Do you suffer from allergies? If you live in Austin like I do, the answer is probably yes. In fact, the number of people I have met who have lived here more than 2 years and still don’t have allergies I can count on one hand.
Typical symptoms of allergies include hay fever type situations: sneezing, coughing, runny nose, itchy eyes. These symptoms can mimic a cold or flu, and if you aren’t careful a bad case of allergies can turn into a sinus infection or worse.
But there are some allergy symptoms you might not be aware of: extreme fatigue, weak heavy body, brain fog and difficulty focusing, headaches and light sensitivity, joint pains and more are possible. Most people who don’t respond to allergy season with the itchiness and sneezing could be suffering still, and simply think they need more coffee in their system to perk up and get through the day.
These can be signs of mold. Maybe you’ve never had these symptoms before, or you don’t typically have allergies. Our body is constantly interacting with the environment around it, and sometimes it struggles to keep up with the workload.
Your body is like a filter. While you can’t change your body out for a new one, you can make some life changes that might help. Below is a short list of some things to consider. By the way, I provided a few links to other websites I am not affiliated with, but might help further your research.
Reduce your intake of inflammatory foods (processed refined carbs, excess sugar, red processed meat). If you like most everyone eat a Standard American Diet then you’ve got some choices to make, but if you aren’t sure what to do you can start with sugar.
Consider adding one source of leafy greens to your diet. Spinach is easy, and if you lightly sauté it or dress it in some vinaigrette (home-made is better), it’s not so bad.
Drink green tea daily. Nothing extravagant, no added ingredients, just plain green tea - the kind that tastes like grass. Green tea has a wide range of suspected benefits and is high in anti-oxidants which can help fight inflammation.
I suggest 1 cup per day, but the effective amount could differ from person to person. People who are sensitive to caffeine or who are taking blood thinners should talk with their physician before pursuing a daily dose.
Get a good air filter. These days you can find a reasonably priced HEPA air filter almost anywhere. I am not an expert on air filters, but here is an opinion article at Business Insider with a ranking of some good purifiers and more info.