Clarity Wellness

There's a lot of anxiety going on in my house these days.   I have two very driven, overachieving high school daughters born of two driven, perfectionist parents, and we're all pretty hard on ourselves sometimes.  Add to that a pandemic, followed by a variant, a divisive political climate, underfunded schools and overworked teachers, global warming, AP tests, honors classes, and 4:30 am wake up calls for marching band...Yep, there's a lot going on. I was reminded last week of a technique that I had heard of in the past but hadn't done a very good job of implementing.  It's called the 5-4-3-2-1 technique for dealing with anxiety , and it goes something like this: 5: focus on 5 different things that you can see in your immediate surroundings. 4: look for 4 things you can touch around you. 3: notice 3 things you can hear right now. 2: find 2 things you can smell. 1: acknowledge 1 taste, usually whatever you ate or drank last. The problem with this technique, like many ...

  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...

Ummm...what?  Seriously, what messages are your things sending you on a daily basis?  Is it "Clean me, you lazy bum!" or "You have such good taste--I'm here to make you happy!" or "I know you don't like me much, but I belonged to your great aunt Alice so you're stuck with me for life!" And when you walk into your closet, do you hear "Put me on, daahling, and you'll look faaabulous!" or "Don't even think about--I can't believe how much weight you've put on, you pathetic pandemic porker!"  (I know, pretty harsh, but admit it, sometimes we're not very nice to ourselves.) Our homes should be places of refuge and serenity for us --a calm, peaceful place where we can relax, especially when we are working from home and staying at home more than ever now.  If the things in your house are adding to your stress because you have to take care of them, or making you feel bad about yourself because they point out your ...

  On my Saturday run last week I was listening to a podcast about nutrition and quickly found myself overwhelmed.   Now I’m a person who listens to this stuff on a regular basis so it shouldn’t have been a big deal.   It’s kind of my obsession.   However, in this case the person was talking about adjusting macros and calorie counts to lose weight, and the whole thing got quite complex.   It all made sense mathematically, I suppose, but in real life it sounded like a recipe for a mental breakdown.   Besides, the human body doesn’t necessarily follow mathematical rules .   There are a lot of variables to consider.   Are you stressed?    Well then, your body will produce more cortisol, which leads to insulin resistance.   Are you sleeping well?   If not, your body is looking for quick energy in the form of sugar and is probably insulin resistant. (We want our cells to work in harmony with insulin to process our blood sugar—n...

Are you having a hard time avoiding certain foods?   Are you trying to cut out sugar, grains, or dairy, but just can’t seem to fight the call of a mid-afternoon visit to the vending machine?   Maybe avoidance isn’t the answer for you. Maybe you need to make an “approach” goal instead of an “avoid” goal. What I mean by that is maybe your goal should be “I will drink 60 ounces of water a day.” Or maybe, “I will eat 100 grams of protein a day.” “I will eat two eggs per day.” “I will eat three cups of vegetables per day.” “I will spend 20 minutes outside each day.” “I will exercise 30 minutes each day.” You get the picture.  Set a goal for something you will do, not something you won't . Setting yourself up for success and celebrating the wins is always better than punishing yourself for the transgressions. These are all examples of goals I personally have for myself.   If I’m craving a cookie, I tell myself that if I’ve done all the other things I h...

We are all emotional eaters at some level. We eat to celebrate, we eat to comfort ourselves, and we eat when we're bored or anxious.  Sometimes we just eat because everyone else is, and we want to be a part of the group.  We can even eat very healthy foods, but as emotional eaters, we tend to eat too much of that healthy food (Hello, nuts!) when we're not really hungry. That still leads to bloating, sluggishness, and that icky feeling of self-incrimination like we blew it, once again. Throughout my life I have experienced many levels of emotional eating.  I eat when I'm bored, when I'm triggered by a stressful exchange with a family member, when I'm trying to think hard on a project I'm working on (um, blogposts...), when I'm celebrating with friends, when I'm nervous about being around new people, when I'm anxious about the state of affairs in the world, when I don't know what else to do with myself, when I'm feeling overwhelmed and tired, w...

I've been digging deep into the work of Dr. Ted Naiman  and others lately about the importance of protein in our diets.   Protein is the most important macronutrient when it comes to building strong muscles and bones, and repairing tissues throughout the body. If you think about it in the most basic terms, we are made of protein, so doesn't it make sense that our bodies need a lot of it?   It is also the most satiating, which means that when you eat a lot of protein you will feel full longer, and won't be as likely to crave the not-so-nourishing foods later in the day. There is also a theory out there that the reason many of us overeat is that we are not getting enough protein, so we go looking for it in other food sources and keep eating until we either get enough or can't eat another bite. (The Protein Leverage Hypothesis--it's a real thing, look it up!)  Therefore, when we eat more protein, we aren't as hungry all the time, we feel better, we build muscl...