The last time I had a cold, I also happened to have a party to attend. While there, I was told, by numerous people, to have a beer. I would feel better in seconds (or sips). In fact, if I really wanted to conquer the virus, I should have a few. I eyed them doubtfully [...]

Get them up; get them going. Turn off the TV; hide the Play Station. Push them out the door. Do anything!! Those are the messages broadcast to parents, teachers and childcare givers in an attempt to boost physical activity among today’s youth. Children must move. They must fight the obesity epidemic with exercise, motion and [...]

For a person with severe irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), going to work brings more than the daily nine-to-five stress – it brings eight hours of attempting to hide regular flatulence, bloating and discomfort. And often, it’s a failed attempt. Coworkers notice the gassy aroma that lingers by your chair, and they, unable to resist, offer [...]

For most people, a Starbucks addiction leads to little more than a smaller wallet and an ever present latte. But for one woman in Tacoma, Washington it led to much more. It led to a kidney. Sandi Andersen, a Starbucks barista, immediately had herself tested upon learning that a favorite customer needed a transplant. Against [...]

As your child grows into adulthood, he will leave behind much of what you currently see in him, much of what defines his youth. His sweet voice will evolve into the deep timber of a man’s. His naïve innocence will be replaced with realistic awareness. And his dependence on you will transform into self-reliance. But [...]

Until now, your chocolate habit has been nothing but strengthened by the growing number of reports touting the treat’s many benefits. The heart-help that stems from it has been relatively undisputed, questioned only when examining quality and potency. As such, you took great pleasure in your daily habit, feeling deliciously smug and superior with each [...]

The latest trend in fitness centers is group personal training. Rather than being tortured solo by a gym guru, you can now sweat, stretch, lift and cry tears of humiliation in front of four or five other individuals. The fellow exercisers may be male, female, your best friends, your spouse, your neighbors or complete strangers. [...]

You hit menopause, and the pear-shaped body you’d finally learned to love morphed into an apple, an extra large apple. Suddenly fat was sticking to you at a frightening rate, latching onto your mid-section simply because you looked at a piece of cheese. Everything was the enemy. Eating was a chore. You wished that you [...]

It begins as a normal evening. You’ve gone out to dinner and taken in a movie. As you move towards your car, tired and sated, you hear a commotion – yelling – from a few feet away. A man has collapsed. He is lying, seemingly unconscious and not breathing, on the ground before his vehicle. [...]

The thought of spring during those final days of winter brought nothing but happy warmth. You envisioned chirping birds, budding blooms, sunny days and hours upon hours of outside time . . . for your kids! The moment you could, you were sending them out the door to expend the energy that had been mounting [...]

When it comes to illness, I am the queen of denial. I will attribute any ailment to anything but the truth. “It’s allergies,” is my favorite reasoning, having been used for almost every sickness I’ve experienced in the past several years. However, few believe my claim (apparently an allergy to colored paperclips is unfathomable), and [...]

 It’s Thursday night. You’re tired, hungry and cranky. You have a pile of work sitting beside you in the car, none of which you want to do. At home, fresh chicken is waiting to be cooked, greens are waiting to be cleaned and brown rice is waiting to be boiled. Preparing it all will take [...]

In December of 2004, a tsunami struck the islands of the Indian Ocean. It is safe to say that those who survived were traumatized. Their lives were transformed from normal to anything but. Stress, fear and anxiety filled their days and nights. Many outsiders tried to help, including a few yogis who one month after [...]

Meals in Washington aren’t what they used to be. An initiative to create a more environmentally friendly and health-conscious House has transformed the once fat-filled, waste-producing building into eco-central.  Food, when possible, is brought in from no more than 150 miles away and prepared on-site, from scratch. The menu now offers, in addition to the [...]

Uploading images onto the internet doesn’t always prove fruitful. Compromising pictures on sites such as facebook and MySpace can keep you from employment or furthering your education should your superiors stumble upon your profile. But you and everyone else in the younger generation can’t seem to stop. The close of every celebration sees a fresh [...]