Next time you reach for your Claritin, think about this:

Allergies are totally abnormal. Sure, tons of people have them. Probably most of the planet is sneezing, wheezing and itching right now. But why? You're allergic to cats. They lick you, your arm gets a rash. Your eyes swell up. What the heck is that all about?

Allergies are symptoms that occur when the immune system perceives that it's being attacked by a harmful invader which is actually an innocuous substance. Such a substance might be dust, pollen, ragweed, mold, cat or dog dander, peanuts... anything, really. For some bizarre reason, your body has decided to exhaust its precious cellular functions fighting enemies that do not exist.

If you think about that for a while, it may seem rather preposterous. The very necessary elements that make up our environment - that balance our ecosystem and promote life on our planet - are being rejected by your body. So what happens when a real enemy, such as a harmful bacteria, parasite, or virus, invades your system? NOTHING. Your exhausted, allergy-ravaged immune system will be sluggish in its attempt to ward off such offenders. Your body will not be able to fight real disease.

The reason you have allergies is because your immune system is functioning backwards. People who inherit allergies have a malfunction in the cellular makeup of their lymphatic system. Your cells are attacking things that do not pose a risk to your body, wearing themselves out, and consequently not able to defend themselves against real threats like germs and cancer.

Ever have an allergy attack, and feel incredibly fatigued afterward? There's a reason why that happens. Your immune system is in a sorry state. Your adrenal glands are working overtime fighting nothing. Every time your body perceives a threat that isn't there, it releases histamines and your adrenaline races... only to poop out hours later. This happens over and over and can only mean really bad things for your body. Your glandular system - that's the adrenal glands, the thyroid, the pituitary, the pineal, will be rendered incapacitated.

Know what happens when your glands don't work? Your body can't detoxify itself. Poisons collect in your fat cells, and you get fatter. You feel tired all the time. You develop odd maladies of all sorts. You develop digestive trouble. Your hormones don't function correctly. You can't think at times, and may even feel anxious or depressed. This is all due to the malfunction of your cells.

Why does this happen? Why do we just shrug our shoulders and accept allergies as a normal circumstance of life? There could be nothing less normal. Do you think that the cavemen had a sneezing attack after the hunt because they were allergic to the woolly mammoth? Hell no. Can you imagine your grandpa, fighting in Vietnam, with a runny nose and itchy watery eyes from his sensitivity to the jungle foliage? Certainly not! Can you picture your cat being allergic to YOU? Animals don't get allergies! Or do they. Animals with allergies... yes, it's true. When did this happen, but more importantly, WHY?

I'm pretty sure that four or five generations ago, the world wasn't allergic to itself like it is now. Why is that? It's because the world wasn't on antibiotics, anti-bacterials and anti-fungals. That's the truth of why our bodies are functioning inside-out. The chemicals man invented to ward off bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungus, and especially insects, are causing those germs to mutate into stronger forms, while rendering our bodies incapable of defending themselves on their own.

Humans are supposed to live in harmony with the creatures of this planet. Not just the cute ones like the kitties and puppies, but the ugly and annoying critters, too. Bacteria and parasites are there to decompose dead matter and complete the cycle of life. In attempting to eradicate the earth of them, we're doing ourselves and our planet an incredible injustice.

What can you do for your future generations, to keep people from weakening themselves with artificial means of germ control and ultimately putting a premature end to the human race?

1. Stop spraying your gardens, homes and offices with pesticides. Has anyone ever told you that pesticides are NERVE GAS, in that they attack the nervous systems of bugs and pests, bringing them an ugly death where the organic functions of their bodies just collapse? Guess what, traces of those pesticides are going into your tomatoes and cucumbers and collecting in your fat cells, where you body can't rid of them because of its weakened state of immunity. Would you nerve gas your baby's nursery? Heck no. Then why did you set off that bug bomb last spring?

2. Stop buying antibacterial and antifungal cleaning and personal hygiene products. Your grandma didn't use this stuff and she lived through what, the plague? Seriously: can you honestly say that you or your children were any less sick than before you started using antibacterials? Of course you can't. These products are extremely damaging to the evironment, and will actually cause germs to grow more powerful. Did you know that the active ingredient in antibacterial soap is classified as a pesticide? Remember what I just told you about pesticides? Believe it.

3. Stop taking antibiotics. When you get a cold or sore throat, do you run to the doctor and beg for an antibiotic? Why do you do that?? If your cold went away once you started taking the medicine, it might be because it had been four days anyway and the illness had run its course. It had NOTHING to do with the antibiotic. Antibiotics fight bacteria. Most colds and flus are viral. Despite the widespread knowledge that overuse of antibiotics mutates bacteria into more powerful forms, folks still run out for their penicillin at the first sign of a sniffle. Wake up and see the problem here!

4. Stop eating overly processed food. Processed food... it's such a cliche term now, that most people don't even think about what the words mean. Processed food is rendered food... that's where factories use artificial means to separate the water from the solids, subject it to extremely high temperatures until it's devoid of nutritional value, add preservatives, artificial colors and flavors and then package it into things like instant soup, processed cheese slices, lunch meat, hot dogs, fruit roll-ups, and all kinds of grotesque items we mistakenly refer to as "food." How can you possible fortify, energize, repair and revitalize your body with something that's been biologically broken down and given an extended shelf life? How can you give LIFE by administering something that's clearly DEAD?

5. Stop running to the doctor for prescriptions you don't need. Every medicine that your doctor prescribes is used to mask symptoms that would be better treated using holistic means of boosting the body's immune function. Furthermore, all of the tests scientists run on these drugs are inconclusive. "Some of the rats died in the experiment, some had mutated babies... we don't know what that means to humans, probably nothing." Wake up and believe it. Five years from now when your dear dad passes away from cancer, it will probably be from that cholesterol-lowering drug that the good doctor had him on for the last fifteen years. No one will dare say or think it, but that will be why.

What do you think happens to the offspring of beings that house dangerous trace chemicals in their cellular makeup? They MUTATE and develop genetic anomalies. Like ALLERGIES. Yesterday, it was a sniffle. Today it's hormone imbalances and clinical depression. Tomorrow, who knows. Humans are manipulating their environments, and yes it's coming back around to them. We're far worse in the long run for what we try to quick-fix the wrong way today.

Wake up, world. If you care about the future of your children and your children's children, you'll become better informed about our planet and what you can do to preserve life on it. Next time you sneeze, I want you to remember what I've said.