I have learned the best way to visualize the about the amount of sugar in anything is to look at the nutrition label and divide the number of grams of sugar by four. That will tell you how many teaspoons of sugar are in one serving of that item. Every…
I was at a conference where I had the good fortune to hear Catherine Sanderson speak on The Science of Happiness. Sanderson is a professor at Amherst College where she studies and teaches the subject of happiness. Her speech was fantastic. Here are some of my takeaways: Why do we…
Earlier this year, the New York Times published an article regarding weight loss—specifically, the best way to lose weight. One conclusion: The best diet is the one you can stick to. I have written and spoken frequently about the way I eat. I don’t push a particular diet and I…
Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s Fitness and Health e-Zine is one of my go-to places for keeping up with the latest suggestions for my health. In a recent article entitled, “What You Eat, Not Your Genes, Determines Your Microbiome,” Dr. Mirkin wrote, “The hottest area of medical research today may well be…
One of my friends passed away this year. She was only 60. She died from cancer. She was a smoker. And she knew smoking is what did her in. Another of my friends, also age 60, has a different story to tell. A number of years ago, she had bronchitis.…
A reader wrote to me the following note about an old post of mine, Gratitude and Perspective… I completely agree with this post! Whenever I have stress, I try to ask myself: “Are my kids healthy? Are my wife and I healthy?” When the answers to those questions are “yes,” which is…
In a Harvard Business Review article, the former U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, was quoted as saying, "Loneliness and weak social connections are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity. But we haven't…
Last year I wrote a piece on commitment devices, another practice to help you to make good habits stick. A reader sent me a note saying how much he loved the piece, and he told me what he and his wife have been doing to make changes that stick, as…
This is a guest post by Ash Govender. Making changes can be hard. In your own case, you may have often heard someone say: “make it a habit to…..” followed by some difficult to accomplish task. Then, you try it a few times until you either stop because you don’t…
I've written many times: helping others is one of the greatest happiness strategies. A recent way I have been helping others is by donating my voice to people who live with voicelessness. My involvement with this activity started when I read an article about VocaliD, a for-profit company. It seems…
After I republished my post Kindness & the Common Good in my monthly newsletter, a reader sent me this note I want to share with you: Thank you for this email (newsletter)! I have a constant, inner conversation with myself where I try to be mindful of the point of…
I have written about the fresh start effect, which I heard about on an episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, When Willpower Isn’t Enough. I have written often about the way willpower impacts our ability to make changes that stick—simply, we have a limited amount of willpower (it’s been studied),…