Healthy Aging

For decades, women’s health conversations have focused heavily on the heart, the brain, and the waistline. We track our cholesterol, schedule routine bone density scans, monitor our blood pressure, and swear by joint-friendly cardio. Yet, the literal foundation of our entire physical autonomy is frequently left completely out of the wellness conversation…

You’ve probably received them in the mail. Those colorful flyers from companies that advertise a variety of preventative health screenings. I used to think they were scams and immediately tossed the flyers into the wastebasket…

Alcohol use among senior citizens is on the rise. Although historically older adults were less likely to drink than younger adults, recent studies show that older adults are now drinking more frequently and in larger quantities than in the past…

I’ve been fasting for nine weeks – eating only dinner. During my working hours, when I am not busy, the hunger hits and the desire to eat is strong. Fasting has revealed a lot of dynamics. We often think of hunger as a purely physical signal – a biological alarm clock telling us our body needs fuel…

When I was 60, I thought I was getting old. Now that I am 90, I find that rather amusing. At 60, I had already lived a substantial life. I had worked, learned, made mistakes, enjoyed successes, worried about things that never happened, and survived problems that once seemed enormous. But looking back over the 30 years since then, I can see several things much more clearly…

Many women, myself included, are worriers. For our entire lives, we worry about the people close to us – our children, friends, spouse and parents. Then, as we reach our 60s and 70s, our worries seem to multiply. All of a sudden, we start to worry about how we are going to live on a pension. Many of us become concerned about our health. Then, there are less tangible worries, such as how we are going to find meaning in our lives after 60…

One of the best pieces of advice I can offer to support lifelong health is, “don’t let a health set-back become a new health set-point.” Healthy habits aren’t just a one-time choice. They’re a series of small choices made day after day, week after week…

When I received the results of my recent bone scan it wasn’t good news. I’ve always been physically active, but I am slightly built, a major risk factor for osteoporosis. While drugs are effective for some, side effects are severe for others…

In my last article, we talked about something that stopped many of you in your tracks: the idea that your post-menopausal years weren’t designed to be a slow fade. According to the science of biology, they were designed to be the whole point. I promised you we’d go deeper. So let’s do that. Because understanding the philosophy is one thing…

If you had asked me a few years ago whether I ate healthy, I would have answered without hesitation, “I believe so.” I cooked most of our meals at home, watched my sugar intake, bought whole-grain products, and even subscribed to Green Chef because I loved having fresh ingredients and recipe cards delivered right to […]