Turns out, I’m APoE4 positive My Grandpa disappeared into the vortex of Alzheimer’s disease over the course of more than a decade before he finally left this world in a morphine nap at the age of 89. It was a terrible thing, to watch the journey from his first noticeable lapses—“My onboard computer is on…
Category: health
New year, same old me
I can’t believe we’ve made it to 2023. It sounds so far in the FUTURE. I mean—as someone born in 1971—I grew up with the year 2000 as the shimmering threshold of a futuristic technotopia. We haven’t quite figured out the utopia aspect yet, but we truly do have a lot more tech, for better…
Off the rails: when healthy habits go out the window
We went to Europe in November, for the second time this year. Normally, I don’t take two major trips within twelve months, but we had been stuck in the house for two years, and my husband was anxious to take his six-week sabbatical. So he went off gallivanting around Europe for four weeks, and I…
Mid-year check-in
I launched this blog around the beginning of 2022, and while I am pleased with some of the content I’ve published, it is not really the blog that I want it to be. Why? I’m writing it as if I’m an expert trying to “monetize” or create professional clout in an area that I’m frankly…
Harm reduction on vacation
As I’ve changed my relationship with alcohol over the past several years, one of my challenges has been how to go on vacation without over-drinking. Ever since I started traveling internationally about 20 years ago, vacation has been a time to drink as much as I want…which is usually too much. How much is too…
10 reasons to take a break from alcohol
I used to drink alcohol enthusiastically and pretty much daily. Now, I drink only on rare occasions. It took me a lot of years and a lot of long breaks to get to almost-not-a-drinker. Given what I’ve learned about alcohol and how it impacts me, I can conclude that not drinking at all is the…
Why I quit Keto and went Pegan(ish)
When trying to decide how to eat, there are competing messages about what a healthy diet is. The division today seems to come down to plant-based versus meat-centric. My own journey has led me to ask: Why not both? Dietary choices are not religious convictions. It’s always a bit perplexing to me when a vegan…
How to do a full mind-body reset
Every January since 2018 (which feels like about 47 years ago), I have given something up. It started with Dry January. I knew I needed to dial back my drinking, and January seemed like a good time to try a bit of teetotaling. That first year, not drinking meant allowing myself all other kinds of…
Why I’m Grateful I Had Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is never good news, and when I got my diagnosis in April of 2020, the timing was especially awkward. I had had my first ever mammogram right when the city was shutting down for the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. If I hadn’t already had it scheduled, there’s a good chance I…
Plumb Wonderful 