I find that there can be comfort in [some] traditions. Here in the office, we have our traditions, and one of my favorites is a new one that we just started last year. Each mid-December, the entire office gets together and chooses a charity for our end-of-the-year Holiday Special. Each staff member comes to this […]
Matt Damon, Bette Midler, NICABM…and you?
What do Matt Damon, Michael J. Fox, Andre Agassi, and Bette Midler have in common? They all have created charities. Matt Damon co-created Water.org, Michael J. Fox the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Andre Agassi has the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, and Bette Midler the New York Restoration Project. It reminds me […]
Thanksgiving Tips for a Happy and Healthy Holiday
Thanksgiving is almost here. It’s a time for celebration and thankfulness, but it’s also a time of year when people who are trying to be careful about their weight can feel quite vulnerable. In a recent conversation with John La Puma, MD, he shared some suggestions he gives to his patients around the holidays. It’s […]
The Best Excuse I Ever Heard . . . Revisited
Last week, we asked for the best (and most entertaining) excuses that you use when you’re putting off healthy eating . . . and we heard some great ones. Not only were they creative, there were more than a few that we could really relate to. We’ll get right to it. First, our runners up […]
The Best Excuse I Ever Heard
I’m sure you’ve neeeeeever used an excuse to go off an intended diet, but maybe you know of someone who has? (wink) There are so many reasons why people resolve to make a change, start a diet, and then completely blow it off. “It’s the holidays, why not indulge a little?” “But my aunt doesn’t […]
Ditch the Dreaded Diet: Try Three Small Changes Instead
Just a few weeks ago, I was having breakfast with my family. It was a rare opportunity to be together with both of my siblings, their spouses, and my parents – all of whom live out of state. As we got to talking, it turned out that both my sister Priscilla and my sister-in-law Susan […]
Meditation in My Life
For the last two years, Fall has become a special mindfulness time for me. Speaking with mindfulness experts, reading new scientific studies on the effectiveness of mindfulness, and revisiting mindfulness materials helps me look at my own life to see were I could improve my own practices. It also doesn’t hurt to look around at […]
Meditation or Medication?
I heard Dan Siegel once say, “Why not try a ‘t’ instead of a ‘c’? Meditation instead of medication.” When I heard this, it got me thinking. . . is there another way? Could we use fewer side-effect laden prescriptions and find a solution that doesn’t involve so many pharmaceuticals? For instance, in some cases, […]
What Will the White House be Serving for Halloween?
Tuesday night on Jay Leno, President Obama shared that the First Lady has been handing out fruit and raisins for the last couple years on Halloween. He added, “The White House is going to get ‘egged’.” Michelle Obama’s preference for healthy Halloween snacks is not surprising – she has been campaigning for healthy lifestyles with […]
Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmatic and…. Mindfulness?
What if we learned meditation at an early age? Could that possibly help buffer the inevitable stressful events in childhood as well later in life? This morning I was thinking, what if a mindfulness practice came as natural as say, multiplication tables or spelling? What if it was taught in schools? Is there a chance […]