DR. WALLACE: I love the water and love the ocean! I'm 16 and I go for an ocean swim every single chance I get, and I'm lucky in this regard since our family lives in southern Florida, not far from the seaside.

In fact, it's only about a seven-minute walk to our nearest beach, so my two best friends and I like to walk together to the beach to swim and sit on the sand any weekend that the weather is warm enough.

Fortunately, the winter is almost over as we're in March now, and it's warm enough on some weekends now to resume my love of interacting with the ocean.

Yet I do have one challenge in this regard, and it's my mother. She always warns me, and in fact, all of us girls to be careful to not go to the ocean too often! She lectures the three of us about skin cancer and getting really wrinkled skin when we're older.

All of us girls use sunscreen, and we are always sure to reapply it after we spend time in the water swimming and playing catch with our Frisbee. I hope you'll tell me that we are doing the right thing so that we can use your reply to help us convince my mother to relax a bit about this issue. — Ocean Lover, via email

OCEAN LOVER: Your mother indeed has a point, and she's wise to warn you and your friends not to go for long periods of time when any of you face direct sun exposure with no protection.

I recommend that you girls bring hats and a nice, large beach umbrella that you can slide into the sand and sit underneath when you're all drying off after coming out of the water.

Your mother is entirely correct in pointing out that the sun is very powerful and so very strong that it can even cause sun damage on a cloudy day. On your side of the ledger is the fact that you girls do apply sunscreen again after coming out of the water. This "re-lathering" is essential and is the right thing to do from a skin protection standpoint.

Hopefully you can demonstrate to your mother that you and your friends are taking the proper protections and staying vigilant regarding your skin protection when outdoors for any length of time, especially at the beach. Also, realize that you can further protect your skin by putting on T-shirts and light pants once you dry off out of the water as not all umbrellas keep 100% of the sun's ultraviolet rays from reaching your skin.

IS ALMOND MILK A FAD?

DR. WALLACE: My best friend at school told me that I should use almond milk with my cereal and oats, not regular milk or cream from our local grocery store.

But my father says that almond milk is just a fad and nobody will be drinking it at all in a year or two. Is almond milk therefore good or bad for me? I'm 16, and so is my best friend. She claims that her whole family (she has three older brothers) has been enjoying it instead of regular milk for the past year. — Not So Sure About It, via email

NOT SO SURE ABOUT IT: Almond milk is decidedly not a fad and will be here and available for the foreseeable future! Your father may not be interested, but many people do enjoy it instead of milk from cows.

On the plus side, there's a lot of vitamin E in almond milk, but take the time to read the labels if you'd like to try some. Some brands have additives and even sweeteners. Unsweetened almond milk will be the better choice for most people as it has fewer calories due to a naturally low sugar content.

On the downside, almond milk is low in protein, so be sure to obtain essential proteins for your diet from other sources. Almond milk is also not suitable for infants, but this will not affect your family.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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