Like many people, allergies didn’t enter my life until I moved to Dallas. Growing up in the apparently less allergen-infested city of Nashville, I was blissfully unaware of the true torment of itchy eyes. When people would complain about their pollen-induced congestion, I thought they were just being weak. Why couldn’t they just buck up, get over it, and live their life? Of course, those carefree (and admittedly sort of smug) days are far behind me now.
So this weekend, after complaining to my friend for the umpteenth time about my allergy affliction, she told a tale about a coworker who had gone to some juice place, taken six shots, and cured her allergies. I always prefer natural remedies to drugstore buys (Clariton gives me dry mouth), so I set out to find said juice place. A quick Google search for “dandelion shot in Dallas” is filled with links to Roots Juices, so it turned out to be a pretty easy hunt — but a hunt nonetheless!
Sure enough, the six shots from the story were outlined in large print on the chalkboard of the Oak Lawn Roots Juices. It doesn’t necessarily say that the combo is for allergies, but when I apprised the man behind the counter seemed of my friend’s coworker’s story, he confirmed that these are indeed the mythical shots. There was turmeric for inflammation, allergy-fighting ginger, lemon to fight bloat, energizing dandelion, and E3Live Blue Green Algae and something called “Brain On” to bolster more cerebral qualities like “happiness” and “mental clarity.” Sure!
I paid twelve dollars, sat at the bar alongside someone who appeared to be a Roots regular (she was just sort of hanging out sans-juice), and downed my shots in quick succession. Not that taste matters here, but some of those shots were pretty rough. Thankfully, you also get a benign juice made with watermelon to help cleanse your palate between shots.
All of this exposition is to say that this Avengers-style juice grouping made me feel a lot better for a couple of days. I wasn’t cured, necessarily, but I was able to enjoy DIFFA later that night allergy-free, and perhaps with a bit more mental clarity than usual.
Twelve dollars is probably a bit much to pay every other day, but if you’re going to be sitting on a patio all day, or just want to shirk your allergies for an important evening, consider saying no to over-the-counter drugs and consider Roots. You’ll probably see me, a few shots in already.
