When I was a young woman, I really wanted to be fashionable and cool. Two things that I thought would help convert a somewhat bookwormish woman to being cool were if I would drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. I started with the goal to smoke cigarettes. My sister tried several times to help me, but […]

On June 10, 2014 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report related to diabetes. It was somewhat discouraging to learn that more than 29 million Americans (9.3 percent of our population – we’re almost at one in ten) have diabetes; the number was up by 3 million over the 2010 […]

On May 6, 2014, Nina Teicholz’s article, The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease was published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). I frequently like the articles in the WSJ, this one ….  not so much. My rationale is that it has the potential of driving people to eat in unhealthy ways, like […]

It seems pretty clear that eating more fruit and vegetables is a very important part of keeping humans healthy. It’s not a colossal shocker when we read headlines notifying us that eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day will reduce our risk of death by 42 percent. The latest headlines based […]

Today I’m celebrating differences. I must admit that there have been times that I wished that some of my friends loved science and math as much as I do. I wished that I could share with them the beauty that I see in both science and math. But today I’ve reminded myself that the reason […]

Sometimes we’re plugging along trying to do our best and there’s one of those little invisible trip lines near our feet and our stride lurches and falters, but hopefully we don’t stumble and fall. Because nutrition is in its infancy or pre-teen at the very best, we have to expect the lurches and falters in […]

Have you succeeded or are you still struggling to cut back on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) (including cola with sugar, caffeine-free cola with sugar, other carbonated beverage with sugar, such as 7-Up or ginger ale, and non-carbonated fruit drinks, such as lemonade or fruit punch)? The research continues to pile up against drinking them. One bit […]

When groups of people eat a plant-based diet like the Mediterranean peoples did 50-plus years ago, bodies and minds stayed healthy for a relatively long time. The original epidemiologist who studied diet in populations, Ancel Keys, discovered the phenomenon of the health differences between American diet (now commonly called Western diet) and the Mediterranean diet. […]

This is the third in my little series on easily doable ideas for making lifetime changes. Easy changes in eating habits that lead to greater health pay back a lot for just a little.  The three are: (1. An Apple a Day – the big payoff for adding fruits and vegetables; 2. A Nutty Little […]

After writing last week’s Apple a Day (keeps the statins away) article, I found a nice piece that may help convince you that making small changes instead of the all-encompassing ‘I’m going to become healthier’ type of change. It’s an LA Time article by Mary MacVean called; With New Year’s resolutions, it’s best to think […]