Clarity Wellness

  I don't know about you, but I've got lots of plans for this summer.  The fact that it's going to be a shorter break than usual makes things a little more complicated, but still, I'm excited to get out of the normal routine and use the time off for some personal growth projects, some household projects, and some long-awaited travel. Many of us, emerging from our Covid cocoons, have big plans for self-improvement.  We want to implement exercise programs, eat healthier meals, and shed the Covid pounds that crept up on us while keeping us comfortably insulated from the outside world.  Making the plans is the fun and easy part.  Keeping up on our plans and actually making them work is the not-so-easy part.  Here are some ways to help you stick to your plan. 1.  Write it down.   This seems obvious to most people (ok, maybe just to me), but I like to write things down as the first step in any process I undertake.  Make a list of things you want to...

  The term " self-care " gets thrown around a lot these days, but how many of us really know what that means, and even more importantly, how many of us actually do that?  With all the stress in our lives it's so important that we give ourselves a break from time to time to stop and recharge our systems.   Even the things we don't normally see as stressful are enough to raise our cortisol and adrenaline levels, adding to a baseline level of stress that our bodies and minds are not meant to handle.   Watching the news?  Scrolling through Facebook?  Sitting in traffic?  Staring at a computer screen all day?  Feeling a lack of purpose in our lives?  The pandemic has not helped things with the underlying anxiety we are feeling on a regular basis.  It all adds up and affects our mood, our sleep, our hormones, and our overall health.  We need to build daily self-care routines into our days, and every once in a while we need to ta...

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 love to plan! Planning trips, planning my day, planning meals--it doesn't always mean I follow through with what I planned, but it does make things go more smoothly when I have at least a general idea of what the day will look like. When it comes to eating, our lives are so busy that it makes things much easier when there is a plan in mind, ingredients ready, and an overall flow to the week. The first thing you need to do is plan a time each week to plan! My time is usually Sunday morning before the rest of the family is up. I look at the calendar to see which events we may have in the evenings that affect how much time I have to cook, who will be home, and what time we will eat.  I usually plan on 1-2 restaurant nights, one leftover night, and maybe a “breakfast for dinner night," so that leaves me with 3-4 meals to plan. Here's a list of things to prep, but of course, adjust it to meet you and your family's meal preferences. Move any meat you might need from the...

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...

According to Gretchen Rubin in her book Better than Before , there are two types of people: abstainers and moderators.  Abstainers do better with an all or nothing approach to life, while moderators function better with the freedom to have a little of everything.  Knowing your tendency helps you build successful habits into your everyday life. I personally am an abstainer when it comes to sugar.  I have never understood the people who can have a jar of candy on their desks.  If there is candy in my house it calls out to me from wherever it is hidden until I succumb to its siren song.  If I start eating the sweet stuff--even just a little bit--I start craving it constantly and have to remove it from my environment (usually by eating the rest of it!)  It's much easier for me if I just never have it.  Now I'm not saying there are no sweets in my house, they just belong to other people, and as long as I understand that, it's not a problem.  The proble...

  Are you struggling with sugar?  You know it's bad for you, but you just can't give it up? You stop eating it for a few days, and then your daughter decides to make brownies, or your friends bring over cookies, or you go to a birthday party where, of course, there is plenty of cake.  And boom! You're back on the sugar train. Sound familiar? Sugar is like a bad boyfriend.   You know the one.  He's bad news, but is oh, so charming!  You break up with him and swear that this time it's forever, until he shows up at a party and you have a great time together, rehashing old memories. Of course, the next morning you feel terrible and regret letting him back into your life.  Then he shows up again when you are feeling a little down, he smiles at you with those adorable crinkles at the corners of his eyes, and yes!  You're gone again. Prey to the knowledge that he will make you feel better--if only for a little while. Sugar gives us a dopamine rush , sim...