Health

Not long ago, I acquired a used book about Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, at a library sale. Reading it, I was greatly impressed with all that Helen Keller accomplished in her lifetime, even while existing in what we think would have been a dark, silent world. Helen Keller was able to fill…

If you wear contact lenses, and you’ve traveled by air, you’ve probably made an unnecessary shopping trip looking for contact-lens solution in a bottle smaller than 3.4 ounces. At the store, you probably grew frustrated, because most small bottles of contact-lens solution contain four ounces. Here are seven bits about contact-lens solution in your carry-on…

You could exhaust yourself trying to follow every health trend that people are talking about today. Better Homes & Gardens ran a good article in its March 2015 edition that covers some of the hottest health trends, “What’s the Deal With. . .?” I’ve picked out the seven most-interesting food trends to share with you today. Here goes:…

Contrary to what many people think, more family members care for their older relatives themselves than put them in nursing homes. An estimated 43.5 million people in the United States provide long-term care for a family member with a chronic illness according to an article in the June 2015 issue of Harvard Health Letter. Often caregivers find themselves in…

We’re always being told to read the labels on food products, if we want to be healthy or lose weight. The trouble is, those labels are confusing. It doesn’t help that there are two government agencies involved. The FDA oversees labels for packaged foods and seafood, and the USDA oversees labels for fresh produce, meat,…

As a negative-cash-flow writer, who left a perfectly good job to pursue a passion, I am keenly conscious of money. When it comes to fitness, there’s no more gym membership in our budget, and that’s okay, because I don’t need one. With a little bit of imagination and creativity, getting fit and staying fit is easy—and…

Have you noticed that grocery stores carry more organic products than in the recent past? Some grocery chains used to dedicate entire sections of the store to organics. Now, in many stores, gluten-free aisles have replaced the organic sections, and organic products now occupy the same shelf space as their non-organic counterparts. Organic is [almost] becoming…

I recently began reading a book that I picked up at a library sale last summer, called Helen and Teacher by Joseph P. Lash. Within the first few pages, I learned about the woman whose education paved the way for Helen Keller’s fame. Here are seven facts about Laura Bridgman: 1. Laura Bridgman (1829-1889) was the first deafblind person to become famous,…

We’ve all been hearing about measles outbreaks lately, and there are some of us who barely pay attention to the reports, while others find the news terrifying. Here are seven things to know about measles, distilled from reputable Web sites. So there you have it. Seven quick facts about measles.  If you’re not sure if you…

The arrival of a new year often makes people feel uncomfortable. This is when the rapid passing of time becomes the most apparent and the uncertainty of the future somewhat unsettling. At least that’s the way it feels for me. It’s the way I’ve been since I was thirteen, and we were entering a new…