My goal is to write this post in such a manner that it doesn’t read like a Weight Watchers history lesson. I hope to achieve this noble, yet difficult goal by focusing on the development and evolution of Weight Watchers’ POINTS system since its inception in 1997. However, it’s next to impossible to discuss the…
As we all know, exercise, in conjunction with diet, is essential to our overall health and well-being, and that fact does not change as we age. As we get older, we experience muscle loss, which adversely affects our coordination, balance and stability. Also, as our metabolism and activity levels decrease, we can add unnecessary weight,…
Yes, some (most?) moms enjoy preparing the family meal for holiday gatherings, including the day that is designated to honor them. However, that doesn’t make it right. Should you, then, prepare and cook the family meal this Mother’s Day? Yeah, I thought not. Who wants to spend the day in the kitchen planning, cooking and serving…
When it comes to illness or injury, I’m a big proponent of the old maxim (pithy phrase, not the semi-adult men’s magazine) “Laughter is the best medicine.” No one is sure who originally coined this phrase as it exists in numerous forms from numerous time periods. Most trace its origin to the Bible, specifically, Proverbs…
As usual, let’s answer the obvious question first: what is a cardiac diet? It’s more than just a “heart healthy” diet. Simply stated, it’s a diet that promotes cardiovascular health as it impacts both your heart and vascular system (your network of veins, arteries and capillaries as well as the blood that flows through them)….
Let’s begin with the obvious question: what the hell is a “superfood?” The Oxford English dictionary defines it this way: A nutrient rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being. And for those of you who don’t know, diabetes is a disease that causes elevated blood sugar levels due to a lack…
Yes, it’s been around for years…well, centuries actually, if you consider that the people who live along the Mediterranean have been eating this way forever. It achieved widespread prominence in North America in the 1990s, although its virtues had been extolled in a work by biologist Ancel Keys and his chemist wife, Margaret, in 1975…
This is one of those “deal with it” moments. As we age, our bodies and nutritional needs change, deal with it. As a result, nutrition for older folks (those over 50) becomes even more important than nutritional needs for the younger folks out there. And there are more older folks in America than at any…
The ‘new parent freak out’…you’ve probably gone through or witnessed this phenomenon first hand. Some folks call it “nesting:” the bird-like practice of preparing the home for a new arrival. It’s the primary reason we hold baby showers, to assist the nesting process and to alleviate the new parent freak out. In order to accomplish…
In this post, we’ll try to answer two questions: What to do when elderly parents refuse help? and, what to do when siblings don’t help with aging parents? Yeah, I know, that’s a lot, right? Then let’s get started with the first question, well, first… If you have elderly parents, chances are they refuse at…