Living Green - How Can We do it?

Sometimes I think I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

Advice on living green is to open your windows and air out your house. My sweet husband, BB, and I love the outdoors and can't wait to open our doors and windows in spring. He sits on the deck even when he has to bundle up in a heavy coat. I just crave fresh air. But I am allergic to some of the trees on our mountain side and a few weeks ago, they burst into bloom almost overnight.

As I drove on our road I admired the lovely spring colors, almost as colorful as fall, but different in that spring colors on the trees here, are soft and almost pastel - pink and pale green, soft yellow and white.

Hardly noticing I was getting sick, I kept my windows open and walked Rocky, the dog, began planting things, and before I knew it my sniffles and coughing from allergies had become a full-fledged sinus infection which soon had both ears filled with fluid. After a week on antibiotics, my ears opened but I came to my senses and closed my windows in the house.

As bad as indoor pollution is for me, outdoor air is terrible at certain times of the year. We have had a week of rain and the blooms are gone, the trees have leafed out and I can breath again.

Now I can go back to open windows, but I wait until evening when the pollen is not as bad. With my green cleaning products -- vinegar and water and baking soda, some 7th Generation products, and one called Planet, I can survive now.

If I had the money to do so, I'd only have "green sheets" "green towels" "green pillows and pillow cases," "green furniture" - no particleboard, no formaldehyde, no VOC's in the paint. But I'd have to throw out almost half my furniture and then we'd be sitting on the floor, and the floor is just too dusty (I'm allergic to house dust). So I live as green as I can which means as healthy as I can for now.

"Yes, I have no bananas"

Picnic in Roswell, GA park. Photo by Barry Beall


Did you receive an email extolling the virtues of eating bananas? It said bananas were the perfect food, loaded with potassium, and every other vitamin and mineral our bodies need. Almost every day I eat a banana. I encourage my husband and other loved ones to eat bananas. I put them in smoothies with pineapple and coconut and pretend I'm drinking a pina' colada on the beach in Hawaii. Bananas make the perfect snack, coming in its on packaging. Banana sandwiches sustain us throughout the year.
But today, Shana, my allergist said, "Glenda, your allergy tests showed a positive response to banana."
I said, "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm allergic to bananas?"
"Yes, I'm sorry to say, you are allergic to bananas and to citrus fruit."

For over a year I've accepted that I'm allergic to tomatoes which I dearly love. There is nothing better than a tomato sandwich in the summer -- fresh ripened on the vine tomatoes with mayo on white bread. I grew up eating tomatoes every day they were in season, which meant most of the summer in south Georgia. But a couple of years ago, after my mouth broke out with ulcers that would not go away, and hurt so badly I had to seek medical help, I was told to stay away from tomatoes and all tomato products. Also, no spicy foods, which means no jalapenos with my Mexican food. No salsa either.





I'm not sure I want to know what other foods are on my allergy list. What if I can no longer have bread, or eggs, or ice cream?


The worst part of this is, in order to be treated for the food allergies, I'd have to pay extra above the $150 dollars for my three months supply of allergy drops. Insurance does not pay for this type of treatment, I'm told.

This is what makes us turn to alternative treatments. Modern Western Medicine is great for saving us from major diseases that have been researched, but is sadly lacking when it comes to the nuisance illnesses that keep us from enjoying our lives.

Acupuncture, massage, Reiki, and EFT, are some of the healing energy practices I know of and I will be calling my sister for her help. I just can't give up my bananas.