Over the last year and a half, I’ve noticed a renewed interest in gardening. It’s helping people cope with the unique circumstances created by the pandemic, occupying their time, while also improving their health. It’s also a great way to appreciate the soil and enjoy the results of our labor.
Over the last two decades, researchers have made incredible progress in their ability to characterize the bacterial community in the gut and understand the active role this microbial community plays in metabolism, immune defense and other aspects of health. More recently, they’ve turned their attention to the important link between the microbiome and women’s health. Continue reading A Better Microbiome for Women’s Health
There’s no debate that if we are to feed the growing global population—now approaching 7.9 billion—we need a more sustainable approach to food production. Our moon shot, say the experts, is a flexitarian diet, a largely plant-based diet with a moderate amount of animal-based foods. (For more details, see my post on the flexitarian diet.)
But just how flexible do we need to be to improve diet quality and to make a meaningful difference in our personal health? Continue reading A Healthy Body Weight Starts Here
With all the headline news about immune function, the B vitamins have been on my mind. I know that might sound strange. After all, if I were to ask you to name a few vitamins that are critical for immune health, you might say vitamins A, C or D. If you’re like many people, the B vitamins may be far from your mind. It’s understandable. Despite being well known to nutrition experts, the immune benefits of B vitamins seem almost invisible to everyone else.
Continue reading The Surprising Immune Benefits of B Vitamins
For this post, Sam asked me to share a few tips for healthy living. Like Sam, I have a passion for staying healthy, mostly so we can fully enjoy life’s adventures, big and small. It’s a bond we’ve shared over our 40-plus years of marriage. Staying healthy is priceless at any age, whether you’re in your 20s and just starting out, in your 30s and 40s and going after your goals with gusto, or in your 50s, 60s and beyond and enjoying more free time.