Clarity Wellness

  I noticed this morning during my walk that I was ravenously hungry about an hour into it. This doesn't usually happen to me. I can typically go all morning without a twinge of hunger. However, I've had a couple of weeks of not-so-low-carb eating and I can definitely tell a difference! Give me a teacher appreciation donut, some graduation cake, or a couple of pizza slices with the kids, and boom! I'm right back on the blood sugar rollercoaster.  You know how I can tell? I wake up in the middle of the night a hot mess, I run hot periodically throughout the day, my brain is foggy, my running injuries are aching, my nose is stuffy, and I'm hungry more often than usual. I'd like to think that I can have a little bit of sugar and feel ok, but every experiment fails and I find myself scrambling to get off the rollercoaster and back onto solid ground. Here are some key ways I've found to get back on track and feel better soon. Get it out of your house (and work...

If you ask most people why they want to try a low-carb diet, they will probably tell you they want to lose weight.  Great.  Most of us want to.  But what is your true why behind losing weight? Why number one:  I want to fit into my jeans.  Is this because you want to save money and be able to fit into all the clothes in your closet so you don't have to go out and buy new ones?  Or does the thought of trying on jeans in a fitting room fill you with dread?  Are you tired of looking at your closet and realizing that half the clothes in there don't fit you anymore? But why? Is it merely financial, or is it because you feel frumpy and unattractive? Are you afraid your husband doesn't see you as beautiful anymore?  Are you holding back from intimacy because of the extra weight? But why?  Go deeper... Are you afraid that your health is deteriorating because you're carrying extra weight?  You can't do the physical things you once did?  You ...

  Do you wake up tired, puffy, and foggy-brained? Do you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Do you have asthma, allergies, sore joints, skin issues, or other autoimmune conditions? Are you moody, anxious, or depressed? Do you deal with PMS or other hormonal conditions on a regular basis? Do you have chronic gut issues? If you’ve been following my posts, you know that I would recommend a sugar free/grain free diet to reduce the inflammation that leads to these conditions.   I believe in a holistic approach, however, and another big factor that may contribute to these conditions is the environmental toxins we surround ourselves with every day. Toxic chemicals are found in our food, furniture, carpets, cooking utensils, mattresses, cleaning products, body care products, and cosmetics. And that’s just a start… Entire books have been written about all the things to watch out for, but I’m going to try and narrow it down for you so you at least have a star...

Here in Arizona, allergy season is in full swing.  Trees are blooming, grass is growing, yellow dust is flying everywhere, and noses are itching!  I've dealt with allergies all my life.  I had the cute little crease in my nose when I was younger, I had sinus polyps removed at 18, and I spent years of my life in doctors' offices waiting to make sure I didn't react to allergy shots.  I've had allergy testing done several times, but I've never had better results and better data than when I took matters into my own hands and figured out where the problems were coming from.  Years of allergy shots didn't change a thing, but years of self-testing have made a huge difference. The first thing any allergist will tell you is get rid of the offenders.  I know that I'm allergic to most types of pollen, so I avoid those as much as I can.  If I need to do yardwork I wear a mask, and try to do the best I can to keep my house clean. I avoid synthetic fragrances, and m...

I cringe every time my daughter walks into the house with yet another large colorful drink from her favorite coffee place. I cringe again when I walk into her room and see the empty bags of chips and Takis. One more cringe as I watch my other daughter warm up her second mini-pizza of the day, knowing that not one ounce of real nutrition has passed through her lips today.  Part of it is my fault--I did buy the mini-pizzas in a moment of weakness, declaring them a "once-in-while" treat, but everything else is a result of teenage freedom and a little extra spending money. Do they not listen to me?  Have I restricted too much?  Are they rebelling?  Or are they just teenagers, wanting to explore and make their own decisions with their new-found freedom?  I choose to believe the last option.   They want to eat the same things their friends eat and go to the fun places their friends hang out.  I'll admit, Takis and jellybeans probably are a little tast...

I probably don’t have to tell you about all the ways sugar affects your body—the information is everywhere!  Inflammation is the number one problem, and it leads to almost every other health problem out there: diabetes, cancer, heart disease, mood disorders, skin problems, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer's--they are all caused by excess inflammation in one way or another.  Unfortunately, you may not realize how much sugar you are eating each day because it is skillfully hidden by the people who make your food. People today eat an average of three pounds of sugar a week, and much of it is found in processed food that may not even taste sweet! Food manufacturers know that there is a 'bliss point' at which the ratio of salt, sugar, and fat is so enticing that you want to keep eating. Sugar enhances the taste of salt, and vice-versa. They also know that consumers are smart people who look for sugar on the label. That's why there are new names for sugar coming out every day....

In an effort to keep the Christmas spirit alive and well this year, I baked all the usual cookies and treats:  buckeyes, fudge, caramels, snowball cookies, chocolate crinkles, ginger snaps... Everyone has a different favorite, of course, so I had to make them all, despite making proclamations that we would not go overboard this year and I was going to narrow down the list of things we would make.  I could try and make gluten-free, sugar-free versions, but what would be the point, really?  My kids wouldn't eat them, I would be stuck looking at them and feeling guilty that I wasted the time and money on them, and would feel obligated to eat them all myself.  Usually we make cookies and keep them in the freezer, doling them out little by little as we make our rounds of holiday parties.  This year, however, there are no parties to go to, and home baked treats are not as well-received as in years past. So...guess who's eating the cookies this year?  Yep, I fell ...

I have tried every type of diet out there--from vegan to carnivore, low-fat, high-fat, paleo, keto, etc., and here's what I've discovered:  every body is different, our bodies are different at different times in our lives, and if you just cut out the processed crap you are doing your body a world of good right there. Here's what works best for me, as a 50 year-old, pre-menopausal woman: 1.  No sugars :  200 years ago the average person ate two pounds of sugar a year. Today the average is about three pounds per week!  Sugar consumption is linked to diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and many other health conditions.  The biggest thing I noticed when I cut back on sugar was that I was able to get off the blood sugar roller coaster and stabilize my mood, energy levels, and tummy troubles.  I didn't feel hungry all the time, I didn't feel comatose every afternoon around 1:00, and my brain just seemed to function better.  These days when I indul...

I was a sick kid.  Not the kind with a life-threatening illness that made you think, "Oh, that poor kid!"  No, I was the kid who was always sneezing, or stuffed up, or had a cold or a sore throat. I even had that "cute" little crease in my nose from rubbing it too often. In my late teens, despite years of allergy shots, I had my tonsils removed (which helped immensely, by the way) and then had polyps removed from my sinuses (not fun, but it certainly cleared things up--for a while).  I can't tell you how many rounds of antibiotics I was on throughout the years, and I tried every type of mind-numbing allergy medicine out there.   I distinctly remember wanting to try things that involved a lot of speaking and realizing that I couldn't rely on being able to speak clearly on any given day.  I ended up being a teacher, which of course, involves a lot of speaking, but every September I could count on my allergies spiraling out of control and leading to sinus infe...