Carol Landau, PhD
Betty Ford died two weeks ago. We should acknowledge the enormous impact she had on improving women’s health. By her example, Betty Ford reduced the stigma and isolation of women with breast cancer as well as women and men struggling with addiction. In addition, she provided a role model of a woman who could be outspoken, graceful and funny.
With June approaching, it is a time to check on your New Year’s resolutions. How are they coming along? We all know the answer to this question for most Americans: not very well. Estimates are that less than 15% of us can keep a New Year’s resolution for even a few months. Here’s why.
Well, maybe much not from the termites, those wood nibbling insects but we can learn a lot from the Termites, the subjects in a long-term study on health. In 1921, Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman selected 1528 gifted children from the San Francisco area and closely observed their behavior at school and at home and measured their personality styles.
Part of the health care reform act requires nutritional information to be posted in those restaurants, corner stores, coffee shops, and movie theaters that have more than 20 locations. But on April Fool’s Day, the FDA announced that movie theaters would now be excluded from the regulation, with the justification that selling food was not the major goal of theaters.
A recent article exposes the latest exploitation of women who worry about their weight. These are not, in general, the women among the 33 per cent of Americans who are obese. No, the article in the New York Times (03/07/11) points out that one of the women waiting for her treatment was disturbingly thin and another had a history of anorexianervosa.
Those of us who live in the Northeast, Midwest and even parts of the Mid-Atlantic states have been struggling with the effects of the most severe winter in recent memory. Burdened by ice, snow, and disruptions in schedules, gloom can set in. For some people, however, the situation is more serious, because they suffer from seasonal affective disorder.
