having lost 10 pounds, even without exercising, since her diagnosis.

While all of the youths believe that children are ultimately responsible for the food that they choose to eat, they also believe that it is equally important for both parents and schools to assist kids in eating healthier.

All of the children we spoke with say that their parents cook healthy meals and stock their cabinets with very little junk food. “But I know a lot of kids whose parents feed them lots of fried foods, and fast foods,” says 16-year-old Aairyn Blue.

And when it comes to schools, Blue says that having vending machines stocked with junk foods makes it convenient for youths to eat unhealthy foods. “What’s funny, is that we sit in class listening to teachers talk about eating fruits and vegetables, and avoiding carbohydrates, sugar and fat, then at the end of the day, a lot of kids head straight for the vending machines, where there’s chips, soda and candy. Blue, who attends Lanphier High School, acknowledges that taking the junk food out of the vending machines would not stop kids from eating junk food, but it may “cut down on the amount.”

“We no longer have vending machines at my school,” says Cole, who attends Washington Middle School. “Now, instead of getting junk food from the vending machines, a lot of kids just bring it to school with them.

“When adults talk to us about eating healthy and exercising, a lot of kids let it go in one ear and out the other. But it’s important that they start paying more attention to their bodies. Once I started exercising and eating better, I saw that I was losing weight. And that makes me want to continue,” states Cole.

— Jolonda Young

To stop smoking, lend me your ear

Brenda Matheis started smoking when she was 14 years old.

She quit when she was 40, going cold turkey during the inception of the new no-smoking policy at Horace Mann. The now Illinois Times business manager stayed away from cigarettes for 10 years before picking them up again during the millennium New Year’s Eve celebration.

Matheis decided to quit again four years later, but this time, she says, she couldn’t do it on her own. She heard about the Leslie-Cam Stop Smoking Center, a clinic in Chesterfield, Mo., that offers a stop-smoking method called auriculotherapy. The unique treatment electrically stimulates specific points on the outside of the ears to stop addictive cravings.

After visiting the clinic, which has treated 60,000 patients since it opened in 1991, Matheis says she recommends the procedure.

“Auriculotherapy will help them get through that really gnawing need at the beginning when you quit — wanting to get through brick walls just for a smoke,” she says. “And it’ll help get them through

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