The Father-Daughter Duo Who Became Marathon Runners, Against All Odds
Les Frederick is my accountant. A Yale graduate, he runs a very successful CPA firm in Seattle, WA and has a daughter named Laura who is in her 30s. Les told me that she’s mentally challenged, functioning at the level of about a five-year old child. Laura lives in a care facility that watches over […]
The Science of What Makes Us Happy: From Hedonism to Edenism
In a results-driven society like ours, happiness is generally dismissed as secondary to the more “important” things in life like our careers, relationships and health. Work those things out and happiness will find you. In childhood we learn the song that teaches the effect of being happy and knowing it is… clapping our hands. Great. […]
Canning and Safety
The purpose of canning is obviously to preserve food for later consumption. In terms of safety, the same things that cause foods to spoil (such as molds or bacteria) are also responsible for making us sick. The heat and/or pressure in the cooking process is able to destroy the largest expected number of heat-resistant microorganism […]
How to Become a Morning Person
Are you familiar with the health benefits of rising early in the morning? Numerous studies conducted on the subject have concluded that early risers tend to feel more in control of their lives and get more things done.1 For example, early rising college students are reported to be more optimistic, proactive, and get better grades […]
The Power of Positive Thinking!
The ancient Greeks used to think that the mind was physically located in the heart. While they were wrong about that, there is a strong mind-body connection that is finally being scientifically proven. There is a great quote that goes something like this, “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t—you’re RIGHT!” […]
Sibling Fight! Dealing With Quarrelsome Children
I groan as my three-year old son jabs his chubby fingers into my ears. “Good morning momma!” He chirps cheerfully. I bury my head into my pillow and try to ignore him. I work late nights at an urgent care so waking up at six in the morning is always challenging. Michael, however, is persistent […]
How Does Exercise Relate to Heart Disease?
What Are the Symptoms of Heart Disease?
Summer Activities to Get Kids Moving
Activity is very important for children. One of the contributors to the obesity epidemic is lack of activity. There are multiple factors that contribute to children not moving: lack of safe playgrounds, parents working until late at night, video games, and decreased PE programs in the public school system, to name just a few. Noncompetitive […]
What To Do About Back Pain, Part 2
The irony of pain meds As mentioned in Part 1, the human body has the incredible ability to adapt to opiates (pain medications), causing one to take higher and higher dosages over time. Unfortunately, it now seems that high-dose opiates are now associated with interruptions in deep-sleep cycles. It’s counter-intuitive—even the name “narcotics” is derived […]