May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and that topic brings back vivid memories about my father from my childhood.  You see, in addition to dying of a massive heart attack at age 58 (when I was 15), my Dad was also an alcoholic.  I didn’t understand as a kid what may have been the driving force behind his drinking—all I knew was that I couldn’t have friends over because I was too embarrassed,...

  You know the old saying that goes, “If it sounds too good to be true it probably is”? Most times that’s sage advice because you may be missing something or getting deceived in some way! But that’s not always the case. Because every once in a while, something comes along that really is THAT GOOD and hard as it may be to conceive, it’s the truth! A perfect example of this is the spice...

  Depression affects nearly 350 million people worldwide, and those numbers have continued to rise over the last several decades. As a matter of fact, depression is now the #1 leading cause of disability, replacing chronic back pain and arthritis. Recently, it’s gotten even worse—during the COVID-19 lockdowns it was estimated that US cases of depression nearly tripled! Depression is very difficult to treat because it’s not a “cut-and-dry” illness…and sadly that means many people...

  Despite what you may read on most pharmaceutical company-sponsored “health” websites and even what your doctor may tell you, disease doesn’t just pop out of nowhere and bite poor unsuspecting you in the derriere. Disease is not normal, it is not a reflection of your body needing some drug, it’s not something you should expect as you age, and it is not some mysterious phenomenon that nobody can explain and for which you have...

  One of the most heartbreaking and frightening conditions that people may face is Alzheimer’s disease.  Although most people associate Alzheimer’s with old age, that’s not entirely accurate.  It can begin in the brain 30 years before symptoms appear, and the characteristic amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients have been detected in young adult brains. As we age, our brain weight drops—up to 10 percent by age 80.  In addition, blood flow...

  Now that Thanksgiving is behind us (and I hope yours was happy!), it’s full steam ahead to Christmas, New Year’s, Hanukkah or whatever holiday you may celebrate!  For many of us, that means trimming a tree, lighting the menorah, baking, shopping, wrapping gifts, cooking galore, and if you’re like me, hanging lights on your trees and shrubs.  This is good for a laugh--here’s a picture of me hanging lights on my pine trees that are getting enormously taller each year!  Good thing I invested in an extension pole...