Welcome Fall! Ochre leaves crunching underfoot, sweet mulled cider, crisp apple picking…and…ahhh-choo! The return of cold and flu season. Ugh. To try to isolate the best, most proven tips for staying well, I recently did a Q & A with Elizabeth Lyster, MD, a board-certified ob/gyn with Holtorf Medical Group in Foster City, California, who had some surprising tips and […]
Beyond the NYC Soft Drink Ban…What’s Next?
It was announced yesterday that the proposed ban in New York City on super-sized sugary drinks had been approved. No more 16-ounce sodas for you!! (Now you’ll have to buy two 8-ounce bottles and chain-drink.) Then again, maybe soda companies will start rolling out a new 15-ounce cups, cans, and bottles? I wouldn’t be surprised. Anyways, while I’m not entirely […]
Considering Exercising Today? These Charts Will Help You Decide
I have a thing for charts, diagrams, charticles, and all things visually-representative of stats, trends and topics. So these two pithy flow-charts (below), each created to help you decide if you should work out or not, made me laugh. Perhaps they’ll help motivate you off the couch — or at least provide a giggle. From FitnessandSpice.com: How to Know If […]
Back-to-School Time! Little Backpacks, Big Problems
If aliens landed on earth today, they’d surely know it was back-to-school time as soon as they logged into Facebook and saw the images appearing on many moms’ Timelines this week. (Yes, there are about a million things wrong with that scenario…for one thing, perhaps our far-out friends are still hooked on Friendster…) Anyways, the point is—while you’re loading up […]
Chicken Pox Cases Are Dwindling! So Why Am I Still Paranoid?
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidences of chicken pox (a.k.a the varicella virus) are down by nearly 80 percent from 2000-2010. The decline is thought to be thanks to the widespread use of the chicken pox vaccine, which previously was only given in a single dose, but in 2006 new guidelines […]
Want to Understand The Latest Kids’ Health News? Ask Science Mom!
It seems like every day there’s a new study or some sort of uproar about a health topic, particularly one that affects kids. What children should eat, how much TV they should be (or NOT be) watching, the appropriate amount of sleep and how to teach them to do it, bed-sharing, behavior and everything in between. Sometimes it’s hard to […]
Four Upcoming Holidays That Could Improve Your Health
First, the bad news: I forgot to alert faithful “Simply Stated” readers that August 10th was National Lazy Day. To anyone who was seeking an excuse—nay, an exhortation! a prescription!—to lollygag, meander or snooze, I deeply apologize. Now, the good news: There are many accredited* holidays on the horizon dedicated to relaxation and better health. While it may seem totally […]
Mysteries of the Body, Part 3886
A few physical quandaries and questions I currently find terribly vexing: 1. Why is it that, after a huge meal at night, you often wake up starving in the morning? I can go to bed groaning in pain and wake up ready for a pile of pancakes. Is it a stomach ‘stretching’ thing or a blood sugar thing? 2. Why […]
Plug Your Ears, Save Your Hearing!
Well, I think I’ve definitively slipped over to the side of fuddy-duddy—as evidenced by the fact that when I went to a Spinning class this morning, I didn’t hesitate to pop in a pair of the yellow earplugs that Soul Cycle offers. Sure, the volume can be loud in the tightly-packed studio, but that’s part of the allure of the […]
The Two-Minute Meditation Anyone Can Do
I recently had the good fortune to ask a few questions to integrative medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil—he of the bestselling wellness books, the calm gaze, and the perfectly-trimmed white beard. While many people want to incorporate more mindfulness and meditative practices into their lives, I think it can seem daunting. Besides, there’s hardly enough time to get in the […]
