergies to trees, pollens, and grasses, but my dark eye circles never subside at any point during the year. I've done shots and pills to try to curb the effect of the allergies, but in the end, it made no difference. Makeup does not hide it well, if at all. I have constant sinus issues year round with severe flare ups for 2 separate months out of the year. 

I get plenty of sleep. My mother has dark eye circles as well. I've seen them on my BF baby also.

. 

My diet currently has no restrictions. I consume a lot of dairy and sugar diet. I eat meats/veggies/starches as well. But I love dairy and anything with sugar. But....if my dark eye circles went away, I'd change my diet.  I am still in my correct BMI range.

I figured that I'd have to do an elimination diet to figure this out. Here are my questions:

1. How long should I do the elimination diet?

2. Any suggestions for what I should try to eliminate?

3. Any other tips or advice?

4. (If it is purely environmental) Has anyone had success with consuming local bee pollen and env allergies? 

Thanks

[kjbrown92]

I don't actually know how long it takes for circles to go away.

Do you have any other symptoms besides sinus?

My gut instinct says dairy for sinus, but it probably could be anything.

I'd say about 2 weeks to know.

Have you tried a naturopath or osteopath? Some craniosacral work might help.

[NewBeginnings1]

Thank you for your reply. No neuro or osteo yet. It wouldn't hurt to try a dairy elimination diet. 

[bodhitree]

Have you been tested by an allergist to see what exactly your environmental allergies are? I know a lot of folks who have environmental allergies to outdoor stuff also are allergic to things in the indoor environment that are present year-round, such as dust mites and pet dander. That could be enough to cause your year-round sinus problems and dark eye circles. But for sure it's worth eliminating dairy for a few weeks at least to see what happens, since it isn't all that hard to eliminate and it might really help.

[DevaMajka]

Originally Posted by NewBeginnings1 

Please help me determine if I have more than environmental allergies.

I am a Caucasian 25 yo. I've had dark eye circles for a long time. I'm wondering if something I'm eating could be a culprit. I do have environmental allergies to trees, pollens, and grasses, but my dark eye circles never subside at any point during the year. I've done shots and pills to try to curb the effect of the allergies, but in the end, it made no difference. Makeup does not hide it well, if at all. I have constant sinus issues year round with severe flare ups for 2 separate months out of the year. 

I'm not very educated on this, so I'll try to make sense. lol. Are you aware of the potential cross reactions between certain pollens and certain fruits and veggies?

For example, birch allergies can be cross reactive with a load of foods, like apples, almonds, um...lots of them. Let me see if I can find a list.

Here's an article: http://allergicliving.com/index.php/2010/07/02/oral-allergy-syndrome-cross-reactions/

dust mites also apparently cross react with a bunch of fruits and spices: http://ezinearticles.com/?Food-Allergies,-Intolerance-and-Adverse-Reactions-Associated-With-Specific-Pollens&id=306107

Like I said, I'm not very educated on this. I just started reading about it last week. I just thought I'd throw it in there, in case it resonates with you.