Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season. While the holidays should be a happy time, for many people, it is a time filled with sadness, self-reflection, loneliness, and anxiety.  Typical reasons for the holiday blues include stress, fatigue, financial concerns, and separation from family and friends. Stress and depression can ruin your holidays and hurt your health. Being realistic, planning ahead and seeking support can help ward off stress and depression.  If you are feeling overwhelmed, sad, or anxious during the holidays, consider these strategies for coping with the holidays. Set... Read More

There’s good news and bad news. First, the bad news. As you’ve probably noticed, 2016 has been an absolute garbage year. Our country elected a profoundly unqualified narcissist for President, tensions borne from race, gender, and sexual identity threaten to split us apart, and Florence Henderson, the mom from The Brady Bunch just died. Is it because David Bowie is no longer around to hold it all together for us? Probably. But I told you there’s good news, and good news I shall deliver. 2016 has been a pretty damn fine year for movies. We got the excellent punks vs. neo-Nazis... Read More

We’ve come a long way in our understanding of how the body works and how food influences the body’s performance.  Back in the 80s and 90s, we were obsessed with the low-fat lifestyle, eschewing foods with fat like cheese, butter and yogurt, for their low-fat, and usually less satisfying, siblings. Recently, a trend called Carb Cycling has evolved from bodybuilding “get cut” strategy to a mainstream fat loss plan.  Carb cycling, also known as a cyclic ketogenic diet, is a low-carbohydrate diet with intermittent periods of high or moderate carbohydrate consumption. The... Read More

Okay, guys, confession time. Like all right-thinking people, I’ve read the Harry Potter novels and thoroughly enjoyed them. Unless you’re the constantly allergic to fun New York Times,* who wouldn’t? J.K. Rowling single-handedly created a book series that was not just fun and wondrous, but also perceptive, possessing subversive wit, and a profound understanding of the human condition. There’s no doubt that she’s one of the best writers of the last fifty years. When her novels ignited a worldwide phenomenon, naturally plans were made to adapt the novels into films.... Read More

My mother has dementia. When I talk to her it is like talking to a pre-school age child — stream of consciousness-style ramblings of reality mixed with fantasy. It is disturbing to compare this woman to the person my mother was before dementia.  She was smart, witty, and quite opinionated.  She was a modern woman who was still quite old-fashioned; a unique woman for her generation. Dementia is not a disease, but rather a group of symptoms caused by other conditions.  Dementia causes problems with thinking, memory, and reasoning, happening when the parts of the brain used for learning,... Read More

These are interesting times for science fiction. You can be excused for thinking that science fiction is just shorthand for an action movie set in space, or with aliens, or time travel. Yeah, we’ve had a lot of that, particularly with Star Trek Beyond and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.* But we’re also living in a bit of a miniature renaissance of sci-fi movies that intertwine hard science with the human emotional journey. Films like Ex Machina, Interstellar, The Martian, and Gravity all have a beating heart and something to say, even if their message is cloaked in androids or... Read More

Now that Daylight Savings Time has ended, we face a few months of shorter days and less sun exposure.  For those who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), this is a particularly difficult time of year. SAD is a type of depression triggered by seasonal light changes. In most cases, symptoms begin during late fall or early winter and start to fade away as the days become longer during spring. Symptoms of SAD include loss of interest in things that you once enjoyed, lack of energy, sadness, feelings of hopeless, difficulty concentrating, a strong desire to sleep, and changes in appetite... Read More

We’re 14 movies into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In and of itself, that is a massive triumph. Most franchises really start to suck hard by the third installment, if you’re lucky. But I’m hard-pressed to think of another film series that has the energy and longevity of Marvel Studios. Luckily, they had a blueprint to draw from. The Marvel Universe really* began in 1961 with the first issue of Fantastic Four. When Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others began churning out iconic characters at an amazing rate, they broke ground in two unexpected ways. First, they took the time to give... Read More

There seems to be some confusion about whether dairy should be part of the American diet.  While some dietitians recommend dairy, specifically milk, because it’s a good source of calcium and vitamin D — nutrients that contribute to bone health — researchers say that the science behind milk consumption and bone health is not conclusive.  So, what are the benefits of dairy products? While there is nutrient value to dairy products, most are available from eating other foods.  There are benefits to consuming dairy products, some of which are contrary to what we previously believed... Read More