Clarity Wellness

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 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...