In a past post about the importance of reading food labels and understanding serving sizes, I wrote about serving sizes of breakfast cereals. A few years ago, I was on a mission to find a tasty, yet not-too-sugary granola. In the end, I moved to Bob's Red Mill Muesli, which…
Earlier this year, I heard Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air about his most recent book Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age. In the interview, he spoke about these four important activities for better brain health: Exercising Eating well for heart health Getting…
I write frequently about exercise, an obvious, key component of “Be Healthy,” the sixth of my Six Simple Rules. I very much like the concept of healthspan – focusing on the longest possible healthy life, not just the longest possible lifespan. That said, a couple of articles about longevity caught…
Last year I wrote about my primary takeaways from listening to Arthur Brooks in conversation with Simon Sinek at an event I attended. The conversation, as I outlined in a prior post, was about the way we can heal our divided world by practicing an approach of loving your enemies…
Chadwick Boseman’s death came as a shock to the world. He had many fans, as made clear when the announcement of his passing on his Twitter account became the most retweeted post ever. Boseman was only 43 and died of colon cancer. He was very young to have been afflicted…
In 1977, when my grandfather passed away at what then seemed like the ripe old age of 73, he had what was called senility. I remember visiting my grandfather in a nursing home. I remember helping him stay on the right page at religious services—services he previously had known like…
In a shelter-in-place existence, figuring out ways to exercise, especially in small spaces, has been important. Just about a year ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “The Best Exercises for Your 50s, 60s, 70s—and Beyond”. I held onto it for a few months and then…
In this horribly sad time of COVID, with so many families experiencing illness and the death of loved ones, by complete coincidence I just finished reading a book about death and dying. Many years ago, I read Complications by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a surgeon and his writing about his…
On March 19, just under a week after I began working from home, I wrote this note to my work colleagues: I am a long-time exerciser, and I am a long-time fan of the outdoors. But until the past week I don't think I have ever taken a walk near…
I've been writing COVID-19-related articles for the last few weeks, and I likely will continue to do so in the coming weeks. I don't write about weight loss, other than to say if you want to lose weight, eat less and exercise more. My focus is on healthy eating, and…
Eating well and exercise are fundamental to our health. Unlike genetics, we can make choices regarding what (and how much) we eat and how (and how much) we exercise. There are three types of people when it comes to exercise. Those who do an amount they are happy with, those…
I stopped eating red meat about 20 years ago, and I was barely eating it for a number of years before that. My mom’s mom died young from a heart condition, so many years ago when my mom about red meat’s connection to heart disease she shared that knowledge with…