Stress, And Creating Your Own Reality
Bobby McFerrin’s popular song informs us that, when you worry your face will frown, and that will bring everybody down so don’t worry, be happy. This may sound like some kind of Norman Vincent Peale power of positive thinking pap, but it turns out that your subjective feelings impact your objective measures of health. Researchers have measures...
Yeah, Size Matters … For Your Health
Need a rule? For your health, “To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.” That was Ben Franklin, a million years ago. But it is just as true now as it was then — even more so? A little wine is awesome, a lot of wine is terrible. A little...
Shop Healthfully, Even At The Piggly Wiggly. The big, bad three.
Normal grocery stores really do have things you want to put in your mouth. Some of them are produce, some are in cans, some are produced at the grocery store, and others are in bags. But the key to finding them, is to rule out the “Big, Bad Three”....
How To Shop Healthfully, Even At The Piggly Wiggly 1
I grew up in a little town in Southeast Alabama. We had “wiregrass”, an annual Peanut Festival parade (at which I rode a unicycle), and the big ‘ol Piggly Wiggly up the street. Very Alabama. After having gotten out of town and circled the world a couple of times,...
How (and why) To Change How You Think About Science
Its so funny. At one point I really wanted to be a historian. Of science! This is the town center of metropolitan nerd-villebergington. You can’t get in the door without an elbow-patched tweed jacket and a vaguely distracted blankness to your face. My neuroscience thesis required a couple of...
The Last Lasagna
Take advantage of short bursts of exercise and make these bursts happen when dinner is in the oven. Time to the Table: 1 hour Yield: 15-18 servings Preheat the Oven to 350F For the Sauce You’ll Need: • 1 Pound spicy Italian sausage • 1 Onion,...
How (and why) To Change How You Think About Mindfulness
Most people think meditation just isn’t doable in a normal life. Have some kind of monk-like mindfulness? My cat just threw up on my shoes. Chanting some OM-like mantra for hours? I’d have to barricade myself in the bathroom to make that happen. Taking 30 minutes to an hour...
How (and why) To Change How You Think About Fitness
If fitness lives for you like a chore or something you just really hate doing, then you have to think about it differently. If it is not something you love doing, do something else. It’s easy to see where this all comes from. We’re told that you need to...
How (and why) To Change How You Think About Food
Food is a lot of things. It can be thought of as fuel. Further down, it’s a big pile of carb and fat and protein molecules. Even further down, it’s the resonating energy of its atomic bonds. None of these are wrong, but none of these descriptions are helpful...
How (and why) To Change The Culture of Health
Our “culture of health” is like the matrix, as defined by Morpheus: “The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out of your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it...
Building a Better Brain. Don’t Be A Slug.
In my former life as a neuroscientist (over 25 years ago), I did physiology research on certain aspects of the brain and behavior. At some point after a long week of working with monkeys, a few of us went out for a beer at the local place. And I...
Building a Better Brain. I’ll Drink To That.
A long time ago, in a lifetime far far away, I went to talk to someone with a concern about the shading of my teeth. The dentist said he had to ask me a couple of questions first. Dentist: “Do you have drinks like, I dont’ know, coffee or...