threshold

Caregivers may not say it out loud, but they are communicating their need for help in their absence from the activities they used to be involved with or by the lack of phone calls, text messages, and tweets you no longer receive from them. Perhaps the last time you saw your friend in the grocery store there was a brief moment when she was fighting back tears.

My mother wasn’t an expert on nutrition, but she was often spot-on—for instance, her commitment to eating salad. As she saw it, raw vegetables provide "roughage," which helps to keep you regular. Today, this component of plant foods is commonly called insoluble fiber and my mother was right: It bulks up stools, preventing constipation and other digestive problems.

Plant foods provide various types of fiber, which contribute to benefits like keeping blood sugar or cholesterol under control. Scientists now understand that the body functions as a complex ecosystem. That means the food you eat can activate biological pathways in every part of your body.

Have you and your partner decided you’re ready to be parents—or have another baby?

According to Baby Center, 85 percent of couples who actively try to get pregnant will conceive within about one year, or 12 menstrual cycles. If they are not able to conceive after one year, it is recommended at that time that they may want to consult a fertility expert. (This time period is reduced to six months before seeing an expert if the woman is over 35 years old.)

Regardless of whether you’re in the early stages of trying to conceive or have been trying for a while, here are a few science-backed tips that may help get your body primed for fertility success.

Today 5.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, diseases that are blind to gender, ethnicity, political party and faith. By 2050 the number of those "living with" is projected to rise to nearly 14 million. Standing alongside those living with these brain diseases are millions of family and friends affected as well.

I think about the arc of my mother’s life as college sorority sister; to wife, mother and career; then my father’s passing; through the whimsical and friendly hallucinations she initially experienced; to the terrifying delusions that caused despair and injury; then the decline of advanced dementia and death.

It's hot, you're busy and company's coming for dinner. Nothing's easier than tossing some chicken on the grill. Am I right?

Not at all! Think about it: When was the last time you had a properly cooked piece of chicken from somebody's backyard grill?

"Never" is my guess—even from your own. Don't take it personally. The fact is that hardly anybody knows how to grill chicken that isn’t coal-blackened or outright charred in some places or practically raw in others.

Recently, my mother passed away and very soon after two of my young nephews died within 10 days of each other. I was also traveling internationally and had an emergency surgery. My days began to blur. I couldn’t eat or sleep. My heart was heavy and my body couldn’t move. The grief my entire family was feeling became overwhelming and resulted in great stress on my body.

Have you ever experienced a time in your life when stress took over your body?

For years and years the nutrition world has shoved these phrases down your throat: Fat-free, Non-fat, Low-fat. Those words have dictated how you’ve tried to eat for a long, long time. Right? Well, truth-be-told there are plenty of reasons to eat fat—and lots of it.

Turns out, there is a healthy kind of fat. It’s the fat you find in avocados, olive oil, and fish.